| --- |
| title: CommonMark Spec |
| author: John MacFarlane |
| version: 0.22 |
| date: 2015-08-23 |
| license: '[CC-BY-SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)' |
| ... |
| |
| # Introduction |
| |
| ## What is Markdown? |
| |
| Markdown is a plain text format for writing structured documents, |
| based on conventions used for indicating formatting in email and |
| usenet posts. It was developed in 2004 by John Gruber, who wrote |
| the first Markdown-to-HTML converter in perl, and it soon became |
| widely used in websites. By 2014 there were dozens of |
| implementations in many languages. Some of them extended basic |
| Markdown syntax with conventions for footnotes, definition lists, |
| tables, and other constructs, and some allowed output not just in |
| HTML but in LaTeX and many other formats. |
| |
| ## Why is a spec needed? |
| |
| John Gruber's [canonical description of Markdown's |
| syntax](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax) |
| does not specify the syntax unambiguously. Here are some examples of |
| questions it does not answer: |
| |
| 1. How much indentation is needed for a sublist? The spec says that |
| continuation paragraphs need to be indented four spaces, but is |
| not fully explicit about sublists. It is natural to think that |
| they, too, must be indented four spaces, but `Markdown.pl` does |
| not require that. This is hardly a "corner case," and divergences |
| between implementations on this issue often lead to surprises for |
| users in real documents. (See [this comment by John |
| Gruber](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.markdown.general/1997).) |
| |
| 2. Is a blank line needed before a block quote or header? |
| Most implementations do not require the blank line. However, |
| this can lead to unexpected results in hard-wrapped text, and |
| also to ambiguities in parsing (note that some implementations |
| put the header inside the blockquote, while others do not). |
| (John Gruber has also spoken [in favor of requiring the blank |
| lines](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.markdown.general/2146).) |
| |
| 3. Is a blank line needed before an indented code block? |
| (`Markdown.pl` requires it, but this is not mentioned in the |
| documentation, and some implementations do not require it.) |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| paragraph |
| code? |
| ``` |
| |
| 4. What is the exact rule for determining when list items get |
| wrapped in `<p>` tags? Can a list be partially "loose" and partially |
| "tight"? What should we do with a list like this? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| 1. one |
| |
| 2. two |
| 3. three |
| ``` |
| |
| Or this? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| 1. one |
| - a |
| |
| - b |
| 2. two |
| ``` |
| |
| (There are some relevant comments by John Gruber |
| [here](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.text.markdown.general/2554).) |
| |
| 5. Can list markers be indented? Can ordered list markers be right-aligned? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| 8. item 1 |
| 9. item 2 |
| 10. item 2a |
| ``` |
| |
| 6. Is this one list with a horizontal rule in its second item, |
| or two lists separated by a horizontal rule? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| * a |
| * * * * * |
| * b |
| ``` |
| |
| 7. When list markers change from numbers to bullets, do we have |
| two lists or one? (The Markdown syntax description suggests two, |
| but the perl scripts and many other implementations produce one.) |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| 1. fee |
| 2. fie |
| - foe |
| - fum |
| ``` |
| |
| 8. What are the precedence rules for the markers of inline structure? |
| For example, is the following a valid link, or does the code span |
| take precedence ? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| [a backtick (`)](/url) and [another backtick (`)](/url). |
| ``` |
| |
| 9. What are the precedence rules for markers of emphasis and strong |
| emphasis? For example, how should the following be parsed? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| *foo *bar* baz* |
| ``` |
| |
| 10. What are the precedence rules between block-level and inline-level |
| structure? For example, how should the following be parsed? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| - `a long code span can contain a hyphen like this |
| - and it can screw things up` |
| ``` |
| |
| 11. Can list items include section headers? (`Markdown.pl` does not |
| allow this, but does allow blockquotes to include headers.) |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| - # Heading |
| ``` |
| |
| 12. Can list items be empty? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| * a |
| * |
| * b |
| ``` |
| |
| 13. Can link references be defined inside block quotes or list items? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > Blockquote [foo]. |
| > |
| > [foo]: /url |
| ``` |
| |
