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).

John Gruber

You can also convert markdown to tons of other formats, including PDF, using Pandoc.

I use Markdown as my primary format for all my notes, documentation and in various services.

Basics (which I use)

A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated by one or more blank lines. Normal paragraphs should not be indented with spaces or tabs.

---

Atx-style headers (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6) are created by prefixing the line with # characters from one to six.

H1 header - # H1 header

---

Blockquotes are indicated using email-style > angle brackets.

This is a blockquote. - > This is a blockquote.

---

For phrase emphasis I use:

• italic - *italic*
• stroke - ~~stroke~~
• bold - **bold**
• highlight - \==highlight==
• underline - <u>underline</u>
• ^superscript - <sup>superscript</sup>
• _subscript - <sub>subscript</sub>
• variable - <var>variable</var>
• mark - <mark>mark</mark>
• cite - <cite>cite</cite>
• inserted - <ins>inserted</ins>

---

For lists, I use - as lists marker for unordered lists and 1. for ordered:

• First item - - First item

• Second item - - Second item

  This is paragraph between list items.

• Third item - - Third item

  • Indented item - - Indented item
  • Indented item - - Indented item
    1. Indented item - 1. Indented item
    2. Indented item - 2. Indented item

• Fourth item - - Fourth item

1. First item - 1. First item
2. Second item - 2. Second item
3. Third item - 3. Third item
   1. Indented item - 1. Indented item
   2. Indented item - 2. Indented item
4. Fourth item - 4. Fourth item

Tables can be created using | and ---:

Formatting:

foo	bar
bar	foo

| foo | bar |
| --- | --- |
| bar | foo |

Minimal syntax:

foo	bar
bar	foo

|foo|bar|
|-|-|
|baz|bim|

Extra

Escape backtick character: `, List`1

Here’s a simple footnote,¹ and here’s a longer one.²

You can also use inline footnotes. ^[notice that the carat goes outside of the brackets on this one.]

Footnotes

TODO

• Daring Fireball: Markdown Basics
• Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation
• GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec
• MyST - Markedly Structured Text

Footnotes

1. meaningful! ↩

2. Here’s one with multiple paragraphs and code.

   Indent paragraphs to include them in the footnote.

   { my code }

   Add as many paragraphs as you like. ↩