Markdown Reference Cheatsheet 2025

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that allows you to format plain text. It is widely used for documentation, writing articles, and creating web content.

Headings

Use # to create headings. The number of # corresponds to the heading level.

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

---

Text Formatting

• Bold: Use two asterisks or two underscores.

  **This is bold text**
  __This is also bold text__

• Italic: Use a single asterisk or a single underscore.

  *This is italic text*
  _This is also italic text_

• Bold and Italic: Combine both.

  ***This is bold and italic text***
  ___This is also bold and italic text___

• Strikethrough: Use two tildes.

  ~~This is strikethrough text~~

---

Lists

• Unordered List: Use asterisks, plus signs, or hyphens.

  * Item 1
  * Item 2
    * Sub-item 2a
    * Sub-item 2b

• Ordered List: Use numbers followed by a period.

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

  Markdown is flexible; you can use 1. for all items, and it will still render correctly.

  1. First item
  1. Second item
  1. Third item

---

Links and Images

• Link: Enclose the link text in square brackets and the URL in parentheses.

  [Link Text](https://www.example.com)

• Image: Similar to a link, but with an exclamation mark at the beginning.

  ![Alt Text](https://www.example.com/image.jpg)

---

Code

• Inline Code: Use a single backtick.

  This is `inline code`.

• Code Block: Use three backticks for a multi-line code block. You can specify the language for syntax highlighting.

  ```python
  def hello_world():
    print("Hello, World!")

---

Blockquotes

Use a right angle bracket (>) for a blockquote.

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

---

Horizontal Rule

Use three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores on a line by themselves.

---
***
___

---

Tables

You can create tables by using hyphens for the column headers and pipes (|) to separate columns.

| Header 1 | Header 2 |
|----------|----------|
| Row 1 Col 1 | Row 1 Col 2 |
| Row 2 Col 1 | Row 2 Col 2 |

You can also align text within columns by adding colons to the header line.

| Left-aligned | Center-aligned | Right-aligned |
| :--- | :---: | ---: |
| Content | Content | Content |

The Complete CommonMark Cheatsheet

Syntax	Description	Example
# Heading	Headings (levels 1-6)	# My Heading
> Blockquote	Blockquote	> This is a quote.
1. Item	Ordered List	1. First item<br />2. Second item
- Item	Unordered List	- First item<br />- Second item
---	Horizontal Rule	--- or ***
```python code	Fenced Code Block	```python print("Hello World")
**bold**	Strong Emphasis (bold)	**text**
*italic*	Emphasis (italic)	*text*
`code`	Inline Code	`code`
[text](url)	Link	[Google](https://google.com)
	Image	
~~strike~~	Strikethrough	~~text~~
``	a | b | <br />	---
[foo] [foo]: /url "title"	Reference-style Link	[ref-link] [ref-link]: /my-page
<http://example.com>	Autolink	<http://example.com>
\	Backslash Escapes	\*not italic\*
&gt;	HTML Entities	&gt; will render as >
foo bar	Paragraphs (separated by a blank line)	line one line two