Markdown Syntax Guide: The Complete Cheat Sheet

What Is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It uses plain text formatting conventions that convert to HTML — the go-to format for README files, documentation, blog posts, and wikis.

Headings

# H1 — Page Title
## H2 — Section
### H3 — Subsection
#### H4

Emphasis

*italic* or _italic_
**bold** or __bold__
***bold and italic***
~~strikethrough~~

Lists

Unordered:

- Item one
- Item two
  - Nested item

Ordered:

1. First
2. Second
3. Third

Task List (GitHub Flavored Markdown):

- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Incomplete task

Links and Images

[Link text](https://example.com)
[Link with title](https://example.com "Tooltip")

![Alt text](image.png)

<!-- Reference-style links -->
[Visit Google][google]
[google]: https://google.com

Code

Inline: Use `console.log()` to debug.

Fenced code blocks:

```javascript
const greet = (name) => `Hello, ${name}!`;
```

Blockquotes

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

Tables (GFM)

| Name    | Age | City     |
|---------|-----|----------|
| Alice   | 30  | New York |
| Bob     | 25  | London   |

Alignment:

| Left | Center | Right |
|:-----|:------:|------:|

HTML in Markdown

Most parsers support inline HTML:

<details>
  <summary>Click to expand</summary>
  Hidden content here.
</details>

Extended GitHub Flavored Markdown

• Autolinks: bare URLs are auto-linked
• Mentions: @username creates a user mention
• Issue references: #123 links to an issue
• Footnotes: [^1] and [^1]: footnote text

Preview and Convert Markdown Instantly

Use the free Markdown Previewer on konvertio.app — type or paste Markdown and see the rendered HTML preview in real time. Supports GFM tables, task lists, and syntax highlighting.