Have you thought at any point about how blog posts like Hashnode or Medium are written? or how these readme. MD records are displayed on Github?

Whether you're new or you have been a developer, Forget about it! This is tutorial for any individual who want to learn Markdown. Since it's something everybody ought to be aware.

So Let me introduce you to markdown first,

Introduction

Markdown is a lightweight markup language, used to write blogs, texts, books and you can easily contribute it in many formats. It is created by John Gruber in 2004.

It's file extension usually ends in ".md".

Some advantages of markdown:

• Easy and simple formatting.
• Can be converted to many different formats easily.
• Pleasant syntax and easy to learn.
• Platform independent.

Basic syntax

Headings

To create a heading, add number signs (#) in front of a word or phrase. The number of number signs you use should correspond to the heading level.

Paragraphs

To create paragraphs, use a blank line to separate one or more lines of text.

Emphasis

You can add emphasis by making text bold or italic.

Bold

To bold text, add two asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase. To bold the middle of a word for emphasis, add two asterisks without spaces around the letters.

Italic

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.

Bold and Italic

To emphasize text with bold and italics at the same time, add three asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase. To bold and italicize the middle of a word for emphasis, add three asterisks without spaces around the letters.

Strike text

for strike through text add double tilde (~) before and after a word or phrase.

Blockquotes

To create a blockquote, add a > in front of a paragraph.

> Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle.

The rendered output looks like this:

Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle.

Blockquotes with Multiple Paragraphs

Blockquotes can contain multiple paragraphs. Add a > on the blank lines between the paragraphs.

> Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle.
>
> The Witch bade her clean the pots and kettles.

The rendered output looks like this:

Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle.

The Witch bade her clean the pots and kettles.

Nested Blockquotes

Blockquotes can be nested. Add a >> in front of the paragraph you want to nest.

> Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle.
>
>> The Witch bade her clean the pots and kettles.

The rendered output looks like this:

Dorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle.

The Witch bade her clean the pots and kettles.

Horizonal Line

You can organize items into ordered and unordered lists.

Lists

To create a horizonal line , Use triple dash(-).

Ordered Lists

To create an ordered list, add line items with numbers followed by periods. The numbers don’t have to be in numerical order, but the list should start with the number one.

Markdown Syntax

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item

HTMLSyntax

<ol>
  <li>First item</li>
  <li>Second item</li>
  <li>Third item</li>
  <li>Fourth item</li>
</ol>

Output

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item

---

Markdown Syntax

1. First item
2. Second item
  1. First sub item
  2. Second sub item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item

HTMLSyntax

 <ol>
      <li>First item</li>
      <li>
        Second item
        <ol>
          <li>First sub item</li>
          <li>Second sub item</li>
        </ol>
      </li>
      <li>Third item</li>
      <li>Fourth item</li>
    </ol>

Output

1. First item
2. Second item
   1. First sub item
   2. Second sub item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item

Unordered Lists

To create an unordered list, add dashes (-), asterisks (*), or plus signs (+) in front of line items. Indent one or more items to create a nested list.

Markdown Syntax

- First item
- Second item
- Third item
- Fourth item

HTMLSyntax

<ul>
  <li>First item</li>
  <li>Second item</li>
  <li>Third item</li>
  <li>Fourth item</li>
</ul>

Output

• First item
• Second item
• Third item
• Fourth item

---

Markdown Syntax

- First item
- Second item
  - First sub item
  - Second sub item
- Third item
- Fourth item

HTMLSyntax

 <ul>
      <li>First item</li>
      <li>
        Second item
        <ul>
          <li>First sub item</li>
          <li>Second sub item</li>
        </ol>
      </li>
      <li>Third item</li>
      <li>Fourth item</li>
    </ul>

Output

• First item
• Second item
  • First sub item
  • Second sub item
• Third item
• Fourth item

Code Blocks

Code blocks are normally indented four spaces or one tab. When they’re in a list, indent them eight spaces or two tabs . You can use triple tilde and followed by enter for muliple lines of code.

Markdown Syntax

To format below lines of code , use this (```) around the code.

```
<html>
   <head>
     <title>Test</title>
   </head>
</html>
```

Output

<html>
    <head>
       <title>Test</title>
     </head>
</html>

Links

To create a link, enclose the link text in brackets (e.g., [Duck Duck Go]) and then follow it immediately with the URL in parentheses (e.g., (duckduckgo.com)).

Markdown Syntax

My favorite search engine is [Duck Duck Go](https://duckduckgo.com).

Output

My favorite search engine is Duck Duck Go.

---

You can optionally add a title for a link. This will appear as a tooltip when the user hovers over the link. To add a title, enclose it in quotation marks after the URL.

Markdown Syntax

My favorite search engine is [Duck Duck Go](https://duckduckgo.com "Go Go").

Output

My favorite search engine is Duck Duck Go.

Images

To add an image, add an exclamation mark (!), followed by alt text in brackets, and the path or URL to the image asset in parentheses. You can optionally add a title in quotation marks after the path or URL.

You can also give a realtive path like this ./images/logo.png

Markdown Syntax

![girl-with-long-brown-hair-standing-in-grassland!](https://images.pexels.com/photos/12576758/pexels-photo-12576758.jpeg)

Output

Tables

To add a table, use three or more hyphens (---) to create each column’s header, and use pipes (|) to separate each column. For compatibility, you should also add a pipe on either end of the row.

Markdown Syntax

| Syntax      | Description |
| ----------- | ----------- |
| Header      | Title       |
| Paragraph   | Text        |

Output

References

Markdown Basic syntax

Markdown Extended syntax

Markdown Cheat sheet

Finished

That's it for today!

Hope you liked the post, if you’ve got any questions your can Mail me madhabapatra@gmail.com.

Thanks