The FilterMarkdown method processes a text string containing Markdown
formatting and returns a simplified version with the formatting removed. This
preserves the readable content while stripping away syntax such as headings,
list markers, emphasis markers, links, and other Markdown elements that are
intended for display formatting.
The method works by scanning the text from start to finish and applying a set
of rules to recognize common Markdown constructs. For example, headings have their
leading hash markers are removed, list markers are normalized to a simple
dash or number, emphasis markers such as the asterisk and underscore are
stripped, and link text is preserved with the URL shown in parentheses. Code blocks
and inline code are retained without the backtick markers. Whitespace is also
normalized to make the output easier to read.
Filtering can used in situations where you need plain text output from
Markdown input, such as displaying content in a non-HTML context, preparing it
for indexing, or passing it to other text-based utilities. It works best when you
are confident that the input is actually Markdown; using it on arbitrary text may
result in loss of characters that were mistaken for formatting.
The filtering is based on a set of common Markdown patterns and does not attempt
to fully parse the Markdown specification. As a result, it may not recognize every
possible variation of Markdown and there may be some cases where not all of the
formatting is removed.