Markdown Cheat Sheet

What is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight way to format text using plain characters (like #, *, and []()), which many platforms (GitHub, Notion, Reddit, docs sites) render into styled content.

Key Benefits

• Developer Native: Markdown is my natural language for documentation, making the transition from notes to blog posts seamless.
• Built for Tech: It handles code blocks, technical headings, and complex links far more reliably than a visual editor.
• Speed & Clarity: Writing in plain text is faster, results in cleaner code, and is much easier to maintain over time.
• Portability: By using plain text, my content stays decoupled from any specific platform, preventing vendor lock-in and keeping my data future-proof.

Headings

1
2
3
4

# H1
## H2
### H3
#### H4

Paragraphs & line breaks

1
2
3

This is one paragraph.

This is another paragraph (separated by a blank line).

Forced line break (platform-dependent):

1
2

Line 1  
Line 2

(That’s two spaces after “Line 1”.)

Emphasis

1
2
3

**Bold**
*Italic*
~~Strikethrough~~

Blockquotes

1
2

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

Nested:

1
2

> Quote
>> Nested quote

Lists

Bulleted list

1
2
3

- Item 1
- Item 2
    - Nested item (often 2 or 4 spaces also works)

Numbered list

1
2
3

1. First
2. Second
3. Third

Task list (GitHub/Notion support)

1
2

- [ ] To do
- [x] Done

Links

Inline link

1

[OpenAI](https://openai.com)

Reference-style links

1
2
3

[Notion][notion]

[notion]: https://www.notion.so

Images

1

![Alt text](https://example.com/image.png)

With a linked image:

1

[![Alt text](https://example.com/image.png)](https://example.com)

Code

Inline code

1

Use `code` in a sentence.

Code block

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

\```

const greeting = "Hello";

console.log(greeting);

\```

Syntax highlighting (common language tags)

js, ts, python, bash, json, yaml, sql, html, css

Tables (GitHub-flavored Markdown)

1
2
3
4

| Column | Column |
|------:|:------:|
| Right | Center |
| 123   | abc    |

Alignment:

• :--- = left
• ---: = right
• :---: = center

Horizontal rule (divider)

1

---

(Also works with *** or ___ in many parsers.)

Escaping characters

If Markdown tries to format something you want to show literally, escape it with a backslash:

1
2

\*Not italic\*
\# Not a heading

Inline HTML (when supported)

Some platforms allow HTML inside Markdown:

1

<span style="color: rebeccapurple;">Colored text</span>

Note: Not all renderers allow this (or may sanitize it).

Footnotes (supported in some parsers)

1
2
3

Here is a statement with a footnote.[^1]

[^1]: Footnote text.

Mentions (platform-specific)

Some tools add special extensions (not standard Markdown), e.g. @username, issue links, or wiki links like [[Page Name]].

Common Markdown “gotchas”

• Blank lines matter: they separate paragraphs and often lists.
• Indentation affects nesting: especially for sub-lists and code blocks inside lists.
• Different renderers behave differently: GitHub, Notion, and Markdown-it don’t match 100%.