MD022 - Headings should be surrounded by blank lines

Tags: blank_lines, headings

Aliases: blanks-around-headings

Parameters:

• lines_above: Blank lines above heading (integer|integer[], default 1)
• lines_below: Blank lines below heading (integer|integer[], default 1)

Fixable: Some violations can be fixed by tooling

This rule is triggered when headings (any style) are either not preceded or not followed by at least one blank line:

# Heading 1
Some text

Some more text
## Heading 2

To fix this, ensure that all headings have a blank line both before and after (except where the heading is at the beginning or end of the document):

# Heading 1

Some text

Some more text

## Heading 2

The lines_above and lines_below parameters can be used to specify a different number of blank lines (including 0) above or below each heading. If the value -1 is used for either parameter, any number of blank lines is allowed. To customize the number of lines above or below each heading level individually, specify a number[] where values correspond to heading levels 1-6 (in order).

Notes: If lines_above or lines_below are configured to require more than one blank line, MD012/no-multiple-blanks should also be customized. This rule checks for at least as many blank lines as specified; any extra blank lines are ignored.

Rationale: Aside from aesthetic reasons, some parsers, including kramdown, will not parse headings that don't have a blank line before, and will parse them as regular text.