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author | Yuri Takhteyev <yuri@freewisdom.org> | 2008-08-26 00:36:50 -0700 |
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committer | Yuri Takhteyev <yuri@freewisdom.org> | 2008-08-26 00:36:50 -0700 |
commit | ebefa9bb10a0b3aebb134ed8fb06b79f97040999 (patch) | |
tree | 89c1fa439ee848c2a0770f11cba3335cd4b4cbbf /MarkdownTest/Tests_2007/Markdown Documentation - Syntax.text | |
parent | 77aed9225bc0fbb90459a2ead7d99de9aaf1796f (diff) | |
download | markdown-ebefa9bb10a0b3aebb134ed8fb06b79f97040999.tar.gz markdown-ebefa9bb10a0b3aebb134ed8fb06b79f97040999.tar.bz2 markdown-ebefa9bb10a0b3aebb134ed8fb06b79f97040999.zip |
Moving Tests to Tests_2007.
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diff --git a/MarkdownTest/Tests_2007/Markdown Documentation - Syntax.text b/MarkdownTest/Tests_2007/Markdown Documentation - Syntax.text new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57360a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/MarkdownTest/Tests_2007/Markdown Documentation - Syntax.text @@ -0,0 +1,888 @@ +Markdown: Syntax +================ + +<ul id="ProjectSubmenu"> + <li><a href="/projects/markdown/" title="Markdown Project Page">Main</a></li> + <li><a href="/projects/markdown/basics" title="Markdown Basics">Basics</a></li> + <li><a class="selected" title="Markdown Syntax Documentation">Syntax</a></li> + <li><a href="/projects/markdown/license" title="Pricing and License Information">License</a></li> + <li><a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Online Markdown Web Form">Dingus</a></li> +</ul> + + +* [Overview](#overview) + * [Philosophy](#philosophy) + * [Inline HTML](#html) + * [Automatic Escaping for Special Characters](#autoescape) +* [Block Elements](#block) + * [Paragraphs and Line Breaks](#p) + * [Headers](#header) + * [Blockquotes](#blockquote) + * [Lists](#list) + * [Code Blocks](#precode) + * [Horizontal Rules](#hr) +* [Span Elements](#span) + * [Links](#link) + * [Emphasis](#em) + * [Code](#code) + * [Images](#img) +* [Miscellaneous](#misc) + * [Backslash Escapes](#backslash) + * [Automatic Links](#autolink) + + +**Note:** This document is itself written using Markdown; you +can [see the source for it by adding '.text' to the URL][src]. + + [src]: /projects/markdown/syntax.text + +* * * + +<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2> + +<h3 id="philosophy">Philosophy</h3> + +Markdown is intended to be as easy-to-read and easy-to-write as is feasible. + +Readability, however, is emphasized above all else. A Markdown-formatted +document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking +like it's been marked up with tags or formatting instructions. While +Markdown's syntax has been influenced by several existing text-to-HTML +filters -- including [Setext] [1], [atx] [2], [Textile] [3], [reStructuredText] [4], +[Grutatext] [5], and [EtText] [6] -- the single biggest source of +inspiration for Markdown's syntax is the format of plain text email. + + [1]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/mirror/setext.html + [2]: http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/atx/ + [3]: http://textism.com/tools/textile/ + [4]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html + [5]: http://www.triptico.com/software/grutatxt.html + [6]: http://ettext.taint.org/doc/ + +To this end, Markdown's syntax is comprised entirely of punctuation +characters, which punctuation characters have been carefully chosen so +as to look like what they mean. E.g., asterisks around a word actually +look like \*emphasis\*. Markdown lists look like, well, lists. Even +blockquotes look like quoted passages of text, assuming you've ever +used email. + + + +<h3 id="html">Inline HTML</h3> + +Markdown's syntax is intended for one purpose: to be used as a +format for *writing* for the web. + +Markdown is not a replacement for HTML, or even close to it. Its +syntax is very small, corresponding only to a very small subset of +HTML tags. The idea is *not* to create a syntax that makes it easier +to insert HTML tags. In my opinion, HTML tags are already easy to +insert. The idea for Markdown is to make it easy to read, write, and +edit prose. HTML is a *publishing* format; Markdown is a *writing* +format. Thus, Markdown's formatting syntax only addresses issues that +can be conveyed in plain text. + +For any markup that is not covered by Markdown's syntax, you simply +use HTML itself. There's no need to preface it or delimit it to +indicate that you're switching from Markdown to HTML; you just use +the tags. + +The only restrictions are that block-level HTML elements -- e.g. `<div>`, +`<table>`, `<pre>`, `<p>`, etc. -- must be separated from