Markdown cheatsheet

(Also see remarkable, the markdown parser created by the author of this cheatsheet)

Table of contents
• Standard features

– Headings
– Paragraphs
– Breaks
– Horizontal Rule
– Emphasis
– Bold
– Italics
– Blockquotes
– Lists
– Unordered
– Ordered
– Time-saving Tip
– Code
– Inline code
– ”Fenced” code block
– Indented code
– Syntax highlighting
– Links
– Autolinks
– Inline links
– Link titles
– Named Anchors
– Images
– Raw HTML
– Escaping with backslashes

• Non-standard features
 – Strikethrough
– Todo List
– Tables
– Aligning cells
– Footnotes
– Inline footnotes
– Additional Information
– What is markdown?
– Other Resources
– Contributing

<br> <br>
Standard features

The following markdown features are defined by the CommonMark standard, and are generally
supported by all markdown parsers and editors.

Headings

Headings from h1 through h6 are constructed with a # for each level:

“‘
h1 Heading

h2 Heading

h3 Heading

h4 Heading

h5 Heading

h6 Heading “‘

Renders to:
h1 Heading

h2 Heading

h3 Heading

h4 Heading

h5 Heading

h6 Heading And this HTML:

html <h1>h1 Heading</h1> <h2>h2 Heading</h2> <h3>h3 Heading</h3> <h4>h4 Heading</h4>

<h5>h5 Heading</h5> <h6>h6 Heading</h6>

A note about ”Setext” Headings

Note that this document only describes ATX headings, as it is the preferred syntax for writing head-
ings. However, the CommonMark specification also describes Setext headings, a heading format
that is denoted by a line of dashes or equal signes following the heading. It’s recommended by
the author of this guide that you use only ATX headings, as they are easier to write and read in text
editors.

<br> <br>

Paragraphs

Body copy written as normal plain-text will be wrapped with <p></p> tags in the rendered HTML.

So this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, graecis denique ei vel, at duo primis mandamus. Et legere
ocurreret pri, animal tacimates complectitur ad cum. Cu eum inermis inimicus efficiendi.
Labore officiis his ex, soluta officiis concludaturque ei qui, vide sensibus vim ad.

Renders to this HTML:

html <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, graecis denique ei vel, at duo primis mandamus. Et
legere ocurreret pri, animal tacimates complectitur ad cum. Cu eum inermis inimicus efficie
Labore officiis his ex, soluta officiis concludaturque ei qui, vide sensibus vim ad.</p>

<br> <br>

Breaks

You can use multiple consecutive newline characters (\n) to create extra spacing between sections
in a markdown document. However, if you need to ensure that extra newlines are not collapsed,
you can use as many HTML <br> elements as you want.

Horizontal Rule

The HTML <hr> element is for creating a ”thematic break” between paragraph-level elements. In
markdown, you can use of the following for this purpose:

• ___: three consecutive underscores

• ---: three consecutive dashes

• ***: three consecutive asterisks

Renders to:
<br> <br>

Emphasis

Bold

For emphasizing a snippet of text with a heavier font-weight.

The following snippet of text is rendered as bold text.

**rendered as bold text** renders to:

rendered as bold text

and this HTML

html <strong>rendered as bold text</strong>

Italics

For emphasizing a snippet of text with italics.

The following snippet of text is rendered as italicized text.

_rendered as italicized text_

renders to:

rendered as italicized text

and this HTML:

html <em>rendered as italicized text</em>

Blockquotes

Used for defining a section of quoting text from another source, within your document.

To create a blockquote, use > before any text you want to quote.

> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer posuere erat a ante

Renders to:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer posuere erat a ante.

And the generated HTML from a markdown parser might look something like this:

html <blockquote> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer
posuere erat a ante.</p> </blockquote>

Blockquotes can also be nested:

> Donec massa lacus, ultricies a ullamcorper in, fermentum sed augue. Nunc augue augue,
aliquam non hendrerit ac, commodo vel nisi. >> Sed adipiscing elit vitae augue consectetur
a gravida nunc vehicula. Donec auctor odio non est accumsan facilisis. Aliquam id turpis
in dolor tincidunt mollis ac eu diam. >>> Donec massa lacus, ultricies a ullamcorper
in, fermentum sed augue. Nunc augue augue, aliquam non hendrerit ac, commodo vel nisi.

