mdrefine

style/definition-spacing ​

Writes one space after a link reference definition's colon and one before its title, without changing the label, destination, or title. A definition with no space after the colon, such as [guide]:guide.md, gets one. It is an optional source style, so no preset enables it and default formatting stays the same.

Style rule, fixed by format. Presets: none. Dialects: all but Obsidian. Options: none.

Before:

markdown
[guide]:   <guide.md>   "Guide"

After:

markdown
[guide]: <guide.md> "Guide"

Edge cases and advanced usage ​

Left as written:

  • a multiline definition, including a multiline label or title: joining could change wrapping or how a container reads it;
  • a footnote, or a label that starts with ^, also in CommonMark;
  • a definition containing a tab, because commonmark.js reads a tab-separated definition as text where GitHub and markdown-it read a definition.

Dialect notes ​

In Obsidian: definitions keep their spacing, since Live Preview styles these lines separately from Reading view.

The rule is independent of links/path, which needs a workspace and changes destinations.