mdrefine

style/blank-lines ​

Collapses blank lines in a row to at most maximum of them, and removes blank lines at the start and at the end of a document.

Style rule, fixed by format. Presets: recommended (warn). Dialects: all. Options: maximum.

Before, with three blank lines between the blocks and two at the end:

markdown
# Setup



Install the package.

After:

markdown
# Setup

Install the package.

maximum is an integer of at least 1; the default is 1.

Edge cases and advanced usage ​

Details: the line break that ends the last line stays. Inside a block quote, a line of only > markers is a blank line, and repeated ones are removed the same way.

Left as written: blank lines that are content, or whose number changes what the document means:

  • Inside code blocks, HTML blocks, math blocks, front matter, and Obsidian comments, also in one that runs to the end of the document without its closing fence or marker.
  • At the start of a document, when the line below them is --- or +++, which would then open front matter.
  • Next to a blank line with other block quote markers or indentation, such as > next to an empty line, which belong to different block quotes.
  • In a block quote, below the last block of a list, list item, or footnote that the parser counts them toward: there it reads a list as loose when two or more follow and as tight when one does.

Dialect notes ​

In Obsidian: a line of blank space that holds a tab, or that lies directly below an HTML block, is not blank: Obsidian's Reading view reads it as more of the paragraph or block above it. Blank quote rows between consecutive blocks opened by a Tab directly after > or > stay too: Reading view reads those blocks and their blank rows as one literal code block. A later ordinary quoted paragraph still permits blank-line cleanup and inline preferences.

  • style/final-newline adds the line break at the end where it is missing.
  • A configuration whose style/block-spacing asks for more blank lines around a heading than maximum allows is refused when it is read, unless one of the two rules is off: each rule would undo the other's edits.