inline structure

Once all of the input has been parsed, all open blocks are closed.
We then “walk the tree,” visiting every node, and parse raw string contents of paragraphs and headings as inlines. At this point we have seen all the link reference definitions, so we can resolve reference links as we go.

document
  block_quote
    paragraph
      str "Lorem ipsum dolor"
      softbreak
      str "sit amet."
    list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-)
      list_item
        paragraph
          str "Qui "
          emph
            str "quodsi iracundia"
      list_item
        paragraph
          str "aliquando id"

Notice how the line ending (opens new window) in the first paragraph has been parsed as a softbreak, and the asterisks in the first list item have become an emph.
An algorithm for parsing nested emphasis and linksBy far the trickiest part of inline parsing is handling emphasis, strong emphasis, links, and images. This is done using the following algorithm.
When we’re parsing inlines and we hit either

• a run of * or _ characters, or
• a [ or ![

we insert a text node with these symbols as its literal content, and we add a pointer to this text node to the delimiter stack (opens new window).
The delimiter stack (opens new window) is a doubly linked list. Each element contains a pointer to a text node, plus information about

• the type of delimiter ([, ![, *, _)
• the number of delimiters,
• whether the delimiter is “active” (all are active to start), and
• whether the delimiter is a potential opener, a potential closer, or both (which depends on what sort of characters precede and follow the delimiters).

When we hit a ] character, we call the look for link or image procedure (see below).
When we hit the end of the input, we call the process emphasis procedure (see below), with stack_bottom= NULL.
_look for link or image_Starting at the top of the delimiter stack, we look backwards through the stack for an opening [ or ![delimiter.

• If we don’t find one, we return a literal text node ].
• If we do find one, but it’s not active, we remove the inactive delimiter from the stack, and return a literal text node ].
• If we find one and it’s active, then we parse ahead to see if we have an inline link/image, reference link/image, compact reference link/image, or shortcut reference link/image.
  • If we don’t, then we remove the opening delimiter from the delimiter stack and return a literal text node ].
  • If we do, then
    • We return a link or image node whose children are the inlines after the text node pointed to by the opening delimiter.
    • We run process emphasis on these inlines, with the [ opener as stack_bottom.
    • We remove the opening delimiter.
    • If we have a link (and not an image), we also set all [ delimiters before the opening delimiter to inactive. (This will prevent us from getting links within links.)

_process emphasis_Parameter stack_bottom sets a lower bound to how far we descend in the delimiter stack (opens new window). If it is NULL, we can go all the way to the bottom. Otherwise, we stop before visiting stack_bottom.
Let current_position point to the element on the delimiter stack (opens new window) just above stack_bottom (or the first element if stack_bottom is NULL).
We keep track of the openers_bottom for each delimiter type (*, _). and each length of the closing delimiter run (modulo 3). Initialize this to stack_bottom.
Then we repeat the following until we run out of potential closers:

• Move current_position forward in the delimiter stack (if needed) until we find the first potential closer with delimiter * or _. (This will be the potential closer closest to the beginning of the input – the first one in parse order.)
• Now, look back in the stack (staying above stack_bottom and the openers_bottom for this delimiter type) for the first matching potential opener (“matching” means same delimiter).
• If one is found:
  • Figure out whether we have emphasis or strong emphasis: if both closer and opener spans have length >= 2, we have strong, otherwise regular.
  • Insert an emph or strong emph node accordingly, after the text node corresponding to the opener.
  • Remove any delimiters between the opener and closer from the delimiter stack.
  • Remove 1 (for regular emph) or 2 (for strong emph) delimiters from the opening and closing text nodes. If they become empty as a result, remove them and remove the corresponding element of the delimiter stack. If the closing node is removed, reset current_position to the next element in the stack.
• If none is found:
  • Set openers_bottom to the element before current_position. (We know that there are no openers for this kind of closer up to and including this point, so this puts a lower bound on future searches.)
  • If the closer at current_position is not a potential opener, remove it from the delimiter stack (since we know it can’t be a closer either).
  • Advance current_position to the next element in the stack.

After we’re done, we remove all delimiters above stack_bottom from the delimiter stack.