Renders to:

Donec massa lacus, ultricies a ullamcorper in, fermentum sed augue. Nunc augue au-
gue, aliquam non hendrerit ac, commodo vel nisi. > Sed adipiscing elit vitae augue
consectetur a gravida nunc vehicula. Donec auctor odio non est accumsan facilisis.
Aliquam id turpis in dolor tincidunt mollis ac eu diam. >> Donec massa lacus, ultricies
 a ullamcorper in, fermentum sed augue. Nunc augue augue, aliquam non hendrerit ac,
commodo vel nisi.

<br> <br>

Lists

Unordered

A list of items in which the order of the items does not explicitly matter.

You may use any of the following symbols to denote bullets for each list item:

* valid bullet - valid bullet + valid bullet

For example

+ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet + Consectetur adipiscing elit + Integer molestie lorem at
massa + Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet + Nulla volutpat aliquam velit - Phasellus iaculi
neque - Purus sodales ultricies - Vestibulum laoreet porttitor sem - Ac tristique libero
volutpat at + Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel + Aenean sit amet erat nunc + Eget porttit
lorem Renders to:

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

• Consectetur adipiscing elit
• Integer molestie lorem at massa
• Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet
• Nulla volutpat aliquam velit

– Phasellus iaculis neque

– Purus sodales ultricies
– Vestibulum laoreet porttitor sem
– Ac tristique libero volutpat at

• Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel

• Aenean sit amet erat nunc
• Eget porttitor lorem

And this HTML

html <ul> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</li> <li>Consectetur adipiscing elit</li>
<li>Integer molestie lorem at massa</li> <li>Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet</li>
<li>Nulla volutpat aliquam velit <ul> <li>Phasellus iaculis neque</li> <li>Purus sodale
ultricies</li> <li>Vestibulum laoreet porttitor sem</li> <li>Ac tristique libero volutpa
at</li> </ul> </li> <li>Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel</li> <li>Aenean sit amet
erat nunc</li> <li>Eget porttitor lorem</li> </ul>
Ordered

A list of items in which the order of items does explicitly matter.

1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet 2. Consectetur adipiscing elit 3. Integer molestie lorem
at massa 4. Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet 5. Nulla volutpat aliquam velit 6. Faucibus
porta lacus fringilla vel 7. Aenean sit amet erat nunc 8. Eget porttitor lorem Renders
to:

1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

2. Consectetur adipiscing elit

3. Integer molestie lorem at massa

4. Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet

5. Nulla volutpat aliquam velit

6. Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel

7. Aenean sit amet erat nunc

8. Eget porttitor lorem

And this HTML:

html <ol> <li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</li> <li>Consectetur adipiscing elit</li>
<li>Integer molestie lorem at massa</li> <li>Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet</li>
<li>Nulla volutpat aliquam velit</li> <li>Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel</li> <li>A
sit amet erat nunc</li> <li>Eget porttitor lorem</li> </ol>

Time-saving Tip

Sometimes lists change, and when they do it’s a pain to re-order all of the numbers. Markdown
solves this problem by allowing you to simply use 1. before each item in the list.

For example:

1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet 1. Consectetur adipiscing elit 1. Integer molestie lorem
at massa 1. Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet 1. Nulla volutpat aliquam velit 1. Faucibus
porta lacus fringilla vel 1. Aenean sit amet erat nunc 1. Eget porttitor lorem

Automatically re-numbers the items and renders to:

1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

2. Consectetur adipiscing elit

3. Integer molestie lorem at massa

4. Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet

5. Nulla volutpat aliquam velit

 6. Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel

7. Aenean sit amet erat nunc

8. Eget porttitor lorem

<br> <br>

Code

Inline code

Wrap inline snippets of code with a single backtick: <code>‘</code>.

For example, to show <div></div> inline with other text, just wrap it in backticks.

html For example, to show `<div></div>` inline with other text, just wrap it in backticks

”Fenced” code block

Three consecutive backticks, referred to as ”code fences”, are used to denote multiple lines of code:
<code>“‘</code>.

For example, this:

<pre>
```html
Example text here...
```
</pre>

Appears like this when viewed in a browser:

Example text here...

