Markdown Structure To YAML

Markdown Structure to YAML

Purpose

Extract markdown document structure as nested YAML with line numbers:

• Headings (h1, h2, h3, ...) with nested hierarchy
• Code blocks with language
• Lists with counts
• Line numbers for quick reference

Why

Long markdown files are hard to grep. Convert structure to nested YAML for quick navigation:

• Find all h2: python script.py file.md | grep 'h2:'
• Find code blocks: python script.py file.md | grep 'code:'
• Quick stats: python script.py file.md --stat

Script Usage

python markdown-structure-to-yaml.py <markdown-file>
python markdown-structure-to-yaml.py <markdown-file> --stat   # Show stats only

Output Format

Nested YAML with Line Numbers

- h1: Document Title @ 1
  - h2: Section 1 @ 5
    - h3: Subsection 1 @ 10
      - code: bash @ 12
      - list: unordered (5 items) @ 15
  - h2: Section 2 @ 20

Statistics

$ python script.py file.md --stat
total_h1: 1
total_h2: 2
total_h3: 5
total_code_blocks: 3
total_lists: 7

Example

Input (sample.md)

# My Skill

## Usage

Run this command:

```bash
echo "hello"

## Examples

- item 1
- item 2

Output

- h1: My Skill @ 1
  - h2: Usage @ 3
    - code: bash @ 6
  - h2: Examples @ 10
    - list: unordered (2 items) @ 12

Grep Patterns

# Extract all headings with line numbers
python script.py file.md | grep 'h1:'
python script.py file.md | grep 'h2:'
python script.py file.md | grep 'h3:'

# Find code blocks with line numbers
python script.py file.md | grep 'code:'

# Find lists
python script.py file.md | grep 'list:'

# Read specific section by line number
# e.g., read line 12: READ file.md offset 12 limit 10

Dependencies

• python or python3
• mistune (markdown parser)
• pyyaml (for YAML output)

Install

pip install mistune pyyaml

Notes

• Frontmatter (--- delimited) is automatically removed
• Uses mistune for accurate markdown parsing
• Nested structure reflects actual document hierarchy
• Line numbers enable quick reference to original markdown
• Code blocks without language default to text

Converted and distributed by TomeVault — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.