Markdown Cheatsheet: Complete Reference Guide
Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. It is widely used in README files, documentation, blogs, and messaging platforms. Preview your Markdown live with our Markdown Preview tool.
Headings
Headings are created by prefixing a line with one or more hash characters. A single hash produces the largest heading (H1), while six hashes produce the smallest (H6). Always leave a space between the hash characters and the heading text for compatibility.
# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
Best practice is to use only one H1 per document and to follow a logical hierarchy. Do not skip levels (for example, jumping from H2 to H4) as this hurts both readability and accessibility.
Text Formatting
Markdown supports bold, italic, and strikethrough text. Wrap text in single asterisks or underscores for italic, double for bold, and double tildes for strikethrough. You can combine them for bold italic text.
*italic* or _italic_
**bold** or __bold__
***bold italic***
~~strikethrough~~
Using asterisks is generally preferred over underscores because underscores can sometimes conflict with words that contain underscores, especially in URLs and file names.
Lists
Unordered lists use dashes, asterisks, or plus signs as bullet markers. Ordered lists use numbers followed by periods. You can nest lists by indenting with two or four spaces.
- Item one
- Item two
- Nested item
1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
Task lists are a popular extension supported by GitHub and many other platforms. Use - [ ] for an unchecked item and - [x] for a checked one.
Links and Images
Links use the syntax [text](url) and images use . You can add an optional title in quotes after the URL that appears as a tooltip on hover.
[ToolPilot](https://toolpilot.pages.dev)
Reference-style links let you define URLs separately for cleaner source text. Define references at the bottom of your document with [id]: url and use them with [text][id].
Tables
Tables use pipes and dashes to define columns and rows. The second row separates the header from the body and can include colons for alignment: left-aligned by default, :---: for center, and ---: for right-aligned.
| Feature | Status |
| ------- | ------ |
| Bold | Yes |
| Tables | Yes |
Tables work well for small data sets but can become unwieldy for large amounts of data. For complex tables, consider using HTML within your Markdown document where supported.
Code Blocks
Inline code is wrapped in single backticks: `code`. For multi-line code blocks, use triple backticks (fenced code blocks) with an optional language identifier for syntax highlighting.
```javascript
function greet(name) {
return `Hello, ${name}!`;
}
```
Most Markdown renderers support syntax highlighting for dozens of languages. Specifying the language helps readers quickly identify the type of code and enables proper color highlighting.
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