surrounding +content by blank lines, and the start and end tags of the block should +not be indented with tabs or spaces. Markdown is smart enough not +to add extra (unwanted) `<p>` tags around HTML block-level tags. + +For example, to add an HTML table to a Markdown article: + + This is a regular paragraph. + + <table> + <tr> + <td>Foo</td> + </tr> + </table> + + This is another regular paragraph. + +Note that Markdown formatting syntax is not processed within block-level +HTML tags. E.g., you can't use Markdown-style `*emphasis*` inside an +HTML block. + +Span-level HTML tags -- e.g. `<span>`, `<cite>`, or `<del>` -- can be +used anywhere in a Markdown paragraph, list item, or header. If you +want, you can even use HTML tags instead of Markdown formatting; e.g. if +you'd prefer to use HTML `<a>` or `<img>` tags instead of Markdown's +link or image syntax, go right ahead. + +Unlike block-level HTML tags, Markdown syntax *is* processed within +span-level tags. + + +<h3 id="autoescape">Automatic Escaping for Special Characters</h3> + +In HTML, there are two characters that demand special treatment: `<` +and `&`. Left angle brackets are used to start tags; ampersands are +used to denote HTML entities. If you want to use them as literal +characters, you must escape them as entities, e.g. `<`, and +`&`. + +Ampersands in particular are bedeviling for web writers. If you want to +write about 'AT&T', you need to write '`AT&T`'. You even need to +escape ampersands within URLs. Thus, if you want to link to: + + http://images.google.com/images?num=30&q=larry+bird + +you need to encode the URL as: + + http://images.google.com/images?num=30&q=larry+bird + +in your anchor tag `href` attribute. Needless to say, this is easy to +forget, and is probably the single most common source of HTML validation +errors in otherwise well-marked-up web sites. + +Markdown allows you to use these characters naturally, taking care of +all the necessary escaping for you. If you use an ampersand as part of +an HTML entity, it remains unchanged; otherwise it will be translated +into `&`. + +So, if you want to include a copyright symbol in your article, you can write: + + © + +and Markdown will leave it alone. But if you write: + + AT&T + +Markdown will translate it to: + + AT&T + +Similarly, because Markdown supports [inline HTML](#html), if you use +angle brackets as delimiters for HTML tags, Markdown will treat them as +such. But if you write: + + 4 < 5 + +Markdown will translate it to: + + 4 < 5 + +However, inside Markdown code spans and blocks, angle brackets and +ampersands are *always* encoded automatically. This makes it easy to use +Markdown to write about HTML code. (As opposed to raw HTML, which is a +terrible format for writing about HTML syntax, because every single `<` +and `&` in your example code needs to be escaped.) + + +* * * + + +<h2 id="block">Block Elements</h2> + + +<h3 id="p">Paragraphs and Line Breaks</h3> + +A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated +by one or more blank lines. (A blank line is any line that looks like a +blank line -- a line containing nothing but spaces or tabs is considered +blank.) Normal paragraphs should not be intended with spaces or tabs. + +The implication of the "one or more consecutive lines of text" rule is +that Markdown supports "hard-wrapped" text paragraphs. This differs +significantly from most other text-to-HTML formatters (including Movable +Type's "Convert Line Breaks" option) which translate every line break +character in a paragraph into a `<br />` tag. + +When you *do* want to insert a `<br />` break tag using Markdown, you +end a line with two or more spaces, then type return. + +Yes, this takes a tad more effort to create a `<br />`, but a simplistic +"every line break is a `<br />`" rule wouldn't work for Markdown. +Markdown's email-style [blockquoting][bq] and multi-paragraph [list items][l] +work best -- and look better -- when you format them with hard breaks. + + [bq]: #blockquote + [l]: #list + + + +<h3 id="header">Headers</h3> + +Markdown supports two styles of headers, [Setext] [1] and [atx] [2]. + +Setext-style headers are "underlined" using equal signs (for first-level +headers) and dashes (for second-level headers). For example: + + This is an H1 + ============= + + This is an H2 + ------------- + +Any number of underlining `=`'s or `-`'s will work. + +Atx-style headers use 1-6 hash characters at the start of the line, +corresponding to header levels 1-6. For example: + + # This is an H1 + + ## This is an H2 + + ###### This is an H6 + +Optionally, you may "close" atx-style headers. This is purely +cosmetic -- you can use this if you think it looks better. The +closing hashes don't even need