Markdown Syntax Reference

Searchable cheat sheet of Markdown syntax — headings, emphasis, lists, links and code.

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Markdown is the lightweight plain-text formatting language behind GitHub READMEs, Reddit comments, Notion, Discord and countless docs tools. This searchable cheat sheet lists the syntax for headings, emphasis, lists, links, images, code, blockquotes and tables, each with a plain-English explanation, plus the common GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extras. It’s a reference, not a converter — use it to look up the exact characters when you can’t remember them.

How it works

The entries are grouped into sections — Headings, Emphasis, Lists, Links & images, Code and more — and each row pairs the literal Markdown syntax with what it produces. Type a keyword or symbol in the search box (for example bold, table, link, ~~ or code) and the list filters live to matching entries. There is no parsing or rendering of your own text; it is a static lookup table.

Example

Searching bold surfaces the emphasis entries. The reference shows:

You typeYou get
*italic*italic text
**bold**bold text
***bold italic***bold and italic
~~strikethrough~~struck-through text (GFM)
[text](url)an inline link
# Heading 1a top-level heading

GFM-only items such as tables, task lists and strikethrough are labelled so you know they may not render in stricter Markdown engines. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.

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