Markdown Cheat Sheet

Headings

Markdown	HTML Equivalent
`# Heading 1`	`<h1>` — Page title
`## Heading 2`	`<h2>` — Section
`### Heading 3`	`<h3>` — Subsection
`#### Heading 4`	`<h4>`
`##### Heading 5`	`<h5>`
`###### Heading 6`	`<h6>`

# Alternative syntax (underline style)
Heading 1
=========

Heading 2
---------

Text Formatting

Markdown	Result
`bold`	bold
`__bold__`	bold
`italic`	italic
`_italic_`	italic
`*bold italic*`	*bold italic*
`~~strikethrough~~`	~~strikethrough~~
`inline code`	`inline code`
`==highlight==`	highlight (some parsers)
`H~2~O`	H₂O (subscript, some parsers)
`X^2^`	X² (superscript, some parsers)

Links & Images

Markdown	Description
`[text](url)`	Inline link
`[text](url "title")`	Link with title (tooltip)
`[text][ref]`	Reference-style link
`[ref]: url "title"`	Reference definition (placed anywhere)
`<https://example.com>`	Auto-linked URL
`<email@example.com>`	Auto-linked email
`![alt text](image.png)`	Image
`![alt](img.png "title")`	Image with title
`[![alt](img.png)](url)`	Linked image (clickable)

# Reference-style links (cleaner for long URLs)
Check out [Google][1] and [GitHub][gh].

[1]: https://google.com "Google"
[gh]: https://github.com "GitHub"

Lists

# Unordered list
- Item 1
- Item 2
  - Nested item
  - Nested item
- Item 3

# Ordered list
1. First
2. Second
3. Third

# Task list (GitHub)
- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Incomplete task
- [ ] Another task

# Definition list (some parsers)
Term
: Definition

Tip: You can use -, *, or + for unordered lists. For ordered lists, the actual numbers don't matter — Markdown auto-numbers them.

Code

Markdown	Description
`code`	Inline code
``code with `backtick` ``	Inline code containing backticks
```language	Fenced code block with syntax highlighting
4 spaces / 1 tab indent	Indented code block

# Fenced code block with language
```javascript
function hello() {
  console.log("Hello, world!");
}
```

# Fenced code block with diff highlighting
```diff
- const old = "removed";
+ const new = "added";
```

Tables

| Left   | Center  | Right  |
|--------|:-------:|-------:|
| Cell 1 | Cell 2  | Cell 3 |
| Cell 4 | Cell 5  | Cell 6 |

# Alignment:
# :--- left (default)
# :---: center
# ---: right

Tip: Columns don't need to align in the source. This also works: |Left|Center|Right|

Blockquotes

> This is a blockquote.
>
> It can span multiple lines.

> Nested blockquotes:
> > Second level
> > > Third level

# GitHub-style alerts
> [!NOTE]
> Useful information that users should know.

> [!TIP]
> Helpful advice for doing things better.

> [!WARNING]
> Urgent info that needs immediate attention.

Horizontal Rules

# Any of these create a horizontal rule:
---
***
___

GitHub-Flavored Markdown

Feature	Syntax	Description
Task lists	`- [x] Done`	Checkbox lists in issues/PRs
Mentions	`@username`	Mention a GitHub user
Issue refs	`#123`	Link to issue/PR by number
Commit refs	`abc1234`	Link to a commit by SHA
Strikethrough	`~~text~~`	Strikethrough text
Tables	`\| a \| b \|`	GitHub supports tables natively
Autolinks	Paste URL directly	URLs are auto-linked
Emoji	`:emoji_name:`	GitHub emoji shortcodes
Footnotes	`[^1]`	Add footnotes to text
Collapsed section	`<details>`	HTML collapsible section
Math (LaTeX)	$E = mc^2$	Inline math expressions
Math block	`$$...$$`	Block math expressions
Mermaid	```mermaid	Diagrams in code blocks

# Collapsible section
<details>
<summary>Click to expand</summary>

Hidden content goes here.

</details>

# Footnotes
Here is a sentence with a footnote.[^1]

[^1]: This is the footnote content.

Escaping Characters

Use backslash \ to escape Markdown formatting characters:

\*not italic\*   → *not italic*
\# not a heading  → # not a heading
\[not a link\]   → [not a link]

# Characters that can be escaped:
# \ ` * _ { } [ ] ( ) # + - . ! |