# Markdown



Markdown



```

.md



,



.markdown



[[1]](#cite_note-df-2022-1)[[2]](#cite_note-rfc7763-2)



[Internet media type](/wiki/Media_type)



text/markdown

```



[[2]](#cite_note-rfc7763-2)



[Uniform Type Identifier (UTI)](/wiki/Uniform_Type_Identifier)



net.daringfireball.markdown



public.plain-text



[Magic number](/wiki/File_format#Magic_number)



[[3]](#cite_note-markdown-swartz-3)[[4]](#cite_note-gruber-2004-release-4)



[Latest release](/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle)



December 17, 2004



[[5]](#cite_note-md-5)



The initial description of Markdown[[11]](#cite_note-11) contained ambiguities and raised unanswered questions, causing implementations to both intentionally and accidentally diverge from the original version. This was addressed in 2014 when long-standing Markdown contributors released [CommonMark](#CommonMark), an unambiguous specification and test suite for Markdown.[[12]](#cite_note-FutureOfMarkdown-12)[[better source needed](/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Questionable_sources)]



## History



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=1)]



Markdown was inspired by pre-existing [conventions](/wiki/Convention_(norm)) for marking up [plain text](/wiki/Plain_text) in [email](/wiki/Email) and [usenet](/wiki/Usenet) posts,[[13]](#cite_note-ArsTechnica2014-13) such as the earlier markup languages [setext](/wiki/Setext) (c. 1992), [Textile](/wiki/Textile_(markup_language)) (c. 2002), and [reStructuredText](/wiki/ReStructuredText) (c. 2002).[[9]](#cite_note-philosophy-9)



In 2002, [Aaron Swartz](/wiki/Aaron_Swartz) created [atx](/wiki/Atx_(markup_language)) and referred to it as "the true structured text format". Gruber created the Markdown language in 2004 with Swartz as his "sounding board".[[14]](#cite_note-Gruber-14) The goal of the language was to enable people "to write using an easy-to-read and easy-to-write plain text format, optionally convert it to structurally valid [XHTML](/wiki/XHTML) (or [HTML](/wiki/HTML))".[[5]](#cite_note-md-5)



Another key design goal was readability, that the language be readable as-is, without looking like it has been marked up with tags or formatting instructions,[[9]](#cite_note-philosophy-9) unlike text formatted with "heavier" [markup languages](/wiki/Markup_language), such as [Rich Text Format](/wiki/Rich_Text_Format) (RTF), HTML, or even [wikitext](/wiki/Wikitext), each of which have obvious in-line tags and formatting instructions which can make the text more difficult for humans to read.[[citation needed](/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]



Gruber wrote a [Perl](/wiki/Perl) script,



```

Markdown.pl



, which converts marked-up text input to valid, [well-formed](/wiki/Well-formed_document) XHTML or HTML, encoding angle brackets (



<



,



>



) and [ampersands](/wiki/Ampersand) (



```

&



), which would be misinterpreted as special characters in those languages. It can take the role of a standalone script, a plugin for [Blosxom](/wiki/Blosxom) or [Movable Type](/wiki/Movable_Type), or of a text filter for [BBEdit](/wiki/BBEdit).[[5]](#cite_note-md-5)



## Rise and divergence



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=2)]



As Markdown's popularity grew rapidly, many Markdown [implementations](/wiki/Implementation) appeared, driven mostly by the need for additional features such as [tables](/wiki/Table_(information)), [footnotes](/wiki/Note_(typography)), definition lists,[[note 1]](#cite_note-17) and Markdown inside HTML blocks.[[citation needed](/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]



The behavior of some of these diverged from the reference implementation, as Markdown was only characterised by an informal [specification](/wiki/Specification_(technical_standard))[[17]](#cite_note-18) and a [Perl](/wiki/Perl) implementation for conversion to HTML.[[citation needed](/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]