| 14. If there are multiple definitions for the same reference, which takes |
| precedence? |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| [foo]: /url1 |
| [foo]: /url2 |
| |
| [foo][] |
| ``` |
| |
| In the absence of a spec, early implementers consulted `Markdown.pl` |
| to resolve these ambiguities. But `Markdown.pl` was quite buggy, and |
| gave manifestly bad results in many cases, so it was not a |
| satisfactory replacement for a spec. |
| |
| Because there is no unambiguous spec, implementations have diverged |
| considerably. As a result, users are often surprised to find that |
| a document that renders one way on one system (say, a github wiki) |
| renders differently on another (say, converting to docbook using |
| pandoc). To make matters worse, because nothing in Markdown counts |
| as a "syntax error," the divergence often isn't discovered right away. |
| |
| ## About this document |
| |
| This document attempts to specify Markdown syntax unambiguously. |
| It contains many examples with side-by-side Markdown and |
| HTML. These are intended to double as conformance tests. An |
| accompanying script `spec_tests.py` can be used to run the tests |
| against any Markdown program: |
| |
| python test/spec_tests.py --spec spec.txt --program PROGRAM |
| |
| Since this document describes how Markdown is to be parsed into |
| an abstract syntax tree, it would have made sense to use an abstract |
| representation of the syntax tree instead of HTML. But HTML is capable |
| of representing the structural distinctions we need to make, and the |
| choice of HTML for the tests makes it possible to run the tests against |
| an implementation without writing an abstract syntax tree renderer. |
| |
| This document is generated from a text file, `spec.txt`, written |
| in Markdown with a small extension for the side-by-side tests. |
| The script `tools/makespec.py` can be used to convert `spec.txt` into |
| HTML or CommonMark (which can then be converted into other formats). |
| |
| In the examples, the `→` character is used to represent tabs. |
| |
| # Preliminaries |
| |
| ## Characters and lines |
| |
| Any sequence of [character]s is a valid CommonMark |
| document. |
| |
| A [character](@character) is a Unicode code point. Although some |
| code points (for example, combining accents) do not correspond to |
| characters in an intuitive sense, all code points count as characters |
| for purposes of this spec. |
| |
| This spec does not specify an encoding; it thinks of lines as composed |
| of [character]s rather than bytes. A conforming parser may be limited |
| to a certain encoding. |
| |
| A [line](@line) is a sequence of zero or more [character]s |
| other than newline (`U+000A`) or carriage return (`U+000D`), |
| followed by a [line ending] or by the end of file. |
| |
| A [line ending](@line-ending) is a newline (`U+000A`), a carriage return |
| (`U+000D`) not followed by a newline, or a carriage return and a |
| following newline. |
| |
| A line containing no characters, or a line containing only spaces |
| (`U+0020`) or tabs (`U+0009`), is called a [blank line](@blank-line). |
| |
| The following definitions of character classes will be used in this spec: |
| |
| A [whitespace character](@whitespace-character) is a space |
| (`U+0020`), tab (`U+0009`), newline (`U+000A`), line tabulation (`U+000B`), |
| form feed (`U+000C`), or carriage return (`U+000D`). |
| |
| [Whitespace](@whitespace) is a sequence of one or more [whitespace |
| character]s. |
| |
| A [Unicode whitespace character](@unicode-whitespace-character) is |
| any code point in the Unicode `Zs` class, or a tab (`U+0009`), |
| carriage return (`U+000D`), newline (`U+000A`), or form feed |
| (`U+000C`). |
| |
| [Unicode whitespace](@unicode-whitespace) is a sequence of one |
| or more [Unicode whitespace character]s. |
| |
| A [space](@space) is `U+0020`. |
| |
| A [non-whitespace character](@non-whitespace-character) is any character |
| that is not a [whitespace character]. |
| |
| An [ASCII punctuation character](@ascii-punctuation-character) |
| is `!`, `"`, `#`, `$`, `%`, `&`, `'`, `(`, `)`, |
| `*`, `+`, `,`, `-`, `.`, `/`, `:`, `;`, `<`, `=`, `>`, `?`, `@`, |
| `[`, `\`, `]`, `^`, `_`, `` ` ``, `{`, `|`, `}`, or `~`. |
| |
| A [punctuation character](@punctuation-character) is an [ASCII |
| punctuation character] or anything in |
| the Unicode classes `Pc`, `Pd`, `Pe`, `Pf`, `Pi`, `Po`, or `Ps`. |
| |
| ## Tabs |
| |
| Tabs in lines are not expanded to [spaces][space]. However, |
| in contexts where indentation is significant for the |
| document's structure, tabs behave as if they were replaced |
| by spaces with a tab stop of 4 characters. |
| |
| . |
| →foo→baz→→bim |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo→baz→→bim |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| →foo→baz→→bim |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo→baz→→bim |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| a→a |
| ὐ→a |
| . |
| <pre><code>a→a |