to match the number of hashes +used to open the header. (The number of opening hashes +determines the header level.) : + + # This is an H1 # + + ## This is an H2 ## + + ### This is an H3 ###### + + +<h3 id="blockquote">Blockquotes</h3> + +Markdown uses email-style `>` characters for blockquoting. If you're +familiar with quoting passages of text in an email message, then you +know how to create a blockquote in Markdown. It looks best if you hard +wrap the text and put a `>` before every line: + + > This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, + > consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. + > Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus. + > + > Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse + > id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing. + +Markdown allows you to be lazy and only put the `>` before the first +line of a hard-wrapped paragraph: + + > This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, + consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. + Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus. + + > Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse + id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing. + +Blockquotes can be nested (i.e. a blockquote-in-a-blockquote) by +adding additional levels of `>`: + + > This is the first level of quoting. + > + > > This is nested blockquote. + > + > Back to the first level. + +Blockquotes can contain other Markdown elements, including headers, lists, +and code blocks: + + > ## This is a header. + > + > 1. This is the first list item. + > 2. This is the second list item. + > + > Here's some example code: + > + > return shell_exec("echo $input | $markdown_script"); + +Any decent text editor should make email-style quoting easy. For +example, with BBEdit, you can make a selection and choose Increase +Quote Level from the Text menu. + + +<h3 id="list">Lists</h3> + +Markdown supports ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists. + +Unordered lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens -- interchangably +-- as list markers: + + * Red + * Green + * Blue + +is equivalent to: + + + Red + + Green + + Blue + +and: + + - Red + - Green + - Blue + +Ordered lists use numbers followed by periods: + + 1. Bird + 2. McHale + 3. Parish + +It's important to note that the actual numbers you use to mark the +list have no effect on the HTML output Markdown produces. The HTML +Markdown produces from the above list is: + + <ol> + <li>Bird</li> + <li>McHale</li> + <li>Parish</li> + </ol> + +If you instead wrote the list in Markdown like this: + + 1. Bird + 1. McHale + 1. Parish + +or even: + + 3. Bird + 1. McHale + 8. Parish + +you'd get the exact same HTML output. The point is, if you want to, +you can use ordinal numbers in your ordered Markdown lists, so that +the numbers in your source match the numbers in your published HTML. +But if you want to be lazy, you don't have to. + +If you do use lazy list numbering, however, you should still start the +list with the number 1. At some point in the future, Markdown may support +starting ordered lists at an arbitrary number. + +List markers typically start at the left margin, but may be indented by +up to three spaces. List markers must be followed by one or more spaces +or a tab. + +To make lists look nice, you can wrap items with hanging indents: + + * Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. + Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, + viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus. + * Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. + Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing. + +But if you want to be lazy, you don't have to: + + * Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. + Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, + viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus. + * Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. + Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing. + +If list items are separated by blank lines, Markdown will wrap the +items in `<p>` tags in the HTML output. For example, this input: + + * Bird + * Magic + +will turn into: + + <ul> + <li>Bird</li> + <li>Magic</li> + </ul> + +But this: + + * Bird + + * Magic + +will turn into: + + <ul> + <li><p>Bird</p></li> + <li><p>Magic</p></li> + </ul> + +List items may consist of multiple paragraphs. Each subsequent +paragraph in a list item must be intended by either 4 spaces +or one tab: + + 1. This is a list item with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor + sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit + mi posuere lectus. + + Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet + vitae, risus. Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum + sit amet velit. + + 2. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing. + +It looks nice if you indent every line of the subsequent +paragraphs, but here again, Markdown will allow you to be +lazy: + + * This is a list item with two paragraphs. + + This is the second paragraph in the list item. You're + only required to indent the first line. Lorem ipsum dolor + sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. + + * Another item in the same list. + +To put a blockquote within a list item, the blockquote's `>` +delimiters need to be indented: + + * A list item with a blockquote: + + > This is a blockquote + > inside a list item. + +To put a code block within a list item, the code block needs +to be indented *twice* -- 8 spaces or two tabs: + + * A list item with a code block: + + <code goes here> + + +It's worth noting that it's possible to trigger an ordered list by +accident, by writing something like this: + + 1986. What a great season. + +In other words, a *number-period-space* sequence at the beginning of a +line. To avoid this, you can backslash-escape the period: + + 1986\. What a great season. + + + +<h3 id="precode">Code Blocks</h3> + +Pre-formatted code blocks are used for writing about programming or +markup source code. Rather than forming normal paragraphs, the lines +of a code block are interpreted literally. Markdown wraps a code block +in both `<pre>` and `<code>` tags. + +To produce a code block in Markdown, simply indent every line of the +block by at least 4 spaces or 1 tab. For example, given this input: + + This is a normal paragraph: + + This is a code block. + +Markdown will generate: + + <p>This is a normal paragraph:</p> + + <pre><code>This is a code block. + </code></pre> + +One level of indentation -- 4 spaces or 1 tab -- is removed from each +line of the code block. For example, this: + + Here is an example of AppleScript: + + tell application "Foo" + beep + end tell + +will turn into: + + <p>Here is an example of AppleScript:</p> + + <pre><code>tell application "Foo" + beep + end tell + </code></pre> + +A code block continues until it reaches a line that is not indented +(or the end of the article). + +Within a code block, ampersands (`&`) and angle brackets (`<` and `>`) +are automatically converted into HTML entities. This makes it very +easy to include example HTML source code using Markdown -- just paste +it and indent it, and Markdown will handle the hassle of encoding the +ampersands and angle brackets. For example, this: + + <div class="footer"> + © 2004 Foo Corporation + </div> + +will turn into: + + <pre><code><div class="footer"> + &copy; 2004 Foo Corporation + </div> + </code></pre> + +Regular Markdown syntax is not processed within code blocks. E.g., +asterisks are just literal asterisks within a code block. This means +it's also easy to use Markdown to write about Markdown's own syntax. + + + +<h3 id="hr">Horizontal Rules</h3> + +You can produce a horizontal rule tag (`<hr />`) by placing three or +more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores on a line by themselves. If you +wish, you may use spaces between the hyphens or asterisks. Each of the +following lines will produce a horizontal rule: + + * * * + + *** + + ***** + + - - - + + --------------------------------------- + + _ _ _ + + +* * * + +<h2 id="span">Span Elements</h2> + +<h3 id="link">Links</h3> + +Markdown supports two style of links: *inline* and *reference*. + +In both styles, the link text is delimited by [square brackets]. + +To create an inline link, use a set of regular parentheses immediately +after the link text's closing square bracket. Inside the parentheses, +put the URL where you want the link to point, along with an *optional* +title for the link, surrounded in quotes. For example: + + This is [an example](http://example.com/ "Title") inline link. + + [This link](http://example.net/) has no title attribute. + +Will produce: + + <p>This is <a href="http://example.com/" title="Title"> + an example</a> inline link.</p> + + <p><a href="http://example.net/">This link</a> has no + title attribute.