CHEAT SHEETS / WEB / PAGE 1

Markdown Cheat Sheet

Ralph Mason, Author Paragraphs (Core Markdown)

Paragraphs don’t require markup, but make sure:

Headings (Core Markdown)
• There's a line break before and after it
# This is an H1 • There are no spaces or tabs at the start of it
## This is an H2
### This is an H3
###### This is an H6 Unordered Lists (Core Markdown)

or… * Top-level item

* Top-level item
* Nested item
This is an H1
========
This is an H2 • Optionally use + or - instead of *
-------- • Indent nested items by 2 spaces
• Lists must have a line break before and after
• List items can be indented by max. three spaces
or one tab
Ordered Lists (Core Markdown)
• Hanging indents for wrapped lines are supported:

1. Top-level item
- This is nicer to read
2. Top-level item
in plain text
3. Top-level item
1. Nested item
2. Nested item
Paragraphs in List Items (Core Markdown)
• You must include a . after each number
• Markdown will output items in order (1, 2, 3…) Adding line breaks between list items will wrap the
even if you write unorderly (1, 3, 2…) list item content in <p> tags.

- item 1
Text Formatting (Core Markdown)
- item 2

*This is em text* and _so is this_

**This is strong text** and __so is this__ For multiple paragraphs in a list item, indent each
*This is **strong text** inside em text* one by four spaces or a tab (first item optional).
**This is _em text_ inside strong text**
***This is strong and em combined***
- Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2
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Markdown Cheat Sheet

Blockquotes (Core Markdown)
Ralph Mason, Author

> One paragraph in

Code Blocks (Core Markdown) a blockquote

Place three backticks above and below the block > Another paragraph in
the same blockquote.
```
.selector {
Alternatively, use > before every line.
color: red;
}
``` > One paragraph in
> a blockquote
Or, indent every line by at least 4 spaces/one tab >
> Another paragraph in
> the same blockquote.
.selector {
color: red;
}
Nested Blockquotes (Core Markdown)
• Markdown renders code inside <pre><code> tags
• Place one line break above/below the code block > A top-level blockquote
>
>> A nested blockquote
Code Block in a List Item (Core Markdown) >
> Top-level blockquote continued.
Indent the code block by 8 spaces or 2 tabs

* list item: Elements Within a Blockquote (Core Markdown)

console.log("A code block")

> ## This is an H2
>
> - This is a list
Inline Code (Core Markdown) > - Inside a blockquote
>
Wrap inline code with single backticks > ```
> console.log("Code inside a blockquote");
> ```
Run `console.log("Hello world");` in the console.
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Markdown Cheat Sheet

Ralph Mason, Author Links (Core Markdown)

[Linked text](https://sitepoint.com “Optional title")

Blockquote in a List Item (Core Markdown)

Indent the blockquote by 4 spaces or a tab

[Reference][id]

* list item: ⋮

> Blockquote inside a list item. [id]: https://sitepoint.com “Optional title"

Visit <https://sitepoint.com> for more.

Horizontal Rules/Line Breaks (Core Markdown)

• <br>: hit enter or end the line with two spaces • [id] can be any random identifier
• [id]: reference can sit on its own line, absolutely
• <hr>: *** or --- or ___ on a line on their own
anywhere in the document
• Markdown auto-obfuscates email addresses
Raw HTML in Markdown

HTML elements can be used in Markdown as long Images (Core Markdown)

as you don’t indent the first/last tags in a HTML
block and add a line break before/after the block. ![Alt text](path/to/img.jpg “Optional title")

Escaping Markdown Characters ![Reference alt text][id]

The following Markdown characters can appear ⋮

literally when escaped with a backslash (e.g. `\#`):
[id]: path/to/image "Optional title"

\\ \` \* \_ \{} \[] \() \# \+ \- \. \!

Visit <https://sitepoint.com> for more.

• Links can be absolute (with http://) or relative

(link to an image within your file structure)
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Markdown Cheat Sheet

Ralph Mason, Author Tables (Extended Markdown)

Creating a table with headers:

Extended Markdown

Header One | Header Two

Most Markdown processors support an extended
———————— | ————————
syntax, although syntaxes vary across editors.
Content Cell | Content Cell
Content Cell | Content Cell
Popular flavors include:

Github Flavored Markdown: https://goo.gl/Pycq8Z Notes:

Markdown Extra: https://goo.gl/7f9TuE
• There must be a header row
• There must be a separator line after the header
Some widely supported elements follow:
• There must be at least one pipe per row
• Extra pipes at the start/end of rows are optional
Footnotes (Extended Markdown) • MD for inline elements is allowed within cells

Set column alignment by adding colons to the

This line ends with a footnote reference.[^id]
separator row:
[^id]: Place this footnote anywhere.
: ———————— | ———————— : | : ———————— :
Left-aligned | Right-aligned | Centered

Strikethrough Text (Extended Markdown)

Notes:
Let's ~~draw a line though this~~ now
• Headers are centered by default
• Columns are left-aligned by default
• Colon alignment affects both header and column
Syntax Highlighting (Extended Markdown)

```javascript
console.log("SitePoint rocks");
```

About the Author

Ralph Mason is SitePoint's Web channel editor,
administrator of SitePoint's magnificent web forums, and
a freelance editor and web designer at Page Affairs.