What is Markdown?

Markdown is a way to style text on the web. You control the display of the document; formatting words as bold or italic, adding images, and creating lists are just a few of the things we can do with Markdown. Mostly, Markdown is just regular text with a few non-alphabetic characters thrown in, like # or *.

Examples

It's very easy to make some words **bold**, make other words *italic*, and ~~strikeout~~ others with Markdown. You can even [link to Wikipedia!](http://en.wikipedia.org) URLs like http://www.truth-out.org will become clickable links automatically.

Here's a new paragraph. Two consecutive hyphens--not to be confused with dashes--become a single em-dash.

***

A row of three `*` marks a thematic shift.

It’s very easy to make some words bold, make other words italic, and ~~strikeout~~ others with Markdown. You can even link to Wikipedia! URLs like http://www.truth-out.org will become clickable links automatically.

Here’s a new paragraph. Two consecutive hyphens—not to be confused with dashes—become a single em-dash.

A row of three * marks a thematic shift.

Sometimes you want numbered lists:

1. One
2. Two
3. Three

Sometimes you want bullet points:

* Start a line with a star
* Profit!

Alternatively,

- Dashes work just as well
- And if you have sub points, put four spaces before the dash or star:
    - Like this
    - And this

Sometimes you want numbered lists:

One
Two
Three

Sometimes you want bullet points:

Start a line with a star
Profit!

Alternatively,

Dashes work just as well
And if you have sub points, put four spaces before the dash or star:
- Like this
- And this

You can construct a table, defining the alignment of its columns using colons:

| Right-aligned | Centered      | Left-aligned |
| ------------: | :-----------: | :----------- |
| 9             | pleather      | black        |
| 10            | hemp canvas   | natural      |
| 11            | glass         | transparent  |

You can construct a table, defining the alignment of its columns using colons:

Right-aligned	Centered	Left-aligned
9	pleather	black
10	hemp canvas	natural
11	glass	transparent

If you want to embed images, this is how you do it:

![Image of a raised fist](https://www.rpamag.org/images/fist.png)

If you want to embed images, this is how you do it:

Image of a raised fist

# Structured documents

Sometimes it's useful to have different levels of headings to structure your documents. Start lines with a `#` to create headings. Multiple `##` in a row denote smaller heading sizes.

### This is a third-tier heading

You can use one `#` all the way up to `######` six for different heading sizes.

If you'd like to quote someone, use the `>` character before the line:

> Coffee. The finest organic suspension ever devised... I beat the Borg with it.
> -- Captain Janeway

Structured documents

Sometimes it’s useful to have different levels of headings to structure your documents. Start lines with a # to create headings. Multiple ## in a row denote smaller heading sizes.

This is a third-tier heading

You can use one # all the way up to ###### six for different heading sizes.

If you’d like to quote someone, use the > character before the line:

Coffee. The finest organic suspension ever devised… I beat the Borg with it. — Captain Janeway

Here's a footnote [^1]. And another one [^another-note].

[^1]: Footnote text goes here.
[^another-note]: The names `1` and `another-note` are just used to tie the notes to their points of reference. Name your footnotes however you'd like.

Here’s a footnote ^[1]. And another one ^[2].

Footnote text goes here. ↩
The names 1 and another-note are just used to tie the notes to their points of reference. Name your footnotes however you’d like. ↩

This guide is based on Mastering Markdown from GitHub.