testdata/Markdown Documentation - Basics.html (view raw)
1<h1>Markdown: Basics</h1>
2
3<ul id="ProjectSubmenu">
4 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/" title="Markdown Project Page">Main</a></li>
5 <li><a class="selected" title="Markdown Basics">Basics</a></li>
6 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/syntax" title="Markdown Syntax Documentation">Syntax</a></li>
7 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/license" title="Pricing and License Information">License</a></li>
8 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Online Markdown Web Form">Dingus</a></li>
9</ul>
10
11<h2>Getting the Gist of Markdown's Formatting Syntax</h2>
12
13<p>This page offers a brief overview of what it's like to use Markdown.
14The <a href="/projects/markdown/syntax" title="Markdown Syntax">syntax page</a> provides complete, detailed documentation for
15every feature, but Markdown should be very easy to pick up simply by
16looking at a few examples of it in action. The examples on this page
17are written in a before/after style, showing example syntax and the
18HTML output produced by Markdown.</p>
19
20<p>It's also helpful to simply try Markdown out; the <a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Markdown Dingus">Dingus</a> is a
21web application that allows you type your own Markdown-formatted text
22and translate it to XHTML.</p>
23
24<p><strong>Note:</strong> This document is itself written using Markdown; you
25can <a href="/projects/markdown/basics.text">see the source for it by adding '.text' to the URL</a>.</p>
26
27<h2>Paragraphs, Headers, Blockquotes</h2>
28
29<p>A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated
30by one or more blank lines. (A blank line is any line that looks like a
31blank line -- a line containing nothing spaces or tabs is considered
32blank.) Normal paragraphs should not be intended with spaces or tabs.</p>
33
34<p>Markdown offers two styles of headers: <em>Setext</em> and <em>atx</em>.
35Setext-style headers for <code><h1></code> and <code><h2></code> are created by
36"underlining" with equal signs (<code>=</code>) and hyphens (<code>-</code>), respectively.
37To create an atx-style header, you put 1-6 hash marks (<code>#</code>) at the
38beginning of the line -- the number of hashes equals the resulting
39HTML header level.</p>
40
41<p>Blockquotes are indicated using email-style '<code>></code>' angle brackets.</p>
42
43<p>Markdown:</p>
44
45<pre><code>A First Level Header
46====================
47
48A Second Level Header
49---------------------
50
51Now is the time for all good men to come to
52the aid of their country. This is just a
53regular paragraph.
54
55The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
56dog's back.
57
58### Header 3
59
60> This is a blockquote.
61>
62> This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.
63>
64> ## This is an H2 in a blockquote
65</code></pre>
66
67<p>Output:</p>
68
69<pre><code><h1>A First Level Header</h1>
70
71<h2>A Second Level Header</h2>
72
73<p>Now is the time for all good men to come to
74the aid of their country. This is just a
75regular paragraph.</p>
76
77<p>The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
78dog's back.</p>
79
80<h3>Header 3</h3>
81
82<blockquote>
83 <p>This is a blockquote.</p>
84
85 <p>This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.</p>
86
87 <h2>This is an H2 in a blockquote</h2>
88</blockquote>
89</code></pre>
90
91<h3>Phrase Emphasis</h3>
92
93<p>Markdown uses asterisks and underscores to indicate spans of emphasis.</p>
94
95<p>Markdown:</p>
96
97<pre><code>Some of these words *are emphasized*.
98Some of these words _are emphasized also_.
99
100Use two asterisks for **strong emphasis**.
101Or, if you prefer, __use two underscores instead__.
102</code></pre>
103
104<p>Output:</p>
105
106<pre><code><p>Some of these words <em>are emphasized</em>.
107Some of these words <em>are emphasized also</em>.</p>
108
109<p>Use two asterisks for <strong>strong emphasis</strong>.
110Or, if you prefer, <strong>use two underscores instead</strong>.</p>
111</code></pre>
112
113<h2>Lists</h2>
114
115<p>Unordered (bulleted) lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens (<code>*</code>,
116<code>+</code>, and <code>-</code>) as list markers. These three markers are
117interchangable; this:</p>
118
119<pre><code>* Candy.
120* Gum.
121* Booze.
122</code></pre>
123
124<p>this:</p>
125
126<pre><code>+ Candy.
127+ Gum.
128+ Booze.
129</code></pre>
130
131<p>and this:</p>
132
133<pre><code>- Candy.
134- Gum.
135- Booze.
