📖 What is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It's designed to be easy to read and write, converting plain text into formatted HTML. Today, markdown syntax is used everywhere—from GitHub READMEs to documentation, blogs, forums, and note-taking apps.

The beauty of markdown formatting is its simplicity. Unlike HTML, which requires opening and closing tags, markdown uses intuitive symbols. For example, wrapping text in asterisks makes it bold (**bold**), and using hash symbols creates headings (# Heading).

Why Learn Markdown?

• Universal: Used on GitHub, GitLab, Reddit, Discord, Slack, Notion, and more
• Portable: Markdown files (.md) are plain text—they work everywhere
• Fast: Write formatted content without touching your mouse
• Future-proof: Plain text files will always be readable
• Developer-friendly: Perfect for technical documentation and README files

📑 Headings

Create headings by starting a line with hash symbols (#). The number of hashes determines the heading level. Markdown supports six heading levels, from # H1 to ###### H6.

Alternative Heading Syntax

For H1 and H2, you can also use underlines:

✨ Text Formatting

Markdown bold, italic, and other text formatting is easy to apply. Here's the complete guide to markdown text formatting:

How to Bold in Markdown

To make text bold in markdown, wrap it with double asterisks or double underscores:

How to Italicize in Markdown

For italic markdown text, use single asterisks or single underscores:

Markdown Strikethrough

Strikethrough markdown uses double tildes. This is great for showing deleted or outdated content:

🔗 Links & URLs

Creating a markdown link is straightforward. Links in markdown follow the pattern: [link text](URL). Here's everything you need to know about markdown linking.

Basic Link Syntax

How to Link in Markdown

The basic link in markdown format is:

• [Link Text](URL) — Basic link
• [Link Text](URL "Title") — Link with hover tooltip
• [Link Text](#section-id) — Internal anchor link
• <https://auto-link.com> — Auto-linked URL

Reference-Style Links

For documents with many links, use reference-style markdown hyperlinks:

🖼️ Images

Markdown images work similarly to links, but with an exclamation mark prefix. The syntax for markdown with images is: ![alt text](image-url).

Image Syntax

Linked Images

To make an image clickable, wrap it in link syntax:

📋 Lists

Markdown lists come in two flavors: ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted). Lists in markdown are essential for organizing content.

Unordered Lists

Create list markdown items with dashes, asterisks, or plus signs:

Ordered Lists

For numbered markdown lists, use numbers followed by periods:

Nested Lists

Indent with spaces or tabs for nested lists markdown:

💬 Blockquotes

Create blockquotes with the greater-than symbol (>):

Nested Blockquotes

💻 Code & Code Blocks

Markdown code blocks are essential for technical documentation. There are two types: inline code and fenced code blocks markdown.

Inline Code

Wrap code with single backticks:

Fenced Code Blocks

For multi-line markdown code block syntax, use triple backticks with an optional language:

Supported Languages

Common language identifiers for syntax highlighting in code blocks markdown:

📊 Markdown Tables

Markdown tables use pipes and dashes to create structured data. Table markdown is one of the most useful features for organizing information. Learn how to create tables in markdown below.

Basic Table Syntax

A table in markdown requires headers, a separator row, and data rows:

Table Alignment

Control column alignment in tables markdown using colons:

• :--- — Left align (default)
• :---: — Center align
• ---: — Right align

➖ Horizontal Rules

Create horizontal dividers with three or more dashes, asterisks, or underscores:

All three produce the same horizontal line.

☑️ Task Lists (Checkboxes)

Markdown checkboxes create interactive task lists. This is a GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extension for markdown checkbox items.

Use - [x] for checked checkboxes in markdown and - [ ] for unchecked items.

↵ Line Breaks

Understanding markdown line break behavior is important. By default, single line breaks are ignored. Here's how to handle line break in markdown:

Methods for Line Breaks

• Two spaces + Enter: Add two spaces at the end of a line
• Backslash: Use \ at the end of a line
• HTML: Use <br> for explicit breaks
• Blank line: Creates a new paragraph

Markdown New Line Example

🔒 Escaping Characters

To display literal markdown characters, escape them with a backslash (\):

Characters That Can Be Escaped

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

🚀 Extended Syntax (GFM)

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) and other implementations add these extended features to standard markdown syntax:

Markdown Comments

Comment markdown content that won't render using HTML syntax:

📖 Quick Reference

Complete markdown cheat sheet quick reference table: