Basic Markdown tutorial
Published: 2020-06-09 21:57:20

# Basic Markdown Tutorial
Markdown is a lightweight markup language. It uses simple and intuitive elements to format text, making it easy to use and to read. This tutorial includes enough syntax to get started using Markdown.

## Contents

1. Headings
2. Paragraphs
3. Line Breaks
4. Emphasis
5. Blockquotes
6. Lists
7. Code
8. Horizontal Rules
9. Links
10. Images
11. Escaping Characters
12. HTML

## 1. Headings

Markdown recognizes six levels of headings. Make headings by preceding them with between one and six hashes (#):

    # Heading Level One
    ## Heading Level Two
    ### Heading Level Three
    #### Heading Level Four
    ##### Heading Level Five
    ###### Heading Level Six

The formatted text will look like this:

# Heading Level One
## Heading Level Two
### Heading Level Three
#### Heading Level Four
##### Heading Level Five
###### Heading Level Six

## 2. Paragraphs

Make separate paragraphs by including a blank line between them:

    This is a paragraph.
    
    This is another paragraph.

The formatted text will look like this:

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

## 3. Line Breaks

Make line breaks by adding two or more spaces to the end of a line:

    This is a line of text followed by two spaces.  
    This is another line of text.

The formatted text will look like this:

This is a line of text followed by two spaces.
This is another line of text.

## 4. Emphasis

### Bold

Make text bold by surrounding it with two asterisks on each side:

    This is an example of **bold** text.

The formatted text will look like this:

This is an example of **bold** text.

### Italics

Make text italicized by surrounding it with one asterisk on each side:

    This is an example of *italicized* text.

The formatted text will look like this:

This is an example of *italicized* text.

## 5. Blockquotes

Make a blockquote by adding a greater-than sign (>) in front of a paragraph:

    > This is an example of a blockquote.

The formatted text will look like this:

> This is an example of a blockquote.  

## 6. Lists

### Ordered Lists

Make ordered lists by adding a number followed by a period and a space before each list item:

    1. The first list item must start with a one.   
    7. Subsequent list items may start with any number.
        1. Add nested list items by preceding them with a tab or four spaces.

The formatted text will look like this:

1. The first list item must start with a one.
2. Subsequent list items may start with any number.
    1. Add nested list items by preceding them with a tab or four spaces.

### Unordered Lists

Make unordered lists by adding an asterisk and a space before each list item:

    * This is the first list item.
    * This is the second list item.
        * Add nested list items by preceding them with a tab or four spaces.

The formatted text will look like this:

* This is the first list item.
* This is the second list item.
    * Add nested list items by preceding them with a tab or four spaces.

## 7. Code

Insert code into your text by enclosing it in backticks (``):

    `This is a line of code.`

The formatted text will look like this:

`This is a line of code.`

### Code Blocks

Insert code blocks by preceding each line of code with a tab or four spaces:

        These are
        multiple lines
        of code.

The formatted text will look like this:

    These are
    multiple lines
    of code.

## 8. Horizontal Rules
Make a horizontal rule with three or more asterisks, dashes, or underscores:

    ***
    ---
    ___

The formatted line will look like this:

***

## 9. Links

Make text into a link by surrounding it in brackets followed by the URL enclosed in parentheses:

    John Gruber's original guide to Markdown can be found [here](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/).

The formatted text will look like this:

John Gruber's original guide to Markdown can be found [here](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/).

## 10. Images

Add an image with an exclamation mark (!) followed by the alt text in brackets and the path or URL to the image in parentheses:

    ![Portland Bridges](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/yzam5hhx8968oiaf3q40.jpg)

The formatted image will look like this:

![Portland Bridges](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/yzam5hhx8968oiaf3q40.jpg)

## 11. Escaping Characters

Make a character display that would otherwise be used to format text in Markdown by preceding the character with a backslash (\\):

    \*Without the backslashes, this text would render in italics.\*

The formatted text will look like this:

\*Without the backslashes, this text would render in italics.\*

## 12. HTML

Use HTML in your Markdown-formatted document by enclosing the relevant text in HTML tags:

    This sentence uses both **Markdown** and <strong>HTML</strong>.

The formatted text will look like this:

This sentence uses both **Markdown** and <strong>HTML</strong>.