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1Markdown: Basics
2================
3
4<ul id="ProjectSubmenu">
5    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/" title="Markdown Project Page">Main</a></li>
6    <li><a class="selected" title="Markdown Basics">Basics</a></li>
7    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/syntax" title="Markdown Syntax Documentation">Syntax</a></li>
8    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/license" title="Pricing and License Information">License</a></li>
9    <li><a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Online Markdown Web Form">Dingus</a></li>
10</ul>
11
12
13Getting the Gist of Markdown's Formatting Syntax
14------------------------------------------------
15
16This page offers a brief overview of what it's like to use Markdown.
17The [syntax page] [s] provides complete, detailed documentation for
18every feature, but Markdown should be very easy to pick up simply by
19looking at a few examples of it in action. The examples on this page
20are written in a before/after style, showing example syntax and the
21HTML output produced by Markdown.
22
23It's also helpful to simply try Markdown out; the [Dingus] [d] is a
24web application that allows you type your own Markdown-formatted text
25and translate it to XHTML.
26
27**Note:** This document is itself written using Markdown; you
28can [see the source for it by adding '.text' to the URL] [src].
29
30  [s]: /projects/markdown/syntax  "Markdown Syntax"
31  [d]: /projects/markdown/dingus  "Markdown Dingus"
32  [src]: /projects/markdown/basics.text
33
34
35## Paragraphs, Headers, Blockquotes ##
36
37A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated
38by one or more blank lines. (A blank line is any line that looks like a
39blank line -- a line containing nothing spaces or tabs is considered
40blank.) Normal paragraphs should not be intended with spaces or tabs.
41
42Markdown offers two styles of headers: *Setext* and *atx*.
43Setext-style headers for `<h1>` and `<h2>` are created by
44"underlining" with equal signs (`=`) and hyphens (`-`), respectively.
45To create an atx-style header, you put 1-6 hash marks (`#`) at the
46beginning of the line -- the number of hashes equals the resulting
47HTML header level.
48
49Blockquotes are indicated using email-style '`>`' angle brackets.
50
51Markdown:
52
53    A First Level Header
54    ====================
55
56    A Second Level Header
57    ---------------------
58
59    Now is the time for all good men to come to
60    the aid of their country. This is just a
61    regular paragraph.
62
63    The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
64    dog's back.
65
66    ### Header 3
67
68    > This is a blockquote.
69    >
70    > This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.
71    >
72    > ## This is an H2 in a blockquote
73
74
75Output:
76
77    <h1>A First Level Header</h1>
78
79    <h2>A Second Level Header</h2>
80
81    <p>Now is the time for all good men to come to
82    the aid of their country. This is just a
83    regular paragraph.</p>
84
85    <p>The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
86    dog's back.</p>
87
88    <h3>Header 3</h3>
89
90    <blockquote>
91        <p>This is a blockquote.</p>
92
93        <p>This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.</p>
94
95        <h2>This is an H2 in a blockquote</h2>
96    </blockquote>
97
98
99
100### Phrase Emphasis ###
101
102Markdown uses asterisks and underscores to indicate spans of emphasis.
103
104Markdown:
105
106    Some of these words *are emphasized*.
107    Some of these words _are emphasized also_.
108
109    Use two asterisks for **strong emphasis**.
110    Or, if you prefer, __use two underscores instead__.
111
112Output:
113
114    <p>Some of these words <em>are emphasized</em>.
115    Some of these words <em>are emphasized also</em>.</p>
116
117    <p>Use two asterisks for <strong>strong emphasis</strong>.
118    Or, if you prefer, <strong>use two underscores instead</strong>.</p>
119
120
121
122## Lists ##
123
124Unordered (bulleted) lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens (`*`,
125`+`, and `-`) as list markers. These three markers are
126interchangable; this:
127
128    *   Candy.
129    *   Gum.
130    *   Booze.
131
132this:
133
134    +   Candy.
135    +   Gum.
136    +   Booze.
137
138and this:
139
140    -   Candy.
141    -   Gum.
142    -   Booze.
