MARKDOWN SYNTAX GUIDE

By Patrick

What is markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. Markdown is widely used in blogging, instant messaging, online forums, collaborative software,documentation pages, and readme files.

Basic writing and formatting syntax

How to create Headings with Markdown

To create a heading, add one to six # symbols before your heading text. The number of # you use will determine the size of the heading. # The largest heading ## The second largest heading ###### The smallest heading

The largest heading

The second largest heading

The smallest heading

Heading Best Practices

Markdown applications don’t agree on how to handle a missing space between the number signs (#) and the heading name. For compatibility, always put a space between the number signs and the heading name.

Styling text

You can indicate emphasis with bold, italic, strikethrough, subscript, or superscript text in comment fields and .md files.

Style	Syntax	Keyboard shortcut	Example	Output
Bold	** ** or __ __	Command+B (Mac) or Ctrl+B (Windows/Linux)	This is bold text	This is bold text
Italic	* * or _ _	Command+I (Mac) or Ctrl+I (Windows/Linux)	This text is italicized	This text is italicized
Strikethrough	~~ ~~		This was mistaken text	This was mistaken text
Bold and nested italic	** ** and _ _		This text is extremely important	This text is extremely important
All bold and italic	*** ***		All this text is important	All this text is important

Quoting code

You can call out code or a command within a sentence with single backticks. The text within the backticks will not be formatted.

Use `git status` to list all new or modified files that haven't yet been committed.

output

Use git status to list all new or modified files that haven't yet been committed. `

To format code or text into its own distinct block, use triple backticks.

Some basic Git commands are:

git status
git add
git commit

Links

You can create an inline link by wrapping link text in brackets [ ], and then wrapping the URL in parentheses ( ). eg: Consult [patsicko wiki on github for Markdown guide](https://github.com/patsicko/markdown-guide/wiki)

output:

Consult patsicko wiki on github for Markdown guide

Add an image

You can display an image by adding ! and wrapping the alt text in [ ]. Then wrap the link for the image in parentheses ().

Here is an example ![Patrick](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FK-7LxOXMAArWL-.jpg)

Lists

You can organize items into ordered and unordered lists.

Ordered Lists To create an ordered list, add line items with numbers followed by periods. The numbers don’t have to be in numerical order, but the list should start with the number one. eg:

Markdown

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item`

output

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

Unordered Lists

To create an unordered list, add dashes (-), asterisks (*), or plus signs (+) in front of line items. Indent one or more items to create a nested list. git status git add git commit

URLs and Email Addresses

To quickly turn a URL or email address into a link, enclose it in angle brackets. Eg:

<https://github.com/patsicko/markdown-guide/wiki>

<[email protected]>

output

https://github.com/patsicko/markdown-guide/wiki

[email protected]