Emacs markdown-mode error on preview: "bin / bash: markdown: command not found"

Question

I am using emacs 24 on fedora 17. I installed markdown-mode, but whenever I try to export a file by typing C-c C-c m or C-c C-c p in emacs, I got this error:

/bin/bash: markdown: command not found

I read that this is probably an issue with the path variable, so I compared the env variable by typing $ env at the command line and Esc-! env RET in emacs. I found the path variable description is the same in both cases.

What is this error? How can I fix it and execute markdown previews from within emacs?

Guadalupe

What is your path for the markdown.pl script? What happens when you call the markdown script from bash? – Fonz

Thank you for your reply & excuse me, I'm still newbie rummaging in the guts of software. That script you ask about has .pl (Perl isn't) file extension. I just followed instructions included in the package itself and saw no other requirement than place the .el file in the emacs load-path and let my emacs init file know about autoloading. Then, I tried the automatic way by typing at emacs M-x package-install markdown mode just if it were a dependencies problem. How might I check for the markdown.pl script? Scripts installed by the latter way said don't include any .pl file. – Guadalupe

OK, I think, I'm following you now. For further references I recommend this reading. So, by typing at cli $ which markdown or $ which markdown-mode I got: no markdown-mode in (/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/home/txe/.local/bin:/home/txe/bin). but, I'm still at the same point, so any clue is welcomed. – Guadalupe

Ok, I got it. I think. As reference for others looking for this same. I should also install, in my case, the proper package $ sudo yum install python-markdown2or $ sudo yum install pandoc which offers to be like a swiss army knife when is about converting files from a markup format into another. Thanks anyway to everyone. This log post will be probably useful to anyone in the same point. – Guadalupe

Ok after lot of testing, markdown is the best for me $ yum install python-markdown2 then $ ln -s /usr/bin/markdown2 /usr/local/bin/markdown (thanks again, RupertPupkin ✪ fedora-forums) – Guadalupe

For Ubuntu users, this would be sudo apt-get install markdown. – Intermezzo

Answer 1

Install any markdown generating tool as you like, for example pandoc.

Then add the following line to your .emacs file:

(custom-set-variables
 '(markdown-command "/usr/local/bin/pandoc"))

Moldavia

Just a reminder: In my case, after installing the pandoc using apt-get install , command for markdown is just ` " pandoc"` – Kep

This worked for me, after I installed markdown with "brew install markdown". I think this can be marked as the answer. – Thimbu

brew install pandoc on OS X – Yaron

Can confirm this works on Windows too. Got pandoc windows release from github, extracted it, and set the path in emacs. Thanks! – Trodden

Answer 2

This error occurs when you do not have a markdown parser installed. Installing one is simple with brew. From the command line:

brew install markdown

This should result in something like:

==> Downloading http://daringfireball.net/projects/downloads/Markdown_1.0.1.zip
######################################################################## 100.0%
  /usr/local/Cellar/markdown/1.0.1: 2 files, 40K, built in 2 seconds

Before running that command, I had the same error you did. After running that command, which installs a markdown parser on your system, the emacs commands C-c C-c m and C-c C-c p worked as expected by opening an HTML version of my markdown file in either another buffer or the browser, respectively.

Heady

This is a nice easy way to get a copy of markdown, but the commands you referenced didn't work for me until I mapped the markdown parser to the markdown-command in my ~/.emacs like so: (custom-set-variables '(markdown-command "/usr/local/bin/markdown")) – Burmeister

Answer 3

You just need to pick and install a markdown parser:

• rdiscount (gem install rdiscount).
• python2-markdown (yum install python-markdown2)
• or some other.

Then, in emacs:

M-x customize-mode RET markdown-mode

Set 'Markdown Command' to the name of the executable you installed -- for example, rdiscount or /usr/bin/markdown2.

Isthmus

Answer 4

• Add emacs package repository to init.el:

(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa-stable" . "https://stable.melpa.org/packages/"))
(package-initialize)

• Refresh packages:

M-x package-refresh-contents

• Install emacs major mode markdown-mode by evaluating:

M-x package-install RET markdown-mode RET

• Install markdown processor for your operating system:

brew install pandoc
#OR
sudo apt-get install pandoc

• Verify pandoc installation:

which pandoc
# returns /usr/local/bin/pandoc

• Map the markdown parser in init.el:

(custom-set-variables
  '(markdown-command "/usr/local/bin/pandoc"))

Jorin

Answer 5

You need to setting up the markdown-command, there is a thread about displaying it in github way, through pandoc.

Malleus

Answer 6

I migrated to a new machine recently and it looks like in macOS Monterey (maybe before) it looks like brew changed where it is installed. I changed my markdown-command to "/opt/homebrew/bin/pandoc" based on Saurabh's answer

Adaurd