rust-lang/rust-clippy

Lint for likely-malformed reference style links

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#1952 opened on Aug 13, 2017

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A-documentationA-lintL-correctnessT-ASTgood first issue

Description

I often come across the situation in markdown when I accidentally write the following:

[useful text][reference]

[reference](<example.com>)

This, though it might look like a reference style link, is not:

[useful text][reference]

reference

The correct syntax is as follows:

[useful text][reference]

[reference]: <example.com>

useful text

Clippy could lint against this likely-malformed reference link.

Notes:

  • This lint should only trigger if [reference](<link>) is on a line on its own (e.g. would be a valid reference target) and reference could be a valid reference key.
  • This lint should not trigger if there is any escaping of the in-text part of the reference which makes it not a valid reference link, even if it renders [like][so] in the output.
  • I don't think [bracketed][words] would ever be desired except in a code block about markdown, so this lint shouldn't have a lot of real-world false positives.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Rust programmingClippy lint developmentMarkdown syntax
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
55
Research direction
Study the existing Clippy lint structure, particularly lints that detect patterns in source code (e.g., 'dbg macro'). The lint should inspect markdown content, possibly using the parser or regex. Focus on the condition that the reference definition is on its own line. Review the Clippy documentation about adding new lints and the code in clippy lints/src/.