Markdown file word counter

word_counter.py

"""
Markdown Word Counter
---------------------
A simple script to count words in a Markdown file, ignoring Markdown syntax.
"""

import re
import sys
import argparse
from pathlib import Path


def clean_markdown(text):
    """
    Remove Markdown syntax elements that shouldn't be counted as words.
    """
    # Remove code blocks
    text = re.sub(r'```[\s\S]*?```', '', text)
    
    # Remove inline code
    text = re.sub(r'`[^`]*`', '', text)
    
    # Remove HTML tags
    text = re.sub(r'<[^>]*>', '', text)
    
    # Remove URLs
    text = re.sub(r'https?://\S+', '', text)
    
    # Remove image references
    text = re.sub(r'!\[.*?\]\(.*?\)', '', text)
    
    # Remove link references but keep the link text
    text = re.sub(r'\[([^\]]*)\]\(.*?\)', r'\1', text)
    
    # Remove headers (# symbols)
    text = re.sub(r'^#+\s+', '', text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    
    # Remove emphasis markers (* and _) but keep the text
    text = re.sub(r'(\*\*|__)(.*?)\1', r'\2', text)
    text = re.sub(r'(\*|_)(.*?)\1', r'\2', text)
    
    # Remove horizontal rules
    text = re.sub(r'^\s*[-*_]{3,}\s*$', '', text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
    
    # Remove footnote references
    text = re.sub(r'\[\^[^\]]*\]', '', text)
    
    return text


def count_words(text):
    """
    Count words in the cleaned text.
    """
    # Clean the markdown
    cleaned_text = clean_markdown(text)
    
    # Split by whitespace and count non-empty words
    words = [word for word in re.split(r'\s+', cleaned_text) if word.strip()]
    return len(words)


def main():
    """
    Main function to handle command line arguments and process the file.
    """
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Count words in a Markdown file.')
    parser.add_argument('file', help='Path to the Markdown file')
    parser.add_argument('--details', action='store_true', help='Show detailed statistics')
    args = parser.parse_args()
    
    file_path = Path(args.file)
    
    try:
        if not file_path.exists():
            print(f"Error: File '{file_path}' not found.")
            sys.exit(1)
            
        with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
            content = file.read()
            
        word_count = count_words(content)
        
        print(f"\nFile: {file_path}")
        print(f"Word count: {word_count}")
        
        if args.details:
            # Count lines
            line_count = len(content.splitlines())
            
            # Count characters
            char_count = len(content)
            
            # Estimate reading time (average reading speed: 250 words per minute)
            reading_time = word_count / 250
            reading_minutes = int(reading_time)
            reading_seconds = int((reading_time - reading_minutes) * 60)
            
            print(f"Line count: {line_count}")
            print(f"Character count: {char_count}")
            print(f"Estimated reading time: {reading_minutes} min {reading_seconds} sec")
        
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")
        sys.exit(1)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()