</p> + +If you're referring to a local resource on the same server, you can +use relative paths: + + See my [About](/about/) page for details. + +Reference-style links use a second set of square brackets, inside +which you place a label of your choosing to identify the link: + + This is [an example][id] reference-style link. + +You can optionally use a space to separate the sets of brackets: + + This is [an example] [id] reference-style link. + +Then, anywhere in the document, you define your link label like this, +on a line by itself: + + [id]: http://example.com/ "Optional Title Here" + +That is: + +* Square brackets containing the link identifier (optionally + indented from the left margin using up to three spaces); +* followed by a colon; +* followed by one or more spaces (or tabs); +* followed by the URL for the link; +* optionally followed by a title attribute for the link, enclosed + in double or single quotes. + +The link URL may, optionally, be surrounded by angle brackets: + + [id]: <http://example.com/> "Optional Title Here" + +You can put the title attribute on the next line and use extra spaces +or tabs for padding, which tends to look better with longer URLs: + + [id]: http://example.com/longish/path/to/resource/here + "Optional Title Here" + +Link definitions are only used for creating links during Markdown +processing, and are stripped from your document in the HTML output. + +Link definition names may constist of letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation -- but they are *not* case sensitive. E.g. these two links: + + [link text][a] + [link text][A] + +are equivalent. + +The *implicit link name* shortcut allows you to omit the name of the +link, in which case the link text itself is used as the name. +Just use an empty set of square brackets -- e.g., to link the word +"Google" to the google.com web site, you could simply write: + + [Google][] + +And then define the link: + + [Google]: http://google.com/ + +Because link names may contain spaces, this shortcut even works for +multiple words in the link text: + + Visit [Daring Fireball][] for more information. + +And then define the link: + + [Daring Fireball]: http://daringfireball.net/ + +Link definitions can be placed anywhere in your Markdown document. I +tend to put them immediately after each paragraph in which they're +used, but if you want, you can put them all at the end of your +document, sort of like footnotes. + +Here's an example of reference links in action: + + I get 10 times more traffic from [Google] [1] than from + [Yahoo] [2] or [MSN] [3]. + + [1]: http://google.com/ "Google" + [2]: http://search.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Search" + [3]: http://search.msn.com/ "MSN Search" + +Using the implicit link name shortcut, you could instead write: + + I get 10 times more traffic from [Google][] than from + [Yahoo][] or [MSN][]. + + [google]: http://google.com/ "Google" + [yahoo]: http://search.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Search" + [msn]: http://search.msn.com/ "MSN Search" + +Both of the above examples will produce the following HTML output: + + <p>I get 10 times more traffic from <a href="http://google.com/" + title="Google">Google</a> than from + <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/" title="Yahoo Search">Yahoo</a> + or <a href="http://search.msn.com/" title="MSN Search">MSN</a>.</p> + +For comparison, here is the same paragraph written using +Markdown's inline link style: + + I get 10 times more traffic from [Google](http://google.com/ "Google") + than from [Yahoo](http://search.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Search") or + [MSN](http://search.msn.com/ "MSN Search"). + +The point of reference-style links is not that they're easier to +write. The point is that with reference-style links, your document +source is vastly more readable. Compare the above examples: using +reference-style links, the paragraph itself is only 81 characters +long; with inline-style links, it's 176 characters; and as raw HTML, +it's 234 characters. In the raw HTML, there's more markup than there +is text. + +With Markdown's reference-style links, a source document much more +closely resembles the final output, as rendered in a browser. By +allowing you to move the markup-related metadata out of the paragraph, +you can add links without interrupting the narrative flow of your +prose. + + +<h3 id="em">Emphasis</h3> + +Markdown treats asterisks (`*`) and underscores (`_`) as indicators of +emphasis. Text wrapped with one `*` or `_` will be wrapped with an +HTML `<em>` tag; double `*`'s or `_`'s will be wrapped with an HTML +`<strong>` tag. E.g., this input: + + *single asterisks* + + _single underscores_ + + **double asterisks** + + __double underscores__ + +will produce: + + <em>single asterisks</em> + + <em>single underscores</em> + + <strong>double asterisks</strong> + + <strong>double underscores</strong> + +You can use whichever style you prefer; the lone restriction is that +the same character must be used to open and close an emphasis span. + +Emphasis can be used in the middle of a word: + + un*fucking*believable + +But if you surround an `*` or `_` with spaces, it'll be treated as a +literal asterisk or underscore. + +To produce a literal asterisk or underscore at a position where it +would otherwise be used as an emphasis delimiter, you can backslash +escape it: + + \*this text is surrounded by literal asterisks\* + + + +<h3 id="code">Code</h3> + +To indicate a span of code, wrap it with backtick quotes (`` ` ``). +Unlike a pre-formatted code block, a code span indicates code within a +normal paragraph. For example: + + Use the `printf()` function. + +will produce: + + <p>Use the <code>printf()</code> function.