Markdown YAML front-matter to JSON

m2j.js is used to read a folder of Markdown files, pulling out the YAML front matter from each, and saving it all as a JSON object.

This is especially useful if you have a folder full of Markdown files that you want scanned and processed into a single JSON file, which can then be consumed by Angular on the client, cached in a Node server, or saved in a nosql database.

In addition to moving the YAML to JSON, a few extra elements are created:

• iso8601 formatted from date using Moment.js
• preview is first 70 or so characters of the actual raw markdown content, with ellipses at the end
• basename is the filename without the path or extension
• content is created only if the content flag is enabled, and will include raw markdown content unabridged

Example

% m2.js --help

  Usage: m2j [options] <files>

  Options:

    -h, --help               output usage information
    -V, --version            output the version number
    -w --width <int>         max width of preview text [70]. Set to 0 for no preview.
    -p --pretty              format JSON with newlines
    -c --content             include the full content of the file unabridged
    -o --outfile <filename>  filename to save json to [output.json]
    

% m2j.js lottery.ms

lottery.md

---
title: The Lottery Ticket
author: Anton C.
date: "2013-03-15 15:00"
template: article.jade
tags:
  - Fiction
  - Russian
  
---

Ivan Dmitritch, a middle-class man who lived with his family on an income of twelve hundred a year and was very well satisfied with his lot, sat down on the sofa after supper and began reading the newspaper. 

output

{
  "files": [
    {
      "title": "The Lottery Ticket",
      "author": "Anton C.",
      "date": "1893-04-01",
      "template": "article.jade",
      "tags": [
        "Fiction",
        "Russian"
      ],
      "preview": "Ivan Dmitritch, a middle-class man who lived with his family on an …",
      "iso8601Date": "1893-04-01T00:00:00-07:00",
      "basename": "lottery.md"
    }
  ]
}