136</code></pre>
137
138<p>all produce the same output:</p>
139
140<pre><code><ul>
141<li>Candy.</li>
142<li>Gum.</li>
143<li>Booze.</li>
144</ul>
145</code></pre>
146
147<p>Ordered (numbered) lists use regular numbers, followed by periods, as
148list markers:</p>
149
150<pre><code>1. Red
1512. Green
1523. Blue
153</code></pre>
154
155<p>Output:</p>
156
157<pre><code><ol>
158<li>Red</li>
159<li>Green</li>
160<li>Blue</li>
161</ol>
162</code></pre>
163
164<p>If you put blank lines between items, you'll get <code><p></code> tags for the
165list item text. You can create multi-paragraph list items by indenting
166the paragraphs by 4 spaces or 1 tab:</p>
167
168<pre><code>* A list item.
169
170 With multiple paragraphs.
171
172* Another item in the list.
173</code></pre>
174
175<p>Output:</p>
176
177<pre><code><ul>
178<li><p>A list item.</p>
179<p>With multiple paragraphs.</p></li>
180<li><p>Another item in the list.</p></li>
181</ul>
182</code></pre>
183
184<h3>Links</h3>
185
186<p>Markdown supports two styles for creating links: <em>inline</em> and
187<em>reference</em>. With both styles, you use square brackets to delimit the
188text you want to turn into a link.</p>
189
190<p>Inline-style links use parentheses immediately after the link text.
191For example:</p>
192
193<pre><code>This is an [example link](http://example.com/).
194</code></pre>
195
196<p>Output:</p>
197
198<pre><code><p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/">
199example link</a>.</p>
200</code></pre>
201
202<p>Optionally, you may include a title attribute in the parentheses:</p>
203
204<pre><code>This is an [example link](http://example.com/ "With a Title").
205</code></pre>
206
207<p>Output:</p>
208
209<pre><code><p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/" title="With a Title">
210example link</a>.</p>
211</code></pre>
212
213<p>Reference-style links allow you to refer to your links by names, which
214you define elsewhere in your document:</p>
215
216<pre><code>I get 10 times more traffic from [Google][1] than from
217[Yahoo][2] or [MSN][3].
218
219[1]: http://google.com/ "Google"
220[2]: http://search.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Search"
221[3]: http://search.msn.com/ "MSN Search"
222</code></pre>
223
224<p>Output:</p>
225
226<pre><code><p>I get 10 times more traffic from <a href="http://google.com/"
227title="Google">Google</a> than from <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/"
228title="Yahoo Search">Yahoo</a> or <a href="http://search.msn.com/"
229title="MSN Search">MSN</a>.</p>
230</code></pre>
231
232<p>The title attribute is optional. Link names may contain letters,
233numbers and spaces, but are <em>not</em> case sensitive:</p>
234
235<pre><code>I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
236[The New York Times][NY Times].
237
238[ny times]: http://www.nytimes.com/
239</code></pre>
240
241<p>Output:</p>
242
243<pre><code><p>I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
244<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">The New York Times</a>.</p>
245<h1>Markdown: Basics</h1>
246
247<ul id="ProjectSubmenu">
248 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/" title="Markdown Project Page">Main</a></li>
249 <li><a class="selected" title="Markdown Basics">Basics</a></li>
250 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/syntax" title="Markdown Syntax Documentation">Syntax</a></li>
251 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/license" title="Pricing and License Information">License</a></li>
252 <li><a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Online Markdown Web Form">Dingus</a></li>
253</ul>
254
255<h2>Getting the Gist of Markdown's Formatting Syntax</h2>
256
257<p>This page offers a brief overview of what it's like to use Markdown.
258The <a href="/projects/markdown/syntax" title="Markdown Syntax">syntax page</a> provides complete, detailed documentation for
259every feature, but Markdown should be very easy to pick up simply by
260looking at a few examples of it in action. The examples on this page
261are written in a before/after style, showing example syntax and the
262HTML output produced by Markdown.</p>
263
264<p>It's also helpful to simply try Markdown out; the <a href="/projects/markdown/dingus" title="Markdown Dingus">Dingus</a> is a
265web application that allows you type your own Markdown-formatted text
266and translate it to XHTML.</p>
267
268<p><strong>Note:</strong> This document is itself written using Markdown; you
269can <a href="/projects/markdown/basics.text">see the source for it by adding '.text' to the URL</a>.</p>
270
271<h2>Paragraphs, Headers, Blockquotes</h2>
272
273<p>A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated
274by one or more blank lines. (A blank line is any line that looks like a
275blank line -- a line containing nothing spaces or tabs is considered
276blank.) Normal paragraphs should not be intended with spaces or tabs.</p>
277
278<p>Markdown offers two styles of headers: <em>Setext</em> and <em>atx</em>.
