script to add a link to a page in a markdown file. how? 🤔

[horacioh]

I'm a big Foam user. I have a file called inbox.md with a huge list of links I want to read. I know use a chrome extension that copies the focused page link in markdown format ([google](https://google.com)) so I can just open the file and paste there at the top of the list.

I'm sure some of you'all have done something similar maybe? can someone point me to a similar example in which I can pass the link to a script and the script updates the file for me?

maybe this is a good start? https://www.scriptkit.com/johnlindquist/scripts/new-journal-entry

thanks!!

[johnlindquist]

Great question, Script Kit is perfect for stuff like this:

Install copy-tab-to-file

let file = home(`whatever.md`) //"home" is the same as `~/whatever.md`

let tab = await getActiveTab() //gets "url" from Chrome

// Creates or appends to file
await appendFile(
  file,
  `
[${tab}](${tab})`
)

We can grab the title too, although I haven't written a helper for that yet, maybe I should 🤔:

Install copy-tab-and-title-to-file

let file = home(`whatever.md`) //"home" is the same as `~/whatever.md`

//returns a comma-delimited string: foo.com, Some title
let urlAndTitle = await applescript(
  String.raw`tell application "Google Chrome" to return {URL, title} of active tab of front window`
)

let [url, title] = urlAndTitle.split(/, (.+)/) //split on first comma

// Creates or appends to file
await appendFile(
  file,
  `
[${title}](${url})`
)

[horacioh]

thanks @johnlindquist !

I changed it to work with Brave!

let file = home(`whatever.md`) //"home" is the same as `~/whatever.md`

//returns a comma-delimited string: foo.com, Some title
let urlAndTitle = await applescript(
  String.raw`tell application "Brave" to return {URL, title} of active tab of front window`
)

let [url, title] = urlAndTitle.split(/, (.+)/) //split on first comma

// Creates or appends to file
await appendFile(
  file,
  `
- [${title}](${url})`
)

thanks for the help!!

[johnlindquist]

Awesome, let me know if you need any more help customizing to fit your needs. We could have it prompt for which file to save to, check if link already exists, etc, etc 😁

[horacioh]

I usually add new items at the top of the list:

# Inbox

// <== HERE!
- [link](link)
- [link](link)
- [link](link)
- [link](link)

but I guess I need to use remark for this or something similar right?

[johnlindquist]

You might be overthinking it:

Install copy-tab-and-title-to-file-middle

let file = home(`whatever.md`)

let urlAndTitle = await applescript(
  String.raw`tell application "Google Chrome" to return {URL, title} of active tab of front window`
)

let [url, title] = urlAndTitle.split(/, (.+)/)

let link = `[${title}](${url})`

let contents = await readFile(file, "utf-8")

let insertedLink = contents.replace(
  /(# Inbox\n)/,
  `$1
- ${link}`
)

await writeFile(file, insertedLink)

[horacioh]

Will try it! Thanks a lot!!

[horacioh]

worked perfectly! thanks again!!

[kenNash]

A lot of interesting stuff to me, in here! Thanks!

1. Is there a getActiveTab() helper for Safari, as well?
2. Did you @johnlindquist write a helper for the title (as you wrote about in your first answer) as well? For Safari?

Again, thank you!