| ὐ→a |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| →bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| >→foo→bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo→bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| →bar |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo |
| bar |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## Insecure characters |
| |
| For security reasons, the Unicode character `U+0000` must be replaced |
| with the replacement character (`U+FFFD`). |
| |
| # Blocks and inlines |
| |
| We can think of a document as a sequence of |
| [blocks](@block)---structural elements like paragraphs, block |
| quotations, lists, headers, rules, and code blocks. Some blocks (like |
| block quotes and list items) contain other blocks; others (like |
| headers and paragraphs) contain [inline](@inline) content---text, |
| links, emphasized text, images, code, and so on. |
| |
| ## Precedence |
| |
| Indicators of block structure always take precedence over indicators |
| of inline structure. So, for example, the following is a list with |
| two items, not a list with one item containing a code span: |
| |
| . |
| - `one |
| - two` |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>`one</li> |
| <li>two`</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This means that parsing can proceed in two steps: first, the block |
| structure of the document can be discerned; second, text lines inside |
| paragraphs, headers, and other block constructs can be parsed for inline |
| structure. The second step requires information about link reference |
| definitions that will be available only at the end of the first |
| step. Note that the first step requires processing lines in sequence, |
| but the second can be parallelized, since the inline parsing of |
| one block element does not affect the inline parsing of any other. |
| |
| ## Container blocks and leaf blocks |
| |
| We can divide blocks into two types: |
| [container block](@container-block)s, |
| which can contain other blocks, and [leaf block](@leaf-block)s, |
| which cannot. |
| |
| # Leaf blocks |
| |
| This section describes the different kinds of leaf block that make up a |
| Markdown document. |
| |
| ## Horizontal rules |
| |
| A line consisting of 0-3 spaces of indentation, followed by a sequence |
| of three or more matching `-`, `_`, or `*` characters, each followed |
| optionally by any number of spaces, forms a |
| [horizontal rule](@horizontal-rule). |
| |
| . |
| *** |
| --- |
| ___ |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| <hr /> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| Wrong characters: |
| |
| . |
| +++ |
| . |
| <p>+++</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| === |
| . |
| <p>===</p> |
| . |
| |
| Not enough characters: |
| |
| . |
| -- |
| ** |
| __ |
| . |
| <p>-- |
| ** |
| __</p> |
| . |
| |
| One to three spaces indent are allowed: |
| |
| . |
| *** |
| *** |
| *** |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| <hr /> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces is too many: |
| |
| . |
| *** |
| . |
| <pre><code>*** |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| *** |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| ***</p> |
| . |
| |
| More than three characters may be used: |
| |
| . |
| _____________________________________ |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| Spaces are allowed between the characters: |
| |
| . |
| - - - |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ** * ** * ** * ** |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - - - - |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| Spaces are allowed at the end: |
| |
| . |
| - - - - |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| However, no other characters may occur in the line: |
| |
| . |
| _ _ _ _ a |
| |
| a------ |
| |
| ---a--- |
| . |
| <p>_ _ _ _ a</p> |
| <p>a------</p> |
| <p>---a---</p> |
| . |
| |
| It is required that all of the [non-whitespace character]s be the same. |
| So, this is not a horizontal rule: |
| |
| . |
| *-* |
| . |
| <p><em>-</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Horizontal rules do not need blank lines before or after: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| *** |
| - bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <hr /> |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| Horizontal rules can interrupt a paragraph: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| *** |
| bar |
| . |
| <p>Foo</p> |
| <hr /> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| If a line of dashes that meets the above conditions for being a |
| horizontal rule could also be interpreted as the underline of a [setext |
| header], the interpretation as a |
| [setext header] takes precedence. Thus, for example, |
| this is a setext header, not a paragraph followed by a horizontal rule: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| --- |
| bar |
