Headers
Create headings with different sizes
# H1 Heading## H2 Heading### H3 Heading#### H4 Heading##### H5 Heading###### H6 HeadingText Formatting
Emphasize text with bold, italic, and more
**bold text***italic text****bold and italic***~~strikethrough~~`inline code`Lists
Create ordered and unordered lists
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 31. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item- Item 1
- Nested item
- Another nested
- Item 2- [ ] Unchecked task
- [x] Checked taskLinks and Images
Add links and images to your content
[Link text](https://example.com)[Link with title](https://example.com "Title")[](https://example.com)Code Blocks
Display code with syntax highlighting
```javascript
function greet() {
return 'Hello';
}
```function greet() {
return 'Hello';
}
```python
def hello():
print('Hello')
```def hello():
print('Hello')
```
Plain code block
```Plain code block
Tables
Create structured tables
| Header 1 | Header 2 |
|----------|----------|
| Cell 1 | Cell 2 |
| Cell 3 | Cell 4 || Left | Center | Right |
|:-----|:------:|------:|
| Left | Center | Right |Blockquotes
Quote text or add callouts
> This is a blockquote> Multi-line blockquote
> with multiple lines> Nested quotes
>> Are also possibleHorizontal Rules
Create visual separators
---***___Escaping Characters
Display special characters literally
\*Not italic\*\# Not a heading\`Not code\`Line Breaks
Control line spacing
Line 1
Line 2 (two spaces before newline)Paragraph 1
Paragraph 2 (blank line)Quick Reference
The syntax you'll reach for most often
# HeaderH1 Header
## HeaderH2 Header
**bold**Bold text
*italic*Italic text
`code`Inline code
```code```Code block
- ListUnordered list
1. ListOrdered list
[Link](url)Create link
Insert image
> QuoteBlockquote
---Horizontal rule
| Table |Create table
- [ ] TaskTask list
~~text~~Strikethrough
Where People Actually Write Markdown
GitHub and GitLab Repos
README files, CONTRIBUTING guides, changelogs, PR descriptions -- they're all Markdown. If you push code to GitHub, you're writing Markdown whether you realize it or not. Knowing the syntax means your project pages look polished instead of like plain text dumps.
Note-Taking Apps
Obsidian stores everything as .md files. Logseq uses Markdown. Notion accepts Markdown shortcuts as you type. Learning Markdown once means you can write faster in all of these apps, and your notes aren't locked into any single tool's format.
Blog Engines and Static Sites
Hugo, Jekyll, Astro, Next.js -- they all take Markdown files and turn them into web pages. I use this approach for my own blog. Write in Markdown, push to git, the site builds itself. No CMS needed, just a text editor and the syntax on this page.
Books and Technical Writing
Tools like Pandoc can take a Markdown manuscript and output PDF, EPUB, LaTeX, or Word docs. Some O'Reilly authors write entire books in Markdown. The source stays readable and diffable, and you only deal with formatting when you export.
Frequently Asked Questions
Try Your Markdown Now
Got the syntax down? Test it in the live editor or convert your Markdown to any format.