Markdown Cheat Sheet

Complete Markdown syntax reference. From basic formatting to GitHub Flavored Markdown extras. Bookmark this page for quick reference.

Basic Syntax

Markdown	Result / Description
`# Heading 1`	Largest heading (<h1>)
`## Heading 2`	Second-level heading (<h2>)
`### Heading 3`	Third-level heading (<h3>)
`#### Heading 4`	Fourth-level heading (<h4>)
`##### Heading 5`	Fifth-level heading (<h5>)
`###### Heading 6`	Smallest heading (<h6>)
`Heading 1 =========`	Alternative h1 syntax (underline with `=`)
`Heading 2 ---------`	Alternative h2 syntax (underline with `-`)
`Regular paragraph text.`	Paragraphs are separated by a blank line
`Line one Line two`	Two trailing spaces create a line break (<br>)
`Line one\ Line two`	Backslash at end of line also creates a line break
`italic or _italic_`	italic
`bold or __bold__`	bold
`*bold italic*`	*bold italic*
`~~strikethrough~~`	~~strikethrough~~ (GFM)
`> This is a blockquote`	Blockquote (indented block)
`> Line 1 > > Line 2`	Multi-paragraph blockquote
`> Outer >> Nested`	Nested blockquotes

Lists

Markdown	Result / Description
`- Item 1 - Item 2 - Item 3`	Unordered list (also `*` or `+`)
`1. First 2. Second 3. Third`	Ordered list
`1. First 1. Second 1. Third`	Ordered list (auto-numbered, all `1.`)
`- Item - Nested - Deep nested`	Nested list (indent 2-4 spaces)
`1. Ordered - Unordered child`	Mixed nested lists
`- [x] Done task - [ ] Open task`	Task list / checkbox (GFM)
`- Item 1 Paragraph inside - Item 2`	List items with paragraphs (indent continuation)
- Item 1 ``` code block ``` - Item 2	Code block inside a list item (indent 2+ spaces)

Links

Markdown	Result / Description
`[Link Text](https://example.com)`	Inline link
`[Link](https://example.com "Title")`	Inline link with hover title
`[Link][ref] [ref]: https://example.com`	Reference-style link
`[Link][1] [1]: https://example.com "Title"`	Numbered reference link with title
`<https://example.com>`	Autolink (URL displayed as clickable link)
`https://example.com`	Bare URL autolink (GFM only)
`<user@example.com>`	Email autolink
`[Section](#heading-id)`	Link to a heading anchor on the same page
`[Top](#)`	Link back to top of page

Images

Markdown	Result / Description
`![Alt text](image.png)`	Inline image
`![Alt text](image.png "Title")`	Image with hover title
`![Alt][ref] [ref]: image.png`	Reference-style image
`[![Alt](img.png)](link)`	Linked image (image wrapped in a link)
`![](image.png)`	Image without alt text (not recommended for a11y)
`<img src="img.png" width="300">`	HTML image with custom size (Markdown has no size syntax)

Code

Markdown	Result / Description
`inline code`	Inline code with backticks
``code with `backtick` inside``	Inline code containing backticks (use double backticks)
``` code block ```	Fenced code block (triple backticks)
`~~~ code block ~~~`	Fenced code block (triple tildes)
```javascript const x = 1; ```	Fenced block with syntax highlighting (specify language)
```python print("hello") ```	Python syntax highlighting
```diff - removed + added ```	Diff syntax highlighting
`indented code`	Indented code block (4 spaces or 1 tab)

Tables

Markdown	Result / Description
`\| Col 1 \| Col 2 \| \|-------\|-------\| \| Cell \| Cell \|`	Basic table with header row
`\| Left \| Center \| Right \| \|:-----\|:------:\|------:\| \| L \| C \| R \|`	Column alignment: left, center, right
\| Name \| Value \| \|------\|-------\| \| `code` \| bold \|	Inline formatting works inside table cells
`\| A \| B \| \|---\|---\| \| 1 \| 2 \| \| 3 \| 4 \|`	Minimal table (pipes and hyphens required)
`Col 1 \| Col 2 ------\|------ A \| B`	Outer pipes are optional (GFM)
`\| Col \\| Escaped \| \|----------------\| \| Use \\| in cells \|`	Escape pipe character with backslash inside cells

Horizontal Rules

Markdown	Result / Description
`---`	Horizontal rule (three hyphens)
`***`	Horizontal rule (three asterisks)
`___`	Horizontal rule (three underscores)
`- - -`	Horizontal rule (spaced hyphens also work)

HTML in Markdown

Markdown	Result / Description
`<br>`	Line break
`<sup>text</sup>`	Superscript: ^text
`<sub>text</sub>`	Subscript: _text
`<kbd>Ctrl+C</kbd>`	Keyboard key: `Ctrl+C`
`<mark>highlighted</mark>`	Highlighted text: highlighted
`<details> <summary>Click me</summary> Hidden content </details>`	Collapsible section (HTML5)
`<dl><dt>Term</dt> <dd>Definition</dd></dl>`	Definition list (no Markdown equivalent)
`<div align="center"> Centered text </div>`	Center-aligned content

Escaping Characters

Markdown	Result / Description
`\not italic\`	Escaped asterisks appear literally: not italic
`\# not a heading`	Escaped hash: # not a heading
`\- not a list`	Escaped hyphen: - not a list
`\[not a link\]`	Escaped brackets: [not a link]
\`not code\`	Escaped backticks: `not code`
`\\`	Literal backslash: \
`\\| \{ \} \( \) \. \!`	Other escapable characters: \| { } ( ) . !

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)

Markdown	Result / Description
`- [x] Complete - [ ] Incomplete`	Task lists with checkboxes
`~~strikethrough~~`	~~strikethrough~~ text
`#123`	Auto-linked issue/PR reference (GitHub repos)
`@username`	User mention (GitHub notification)
`:emoji_name:`	Emoji shortcode (e.g., :rocket: for a rocket)
`Text[^1] [^1]: Footnote text.`	Footnotes (rendered at bottom of page)
`Text[^note] [^note]: Named footnote.`	Named footnotes
`> [!NOTE] > Info message`	Alert: informational note (blue)
`> [!TIP] > Helpful advice`	Alert: tip (green)
`> [!IMPORTANT] > Key information`	Alert: important (purple)
`> [!WARNING] > Potential issue`	Alert: warning (yellow)
`> [!CAUTION] > Danger zone`	Alert: caution (red)
```mermaid graph TD; A-->B; ```	Mermaid diagram (flowchart, sequence, etc.)
```mermaid sequenceDiagram A->>B: Hello ```	Mermaid sequence diagram
```geojson { "type": "Point" } ```	GeoJSON map rendering (GitHub)
```math E = mc^2 ```	Math expressions with LaTeX syntax (GitHub)
$E = mc^2$	Inline math expression (GitHub)