guide

Markdown Guide

The Complete Markdown Tutorial#

What is Markdown?#

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents.

Why Use Markdown?#

There are several compelling reasons to use Markdown:

  • One of possibility of necessity but powerful enough to out compete other competitors (Or historical legacies)

  • [Why does a exhausting-posibility language exists]: futureLinks

Basic Syntax#

Headings#

Headings are created by adding number signs (#) before your heading text. The number of # symbols indicates the heading level:

# Heading Level 1
## Heading Level 2
### Heading Level 3
#### Heading Level 4
##### Heading Level 5
###### Heading Level 6

Note: Don’t forget to add a space between the # and your text!

Text Formatting#

Bold#

To make text bold, add two asterisks or underscores before and after the text:

**This text is bold**
__This text is also bold__

Italic#

For italic text, use a single asterisk or underscore:

*This text is italic*
_This text is also italic_

Bold and Italic#

To make text both bold and italic, use three asterisks or underscores:

***This text is bold and italic***
___This text is also bold and italic___

Strikethrough#

To strike through text, use two tildes:

~~Strikethrough text~~

Lists#

Unordered Lists#

Create unordered lists using asterisks, plus signs, or hyphens:

- First item
- Second item
- Third item

* First item
* Second item
* Third item

+ First item
+ Second item
+ Third item

Note: Don’t forget to add a space after the list marker!

Ordered Lists#

For ordered lists, use numbers followed by periods:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

You can also use just the number 1 for all items, and Markdown will automatically number them correctly:

1. First item
1. Second item
1. Third item

Nested Lists#

Create nested lists by indenting items:

- First level
  - Second level
    - Third level

Links#

Create links by wrapping the link text in brackets and the URL in parentheses:

[Visit Markdown Guide](https://www.markdownguide.org)

To display the URL itself, you can simply write it out or wrap it in angle brackets:

https://www.markdownguide.org

Links with Titles#

Add a title (tooltip) to your link by adding a title attribute in quotes:

[Visit Markdown Guide](https://www.markdownguide.org "The Comprehensive Markdown Guide")

Images#

Insert images with an exclamation mark, followed by alt text in brackets, and the image path in parentheses:

![Alt text for the image](path/to/image.jpg)

You can also add a title to the image:

![Alt text](path/to/image.jpg "Image title")

Blockquotes#

Create blockquotes with the greater-than symbol:

> This is a blockquote.

Nested Blockquotes#

> Outer blockquote
>> Nested blockquote

Code#

Inline Code#

For inline code, wrap the text in backticks:

Use the `print()` function in Python.

Code Blocks#

Create code blocks by indenting text with four spaces or a tab:

# This is a code block
print("Hello, world!")

Horizontal Rules#

Create horizontal rules with three or more asterisks, hyphens, or underscores:

***
---
___

Extended Syntax#

These elements extend Markdown’s capabilities but may not be supported by all applications.

Tables#

Create tables using pipes and hyphens:

| Header 1 | Header 2 |
| -------- | -------- |
| Cell 1   | Cell 2   |
| Cell 3   | Cell 4   |

Alignment#

Control column alignment with colons:

| Left-aligned | Centered | Right-aligned |
| :----------- | :------: | ------------: |
| Left         | Center   | Right         |

Real life examples#

```
Code block without syntax highlighting
# Code block with syntax highlighting
def hello_world():
    print("Hello, world!")

### Task Lists

Create task lists with brackets and spaces for unchecked items, or `x` for checked items:

```markdown
- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Incomplete task

Footnotes#

Add footnotes with a caret and identifier in brackets, then define the footnote later:

Here's a sentence with a footnote.[^1]

[^1]: This is the footnote content.

Definition Lists#

Some Markdown implementations support definition lists:

term
: definition

Emoji#

Some Markdown applications support emoji shortcodes:

That is so funny! :joy:

Highlight#

Some Markdown implementations support text highlighting:

==highlighted text==

Subscript and Superscript#

Some Markdown implementations support subscript and superscript:

H~2~O (subscript)
X^2^ (superscript)

Markdown Applications#

There are numerous applications that support Markdown:

Text Editors and IDEs#

  • Visual Studio Code
  • Atom
  • Sublime Text
  • Vim/Neovim

Dedicated Markdown Editors#

  • Typora
  • Obsidian
  • iA Writer
  • Markdown Monster

Note-Taking Applications#

  • Joplin
  • Notion
  • Bear
  • Obsidian

Online Markdown Editors#

  • Dillinger
  • StackEdit
  • HackMD
  • Markdown Live Preview

Markdown Flavors#

Different applications implement slightly different versions of Markdown, known as “flavors”.[5] Some common flavors include:

  • CommonMark: A standardized specification of Markdown
  • GitHub Flavored Markdown: Used on GitHub, adds features like tables and task lists
  • MultiMarkdown: Adds support for tables, footnotes, and more
  • Markdown Extra: Adds features like tables, fenced code blocks, and definition lists

Tips for Working with Markdown#

Escaping Characters#

If you want to display a character that is normally used for Markdown formatting, you can escape it with a backslash:

\*This text will have asterisks and not be italic\*

Combining HTML with Markdown#

Most Markdown processors allow you to use HTML within your Markdown documents:

This is a regular paragraph.


  
    HTML table
    in Markdown
  


Back to Markdown.

Note that within HTML blocks, Markdown formatting is not processed.[2]