Markdown#

MarkUP reads Markdown the way CommonMark does, with the common GitHub extensions: tables, task lists, strikethrough, footnotes and bare URLs. This page lists every construct with an example. The exact rules are in the specification.

Two things are deliberately missing: raw HTML and indented code blocks. See Differences from CommonMark.

Headings#

# Level 1
## Level 2
### Level 3 {#custom-id}

One to six # followed by a space. Every heading gets an id for links: the lowercase text with spaces replaced by - (## Level 2 → level-2), made unique with a number suffix when repeated. An attribute block at the end sets the id and classes explicitly.

A line of = or - under a paragraph also makes a heading of level 1 or 2 (setext headings).

Paragraphs and line breaks#

Lines next to each other
form one paragraph.

A blank line starts the next one.
End a line with a backslash\
for a hard line break.

Two or more trailing spaces also make a hard break. Leading indentation has no meaning: text is a normal paragraph.

Emphasis and inline code#

*emphasis*, **strong**, ***both***, ~~strikethrough~~ and `inline code`.

_ works like * except inside words: snake_case_name stays as it is. A backslash makes punctuation literal: \*not emphasis\*.

Lists#

- Bullet item
  - Nested item, indented to the content of its parent
1. Ordered item
2. Next item

- [x] Finished task
- [ ] Open task

Bullets are -, + or *; ordered markers are digits followed by . or ), and the first number is kept. Changing the marker starts a new list. A blank line between items makes the list loose, and its items render as paragraphs.

Links and images#

[Inline link](https://example.com "Optional title"), [reference link][spec],
<https://example.com/autolink> and a bare URL: https://example.com.

[spec]: https://example.com/spec

![MarkUP icon](https://markup.rweb.site/icon.svg){width=32}

• Reference definitions ([label]: url) can appear anywhere; labels are case-insensitive.
• #fragment links are checked against the headings and ids of the document (MU2025).
• URLs with schemes other than http, https, mailto, tel and ftp are not rendered as links (MU2023). Images may also use data:image/….
• Images accept an attribute block for width, height, id and classes.

Code blocks#

```ts {title="greet.ts"}
export const greet = (name: string) => `Hello, ${name}`;
```

export const greet = (name: string) => `Hello, ${name}`;

Fences are three or more backticks or tildes. The first word of the info string is the language; an attribute block after it can set a title, shown as a caption. Nothing inside a code block is interpreted — a ::: line in code never closes a directive.

Block quotes#

> A quote can contain any block,
> including lists and directives.

Tables#

| Command | Description        | Exit code |
|:--------|:-------------------|----------:|
| `check` | Report problems    |         1 |
| `build` | Write HTML pages   |         0 |

The second row sets alignment with :. Cells contain inline syntax; write \| for a literal pipe. Rows with more cells than the header lose the extra cells (MU1014).

Footnotes#

The parser is iterative.[^depth]

[^depth]: Nesting is limited to 64 block levels and 32 inline levels.

Footnotes are numbered in order of first reference and rendered at the end of the document. References without a definition are reported (MU2021).

Thematic breaks, comments and entities#

Above the break.

---

<!-- Comments are kept in the syntax tree and never rendered. -->
Entities: &copy; &rarr; &#x2713;

Differences from CommonMark#

Directives are described in Directives.