At the same time, a number of ambiguities in the informal specification had attracted attention.[[18]](#cite_note-gfm_on_github-why_spec-19) These issues spurred the creation of tools such as Babelmark[[19]](#cite_note-babelmark-2-20)[[20]](#cite_note-babelmark-3-21) to compare the output of various implementations,[[21]](#cite_note-22) and an effort by some developers of Markdown [parsers](/wiki/Parsing) for standardization. However, Gruber has argued that complete standardization would be a mistake: "Different sites (and people) have different needs. No one syntax would make all happy."[[22]](#cite_note-23)



Gruber avoided using curly braces in Markdown to unofficially reserve them for implementation-specific extensions.[[23]](#cite_note-curlyBraces-24)



## CommonMark



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=3)]



CommonMark



```

.md



,



.markdown



[[2]](#cite_note-rfc7763-2)



[Internet media type](/wiki/Media_type)



text/markdown; variant=CommonMark

```



[[7]](#cite_note-rfc7764-7)



[Uniform Type Identifier (UTI)](/wiki/Uniform_Type_Identifier)



[[24]](#cite_note-cm-uti-25)[John MacFarlane](/wiki/John_MacFarlane_(philosopher)), open source



[Latest release](/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle)



January 28, 2024



[[25]](#cite_note-cm-spec-26)



[Open file format](/wiki/Open_file_format)[GitHub Flavored Markdown](#GFM)[commonmark.org](https://commonmark.org/)[spec.commonmark.org](http://spec.commonmark.org/)



- Standardization



In 2012, a group of people, including [Jeff Atwood](/wiki/Jeff_Atwood) and [John MacFarlane](/wiki/John_MacFarlane_(philosopher)), launched what Atwood characterised as a standardization effort.[[12]](#cite_note-FutureOfMarkdown-12)



A community website now aims to "document various tools and resources available to document authors and developers, as well as implementors of the various Markdown implementations".[[26]](#cite_note-27)



- Name



In September 2014, Gruber objected to the usage of "Markdown" in the name of this effort and it was rebranded as "CommonMark".[[13]](#cite_note-ArsTechnica2014-13)[[27]](#cite_note-28)[[28]](#cite_note-29) CommonMark.org published several versions of a specification, reference implementation, test suite, and "[plans] to announce a finalized 1.0 spec and test suite in 2019".[[29]](#cite_note-commonmark.org-30) A finalized 1.0 spec has not been released, as major issues still remain unsolved.[[30]](#cite_note-31)



- Adoption



Nonetheless, several websites and projects have adopted CommonMark, including [Codeberg](/wiki/Codeberg), [Discourse](/wiki/Discourse_(software)), [GitHub](/wiki/GitHub), [GitLab](/wiki/GitLab), [Reddit](/wiki/Reddit), [Qt](/wiki/Qt_(software)), [Stack Exchange](/wiki/Stack_Exchange) ([Stack Overflow](/wiki/Stack_Overflow)), and [Swift](/wiki/Swift_(programming_language)).



In March 2016, two relevant informational Internet [RFCs](/wiki/Request_for_Comments) were published:



- RFC [7763](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7763)– "The text/markdown Media Type,"[[2]](#cite_note-rfc7763-2)Informational.Introduces[MIME](/wiki/MIME)type



  ```

  text/markdown



  .

- RFC [7764](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7764)– "Guidance on Markdown: Design Philosophies, Stability Strategies, and Select Registrations,"[[7]](#cite_note-rfc7764-7)Informational.Discusses and registers the variants[MultiMarkdown](/wiki/MultiMarkdown),[GitHub Flavored Markdown](#GFM)(GFM),[Pandoc](/wiki/Pandoc), and Markdown Extra (among others).[[31]](#cite_note-IANA-32)



## Variants



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=4)]



Depending on implementation, basic inline [HTML tags](/wiki/HTML_tag) may be supported.[[37]](#cite_note-38)



Italic text may be implemented by



```

_underscores_



or



*single-asterisks*



.[[38]](#cite_note-italic-39)



### GitHub Flavored Markdown



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=5)]



[GitHub](/wiki/GitHub) had been using its own variant of Markdown since as early as 2009,[[39]](#cite_note-40) which added support for additional formatting such as tables and nesting [block content](/wiki/HTML_element#Block_elements) inside list elements, as well as GitHub-specific features such as auto-linking references to commits, issues, usernames, etc.



