Markdown Syntax Fundamentals

Core markdown syntax for creating well-structured documents.

Headings

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Heading Best Practices

• Use a single H1 (# ) per document as the title

• Don't skip heading levels (H2 to H4)

• Keep headings concise and descriptive

• Use sentence case or title case consistently

Text Formatting

Emphasis

italic or italic bold or bold bold italic or bold italic strikethrough

Inline Code

Use backticks for inline code like const x = 1

Lists

Unordered Lists

• Item one
• Item two
  • Nested item
  • Another nested item
• Item three

• Alternative marker

• Also works

Ordered Lists

1. First item
2. Second item
   1. Nested numbered
   2. Another nested
3. Third item

Task Lists (GitHub Flavored)

• Completed task
• Incomplete task
• Another task

Links

Basic Links

Link text Link with title

Reference Links

Link text

Automatic Links

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

Internal Links (Anchors)

Jump to section

Anchor IDs are auto-generated from headings:

• Lowercase

• Spaces become hyphens

• Special characters removed

Images

Basic Images

Reference Images

Linked Images

Code Blocks

Fenced Code Blocks

function hello() {
  console.log("Hello, World!");
}

Common Language Identifiers

• javascript / js

• typescript / ts

• python / py

• bash / shell / sh

• json / yaml

• html / css

• sql

• markdown / md

Indented Code Blocks

// Four spaces or one tab
function example() {
  return true;
}

Blockquotes

Basic Blockquotes

This is a blockquote. It can span multiple lines.

Blockquotes can contain

Multiple paragraphs.

Nested Blockquotes

Outer quote

Nested quote

Deeply nested

Blockquotes with Other Elements

Heading in blockquote

• List item
• Another item

code block

Horizontal Rules

Use three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores.

Escaping Characters

* Not italic * # Not a heading [Not a link] `Not code`

Characters that can be escaped:
` * _ { } [ ] ( )

. ! |

Line Breaks

Line one with two trailing spaces Line two (hard break)

Line one

Line two (paragraph break)

Best Practices

• Consistent formatting: Pick a style and stick to it

• Blank lines: Add blank lines before and after:

• Headings

• Code blocks

• Lists

• Blockquotes

• Line length: Consider wrapping at 80-120 characters for readability

• Alt text: Always provide meaningful alt text for images

• Link text: Use descriptive link text, not "click here"

• Code highlighting: Always specify language for fenced code blocks