> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily-ms-ws-body-url-encode.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# MarkdownTextFilter

> Converts Markdown-formatted text to TTS-friendly plain text while preserving structure

## Overview

`MarkdownTextFilter` transforms Markdown-formatted text into plain text that's suitable for text-to-speech (TTS) systems. It intelligently removes formatting elements while preserving the content structure, including proper spacing and list formatting.

This filter is especially valuable for LLM-generated content, which often includes Markdown formatting that would sound unnatural if read aloud by a TTS system.

## Constructor

```python theme={null}
filter = MarkdownTextFilter(params=InputParams())
```

<ParamField path="params" type="InputParams">
  Configuration parameters for the filter
</ParamField>

### Input Parameters

Configure the filter behavior with these options:

<ParamField path="enable_text_filter" type="bool" default="True">
  Whether the filter is active (when False, text passes through unchanged)
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="filter_code" type="bool" default="False">
  Whether to remove code blocks from the output
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="filter_tables" type="bool" default="False">
  Whether to remove Markdown tables from the output
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="filter_repeated_sequences" type="bool" default="True">
  Whether to remove repeated sequences of 5 or more identical characters from
  the output
</ParamField>

## Features

The filter handles these Markdown elements:

* **Basic Formatting**: Removes `*italic*`, `**bold**`, and other formatting markers
* **Code**: Removes inline code ticks and optionally removes code blocks
* **Lists**: Preserves numbered lists while removing Markdown formatting
* **Tables**: Optionally removes Markdown tables
* **Repeated Characters**: Optionally removes sequences of 5+ repeated characters
* **Whitespace**: Carefully preserves meaningful whitespace for natural speech
* **HTML**: Removes HTML tags and converts entities to their plain text equivalents

## Usage Examples

### Basic Usage with TTS Service

```python theme={null}
from pipecat.utils.text.markdown_text_filter import MarkdownTextFilter
from pipecat.services.cartesia.tts import CartesiaTTSService

# Create the filter
md_filter = MarkdownTextFilter()

# Use with TTS service
tts = CartesiaTTSService(
    api_key=os.getenv("CARTESIA_API_KEY"),
    voice_id="voice_id_here",
    text_filters=[md_filter]
)
```

### Custom Configuration

```python theme={null}
# Create filter that removes code blocks and tables
md_filter = MarkdownTextFilter(
    params=MarkdownTextFilter.InputParams(
        filter_code=True,
        filter_tables=True
    )
)
```

### Preserving Repeated Characters

```python theme={null}
# Keep repeated characters intact (e.g., for phone extension numbers like 22222)
md_filter = MarkdownTextFilter(
    params=MarkdownTextFilter.InputParams(
        filter_repeated_sequences=False
    )
)
```

## What Gets Removed

| Markdown Feature | Example | Result |
| - | - | - |
| Bold | `**important**` | `important` |
| Italic | `*emphasized*` | `emphasized` |
| Headers | `## Section` | `Section` |
| Code (inline) | `` `code` `` | `code` |
| Code blocks (when enabled) | ` ```python\ncode\n``` ` | ` ` |
| Tables (when enabled) | `\|A\|B\|\n\|--\|--\|` | ` ` |
| HTML tags | `<em>text</em>` | `text` |
| Repeated characters (when enabled) | `22222` | *(removed)* |

## Notes

* Preserves sentence structure and readability
* Maintains whitespace that affects speech prosody
* Handles streaming text with partial Markdown elements
* Efficiently converts HTML entities to plain text characters
* Smart handling of code blocks and tables with state tracking
* Integrates directly with TTS services in the Pipecat pipeline