In 2017, GitHub released a formal specification of its [GitHub Flavored Markdown](https://github.github.com/gfm/) (GFM) that is based on [CommonMark](/wiki/CommonMark).[[33]](#cite_note-gfm_on_github-34) It is a [strict superset](/wiki/Superset) of CommonMark, following its specification exactly except for tables, [strikethrough](/wiki/Strikethrough), [autolinks](/wiki/Automatic_hyperlinking) and task lists, which GFM adds as extensions.[[40]](#cite_note-41)



Accordingly, GitHub also changed the parser used on their sites, which required that some documents be changed. For instance, GFM now requires that the [hash symbol](/wiki/Number_sign) that creates a heading be separated from the heading text by a space character.



### Markdown Extra



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=6)]



Markdown Extra is a [lightweight markup language](/wiki/Lightweight_markup_language) based on Markdown implemented in [PHP](/wiki/PHP) (originally), [Python](/wiki/Python_(programming_language)) and [Ruby](/wiki/Ruby_(programming_language)).[[41]](#cite_note-fortin-2018-42) It adds the following features that are not available with regular Markdown:



- Markdown markup inside [HTML](/wiki/HTML)blocks

- Elements with id/class attribute

- "Fenced code blocks" that span multiple lines of code

- Tables[[42]](#cite_note-43)

- Definition lists

- Footnotes

- Abbreviations



Markdown Extra is supported in some [content management systems](/wiki/Content_management_system) such as [Drupal](/wiki/Drupal),[[43]](#cite_note-44) [Grav (CMS)](/wiki/Grav_(CMS)), [Textpattern CMS](/wiki/Textpattern)[[44]](#cite_note-45) and [TYPO3](/wiki/TYPO3).[[45]](#cite_note-46)



## Examples



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=7)]



Text using Markdown syntaxCorresponding HTML produced by a Markdown processorText viewed in a browser



```

Heading

=======



Sub-heading

-----------



# Alternative heading



## Alternative sub-heading



Paragraphs are separated 

by a blank line.



Two spaces at the end of a line  

produce a line break.

```



<h1>Heading</h1>



<h2>Sub-heading</h2>



<h1>Alternative heading</h1>



<h2>Alternative sub-heading</h2>



<p>Paragraphs are separated

by a blank line.</p>



<p>Two spaces at the end of a line<br />

produce a line break.</p>

```



Paragraphs are separated by a blank line.



Two spaces at the end of a line



Text attributes _italic_, **bold**, `monospace`.



Horizontal rule:



---



<p>Text attributes <em>italic</em>, <strong>bold</strong>, <code>monospace</code>.</p>



<p>Horizontal rule:</p>



<hr />

```



Text attributes italic, bold,



monospace



.



Horizontal rule:



Bullet lists nested within numbered list:



  1. fruits

     * apple

     * banana

  2. vegetables

     - carrot

     - broccoli

```



<p>Bullet lists nested within numbered list:</p>



<ol>

  <li>fruits <ul>

      <li>apple</li>

      <li>banana</li>

  </ul></li>

  <li>vegetables <ul>

      <li>carrot</li>

      <li>broccoli</li>

</ol>

```



Bullet lists nested within numbered list:



- fruits

  - apple

  - banana

- vegetables

  - carrot

  - broccoli



```

A [link](http://example.com).



![Image](Icon-pictures.png "icon")



> Markdown uses email-style

characters for blockquoting.

>

> Multiple paragraphs need to be prepended individually.



Most inline <abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr> tags are supported.

