Markdown quick reference
I use Markdown to edit this blog.
Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML).
Markdown is based on plain text / e-mail format. Often typing something in as you would in a plain text e-mail will produce what you want. Paragraphs and line breaks are the obvious ones for the text you type. Special HTML characters like < and > and & are escaped for you.
Here’s a visual quick reference guide to the rest of the Markdown syntax. The format is simply some text and the output it produces.
Headers
# Level one header #
Level one header
### Level three header ###
Level three header
Headers continue as you’d imagine, with extra hashes.
Links
[This is a link](http://www.darkcoding.net)
Blockquote
> This is quoted
This is quoted
Code
Indent text at least 4 spaces for all formatting in it to be ignored.
# This isn't displayed as header, because it is indented 4 spaces
Or inline:
Inline code is `escaped` with backticks
Inline code is escaped with backticks
Lists
Unordered lists use *, + or –
* This
* is
* a list
- This
- is
- a list
Ordered lists use number followed by period.
1. with
1. numbers
- with
- numbers
Horizontal lines
Three or more dashes
----
Emphasis
A single underscore or asterix is italic, two is bold.
_italic_ or *italic*
italic or italic
__bold__ or **bold**
bold or bold
Escaping
If you don’t want some of these rules to apply, they can be escaped by preceding the special character with a backslash.
This is \*\*not\*\* in bold.
This is **not** in bold.
See also: The full Markdown syntax