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Z108-empty-link-text — Empty Link Text

Z-Code: Z108 EMPTY_LINK_TEXT · Engine: standalone · Exit: 1

zenzic check links
standalone - 2 files (2 docs, 0 assets) - 0.0s - 120 files/s
docs/guide.md:4
⚠[Z502]Page has only 25 words (minimum 50).
2│ <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
3│
4❱# Guide
5│
6│ This guide page exists on disk so that `[](guide.md)` in `index.md`
does not
docs/index.md:10:2
✘[Z108]link label is empty or whitespace-only
8│ ## Empty Link
9│
10❱- [](guide.md) — empty label (no visible text for screen readers) →
**Z108**
│
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
11│
12│ ## What Zenzic Reports
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Summary:✘ 1 errors⚠ 1 warningsℹ 0 info- 2 files with findings
FAILED: Hard errors detected. Exit code 1 is mandatory.
Refer to https://zenzic.dev/docs/reference/finding-codes for remediation · Try
'zenzic check --help' for options.
[ Suppression Audit: 0/30 (inline: 0, per-file: 0)
exit 1

The Fixture​

The fixture lives in examples/z108-empty-link-text/ in the Zenzic repository. It contains two documents:

FileRole
docs/index.mdSource — contains [](guide.md) at line 10 (empty label)
docs/guide.mdTarget — exists on disk (ensures Z101 does not fire)
.zenzic.tomlEngine: standalone, fail_under = 0

docs/index.md links to guide.md using [](guide.md) — the Markdown syntax for a link with an empty label. The target file exists on disk (so Z101 does not fire), but the link has no visible text. Screen readers announce it as the bare word "link" with no destination context, violating WCAG 2.1 §2.4.4 (Link Purpose). Sighted users see an invisible, apparently blank bullet point.

Running the Example​

# Clone the Zenzic repository — no extra installation required
cd examples/z108-empty-link-text
uvx zenzic check links

Expected output:

standalone - 2 files (2 docs, 0 assets) - 0.0s - 120 files/s

docs/guide.md:4  !  [Z502]  Page has only 25 words (minimum 50).

    2  │  <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
    3  │  
    4  ❱  # Guide
    5  │  
    6  │  This guide page exists on disk so that `[](guide.md)` in `index.md` 
does not

docs/index.md:10:2  x  [Z108]  link label is empty or whitespace-only

     8  │  ## Empty Link
     9  │  
    10  ❱  - [](guide.md) — empty label (no visible text for screen readers) → 
**Z108**
        │    
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    11  │  
    12  │  ## What Zenzic Reports

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Summary:  x 1 error  ! 1 warning  i 0 info  - 2 files with findings

FAILED: Hard errors detected. Exit code 1 is mandatory.
Refer to https://zenzic.dev/docs/reference/finding-codes for remediation · Try 
'zenzic check --help' for options.
[ Suppression Audit: 0/30 (inline: 0, per-file: 0)

Exit code: 1

Interpreting the Output​

The Z108 finding indicates a EMPTY_LINK_TEXT issue.

This error or warning is raised by Zenzic when a markdown link has empty or whitespace-only label text (e.g., [](/path)). This is a accessibility violation, as screen readers cannot announce any meaningful description to the user. In this specific example:

  • Scan Type: Link Validator
  • Severity: Error
  • Impact: Empty link text violates accessibility standards and incurs a DQS deduction of 1.0 point.

Resolve the Issue​

Exit code 1. Add descriptive, accessible label text inside the Markdown link brackets.

See Also​