Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004 for writing formatted text using plain-text editors. It's designed to be easy to read and write, converting seamlessly to HTML while remaining human-readable in its raw form. Markdown has become the de facto standard for documentation, README files, note-taking apps, static site generators, and content management systems. The CommonMark specification standardizes Markdown syntax, while GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extends it with tables, task lists, strikethrough, alerts, math expressions, and Mermaid diagrams — features now widely adopted across development platforms.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 26 focused tables and 141 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Headings
| Syntax | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
# Heading 1# Heading 2## Heading 3 | • Use 1–6 hash symbols # followed by a space• number of hashes determines heading level (H1–H6). | |
Heading 1=========Heading 2--------- | • Underline text with = for H1 or - for H2• alternative syntax for top two levels only. |