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TLDR reference

Markdown cheatsheet

A searchable reference for Markdown, with the raw syntax beside its live rendered result on every row. Type to search, or filter by group. Everything runs in your browser.

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How it works

A searchable Markdown cheatsheet where every row shows the syntax next to its live rendered result, so you see exactly what each piece of markup produces. Markdown is the plain-text formatting used by GitHub, Reddit, chat apps, static-site generators, and countless note tools, and most of it comes down to a handful of symbols. Type to search by name - "heading", "link", "table", "code" - or use the chips to browse a single group such as lists or emphasis.

Each card gives the raw Markdown you type and the formatted output it becomes, side by side, covering headings, bold and italic, ordered and unordered lists, links and images, inline and fenced code, blockquotes, horizontal rules, and tables. It follows the widely supported CommonMark and GitHub-Flavored Markdown conventions. Everything is static and runs in your browser, so the lookup is instant and works offline once loaded.

Example. Searching "link" shows that [text](https://example.com) renders as a clickable link, while an image is the same with a leading exclamation mark: ![alt](image.png). Filtering by the Code chip puts inline `backticks` next to a fenced ``` block so you can see when to use each.

FAQ

What is the difference between Markdown flavours like CommonMark and GitHub-Flavored Markdown?

Markdown was first released in 2004 without a strict specification, so tools drifted apart on the edge cases. CommonMark is the effort to pin down one precise, unambiguous standard, and it is what most modern parsers follow. GitHub-Flavored Markdown (GFM) builds on CommonMark and adds a few practical extras: tables, task list checkboxes, strikethrough, and automatic links from bare URLs. The basics on this cheatsheet - headings, emphasis, lists, links, code - work identically everywhere; the table and strikethrough rows are GFM extensions that most popular sites support.

How do I add a line break within a paragraph?

A single newline in your source is treated as a space, so two lines of text run together into one paragraph. To force a line break without starting a new paragraph, end the first line with two trailing spaces, or in GitHub-Flavored Markdown simply press Enter inside the same block. To start a genuinely separate paragraph, leave a completely blank line between the two blocks of text. Most surprises with Markdown spacing come down to needing that blank line.

How do I show a special character literally instead of formatting it?

Escape it with a backslash. Markdown treats characters like *, _, #, `, and [ as formatting, so to show them as text you write \* or \_ and the parser prints the raw symbol. For showing code or commands, wrapping the text in backticks is usually easier than escaping each character, because everything inside a code span or fenced block is shown verbatim with no formatting applied at all.

Can I use HTML inside Markdown?

In most parsers, yes - raw HTML is allowed and passes straight through, which is handy for things Markdown cannot express, such as a styled table, a details/summary toggle, or an image with specific dimensions. The big exception is anywhere untrusted input is rendered: sites like GitHub and comment systems sanitise or strip HTML to prevent cross-site scripting, so a <script> tag will be removed. For portable documents, stick to plain Markdown and reach for HTML only when you control where it is rendered.