Markdown Cheat Sheet: Complete Syntax Guide

A comprehensive reference for Markdown syntax covering everything from basic text formatting to advanced GitHub Flavored Markdown features.

Headings

Create headings using # symbols:

Markdown

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
##### Heading 5
###### Heading 6

Result

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Alternative Syntax

Heading 1
=========

Heading 2
---------

Text Formatting

Style	Markdown	Result
Bold	`bold text` or `__bold text__`	bold text
Italic	`italic text` or `_italic text_`	italic text
Bold + Italic	`*bold italic*`	*bold italic*
Strikethrough	`~~deleted text~~`	~~deleted text~~
Inline code	`code`	`code`

Horizontal Rules

---
***
___

(Three or more dashes, asterisks, or underscores)

Lists

Unordered Lists

- Item 1
- Item 2
  - Nested item
  - Another nested
- Item 3

* Also works with asterisks
+ Or plus signs

Item 1
Item 2
- Nested item
- Another nested
Item 3

Ordered Lists

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

1. Numbers don't matter
1. Markdown renumbers them
1. Automatically

First item
Second item
Third item

Task Lists (GFM)

- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Incomplete task
- [ ] Another todo item

Links & Images

Links

[Link text](https://toolsdock.com)

[Link with title](https://toolsdock.com "Hover title")

[Reference link][1]
[Another reference][website]

[1]: https://toolsdock.com
[website]: https://example.org "Website Title"

<https://toolsdock.com>  (Auto-linked URL)

<email@toolsdock.com>   (Auto-linked email)

Images

![Alt text](image.jpg)

![Alt text](image.jpg "Optional title")

[![Clickable image](image.jpg)](https://toolsdock.com)

Code

Inline Code

Use `backticks` for inline code.

To include a backtick: ``code with ` backtick``

Code Blocks

```
Plain code block
No syntax highlighting
```

```javascript
// With language specified
function hello() {
  console.log("Hello, World!");
}
```

```python
# Python code
def greet(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}!"
```

Indented Code Blocks

    // Indent with 4 spaces or 1 tab
    function example() {
      return true;
    }

Common Language Identifiers

javascript, js, python, py, java, cpp, c, css, html, json, bash, shell, sql, ruby, go, rust, typescript, ts

Tables

| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Cell 1   | Cell 2   | Cell 3   |
| Cell 4   | Cell 5   | Cell 6   |

| Left | Center | Right |
|:-----|:------:|------:|
| L    |   C    |     R |
| Left | Center | Right |

Result

Left	Center	Right
L	C	R
Left	Center	Right

Note: Tables are a GitHub Flavored Markdown feature, not standard Markdown.

Blockquotes

> This is a blockquote.
> It can span multiple lines.

> Blockquotes can be nested.
>> Like this.
>>> And even deeper.

> Blockquotes can contain
> - Lists
> - **Formatting**
> - `code`

Result

This is a blockquote. It can span multiple lines.

Blockquotes can be nested.
Like this.

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)

GFM extends standard Markdown with additional features:

Task Lists

- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Incomplete task

Strikethrough

~~strikethrough text~~

Autolinks

Visit https://toolsdock.com

Email me@toolsdock.com

GitHub: @username
Issue: #123

Footnotes

Here's a sentence with a footnote.[^1]

[^1]: This is the footnote content.

Alerts (GitHub specific)

> [!NOTE]
> Useful information

> [!TIP]
> Helpful advice

> [!WARNING]
> Important warning

> [!CAUTION]
> Potential danger

Tools and Resources

Markdown to HTML

Convert Markdown to HTML with live preview.

Convert Now

Quick Reference Card

Basic

# Heading
**bold**
*italic*
`code`
[link](url)

Lists

- unordered
1. ordered
- [x] task

Blocks

> quote
``` code ```
---

Frequently Asked Questions

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that uses plain text formatting syntax to create formatted documents. It's popular because it's easy to learn, readable in raw form, and widely supported by platforms like GitHub, Reddit, and many content management systems.

Markdown is designed to be human-readable and converts to HTML. While HTML offers more control and features, Markdown is faster to write and easier to read. Markdown files can include raw HTML when you need additional formatting options.

Use GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) for most purposes—it's the most widely supported and includes useful extensions like tables, task lists, and strikethrough. Use CommonMark for maximum compatibility across different platforms.

Use square brackets for the link text and parentheses for the URL: [Link Text](https://example.com). You can also add a title by adding quoted text after the URL: [Link](https://example.com "Title").

Similar to links but with an exclamation mark prefix: ![Alt text](image.jpg). The alt text describes the image for accessibility. You can also make images clickable by wrapping them in link syntax.

Use triple backticks with the language name: ```javascript followed by your code and closing ```. This enables syntax highlighting for the specified language in most Markdown renderers.

Yes, using pipes and dashes. Headers are separated from content with dashes (---). Colons control alignment: left (:---), center (:---:), or right (---:). Tables are a GitHub Flavored Markdown feature.

Use a backslash before any character that has special meaning in Markdown: \* for asterisk, \# for hash, \[ for bracket, etc. This prevents Markdown from interpreting them as formatting.

Task lists are checkbox items using - [ ] for unchecked and - [x] for checked items. They're a GitHub Flavored Markdown feature commonly used for to-do lists in README files and issues.

Use our Markdown to HTML converter for instant browser-based conversion. For documents, tools like Pandoc can convert Markdown to PDF, DOCX, and many other formats.