From a316ac49a6934221b24ec58a6a7dc4c3b30ae1e8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Artem Yunusov Markdown: Syntax
-
Note: This document is itself written using Markdown; you - can see the source for it by adding '.text' to the URL. -
++Note: This document is itself written using Markdown; you +can see the source for it by adding '.text' to the URL.
Markdown is intended to be as easy-to-read and easy-to-write as is feasible. -
+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, atx, Textile, reStructuredText, - Grutatext, and EtText -- the single biggest source of - inspiration for Markdown's syntax is the format of plain text email. -
+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, atx, Textile, reStructuredText, +Grutatext, and EtText-- the single biggest source of +inspiration for Markdown's syntax is the format of plain text email.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. -
-Markdown's syntax is intended for one purpose: to be used as a - format for writing for the web. -
+format for writingfor 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. -
+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 writingformat. 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. -
+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>
, <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>
@@ -131,159 +123,167 @@
</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.
-
+
+
+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. -
-<a>
or <img>
tags instead of Markdown's
+link or image syntax, go right ahead.
+Unlike block-level HTML tags, Markdown syntax isprocessed within +span-level tags.
+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
- &
.
-
&
. 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.
-
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, 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.)
-
&
.
+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, 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.)
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. -
+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.
-
<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 and multi-paragraph list items
- work best -- and look better -- when you format them with hard breaks.
-
Markdown supports two styles of headers, Setext and atx. -
+"every line break is a<br />
" rule wouldn't work for Markdown.
+Markdown's email-style blockquoting and multi-paragraph list itemswork best -- and look better -- when you format them with hard breaks.
+Markdown supports two styles of headers, Setextand atx.
Setext-style headers are "underlined" using equal signs (for first-level - headers) and dashes (for second-level headers). For example: -
-This is an H1
+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.
-
+
+
+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
+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 #
+
+
+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 ######
-
Blockquotes
-
+
+
+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,
+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,
+
+
+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.
+
+
+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.
+
+
+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.
@@ -291,108 +291,130 @@ id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.
> 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.
-
-Lists
-
-Markdown supports ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.
-
+
+
+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.
+Markdown supports ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.
Unordered lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens -- interchangably - -- as list markers: -
-* Red
+-- as list markers:
+
+* Red
* Green
* Blue
-
is equivalent to:
-
-+ Red
+
+
+is equivalent to:
+
++ Red
+ Green
+ Blue
-
and:
-
-- Red
+
+
+and:
+
+- Red
- Green
- Blue
-
Ordered lists use numbers followed by periods:
-
-1. Bird
+
+
+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>
+
+
+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
+
+
+If you instead wrote the list in Markdown like this:
+
+1. Bird
1. McHale
1. Parish
-
or even:
-
-3. Bird
+
+
+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.
-
+
+
+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 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.
+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.
+
+
+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
+
+
+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>
+
+
+will turn into:
+
+<ul>
<li>Bird</li>
<li>Magic</li>
</ul>
-
But this:
-
-* Bird
+
+
+But this:
+
+* Bird
* Magic
-
will turn into:
-
-<ul>
+
+
+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
+
+
+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.
@@ -401,103 +423,122 @@ Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.
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.
+
+
+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:
+
+
+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:
+
+
+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.
-
Code Blocks
-
+
+
+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-spacesequence at the beginning of a +line. To avoid this, you can backslash-escape the period:
+
+1986\. What a great season.
+
+
+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.
-
<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:
+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>
+
+
+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:
+
+
+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>
+
+
+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).
-
+
+
+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">
+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">
+
+
+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.
-
-Horizontal Rules
-
+
+
+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.
+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:
-
* * *
+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:
+
+* * *
***
@@ -508,317 +549,347 @@ end tell
---------------------------------------
_ _ _
-
-
-Span Elements
-
-Links
-
-Markdown supports two style of links: inline and reference.
-
-In both styles, the link text is delimited by [square brackets].
-
+
+
+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.
+after the link text's closing square bracket. Inside the parentheses,
+put the URL where you want the link to point, along with an optionaltitle 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">
+
+
+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:
-
+
+
+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:
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
+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 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 notcase 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
+
+
+are equivalent.
+The implicit link nameshortcut 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
+
+
+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/"
+
+
+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")
+
+
+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.
-
+
+
+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. -
-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*
+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>
+
+
+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.
-
+
+
+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\*
-
+\*this text is surrounded by literal asterisks\*
+
+
+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: `` ` ``
+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>
+
+
+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
+
+
+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>
-
Images
-
+
+
+Admittedly, it's fairly difficult to devise a "natural" syntax for - placing images into a plain text document format. -
+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)
+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:
-
+
+
+That is:
!
;
- alt
-attribute text for the image;
- title
attribute enclosed in double
-or single quotes.
- !
;alt
attribute text for the image;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.
-
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.
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
+Miscellaneous
+Automatic Links
+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".
-
+
+
+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.) -
-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
+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
@@ -830,4 +901,5 @@ _ underscore
- minus sign (hyphen)
. dot
! exclamation mark
-
+
+
--
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