```



<p>A <a href="http://example.com">link</a>.</p>



<p><img alt="Image" title="icon" src="Icon-pictures.png" /></p>



<blockquote>

<p>Markdown uses email-style characters for blockquoting.</p>

<p>Multiple paragraphs need to be prepended individually.</p>

</blockquote>



<p>Most inline <abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr> tags are supported.</p>

```



A



Most inline HTML tags are supported.



## Implementations



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=8)]



Implementations of Markdown are available for over a dozen [programming languages](/wiki/Programming_language); in addition, many [applications](/wiki/Application_software), platforms and [frameworks](/wiki/Software_framework) support Markdown.[[46]](#cite_note-47) For example, Markdown [plugins](/wiki/Plug-in_(computing)) exist for every major [blogging](/wiki/Blog) platform.[[13]](#cite_note-ArsTechnica2014-13)



While Markdown is a minimal markup language and is read and edited with a normal [text editor](/wiki/Text_editor), there are specially designed editors that preview the files with styles, which are available for all major platforms. Many general-purpose text and [code editors](/wiki/Source-code_editor) have [syntax highlighting](/wiki/Syntax_highlighting) plugins for Markdown built into them or available as optional download. Editors may feature a side-by-side preview window or render the code directly in a [WYSIWYG](/wiki/WYSIWYG) fashion.



## See also



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=9)]



- [Comparison of document markup languages](/wiki/Comparison_of_document_markup_languages)

- [Comparison of documentation generators](/wiki/Comparison_of_documentation_generators)

- [Comparison of wiki software](/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_software)

- [Lightweight markup language](/wiki/Lightweight_markup_language)

- [List of markup languages](/wiki/List_of_markup_languages)

- [List of text editors](/wiki/List_of_text_editors)

- [Wiki markup](/wiki/Wiki_markup)



## Explanatory notes



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=10)]



- [^](#cite_ref-17)Technically HTML description lists



## References



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=11)]



- [^](#cite_ref-df-2022_1-0)Gruber, John (8 January 2014).["The Markdown File Extension"](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/01/08/markdown-extension). The Daring Fireball Company, LLC.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200712120733/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/01/08/markdown-extension)from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2022.

  > Too late now, I suppose, but the only file extension I would endorse is ".markdown", for the same reason offered by Hilton Lipschitz: We no longer live in a 8.3 world, so we should be using the most descriptive file extensions. It's sad that all our operating systems rely on this stupid convention instead of the better creator code or a metadata model, but great that they now support longer file extensions.

- [^](#cite_ref-markdown-swartz_3-0)[Swartz, Aaron](/wiki/Aaron_Swartz)(2004-03-19).["Markdown"](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001189). Aaron Swartz: The Weblog.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171224200232/http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001189)from the original on 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2013-09-01.

- [^](#cite_ref-gruber-2004-release_4-0)[Gruber, John](/wiki/John_Gruber).["Markdown"](https://web.archive.org/web/20040311230924/https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/index.text).[Daring Fireball](/wiki/Daring_Fireball). Archived from[the original](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/index.text)on 2004-03-11. Retrieved 2022-08-20.

- ^ [a](#cite_ref-md_5-0)[b](#cite_ref-md_5-1)[c](#cite_ref-md_5-2)Markdown 1.0.1 readme source code["Daring Fireball – Markdown"](https://web.archive.org/web/20040402182332/http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/). 2004-12-17. Archived from[the original](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/)on 2004-04-02.

- [^](#cite_ref-license_6-0)["Markdown: License"](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/license). Daring Fireball.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200218183533/https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/license)from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2014-04-25.

- [^](#cite_ref-RMarkdown_8-0)["RMarkdown Reference site"](https://rmarkdown.rstudio.com/).[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200303054734/https://rmarkdown.rstudio.com/)from the original on 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2019-11-21.

