Markdown cheatsheet

Getting started

About

Markdown is a plain-text format for structured documents. This reference covers CommonMark and GFM syntax, from headings to tables and footnotes.

CommonMark specification (spec.commonmark.org)
GitHub Flavored Markdown specification (github.github.com)
Basic writing and formatting syntax (docs.github.com)

Basic example

# Title

A paragraph with **bold**, *italic*, and `code`.

- First item
- Second item

[Link](https://commonmark.org)

See: Markdown reference

Headings

ATX headings

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

One to six #s, then a space or end of line; seven or more stay literal.

## Heading 2 ##

Closing #s need a space before them.

See: ATX headings

Setext headings

Heading 1
=========

Heading 2
---------

Either underline can be any length. It must sit directly under the text; with a blank line between, --- becomes a thematic break.

See: Setext headings

Text

Emphasis and strikethrough

*italic* or _italic_
**bold** or __bold__
***bold italic***
~~strikethrough~~

_ does not emphasize inside words (foo_bar_baz); * does (foo*bar*baz).

Strikethrough is a GFM extension; one or two tildes, three or more stay literal.

See: Emphasis, Strikethrough

Escaping

\*not italic\*
\`not code\`
\# not a heading

A backslash escapes any ASCII punctuation; before anything else it stays literal.

See: Backslash escapes

Hard line breaks

First line  
Second line

Next line\
also breaks

Line 1 ends in two spaces. Two or more spaces or a trailing backslash insert a <br>; a blank line starts a new paragraph.

See: Hard line breaks

Lists

Bullet lists

- Item
- Item
  - Nested item

-, *, and + all work; changing the marker starts a new list. Nested items align to the parent's content column, and blank lines between items make the list loose (each item wrapped in <p>).

See: List items

Ordered lists

1. First
2. Second

3. Starts at three
4. Next

The first number sets start; later numbers are ignored. 1) also works; one to nine digits, and changing the delimiter starts a new list.

See: Lists

Task lists

- [ ] Open
- [x] Done
  - [X] Nested done

A GFM extension; the marker must start the item's first paragraph.

See: Task list items

Links

Inline links

[text](https://example.com)
[text](https://example.com "Title")
[text](</my file.md>)

Angle brackets allow spaces in the destination.

See: Links

Reference links

[CommonMark][cm]
[CommonMark][]
[CommonMark]

[cm]: https://spec.commonmark.org/0.31.2/
[CommonMark]: https://commonmark.org/

Definitions may appear anywhere and are not rendered. [] reuses the label; no brackets is the shortcut form.

See: Link reference definitions

Autolinks

<https://example.com>
<me@example.com>

https://example.com
www.example.com
me@example.com

Angle forms are CommonMark; bare URLs, www. hosts and emails are the GFM extension. Trailing punctuation stays outside the link.

See: Autolinks, GFM autolinks

Footnotes

Here is a note.[^1]

[^1]: Footnote text.

A GitHub extension, absent from GFM 0.29 but rendered by GitHub and devhints. Notes appear at the bottom regardless of source position.

See: Footnotes

Images

Inline images

![Alt text](/img/logo.png)
![Alt text](/img/logo.png "Logo")

See: Images

Reference images

![Alt text][logo]

[logo]: /img/logo.png "Logo"

See: Images, Link reference definitions

Data URIs

![Dot][dot]

[dot]: <data:image/png;base64,...>

Angle brackets are optional; use them when the URI has spaces or unbalanced parentheses.

See: Data URLs, Link reference definitions

Code

Inline code

`code`
`` `code` ``

A code span ends with a backtick run of the same length; one space inside each end is stripped.

See: Code spans

Fenced code

```js
const x = 1
```

The info string's first word is the language; a backtick info string cannot contain backticks.

See: Fenced code blocks

Nested code fences

````markdown
```js
const x = 1
```
````

A fence inside another needs a longer outer fence, or tildes. The closing fence must match the opening character and be at least as long.

See: Creating and highlighting code blocks

Indented code

    four spaces
    make a code block

Four spaces indent a code block in CommonMark.

See: Indented code blocks

Blocks

Blockquotes

> A quote
> continues here.
>
> > Nested quote

> may be omitted on lazy paragraph continuation lines. A > on the blank line keeps one quote; without it they become two.

See: Block quotes

Horizontal rules

---
***
___

Three or more matching -, *, or _, optionally spaced. Directly under text, --- is a Setext H2 instead.

See: Thematic breaks

HTML

Press <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>C</kbd>.

<div class="note">
  <p>Raw HTML block.</p>
</div>

Inline tags pass through. A <div> block runs to a blank line and its contents are not parsed as Markdown. GitHub filters <script>, <style> and similar tags.

See: Raw HTML, HTML blocks

Tables

Basic table

| Name  | Value |
| ----- | ----- |
| Alpha | 1     |
| Beta  | 2     |

Header and delimiter rows must match in cell count; body rows pad or truncate. Cells hold inline content; escape a pipe as \|.

See: Tables

Alignment

| Left | Center | Right |
| :--- | :----: | ----: |
| a    | b      | c     |

See: Tables