Markdown is a lightweight markup language with plain text formatting syntax designed so that it can be converted to HTML and many other formats using a tool by the same name. It is often used to format readme, for writing messages in online discussion forums, and to create rich text using a plain text editor.
So, here is a quick introduction to some of the elements of markdown.
- Headers
Markdown provides 6 headers(H1-H6) similar to HTML.
To insert an H1 heading, you need to use a single #. For H2 use ## and so on till H6.
Eg: # This is a Header
- Italics
If you want to write some content in italics, you can use * or _ (single hyphen).
Eg: This *word* is in italics or This _word _ is in italics.
- Bold
To bold some content, you can use ** or __ (2 hyphens).
Eg: This **word** is in bold or This __word__ is in bold
- Lists
To create an ordered list use two spaces and then the item number.
Eg: Here Spaces are determined using . (dot)
..1. Item1
..2. Item2
To create an unordered list use two spaces and then *, – or +.
Eg: Here Spaces are determined using . (dot)
..* Item1
..* Item2
- Links
To create a link, you can use the following syntax
1. [some text](link)
Eg: [This is a link to google](https://www.google.com)
You can also provide title to a link.
Eg: [This is a link to google](http://www.google.com "Google")
2. You can also link to a header in the same file. Spaces in the heading are substituted by – (hyphen).
Eg: # Heading 1
To create a link to the above header :
[This is a link to Heading 1](#heading-1)
3. URLs in angular brackets acts as a link.
Eg:<http://www.google.com>
4. To create a reference style link:
[This is a link][reference]
[reference]: http://www.google.com
- Images
Images can be used in two ways:
1. Inline style
2. Reference style
![alt text][img]
[img]: http://media02.hongkiat.com/ww-flower-wallpapers/roundflower.jpg "Image title"
- Code Highlighting
For inline code-highlighting use ` (backtick).
Eg: This is `code`.
Block of code can be written using “` (three backticks) or indenting the code with four spaces.
Eg:
```
This is code
```- Tables
To create table in markdown, you can use | (pipes) and – (hyphens). Each column must be separated using — (3 hyphens)
Eg:
|Col 1|Col 2|
|—|—|
|data1|data2|
The outer pipes are optional.
- Blockquotes
To add blockquotes, you can use >.
Eg: >This is a blockquote
- Inline Html
You can also write raw Html in your markdown
Eg:
<dl><dt>Term</dt><dd>Description</dd></dl>
- Horizontal rule
You can use 3 or more * (astericks), – (hyphens) or _ (underscores ) to create an horizontal rule.
Eg: *** or ---
Here is the link for a sample markdown file:
IDE specifications:
You can use Intellij Idea to edit your md files. It provides the following plugins named:
Markdown Navigator and Markdown Support that helps to view styling of your md files.
