What is Markdown?

Markdown exists to shield content creators from the overhead of HTML. While HTML is great for rendering content exactly how it was intended, it takes up a lot of space and can be unwieldy to work with, even in small doses. The invention of Markdown offered a great compromise between the power of HTML for content description and the ease of plain text for editing.

Emphasizing text

The most important part of any communication on GitHub is usually the text itself. But what do you do when some parts of the text are more important than others?

Using italics in text is as easy as surrounding the target text with an asterisk (*) or underscore (_). Just be sure to close an emphasis with the same character it opened with (do not mix asterisks and underscores).

markdown
This is *italic* text.

This is italic text.

Bold text uses two asterisks (**) or underscores (__).

markdown
This is **bold** text.

This is bold text.

You can also mix different emphases.

markdown
_This is **bold and italic** text_.

This is bold and italic text.

To use a literal asterisk, escape it with a backslash (\).

markdown
\_This is all \*\*plain\*\* text\_.

_This is all **plain** text_.

Declaring headings

HTML provides content headings, such as the <h1> tag. In Markdown, this is supported via the # symbol. Just use one # for each heading level from 1-6.

markdown
###### This is H6 text
This is H6 text

Linking to images and sites

Image and site links use a very similar syntax.

markdown
![Link an image](https://cloudspoint.xyz/media/mara.png)

marad

markdown
[Link to Microsoft Learn](https://docs.microsoft.com/learn)

Link to Microsoft Learn

Making lists

You can define ordered or unordered lists. Ordered lists start with numbers and unordered lists can use asterisks or dashes (-).

markdown
1. First
1. Second
1. Third
  1. First
  2. Second
  3. Third

You can also define nested items through indentation.

markdown
- First
  - Nested
- Second
- Third
  • First
  • Nested
  • Second
  • Third

Building tables

Tables can be constructed using a combination of pipes (|) and dashes (-).

First|Second
-|-
1|2
3|4
TABLE 1
First Second
1 2
3 4

Quoting text

Blockquotes can be created using the greater than (>) character.

> This is quoted text.

This is quoted text.

Filling the gaps with inline HTML

If you come across an HTML scenario not supported by Markdown, you can simply use that HTML inline.

markdown
Here is a<br />line break

Here is a
line break

Hosting Related articles:

Working with code

Markdown provides default behavior for working with inline code blocks delimited by the backtick (`) character. When decorating text with this character, it is rendered as code.

This is `code`.

This is code.

If you have a code segment spanning multiple lines, you can use three backticks (“`) before and after to create a fenced code block.

```
var first = 1;
var second = 2;
var sum = first + second;
```
var first = 1;
var second = 2;
var sum = first + second;

GFM extends this support with syntax highlighting for popular languages. Just specify the language as part of the first tick sequence.

```javascript
var first = 1;
var second = 2;
var sum = first + second;
```
JavaScript
var first = 1;
var second = 2;
var sum = first + second;

Cross-linking issues and pull requests

GFM supports a variety of shortcode formats to make it easy to link to issues and pull requests. The easiest way to do this is to use the format #ID, such as #3602. GitHub will automatically adjust longer links to this format if you paste them in. There are also additional conventions you can follow, such as if you are working with other tools or want to specify other projects/branches.

CROSS-LINKING ISSUES AND PULL REQUESTS
Reference type Raw reference Short link
Issue or pull request URL https://github.com/desktop/desktop/pull/3602 #3602
# and issue or pull request number #3602 #3602
GH- and issue or pull request number GH-3602 GH-3602
Username/Repository# and issue or pull request number desktop/desktop#3602 desktop/desktop#3602

For more information, see Autolinked references and URLs.

Linking specific commits

You can link to a commit by pasting in its ID.

LINKING SPECIFIC COMMITS
Reference type Raw reference Short link
Commit URL https://github.com/desktop/desktop/commit/8304e9c271a5e5ab4fda797304cd7bcca7158c87 8304e9c
SHA 8304e9c271a5e5ab4fda797304cd7bcca7158c87 8304e9c
User@SHA desktop@8304e9c271a5e5ab4fda797304cd7bcca7158c87 desktop@8304e9c
Username/Repository@SHA desktop/desktop@8304e9c271a5e5ab4fda797304cd7bcca7158c87 desktop/desktop@8304e9c

Mentioning users and teams

Typing an @ symbol, followed by a GitHub username, will send a notification to that person about the comment. This is called an “@mention”, because you’re mentioning the individual. You can also @mention teams within an organization.

@githubteacher

@githubteacher

For more information, see Receiving notifications about activity on GitHub.

Tracking task lists

You can create task lists within issues or pull requests using the syntax illustrated below. These can be helpful to track progress when used in the body of an issue or pull request.

trak list

- [x] First task
- [x] Second task
- [ ] Third task