DocToc 
Generates table of contents for markdown files inside local git repository. Links are compatible with anchors generated
by github or other sites via a command line flag.
Table of Contents generated with DocToc
- Installation
- Usage
- Adding toc to all files in a directory and sub directories
- Update existing doctoc TOCs effortlessly
- Adding toc to individual files
- Using doctoc to generate links compatible with other sites
- Specifying location of toc
- Specifying a custom TOC title
- Specifying a maximum heading level for TOC entries
- Printing to stdout
- Usage as a
githook - Docker image
Installation
npm install -g doctoc
Usage
In its simplest usage, you can pass one or more files or folders to the
doctoc command. This will update the TOCs of each file specified as well as of
each markdown file found by recursively searching each folder. Below are some
examples.
Adding toc to all files in a directory and sub directories
Go into the directory that contains your local git project and type:
doctoc .
This will update all markdown files in the current directory and all its
subdirectories with a table of content that will point at the anchors generated
by the markdown parser. Doctoc defaults to using the GitHub parser, but other
modes can be
specified.
Ignoring individual files
In order to ignore a specific file when running doctoc on an entire directory, just add <!-- DOCTOC SKIP --> to the top of the file you wish to ignore.
Update existing doctoc TOCs effortlessly
If you already have a TOC inserted by doctoc, it will automatically be updated by running the command (rather than inserting a duplicate toc). Doctoc locates the TOC by the <!-- START doctoc --> and <!-- END doctoc --> comments, so you can also move a generated TOC to any other portion of your document and it will be updated there.
Adding toc to individual files
If you want to convert only specific files, do:
doctoc /path/to/file [...]
Examples
doctoc README.md
doctoc CONTRIBUTING.md LICENSE.md
Using doctoc to generate links compatible with other sites
In order to add a table of contents whose links are compatible other sites add the appropriate mode flag:
Available modes are:
--bitbucket bitbucket.org
--nodejs nodejs.org
--github github.com
--gitlab gitlab.com
--ghost ghost.org
Example
doctoc README.md --bitbucket
Specifying location of toc
By default, doctoc places the toc at the top of the file. You can indicate to have it placed elsewhere with the following format:
<!-- START doctoc -->
<!-- END doctoc -->
You place this code directly in your .md file. For example:
// my_new_post.md
Here we are, introducing the post. It's going to be great!
But first: a TOC for easy reference.
<!-- START doctoc -->
<!-- END doctoc -->
# Section One
Here we'll discuss...
Running doctoc will insert the toc at that location.
Specifying a custom TOC title
Use the --title option to specify a (Markdown-formatted) custom TOC title; e.g., doctoc --title '**Contents**' . From then on, you can simply run doctoc <file> and doctoc will keep the title you specified.
Alternatively, to blank out the title, use the --notitle option. This will simply remove the title from the TOC.
Specifying a maximum heading level for TOC entries
Use the --maxlevel option to limit TOC entries to headings only up to the specified level; e.g., doctoc --maxlevel 3 .
By default,
- no limit is placed on Markdown-formatted headings,
- whereas headings from embedded HTML are limited to 4 levels.
Printing to stdout
You can print to stdout by using the -s or --stdout option.
Only update existing ToC
Use --update-only or -u to only update the existing ToC. That is, the Markdown files without ToC will be left untouched. It is good if you want to use doctoc with lint-staged.
Usage as a git hook
doctoc can be used as a pre-commit hook by using the
following configuration:
repos:
- repo: https://github.com/thlorenz/doctoc
rev: ... # substitute a tagged version
hooks:
- id: doctoc
This will run doctoc against markdown files when committing to ensure the
TOC stays up-to-date.
Docker image
There's an unofficial Docker image project for doctoc, if you'd like to use doctoc via Docker or other container based CI/CD pipeline, you can take a look at PeterDaveHello/docker-doctoc