- ^ [a](#cite_ref-philosophy_9-0)[b](#cite_ref-philosophy_9-1)[c](#cite_ref-philosophy_9-2)[d](#cite_ref-philosophy_9-3)Markdown Syntax["Daring Fireball – Markdown – Syntax"](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#philosophy). 2013-06-13. "Readability, however, is emphasized above all else. 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 — including Setext, atx, Textile, reStructuredText, Grutatext[[15]](#cite_note-grutatext-15), and EtText[[16]](#cite_note-ettext-16)— the single biggest source of inspiration for Markdown's syntax is the format of plain text email."

- [^](#cite_ref-llm-markdown_10-0)Dillet, Romain (6 March 2025).["Mistral adds a new API that turns any PDF document into an AI-ready Markdown file"](https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/06/mistrals-new-ocr-api-turns-any-pdf-document-into-an-ai-ready-markdown-file/). TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 September 2025.

- [^](#cite_ref-11)["Daring Fireball: Introducing Markdown"](https://daringfireball.net/2004/03/introducing_markdown). daringfireball.net.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200920182442/https://daringfireball.net/2004/03/introducing_markdown)from the original on 2020-09-20. Retrieved 2020-09-23.

- ^ [a](#cite_ref-FutureOfMarkdown_12-0)[b](#cite_ref-FutureOfMarkdown_12-1)Atwood, Jeff (2012-10-25).["The Future of Markdown"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140211233513/http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/10/the-future-of-markdown.html). CodingHorror.com. Archived from[the original](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/10/the-future-of-markdown.html)on 2014-02-11. Retrieved 2014-04-25.

- ^ [a](#cite_ref-ArsTechnica2014_13-0)[b](#cite_ref-ArsTechnica2014_13-1)[c](#cite_ref-ArsTechnica2014_13-2)Gilbertson, Scott (October 5, 2014).["Markdown throwdown: What happens when FOSS software gets corporate backing?"](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/markdown-throwdown-what-happens-when-foss-software-gets-corporate-backing/).[Ars Technica](/wiki/Ars_Technica).[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201114231130/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/10/markdown-throwdown-what-happens-when-foss-software-gets-corporate-backing/)from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2017.[CommonMark](/wiki/CommonMark)fork could end up better for users... but original creators seem to disagree.

- [^](#cite_ref-Gruber_14-0)@gruber (June 12, 2016).["I should write about it, but it's painful. More or less: Aaron was my sounding board, my muse"](https://twitter.com/gruber/status/741989829173510145)([Tweet](/wiki/Tweet_(social_media))) – via[Twitter](/wiki/Twitter).

- [^](#cite_ref-grutatext_15-0)["Un naufragio personal: The Grutatxt markup"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220630230546/https://triptico.com/docs/grutatxt_markup.html). triptico.com. Archived from[the original](https://triptico.com/docs/grutatxt_markup.html)on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-30.

- [^](#cite_ref-ettext_16-0)["EtText: Documentation: Using EtText"](http://ettext.taint.org/doc/ettext.html). ettext.taint.org. Retrieved 2022-06-30.

- [^](#cite_ref-18)["Markdown Syntax Documentation"](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax). Daring Fireball.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20190909051956/https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax)from the original on 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2018-03-09.

- [^](#cite_ref-gfm_on_github-why_spec_19-0)["GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec – Why is a spec needed?"](https://github.github.com/gfm/#why-is-a-spec-needed-). github.github.com.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200203204734/https://github.github.com/gfm/#why-is-a-spec-needed-)from the original on 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2018-05-17.

- [^](#cite_ref-babelmark-2_20-0)["Babelmark 2 – Compare markdown implementations"](http://johnmacfarlane.net/babelmark2/). Johnmacfarlane.net.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170718113552/http://johnmacfarlane.net/babelmark2/)from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2014-04-25.

- [^](#cite_ref-babelmark-3_21-0)["Babelmark 3 – Compare Markdown Implementations"](https://babelmark.github.io/). github.io.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201112043521/https://babelmark.github.io/)from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2017-12-10.

- [^](#cite_ref-22)["Babelmark 2 – FAQ"](http://johnmacfarlane.net/babelmark2/faq.html). Johnmacfarlane.net.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170728115918/http://johnmacfarlane.net/babelmark2/faq.html)from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved 2014-04-25.

- [^](#cite_ref-23)[Gruber, John [@gruber]](/wiki/John_Gruber)(4 September 2014).["@tobie @espadrine @comex @wycats Because different sites (and people) have different needs. No one syntax would make all happy"](https://twitter.com/gruber/status/507670720886091776)([Tweet](/wiki/Tweet_(social_media))) – via[Twitter](/wiki/Twitter).

