Converts markdown to plain text with https://github.com/vmg/redcarpet

stripdown.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'redcarpet'
require 'redcarpet/render_strip'
# require 'redcarpet/render_man.rb'

# Get stdin as a string
input = STDIN.readlines.join("\n")

# Initializes a Markdown parser
markdown = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(Redcarpet::Render::ManPage)
# Render
output = markdown.render(input)
# Print output to stdout
puts output