templater.makeNewFilesByThematicBreaks

<%*

/* 
Requires: Templater
This template will create new files containing the content between 
each thematic break "---" in the current file (ignoring the metadata) 
and add links to the new files in the current file. 

If you don't like the result just undo a few times 
and delete the newly created files. 

Will not work if files matching the created ones already exist.

Known bugs:
- [ ] makes an additional empty file if last character is "---" and there are lines below it

To add:
- option to not delete current content of file
- option to carry over metadata to new files
- functionallity to delete/update created files if they exist
*/

// get active file
let activeFile = app.workspace.activeLeaf.view.file;

// get content of activeFile
let content = await app.vault.cachedRead(activeFile);

// fill an array with sections of content separated by "---" followed by a new line
let getSections = (content) => {
	let sections = content.split(/---\n/);
	sections[0].length < 1 ? sections.splice(0,2) : null; // if file has frontmatter, remove it from sections
	return sections;
}
let getFolder = (file) => {
	let folder = file.path.replace(file.name, "");
	folder.length === 0 ? folder = "/" : null;
	return folder;
}

// replace this with a promise.all?
// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37576685/using-async-await-with-a-foreach-loop

// make files and insert content in them
async function makeFile(element, index) {
// thanks to https://gist.github.com/GitMurf/817a6c9e73e1d1e312fc1a1735edb8d6
	let filePath = getFolder(activeFile)+activeFile.basename+"-"+(index+1)+'.md';
	let userFile = this.app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(filePath);
	if(!userFile) {
		userFile = await this.app.vault.create(filePath, '');
		await app.vault.modify(userFile, await getSections(content)[index]);
		
		// remove the content from the original file and fix the positioning of HRs
		content = content.replace(getSections(content)[index], "[["+activeFile.basename+"-"+(index+1)+"]]");
		await app.vault.modify(activeFile, content);
		content = content.replace(/(?<=.)---/g, "\n\n---\n");
		await app.vault.modify(activeFile, content);
	} 
}

let makeFiles = getSections(content).forEach(makeFile);

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