And renders to something like this in HTML:

html <pre> <p>Example text here...</p> </pre>

Indented code

You may also indent several lines of code by at least four spaces, but this is not recommended as
it is harder to read, harder to maintain, and doesn’t support syntax highlighting.
Example:

// Some comments line 1 of code line 2 of code line 3 of code

// Some comments
line 1 of code
line 2 of code
line 3 of code

Syntax highlighting

Various markdown parsers, such as remarkable, support syntax highlighting with fenced code
blocks. To activate the correct styling for the language inside the code block, simply add the file ex-
tension of the language you want to use directly after the first code ”fence”: <code>“‘js</code>,
and syntax highlighting will automatically be applied in the rendered HTML (if supported by the
parser). For example, to apply syntax highlighting to JavaScript code:

<pre>
```js
grunt.initConfig({
assemble: {
options: {
assets: 'docs/assets',
data: 'src/data/*.{json,yml}',
helpers: 'src/custom-helpers.js',
partials: ['src/partials/**/*.{hbs,md}']
},
pages: {
options: {
layout: 'default.hbs'
},
files: {
'./': ['src/templates/pages/index.hbs']
}
}
}
});
```
</pre>

Which renders to:

‘js grunt.initConfig({ assemble: { options: { assets: 'docs/assets', data: 'src/data/*.{js

helpers: 'src/custom-helpers.js', partials: ['src/partials/**/*.{hbs,md}'] }, pages: {
options: { layout: 'default.hbs' }, files: { './': ['src/templates/pages/index.hbs']
} } } });

And this complicated HTML is an example of what might be generated by the markdown parser,
when syntax highlighting is applied by a library like highlight.js:
xml <div class="highlight"><pre><span class="nx">grunt</span><span class="p">.</span><
class="nx">initConfig</span><span class="p">({</span> <span class="nx">assemble</span>
class="o">:</span> <span class="p">{</span> <span class="nx">options</span><span
class="o">:</span> <span class="p">{</span> <span class="nx">assets</span><span class=
<span class="s1">'docs/assets'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="nx">data</s
class="o">:</span> <span class="s1">'src/data/*.{json,yml}'</span><span class="p">,</sp
<span class="nx">helpers</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="s1">'src/custom-he
class="p">,</span> <span class="nx">partials</span><span class="o">:</span> <span
class="p">[</span><span class="s1">'src/partials/**/*.{hbs,md}'</span><span class="p">]
<span class="p">},</span> <span class="nx">pages</span><span class="o">:</span> <span
class="p">{</span> <span class="nx">options</span><span class="o">:</span> <span
class="p">{</span> <span class="nx">layout</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class=
<span class="p">},</span> <span class="nx">files</span><span class="o">:</span> <span
class="p">{</span> <span class="s1">'./'</span><span class="o">:</span> <span class="p
class="s1">'src/templates/pages/index.hbs'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="p
<span class="p">}</span> <span class="p">}</span> <span class="p">});</span> </pre><

<br> <br>

Links

Autolinks

Autolinks are absolute URIs and email addresses inside < and >. They are parsed as links, where
the URI or email address itself is used as the link’s label.

<http://foo.bar.baz>

Renders to:

http://foo.bar.baz

URIs or email addresses that are not wrapped in angle brackets are not recognized as valid autolinks
by markdown parsers.

Inline links

[Assemble](http://assemble.io)

Renders to (hover over the link, there is no tooltip):

Assemble

HTML:

html <a href="http://assemble.io">Assemble</a>

Link titles

[Upstage](https://github.com/upstage/ "Visit Upstage!")

Renders to (hover over the link, there should be a tooltip):

Upstage

HTML:

html <a href="https://github.com/upstage/" title="Visit Upstage!">Upstage</a>

Named Anchors

Named anchors enable you to jump to the specified anchor point on the same page. For example,
each of these chapters:

“‘
Table of Contents

• Chapter 1

• Chapter 2

• Chapter 3 “‘

will jump to these sections:

“‘

Chapter 1 <a name="chapter-1"></a>

Content for chapter one.

Chapter 2 <a name="chapter-2"></a>

Content for chapter one.

Chapter 3 <a name="chapter-3"></a>

Content for chapter one. “‘

Anchor placement

Note that placement of achors is arbitrary, you can put them anywhere you want, not just in head-
ings. This makes adding cross-references easy when writing markdown.

<br> <br>

Images

Images have a similar syntax to links but include a preceding exclamation point.
 

or


Like links, Images also have a footnote style syntax

![Alt text][id]

With a reference later in the document defining the URL location:

“‘

“‘

Raw HTML

Any text between < and > that looks like an HTML tag will be parsed as a raw HTML tag and
rendered to HTML without escaping.

(Note that no attempt is made by the markdown parser to validate your HTML).

Example:

**Visit <a href="https://github.com">Jon Schlinkert's GitHub Profile</a>.**

Renders to:

Visit <a href="https://github.com">Jon Schlinkert’s GitHub Profile</a>.