</p> + +To include a literal backtick character within a code span, you can use +multiple backticks as the opening and closing delimiters: + + ``There is a literal backtick (`) here.`` + +which will produce this: + + <p><code>There is a literal backtick (`) here.</code></p> + +The backtick delimiters surrounding a code span may include spaces -- +one after the opening, one before the closing. This allows you to place +literal backtick characters at the beginning or end of a code span: + + A single backtick in a code span: `` ` `` + + A backtick-delimited string in a code span: `` `foo` `` + +will produce: + + <p>A single backtick in a code span: <code>`</code></p> + + <p>A backtick-delimited string in a code span: <code>`foo`</code></p> + +With a code span, ampersands and angle brackets are encoded as HTML +entities automatically, which makes it easy to include example HTML +tags. Markdown will turn this: + + Please don't use any `<blink>` tags. + +into: + + <p>Please don't use any <code><blink></code> tags.</p> + +You can write this: + + `—` is the decimal-encoded equivalent of `—`. + +to produce: + + <p><code>&#8212;</code> is the decimal-encoded + equivalent of <code>&mdash;</code>.</p> + + + +<h3 id="img">Images</h3> + +Admittedly, it's fairly difficult to devise a "natural" syntax for +placing images into a plain text document format. + +Markdown uses an image syntax that is intended to resemble the syntax +for links, allowing for two styles: *inline* and *reference*. + +Inline image syntax looks like this: + + ![Alt text](/path/to/img.jpg) + + ![Alt text](/path/to/img.jpg "Optional title") + +That is: + +* An exclamation mark: `!`; +* followed by a set of square brackets, containing the `alt` + attribute text for the image; +* followed by a set of parentheses, containing the URL or path to + the image, and an optional `title` attribute enclosed in double + or single quotes. + +Reference-style image syntax looks like this: + + ![Alt text][id] + +Where "id" is the name of a defined image reference. Image references +are defined using syntax identical to link references: + + [id]: url/to/image "Optional title attribute" + +As of this writing, Markdown has no syntax for specifying the +dimensions of an image; if this is important to you, you can simply +use regular HTML `<img>` tags. + + +* * * + + +<h2 id="misc">Miscellaneous</h2> + +<h3 id="autolink">Automatic Links</h3> + +Markdown supports a shortcut style for creating "automatic" links for URLs and email addresses: simply surround the URL or email address with angle brackets. What this means is that if you want to show the actual text of a URL or email address, and also have it be a clickable link, you can do this: + + <http://example.com/> + +Markdown will turn this into: + + <a href="http://example.com/">http://example.com/</a> + +Automatic links for email addresses work similarly, except that +Markdown will also perform a bit of randomized decimal and hex +entity-encoding to help obscure your address from address-harvesting +spambots. For example, Markdown will turn this: + + <address@example.com> + +into something like this: + + <a href="mailto:addre + ss@example.co + m">address@exa + mple.com</a> + +which will render in a browser as a clickable link to "address@example.com". + +(This sort of entity-encoding trick will indeed fool many, if not +most, address-harvesting bots, but it definitely won't fool all of +them. It's better than nothing, but an address published in this way +will probably eventually start receiving spam.) + + + +<h3 id="backslash">Backslash Escapes</h3> + +Markdown allows you to use backslash escapes to generate literal +characters which would otherwise have special meaning in Markdown's +formatting syntax. For example, if you wanted to surround a word with +literal asterisks (instead of an HTML `<em>` tag), you can backslashes +before the asterisks, like this: + + \*literal asterisks\* + +Markdown provides backslash escapes for the following characters: + + \ backslash + ` backtick + * asterisk + _ underscore + {} curly braces + [] square brackets + () parentheses + # hash mark + + plus sign + - minus sign (hyphen) + . dot + ! exclamation mark + |