279Setext-style headers for <code><h1></code> and <code><h2></code> are created by
280"underlining" with equal signs (<code>=</code>) and hyphens (<code>-</code>), respectively.
281To create an atx-style header, you put 1-6 hash marks (<code>#</code>) at the
282beginning of the line -- the number of hashes equals the resulting
283HTML header level.</p>
284
285<p>Blockquotes are indicated using email-style '<code>></code>' angle brackets.</p>
286
287<p>Markdown:</p>
288
289<pre><code>A First Level Header
290====================
291
292A Second Level Header
293---------------------
294
295Now is the time for all good men to come to
296the aid of their country. This is just a
297regular paragraph.
298
299The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
300dog's back.
301
302### Header 3
303
304> This is a blockquote.
305>
306> This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.
307>
308> ## This is an H2 in a blockquote
309</code></pre>
310
311<p>Output:</p>
312
313<pre><code><h1>A First Level Header</h1>
314
315<h2>A Second Level Header</h2>
316
317<p>Now is the time for all good men to come to
318the aid of their country. This is just a
319regular paragraph.</p>
320
321<p>The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy
322dog's back.</p>
323
324<h3>Header 3</h3>
325
326<blockquote>
327 <p>This is a blockquote.</p>
328
329 <p>This is the second paragraph in the blockquote.</p>
330
331 <h2>This is an H2 in a blockquote</h2>
332</blockquote>
333</code></pre>
334
335<h3>Phrase Emphasis</h3>
336
337<p>Markdown uses asterisks and underscores to indicate spans of emphasis.</p>
338
339<p>Markdown:</p>
340
341<pre><code>Some of these words *are emphasized*.
342Some of these words _are emphasized also_.
343
344Use two asterisks for **strong emphasis**.
345Or, if you prefer, __use two underscores instead__.
346</code></pre>
347
348<p>Output:</p>
349
350<pre><code><p>Some of these words <em>are emphasized</em>.
351Some of these words <em>are emphasized also</em>.</p>
352
353<p>Use two asterisks for <strong>strong emphasis</strong>.
354Or, if you prefer, <strong>use two underscores instead</strong>.</p>
355</code></pre>
356
357<h2>Lists</h2>
358
359<p>Unordered (bulleted) lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens (<code>*</code>,
360<code>+</code>, and <code>-</code>) as list markers. These three markers are
361interchangable; this:</p>
362
363<pre><code>* Candy.
364* Gum.
365* Booze.
366</code></pre>
367
368<p>this:</p>
369
370<pre><code>+ Candy.
371+ Gum.
372+ Booze.
373</code></pre>
374
375<p>and this:</p>
376
377<pre><code>- Candy.
378- Gum.
379- Booze.
380</code></pre>
381
382<p>all produce the same output:</p>
383
384<pre><code><ul>
385<li>Candy.</li>
386<li>Gum.</li>
387<li>Booze.</li>
388</ul>
389</code></pre>
390
391<p>Ordered (numbered) lists use regular numbers, followed by periods, as
392list markers:</p>
393
394<pre><code>1. Red
3952. Green
3963. Blue
397</code></pre>
398
399<p>Output:</p>
400
401<pre><code><ol>
402<li>Red</li>
403<li>Green</li>
404<li>Blue</li>
405</ol>
406</code></pre>
407
408<p>If you put blank lines between items, you'll get <code><p></code> tags for the
409list item text. You can create multi-paragraph list items by indenting
410the paragraphs by 4 spaces or 1 tab:</p>
411
412<pre><code>* A list item.
413
414 With multiple paragraphs.
415
416* Another item in the list.
417</code></pre>
418
419<p>Output:</p>
420
421<pre><code><ul>
422<li><p>A list item.</p>
423<p>With multiple paragraphs.</p></li>
424<li><p>Another item in the list.</p></li>
425</ul>
426</code></pre>
427
428<h3>Links</h3>
429
430<p>Markdown supports two styles for creating links: <em>inline</em> and
431<em>reference</em>. With both styles, you use square brackets to delimit the
432text you want to turn into a link.</p>
433
434<p>Inline-style links use parentheses immediately after the link text.
