Markdown Syntax: A Complete Reference With Live Examples

Markdown is the fastest way to write structured content for the web. It's used in GitHub, Notion, Slack, Discord, Reddit, documentation platforms, and most modern CMSes. Learning it takes 10 minutes and saves you hours.

Headings

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3

Text Formatting

**bold** or __bold__
*italic* or _italic_
~~strikethrough~~
`inline code`
> Blockquote

Lists

- Unordered item
- Another item
  - Nested item

1. First item
2. Second item

Links and Images

[Link text](https://example.com)
![Alt text](image.jpg)
![Alt text](image.jpg "Optional title")

Code Blocks

```javascript
const x = 42;
console.log(x);
```

Tables

| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|----------|----------|
| Cell 1   | Cell 2   |
| Cell 3   | Cell 4   |

Horizontal Rule and Line Breaks

---  (three dashes = horizontal rule)
End a line with two spaces
to force a line break