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0 Auto Frontmatter

The macro does:

  • takes filename, removes the file extension and sets it as frontmatter’s id
  • takes this id, replaces hyphens with spaces, capitalizes it, and sets it to title
  • takes the current date and time and sets it as date

This functionality has been achieved thanks to the VS-Code multi-command extension.

The rest of the methods (snippet manipulations) were unsuccessful.

Install multi-command extension​

Install multi-command extension

Find Command​

Find the name of the command you want to execute.

Configure settings.json​

Copy/past at the end of the settings.json file:

settings.json
"multiCommand.commands": [
  {
    "command": "multiCommand.autoFrontmatter",
    "label": "Markdown",
    "description": "Auto Frontmatter",
    "sequence": [
      "cursorTop",
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "snippet": "---\n"
        }
      },
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "snippet": "id: $TM_FILENAME_BASE\n"
        }
      },
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "snippet": "title: ${TM_FILENAME_BASE/([^-]+)(-*)/${1:/capitalize}${2:+ }/g}"
        }
      },
      "cursorLineStartSelect",
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "snippet": "${TM_SELECTED_TEXT/(\\d+)\\s(?=\\d)/$1./g}\n"
        }
      },
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "snippet": "date: $CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE $CURRENT_HOUR:$CURRENT_MINUTE:$CURRENT_SECOND\n"
        }
      },
      {
        "command": "editor.action.insertSnippet",
        "args": {
          "snippet": "---\n\n"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
],

Add keyboard shortcut​

Copy/past to keybindings.json:

keybindings.json
{
  "key": "alt+g c",    // whatever keybinding you like
  "command": "extension.multiCommand.execute",
  "args": { "command": "multiCommand.autoFrontmatter" },
},

Result​

Now you can type Alt+G c and you’ll automatically get a front matter with 3 fields:

---
id: auto-front-matter
title: auto Front Matter
date: 2021-03-16 11:26:47
---

To Do​

I want this command macro to run whenever I create a new markdown file.

Source​