Introduction to Markdown

Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML).

Thus, “Markdown” is two things:

(1) a plain text formatting syntax; and
(2) a software tool, written in Perl, that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.

See below for details pertaining to Markdown’s formatting syntax.

The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make it as readable as possible. The idea is that a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions. While Markdown’s syntax has been influenced by several existing text-to-HTML filters, the single biggest source of inspiration for Markdown’s syntax is the format of plain text email.

The best way to get a feel for Markdown’s formatting syntax is simply to look at a Markdown-formatted document. For example, you can view the Markdown source for the article text on this page here.

It is possible to use the *.text suffix trick to view the Markdown source for the content of a *.md page.

Markdown is free software, available under a BSD-style open source license. See the License page for more information.

Most common Markdown usages

Code Block

For me as a developer is fundamental to be able to define a code block using the markdown syntax. To do so the specification defines two tags that must be used in order to define a code block. The pre and code tags. An example of its usage is the following:

This is a code block

An alternative way to do so can be the usage of 3 back-tick in sequence like:

This is a code block too!

Headers

# H1
## H2
### H3
#### H4
##### H5
###### H6

And the result will be:

H1

H2

H3

H4

H5

H6

Text Formatting

Emphasis, aka italics, with *asterisks* or _underscores_.
Strong emphasis, aka bold, with **asterisks** or __underscores__.
Combined emphasis with **asterisks and _underscores_**.
Strikethrough uses two tildes. ~~Scratch this.~~

And the result will be:

Emphasis, aka italics, with asterisks or underscores.
Strong emphasis, aka bold, with asterisks or underscores.
Combined emphasis with asterisks and underscores.
Strikethrough uses two tildes. Scratch this.

Lists

Apart from using a simple numeric combination, it is possible to use also other alternatives like the following:

1. Generic number with sublist associated
··1. Sublist element
4. Other Generic number

Other ways to use unordered lists are:
* Asterisks
- Minuses
+ Pluses

The result of the previous code block will be:

1. Generic number with sublist associated
   ··1. Sublist element
2. Other Generic number

Other ways to use unordered lists are:

• Asterisks
• Minuses
• Pluses

Links

There are several ways to create links, in the next code block you’ll find my favourites that are also the most diffused:

[Inline Link](https://enricocammarota.github.io/blog/2018/11/06/Blog-entry-two.html)
[Inline Link with Title](https://enricocammarota.github.io/blog/2018/11/06/Blog-entry-two.html "Second Blog post")

And the result is:

Inline Link
Inline Link with Title

Images

There are two ways of representing an image:

Inline-style: 
![alt text](../../assets/img/markdown.png "This is the Markdown logo 1")

Reference-style: 
![alt text][logo]

[logo]: ../../assets/img/markdown.png "This is the Markdown logo 2"

Inline-style:

Reference-style:

Realizing Tables

Tables aren’t part of the core Markdown spec, but they are part of GFM and Markdown Here supports them. They are an easy way of adding tables to your email – a task that would otherwise require copy-pasting from another application.

Colons can be used to align columns.

| Tables        | Are           | Cool  |
| ------------- |:-------------:| -----:|
| col 3 is      | right-aligned | $1600 |
| col 2 is      | centered      |   $12 |
| zebra stripes | are neat      |    $1 |

There must be at least 3 dashes separating each header cell.
The outer pipes (|) are optional, and you don't need to make the 
raw Markdown line up prettily. You can also use inline Markdown.

Markdown | Less | Pretty
--- | --- | ---
*Still* | `renders` | **nicely**
1 | 2 | 3

That generates a result like:

There must be at least 3 dashes separating each header cell. The outer pipes (|) are optional, and you don’t need to make the raw Markdown line up prettily. You can also use inline Markdown.

Blockquotes

Particularely handy to highlight text blocks and to simulate email responses and quotes. The syntax is described in the next code block:

> Blockquotes are very handy to highlight text blocks and simulate email responses.
> This line is part of the same quote.

And the result is:

Blockquotes are very handy in email to emulate reply text. This line is part of the same quote.

A particularity of the Blockquote is that in case of very long lines, the text will keep being wrapped as a blockquote when rendered:

> Hello my name is Enrico Cammarota, I'm 29 years old. I'm an italian software developer passionate in technologies, sport and music. 
Feel free to contact me at any time at **cammarota.en@gmail.com**! 

Hello my name is Enrico Cammarota, I’m 29 years old. I’m an italian software developer passionate in technologies, sport and music. Feel free to contact me at any time at cammarota.en@gmail.com!

Inline HTML

It is however possible to include inline HTML inour Markdown in order to create particular structures:

<ul>
    <li>A simple list</li>
    <li>Commonly used</li>
</ul>

That gets rendered as:

• A simple list
• Commonly used

That’s all folks, thanks for reading this post!

Credits:

Adam P. Markdown Cheatsheet
Daring Fireball Markdown Syntax Documentation