Escaping with backslashes

Any ASCII punctuation character may be escaped using a single backslash.

Example:

\*this is not italic*

Renders to:

*this is not italic*

Non-standard features

The following markdown features are not defined by the CommonMark specification, but they are
commonly supported by markdown parsers and editors, as well as sites like GitHub and GitLab.

Strikethrough

In GFM you can do strickthroughs.

~~Strike through this text.~~ Which renders to:

~~Strike through this text.~~

<br> <br>

Todo List

- [ ] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet - [ ] Consectetur adipiscing elit - [ ] Integer molestie
lorem at massa

Renders to:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

Consectetur adipiscing elit
Integer molestie lorem at massa

Links in todo lists

- [ ] [foo](#bar) - [ ] [baz](#qux) - [ ] [fez](#faz)

Renders to:

foo
baz
fez

<br> <br>
Tables

Tables are created by adding pipes as dividers between each cell, and by adding a line of dashes
(also separated by bars) beneath the header (this line of dashes is required).

• pipes do not need to be vertically aligned.

• pipes on the left and right sides of the table are sometimes optional

• three or more dashes must be used for each cell in the separator row

Example:

| Option | Description | | ------ | ----------- | | data | path to data files to supply the
data that will be passed into templates. | | engine | engine to be used for processing templ
Handlebars is the default. | | ext | extension to be used for dest files. |

Renders to:

| Option | Description | | —— | ———– | | data | path to data files to supply the data that will be
passed into templates. | | engine | engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is the
default. | | ext | extension to be used for dest files. |

And this HTML:

html <table> <tr> <th>Option</th> <th>Description</th> </tr> <tr> <td>data</td>

<td>path to data files to supply the data that will be passed into templates.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>engine</td> <td>engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is
the default.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>ext</td> <td>extension to be used for dest files.</t
</tr> </table>

Aligning cells

Center text in a column

To center the text in a column, add a colon to the middle of the dashes in the row beneath the
header.

| Option | Description | | -:- | -:- | | data | path to data files to supply the data that
will be passed into templates. | | engine | engine to be used for processing templates.
Handlebars is the default. | | ext | extension to be used for dest files. |

| Option | Description | | -:- | -:- | | data | path to data files to supply the data that will be passed
into templates. | | engine | engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is the default.
| | ext | extension to be used for dest files. |

Right-align the text in a column

To right-align the text in a column, add a colon to the middle of the dashes in the row beneath the
header.
 | Option | Description | | ------:| -----------:| | data | path to data files to supply the
data that will be passed into templates. | | engine | engine to be used for processing templ
Handlebars is the default. | | ext | extension to be used for dest files. |

Renders to:

| Option | Description | | ——:| ———–:| | data | path to data files to supply the data that will be
passed into templates. | | engine | engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is the
default. | | ext | extension to be used for dest files. |

<br> <br>

Footnotes
Markdown footnotes are not officially defined by the CommonMark specification. How-
ever, the feature is supported by remarkable and other markdown parsers, and it’s very
useful when available.

Markdown footnotes are denoted by an opening square bracket, followed by a caret, followed by a
number and a closing square bracket: [^1].

This is some text[^1] with a footnote reference link.

The accompanying text for the footnote can be added elsewhere in the document using the following
syntax:

[^1]: "This is a footnote"

When rendered to HTML, footnotes are ”stacked” by the markdown parser at the bottom of the file,
in the order in which the footnotes were defined.

Inline footnotes

Some markdown parsers also support inline footnotes. Inline footnotes are written using the fol-
lowing syntax: [^2 "This is an inline footnote"].

<br> <br>

Additional Information

What is markdown?

Markdown is ”a plain text format for writing structured documents, based on formatting
conventions from email and usenet” – CommonMark

Sites like GitHub and Stackoverflow have popularized the use markdown as a plain-text alternative
to traditional text editors, for writing things like documentation and comments.
Other Resources

• We’ve been trained to make paper - A great blog post about why markdown frees us from
the shackles of proprietary formats imposed by bloated word processors, such as Microsoft
Word.

• CommonMark - ”A strongly defined, highly compatible specification of Markdown”

Contributing

All contributions are welcome!

Please let me know if you find typos, grammar or spelling mistakes, or have a suggestion for improv-
ing the cheatsheet (since GitHub does not send notifications for gists, it might be better to contact
me on twitter, at @jonschlinkert).

Thanks for reading!