Markdown and Git Flavoured Markdown | PracticalSeries: Brackets-Git and GitHub

C.1 General markdown syntax

The following is a summary of the general markdown language syntax.

C.1.1 Headings

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	# h1 heading
	## h2 heading
	### h3 heading
	#### h4 heading
	##### h5 heading
	###### h6 heading
	Normal text

C.1.2 Block quotes

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	> Yet beautiful and bright > He stood > As born to rule the storm

C.1.3 Emphasis

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	This is italics
	_This is also italics_
	This is bold
	__This is also bold__
	They can be* combined*
	This is also combined**

C.1.4 Ordered lists

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	1. First entry 2. Second entry 3. Third entry
	1. First entry 2. Second entry 1. First sub-entry 2. Second sub-entry 3. Third entry

C.1.5 Unordered lists

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	* First entry * Second entry * Third entry
	* First entry * First sub-entry * Second sub-entry * Second entry * Third entry

C.1.6 Combined lists

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	1. First entry 2. Second entry * First sub-entry * Second sub-entry 3. Third entry
	* First entry * Second entry 1. First sub-entry 2. Second sub-entry * Third entry

C.1.7 Images & links

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	![Logo](/11-resources/02-images/readme.png) ![Alt text](URL)
	[GitHub](http://github.com) [Link text](URL)

Images can also be added by using basic HTML^†1 , this allow the size and position of the image to be adjusted:

README.md files support SVG images if they are referenced as a HTML link, e.g.:
http://practicalseries.com/1002-vcs/11-resources/02-images/02-build-status/build-badge.svg

If they are given as a relative address:
/11-resources/02-images/02-build-status/build-badge.svg
they will not be displayed.

The reason appears to be some security issue “cross site scripting vulnerabilities”—whatever that means?


†1		In the case of markdown, basic HTML is everything in HTML except the style attribute.

C.2 Git flavoured markdown syntax

GitHub flavoured markdown can use all the general markdown syntax and all of the following additions:

C.2.1 Code fragments

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	``` <p align="left">Any text </p> ```
	```html <p align="left">Semantic colouring </p> ```
	Inline code ```git init``` fragment

The three ``` characters are back-ticks alt+96; follow these with a language identifier to give semantic colouring. See here for a list of language identifiers.

C.2.2 Task lists

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	- [x] Completed task - [ ] Open task - [x] Completed task - [ ] Open task

C.2.3 Tables

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	\| Header 1 \| Header 2 \| \| -------- \| -------- \| \| Cell A1 \| Cell B1 \| \| Cell A2 \| Cell B2 \|

there is a space before and after the bar character (|).

To split a heading onto two lines use <br> where you want the break to occur.

C.2.4 Special GitHub references

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	@mgledhill link to a user
	#1 issue to be resolved

C.2.5 Escape characters

Escape characters are used to display those characters that would otherwise have special meaning in markdown (putting asterisks around a word for example). Escaping a character is done by putting a reverse oblique (\) in front of it:

	Syntax	Appearance in GitHub
	Normal text
	\asterisk around a phrase\

The following characters can all be escaped:


\ ` * # + - . ! [ ] { } ( )