Can I create links with 'target=“_blank”'

Question

Is there a way to create a link in Markdown that opens in a new window? If not, what syntax do you recommend to do this. I'll add it to the markdown compiler I use. I think it should be an option.

Answer 1

For completed alex answered (Dec 13 '10)

A more smart injection target could be done with this code :

/*
 * For all links in the current page...
 */
$(document.links).filter(function() {
    /*
     * ...keep them without `target` already setted...
     */
    return !this.target;
}).filter(function() {
    /*
     * ...and keep them are not on current domain...
     */
    return this.hostname !== window.location.hostname ||
        /*
         * ...or are not a web file (.pdf, .jpg, .png, .js, .mp4, etc.).
         */
        /\.(?!html?|php3?|aspx?)([a-z]{0,3}|[a-zt]{0,4})$/.test(this.pathname);
/*
 * For all link kept, add the `target="_blank"` attribute. 
 */
}).attr('target', '_blank');

You could change the regexp exceptions with adding more extension in (?!html?|php3?|aspx?) group construct (understand this regexp here: https://regex101.com/r/sE6gT9/3).

and for a without jQuery version, check code below:

var links = document.links;
for (var i = 0; i < links.length; i++) {
    if (!links[i].target) {
        if (
            links[i].hostname !== window.location.hostname || 
            /\.(?!html?)([a-z]{0,3}|[a-zt]{0,4})$/.test(links[i].pathname)
        ) {
            links[i].target = '_blank';
        } 
    }
}

Answer 2

In my project I'm doing this and it works fine:

[Link](https://example.org/ "title" target="_blank")

Link

But not all parsers let you do that.

Answer 3

Kramdown supports it. It's compatible with standard Markdown syntax, but has many extensions, too. You would use it like this:

[link](url){:target="_blank"}

Answer 4

Automated for external links only, using GNU sed & make

If one would like to do this systematically for all external links, CSS is no option. However, one could run the following sed command once the (X)HTML has been created from Markdown:

sed -i 's|href="http|target="_blank" href="http|g' index.html

This can be further automated by adding above sed command to a makefile. For details, see GNU make or see how I have done that on my website.

Answer 5

With Markdown-2.5.2, you can use this:

[link](url){:target="_blank"}

Answer 6

I do not agree that it's a better user experience to stay within one browser tab. If you want people to stay on your site, or come back to finish reading that article, send them off in a new tab.

Building on @davidmorrow's answer, throw this javascript into your site and turn just external links into links with target=_blank:

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
      // Creating custom :external selector
      $.expr[':'].external = function(obj){
          return !obj.href.match(/^mailto\:/)
                  && (obj.hostname != location.hostname);
      };

      $(function(){
        // Add 'external' CSS class to all external links
        $('a:external').addClass('external');

        // turn target into target=_blank for elements w external class
        $(".external").attr('target','_blank');

      })

    </script>