How to match the URL component from a markdown link?

Question

I've been trying to hide the URL component of the markdown links in my buffer.

I could select the markdown links using

"\\(\\[.+\\]\\)\\((.+)\\)"

However, I just want to capture the second half (the URL component) of the links and fade them away in the buffer.

I have tried every possible documentation available but with no avail. Please help.

Answer 1

The following minimal example code shows how to hide the urls in md-files:

(defun md-hide-urls ()
  "Hide all urls in the current buffer."
  (interactive)
  (goto-char (point-min))
  (while (re-search-forward "\\(\\[.+\\]\\)\\((.+)\\)" nil t)
    (put-text-property (match-beginning 2) (match-end 2) 'invisible t)))

Regular expression search via lisp is described in Section 33.4 of the emacs manual. How to make text invisible is described in Section 37.6 of the emacs manual. You find informations on accessing match strings in Section 37.6.2 of the emacs manual.