435For example:</p>
436
437<pre><code>This is an [example link](http://example.com/).
438</code></pre>
439
440<p>Output:</p>
441
442<pre><code><p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/">
443example link</a>.</p>
444</code></pre>
445
446<p>Optionally, you may include a title attribute in the parentheses:</p>
447
448<pre><code>This is an [example link](http://example.com/ "With a Title").
449</code></pre>
450
451<p>Output:</p>
452
453<pre><code><p>This is an <a href="http://example.com/" title="With a Title">
454example link</a>.</p>
455</code></pre>
456
457<p>Reference-style links allow you to refer to your links by names, which
458you define elsewhere in your document:</p>
459
460<pre><code>I get 10 times more traffic from [Google][1] than from
461[Yahoo][2] or [MSN][3].
462
463[1]: http://google.com/ "Google"
464[2]: http://search.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Search"
465[3]: http://search.msn.com/ "MSN Search"
466</code></pre>
467
468<p>Output:</p>
469
470<pre><code><p>I get 10 times more traffic from <a href="http://google.com/"
471title="Google">Google</a> than from <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/"
472title="Yahoo Search">Yahoo</a> or <a href="http://search.msn.com/"
473title="MSN Search">MSN</a>.</p>
474</code></pre>
475
476<p>The title attribute is optional. Link names may contain letters,
477numbers and spaces, but are <em>not</em> case sensitive:</p>
478
479<pre><code>I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
480[The New York Times][NY Times].
481
482[ny times]: http://www.nytimes.com/
483</code></pre>
484
485<p>Output:</p>
486
487<pre><code><p>I start my morning with a cup of coffee and
488<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/">The New York Times</a>.</p>
489</code></pre>
490
491<p>It is also common to find other protocols such as ftp used for links:</p>
492
493<p>Input:</p>
494
495<pre><code>For example one may test download speeds [here](ftp://speedtest.tele2.net/)
496</code></pre>
497
498<p>Output:</p>
499
500<pre><code><p>For example one may test download speeds <a href="ftp://speedtest.tele2.net/">here</a>.</p>
501</code></pre>
502
503<h3>Images</h3>
504
505<p>Image syntax is very much like link syntax.</p>
506
507<p>Inline (titles are optional):</p>
508
509<pre><code>![alt text](/path/to/img.jpg "Title")
510</code></pre>
511
512<p>Reference-style:</p>
513
514<pre><code>![alt text][id]
515
516[id]: /path/to/img.jpg "Title"
517</code></pre>
518
519<p>Both of the above examples produce the same output:</p>
520
521<pre><code><img src="/path/to/img.jpg" alt="alt text" title="Title" />
522</code></pre>
523
524<h3>Code</h3>
525
526<p>In a regular paragraph, you can create code span by wrapping text in
527backtick quotes. Any ampersands (<code>&</code>) and angle brackets (<code><</code> or
528<code>></code>) will automatically be translated into HTML entities. This makes
529it easy to use Markdown to write about HTML example code:</p>
530
531<pre><code>I strongly recommend against using any `<blink>` tags.
532
533I wish SmartyPants used named entities like `&mdash;`
534instead of decimal-encoded entites like `&#8212;`.
535</code></pre>
536
537<p>Output:</p>
538
539<pre><code><p>I strongly recommend against using any
540<code>&lt;blink&gt;</code> tags.</p>
541
542<p>I wish SmartyPants used named entities like
543<code>&amp;mdash;</code> instead of decimal-encoded
544entites like <code>&amp;#8212;</code>.</p>
545</code></pre>
546
547<p>To specify an entire block of pre-formatted code, indent every line of
548the block by 4 spaces or 1 tab. Just like with code spans, <code>&</code>, <code><</code>,
549and <code>></code> characters will be escaped automatically.</p>
550
551<p>Markdown:</p>
552
553<pre><code>If you want your page to validate under XHTML 1.0 Strict,
554you've got to put paragraph tags in your blockquotes:
555
556 <blockquote>
557 <p>For example.</p>
558 </blockquote>
559</code></pre>
560
561<p>Output:</p>
562
563<pre><code><p>If you want your page to validate under XHTML 1.0 Strict,
564you've got to put paragraph tags in your blockquotes:</p>
565
566<pre><code>&lt;blockquote&gt;
567 &lt;p&gt;For example.&lt;/p&gt;
568&lt;/blockquote&gt;
569</code></pre>
570</code></pre>