Format Link for Firefox

Why do I need it?

To format the link of the active tab instantly to use in Markdown, reST, HTML, Text, Textile or other formats.

How to use

You can use keyboard shortcuts, context menus, or the toolbar button of Format Link extension to copy a link in the specified format. Before doing that, you can optionally select some text which may or may not contain a link.

keyboard shortcut

The keyboard shortcut for "Copy a link in the default format" is shortcut for clicking the toolbar button. The link is copied in the default format and the popup is shown under the toolbar button.

Also there are shortcuts for copying in the link in the corresponding format regardless of the default format.

See Manage extension shortcuts in Firefox | Firefox Help for showing and changing keyboard shortcuts.

context menu

Open the context menu and select the "Format Link as XXX" menu item. "XXX" in the menu item label changes as you change the default format by clicking the "Set as default" button in the popup page for the toolbar button.

If you want to disable the context menu option, you can uncheck the "Context Menus" checkbox.

If you check the "Create submenus" in the options page and save the options, submenus for each format are created under the "Format Link" context menu group.

toolbar button

When you press the toolbar button of "Format Link", the link is copied in the default format, the popup page becomes open, and the formatted text is shown in the text area.

If you want to copy the link in different format, you can press one of the radio buttons.

Also if you want to change the default format, you can press the "Set as default" button.

Flexible settings

You can modify formats in [Tools] -> [Extensions] -> Clik "Options" link in "Format Link" Extension. In format settings, you can use the mini template language.

• {{variable}}
  • variable = title / url / page_url / text / selected_text
  • The value of variable title is the HTML page title.
  • The value of variable text is:
    • the selected text if some text is selected,
    • the link text if you open the context menu over a link,
    • the page title otherwise.
  • The value of variable selected_text is
    • the selected text if some text is selected,
    • empty string if no text is selected.
  • The value of the variable url is the link if you open the context menu over a link, the first link if selection contains a link, or the HTML page URL otherwise.
  • The value of the variable page_url is always the HTML page URL.
  • No spaces are allowed between variable name and braces.
• {{variable.s("foo","bar")}}
  • Which means variable.replace(new RegExp("foo", 'g'), "bar")
  • You can use escape character \ in strings.
  • You must escape the first argument for string and regexp. For example, .s("\\[","\\[") means replacing \[ with \\[
  • You can chain multiple .s("foo","bar")
• You can use the escape character \ in strings. For example, you need to escape \ with \ like \\, and also you need to escape { with \ like \{. See the LaTeX example below.
• Other characters are treated as literal strings.

Here are examples:

• Markdown

[{{text.s("\\[","\\[").s("\\]","\\]")}}]({{url.s("\\)","%29")}})

• reST

{{text}} <{{url}}>`_

• HTML

<a href="{{url.s("\"","&quot;")}}">{{text.s("<","&lt;")}}</a>

• Text

{{text}}\n{{url}}

• Redmine Texitile

"{{title.s("\"",""").s("\\[","[")}}":{{url}}

• LaTeX

\\href\{{{url}}\}\{{{text}}\}

Global variable replacements

You can preprocess value of each variable before applying above formats.

For example, you can replace opening and close double quotes in text variable with ASCII doublequote by settings text variable global replacements to {{text.s("[“”]","\"")}} or {{text.s("[\\u201c\\u201d]","\"")}}.

KNOWN LIMITATIONS

• Due to security reason, you cannot copy the URL on some pages like addons.mozilla.org. See Content scripts - Mozilla | MDN for details.

License

MIT License. Source codes are hosted at Github

Credits

Icon

I synthesized two icons (a pencil and a link) to produce icon.png.

• A pencil icon from Onebit free icon set © 2010 Khodjaev Stanislav, used under a License: These icons are free to use in any kind of commercial or non-commercial project unlimited times.
• A link icon from Bremen icon set © 2010 Patricia Clausnitzer, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Extension

This extension "Format Link" are inspired by extensions below:

• Chrome Web Store - Create Link by ku (KUMAGAI Kentaro)
• Make Link :: Add-ons for Firefox by Rory Parle