A practical Markdown cheat sheet

Markdown is a lightweight way to add structure and emphasis to plain text. Instead of clicking a formatting toolbar, you type small markers that a renderer turns into headings, links, lists, and other readable content. This Markdown cheat sheet puts the most useful syntax in one place, with copyable source and a live rendered example beside it. It is useful when you are writing README files, project documentation, blog posts, notes, issue descriptions, or messages in a tool that supports Markdown.

Start with headings by placing one to six hash characters before a title: # Headingcreates the largest heading, while ## Section creates a smaller level-two heading. Use a blank line to separate paragraphs. Wrap words in single asterisks for italics and double asterisks for bold. For a reusable Markdown link, write[description](https://example.com); the description becomes the clickable text. Images use a similar pattern with an exclamation mark, although support can vary between platforms.

Lists make documents easier to scan. Begin an unordered list item with -,*, or +, and begin an ordered item with a number followed by a period. Indent nested items consistently so the renderer can understand the hierarchy. Task lists are a GitHub Flavored Markdown extension: - [ ] Todo creates an unchecked box and - [x] Done creates a checked one. Blockquotes begin with>, making them useful for quotations, callouts, or copied issue context.

Use backticks for code. A pair of single backticks creates inline code such asnpm run build. Three backticks create a fenced code block, and adding a language name after the opening fence enables syntax highlighting in renderers that support it:```js. Horizontal rules use three or more hyphens on their own line. To add a line break without a new paragraph, end the line with two spaces or a backslash. These small details are why a rendered preview is valuable: it shows whether invisible spaces and delimiters are doing what you intended.

CommonMark defines the portable core of Markdown, including headings, emphasis, links, lists, code, and blockquotes. GitHub Flavored Markdown, often shortened to GFM, builds on that core with tables, task lists, strikethrough, autolinks, and fenced code conveniences. A table uses pipes and a separator row, for example| Name | Status | followed by | --- | --- |. Not every application supports every extension, so check the destination platform when formatting needs to survive outside GitHub.

When Markdown does not render as expected, inspect the characters around the syntax first. A missing blank line can change a paragraph into a list, an unclosed backtick can consume the rest of a sentence, and a space inside emphasis markers can prevent bold or italics. Escape a special character with a backslash when you need it to appear literally, such as \*not italic\*. Be careful with raw HTML too: some platforms allow it, while secure applications escape or sanitize it. The safest workflow is to preview untrusted content before publishing and to use the destination renderer's documented feature set.

This reference is designed for quick lookup rather than memorisation. Find a syntax category in the table, copy the exact marker, and compare the result in the preview. For longer documents, open theMarkdown editor to write with live preview, word counts, and a downloadable source file. You can also build aligned GFM tables with theMarkdown table generator, convert a document to HTML with the Markdown to HTML converter, or export a polished document as a PDF. Because the tools run in your browser, drafts stay local while you test formatting and prepare documentation.