Introduction

This blog post is adapted from the cheat sheet in Markdown Guide written by Matt Cone.

This Markdown cheat sheet provides a quick overview of all the Markdown syntax elements. It can’t cover every edge case, so if you need more information about any of these elements, refer to the reference guides for basic syntax and extended syntax.

Basic Syntax

These are the elements outlined in John Gruber’s original design document. All Markdown applications support these elements.

Heading

H1

H2

H3

Bold

bold text

Italic

italicized text

Blockquote

blockquote

Ordered List

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

Unordered List

• First item
• Second item
• Third item

Code

code

Horizontal Rule

Link

Markdown Guide

Image

Extended Syntax

These elements extend the basic syntax by adding additional features. Not all Markdown applications support these elements.

Table

Fenced Code Block

{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "age": 25
}

Footnote

Here’s a sentence with a footnote. ¹

Heading ID

My Great Heading {#custom-id}

Definition List

term : definition

Strikethrough

The world is flat.

Task List

• Write the press release
• Update the website
• Contact the media