- [^](#cite_ref-curlyBraces_24-0)Gruber, John (19 May 2022).["Markdoc"](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2022/05/19/markdoc). Daring Fireball.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220519202920/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2022/05/19/markdoc)from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved May 19, 2022.

  > I love their syntax extensions — very true to the spirit of Markdown. They use curly braces for their extensions; I'm not sure I ever made this clear, publicly, but I avoided using curly braces in Markdown itself — even though they are very tempting characters — to unofficially reserve them for implementation-specific extensions. Markdoc's extensive use of curly braces for its syntax is exactly the sort of thing I was thinking about.

- [^](#cite_ref-cm-uti_25-0)["UTI of a CommonMark document"](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/uti-of-a-commonmark-document/2406). 12 April 2017.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20181122140119/https://talk.commonmark.org/t/uti-of-a-commonmark-document/2406)from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

- [^](#cite_ref-cm-spec_26-0)["CommonMark specification"](http://spec.commonmark.org/).[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20170807052756/http://spec.commonmark.org/)from the original on 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2017-07-26.

- [^](#cite_ref-27)["Markdown Community Page"](https://markdown.github.io/). GitHub.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201026161924/http://markdown.github.io/)from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2014-04-25.

- [^](#cite_ref-28)["Standard Markdown is now Common Markdown"](http://blog.codinghorror.com/standard-markdown-is-now-common-markdown/). Jeff Atwood. 4 September 2014.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20141009181014/http://blog.codinghorror.com/standard-markdown-is-now-common-markdown/)from the original on 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2014-10-07.

- [^](#cite_ref-29)["Standard Markdown Becomes Common Markdown then CommonMark"](http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/09/markdown-commonmark). InfoQ.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200930150521/https://www.infoq.com/news/2014/09/markdown-commonmark/)from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2014-10-07.

- [^](#cite_ref-commonmark.org_30-0)["CommonMark"](http://commonmark.org/).[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160412211434/http://commonmark.org/)from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 20 Jun 2018.

  > The current version of the CommonMark spec is complete, and quite robust after a year of public feedback … but not quite final. With your help, we plan to announce a finalized 1.0 spec and test suite in 2019.

- [^](#cite_ref-31)["Issues we MUST resolve before 1.0 release [6 remaining]"](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/issues-we-must-resolve-before-1-0-release-6-remaining/1287). CommonMark Discussion. 2015-07-26.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210414032229/https://talk.commonmark.org/t/issues-we-must-resolve-before-1-0-release-6-remaining/1287)from the original on 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2020-10-02.

- [^](#cite_ref-IANA_32-0)["Markdown Variants"](https://www.iana.org/assignments/markdown-variants/markdown-variants.xhtml).[IANA](/wiki/Internet_Assigned_Numbers_Authority). 2016-03-28.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201027005128/https://www.iana.org/assignments/markdown-variants/markdown-variants.xhtml)from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2016-07-06.

- [^](#cite_ref-33)["Markdown Text 101 (Chat Formatting: Bold, Italic, Underline)"](https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/210298617-Markdown-Text-101-Chat-Formatting-Bold-Italic-Underline). Discord. 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2025-02-07.

- ^ [a](#cite_ref-gfm_on_github_34-0)[b](#cite_ref-gfm_on_github_34-1)["GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec"](https://github.github.com/gfm/). GitHub.[Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200203204734/https://github.github.com/gfm/)from the original on 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2020-06-11.

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  > To italicize text, add one asterisk or underscore before and after a word or phrase. To italicize the middle of a word for emphasis, add one asterisk without spaces around the letters.

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## External links



[



[edit](/w/index.php?title=Markdown&action=edit&section=12)]



- [Official website](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/)for original John Gruber markup