143
144all produce the same output:
145
146    <ul>
147    <li>Candy.</li>
148    <li>Gum.</li>
149    <li>Booze.</li>
150    </ul>
151
152Ordered (numbered) lists use regular numbers, followed by periods, as
153list markers:
154
155    1.  Red
156    2.  Green
157    3.  Blue
158
159Output:
160
161    <ol>
162    <li>Red</li>
163    <li>Green</li>
164    <li>Blue</li>
165    </ol>
166
167If you put blank lines between items, you'll get `<p>` tags for the
168list item text. You can create multi-paragraph list items by indenting
169the paragraphs by 4 spaces or 1 tab:
170
171    *   A list item.
172
173        With multiple paragraphs.
174
175    *   Another item in the list.
176
177Output:
178
179    <ul>
180    <li><p>A list item.</p>
181    <p>With multiple paragraphs.</p></li>
182    <li><p>Another item in the list.</p></li>
183    </ul>
184
185
186
187### Links ###
188
189Markdown supports two styles for creating links: *inline* and
190*reference*. With both styles, you use square brackets to delimit the
191text you want to turn into a link.
192
193Inline-style links use parentheses immediately after the link text.
194For example:
195
196    This is an [example link](http://example.com/).
197
198Output:
199
200    <p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/">
201    example link</a>.</p>
202
203Optionally, you may include a title attribute in the parentheses:
204
205    This is an [example link](http://example.com/ "With a Title").
206
207Output:
208
209    <p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/" title="With a Title">
210    example link</a>.</p>
211
212Reference-style links allow you to refer to your links by names, which
213you define elsewhere in your document:
214
215    I get 10 times more traffic from [Google][1] than from
216    [Yahoo][2] or [MSN][3].
217
218    [1]: http://google.com/        "Google"
219    [2]: http://search.yahoo.com/  "Yahoo Search"
220    [3]: http://search.msn.com/    "MSN Search"
221
222Output:
223
224    <p>I get 10 times more traffic from <a href="http://google.com/"
225    title="Google">Google</a> than from <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/"
226    title="Yahoo Search">Yahoo</a> or <a href="http://search.msn.com/"
227    title="MSN Search">MSN</a>.</p>
228
229The title attribute is optional. Link names may contain letters,
230numbers and spaces, but are *not* case sensitive:
231
232    I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
233    [The New York Times][NY Times].
234
235    [ny times]: http://www.nytimes.com/
236
237Output:
238
239    <p>I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
240    <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">The New York Times</a>.</p>
241
242
243### Images ###
244
245Image syntax is very much like link syntax.
246
247Inline (titles are optional):
248
249    ![alt text](/path/to/img.jpg "Title")
250
251Reference-style:
252
253    ![alt text][id]
254
255    [id]: /path/to/img.jpg "Title"
256
257Both of the above examples produce the same output:
258
259    <img src="/path/to/img.jpg" alt="alt text" title="Title" />
260
261
262
263### Code ###
264
265In a regular paragraph, you can create code span by wrapping text in
266backtick quotes. Any ampersands (`&`) and angle brackets (`<` or
267`>`) will automatically be translated into HTML entities. This makes
268it easy to use Markdown to write about HTML example code:
269
270    I strongly recommend against using any `<blink>` tags.
271
272    I wish SmartyPants used named entities like `&mdash;`
273    instead of decimal-encoded entites like `&#8212;`.
274
275Output:
276
277    <p>I strongly recommend against using any
278    <code>&lt;blink&gt;</code> tags.</p>
279
280    <p>I wish SmartyPants used named entities like
281    <code>&amp;mdash;</code> instead of decimal-encoded
282    entites like <code>&amp;#8212;</code>.</p>
283
284
285To specify an entire block of pre-formatted code, indent every line of
286the block by 4 spaces or 1 tab. Just like with code spans, `&`, `<`,
287and `>` characters will be escaped automatically.
288
289Markdown:
290
291    If you want your page to validate under XHTML 1.0 Strict,
292    you've got to put paragraph tags in your blockquotes:
293
294        <blockquote>
295            <p>For example.</p>
296        </blockquote>
297
298Output:
299
300    <p>If you want your page to validate under XHTML 1.0 Strict,
301    you've got to put paragraph tags in your blockquotes:</p>
302
303    <pre><code>&lt;blockquote&gt;
304        &lt;p&gt;For example.&lt;/p&gt;
305    &lt;/blockquote&gt;
306    </code></pre>
307