| . |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| When both a horizontal rule and a list item are possible |
| interpretations of a line, the horizontal rule takes precedence: |
| |
| . |
| * Foo |
| * * * |
| * Bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>Foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <hr /> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| If you want a horizontal rule in a list item, use a different bullet: |
| |
| . |
| - Foo |
| - * * * |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>Foo</li> |
| <li> |
| <hr /> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| ## ATX headers |
| |
| An [ATX header](@atx-header) |
| consists of a string of characters, parsed as inline content, between an |
| opening sequence of 1--6 unescaped `#` characters and an optional |
| closing sequence of any number of unescaped `#` characters. |
| The opening sequence of `#` characters cannot be followed directly by a |
| [non-whitespace character]. The optional closing sequence of `#`s must be |
| preceded by a [space] and may be followed by spaces only. The opening |
| `#` character may be indented 0-3 spaces. The raw contents of the |
| header are stripped of leading and trailing spaces before being parsed |
| as inline content. The header level is equal to the number of `#` |
| characters in the opening sequence. |
| |
| Simple headers: |
| |
| . |
| # foo |
| ## foo |
| ### foo |
| #### foo |
| ##### foo |
| ###### foo |
| . |
| <h1>foo</h1> |
| <h2>foo</h2> |
| <h3>foo</h3> |
| <h4>foo</h4> |
| <h5>foo</h5> |
| <h6>foo</h6> |
| . |
| |
| More than six `#` characters is not a header: |
| |
| . |
| ####### foo |
| . |
| <p>####### foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| At least one space is required between the `#` characters and the |
| header's contents, unless the header is empty. Note that many |
| implementations currently do not require the space. However, the |
| space was required by the |
| [original ATX implementation](http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/atx/atx.py), |
| and it helps prevent things like the following from being parsed as |
| headers: |
| |
| . |
| #5 bolt |
| |
| #foobar |
| . |
| <p>#5 bolt</p> |
| <p>#foobar</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not a header, because the first `#` is escaped: |
| |
| . |
| \## foo |
| . |
| <p>## foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| Contents are parsed as inlines: |
| |
| . |
| # foo *bar* \*baz\* |
| . |
| <h1>foo <em>bar</em> *baz*</h1> |
| . |
| |
| Leading and trailing blanks are ignored in parsing inline content: |
| |
| . |
| # foo |
| . |
| <h1>foo</h1> |
| . |
| |
| One to three spaces indentation are allowed: |
| |
| . |
| ### foo |
| ## foo |
| # foo |
| . |
| <h3>foo</h3> |
| <h2>foo</h2> |
| <h1>foo</h1> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces are too much: |
| |
| . |
| # foo |
| . |
| <pre><code># foo |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| # bar |
| . |
| <p>foo |
| # bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| A closing sequence of `#` characters is optional: |
| |
| . |
| ## foo ## |
| ### bar ### |
| . |
| <h2>foo</h2> |
| <h3>bar</h3> |
| . |
| |
| It need not be the same length as the opening sequence: |
| |
| . |
| # foo ################################## |
| ##### foo ## |
| . |
| <h1>foo</h1> |
| <h5>foo</h5> |
| . |
| |
| Spaces are allowed after the closing sequence: |
| |
| . |
| ### foo ### |
| . |
| <h3>foo</h3> |
| . |
| |
| A sequence of `#` characters with anything but [space]s following it |
| is not a closing sequence, but counts as part of the contents of the |
| header: |
| |
| . |
| ### foo ### b |
| . |
| <h3>foo ### b</h3> |
| . |
| |
| The closing sequence must be preceded by a space: |
| |
| . |
| # foo# |
| . |
| <h1>foo#</h1> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash-escaped `#` characters do not count as part |
| of the closing sequence: |
| |
| . |
| ### foo \### |
| ## foo #\## |
| # foo \# |
| . |
| <h3>foo ###</h3> |
| <h2>foo ###</h2> |
| <h1>foo #</h1> |
| . |
| |
| ATX headers need not be separated from surrounding content by blank |
| lines, and they can interrupt paragraphs: |
| |
| . |
| **** |
| ## foo |
| **** |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| <h2>foo</h2> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| Foo bar |
| # baz |
| Bar foo |
| . |
| <p>Foo bar</p> |
| <h1>baz</h1> |
| <p>Bar foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| ATX headers can be empty: |
| |
| . |
| ## |
| # |
| ### ### |
| . |
| <h2></h2> |
| <h1></h1> |
| <h3></h3> |
| . |
| |
| ## Setext headers |
| |
| A [setext header](@setext-header) |
| consists of a line of text, containing at least one [non-whitespace character], |
| with no more than 3 spaces indentation, followed by a [setext header |
| underline]. The line of text must be |
| one that, were it not followed by the setext header underline, |
| would be interpreted as part of a paragraph: it cannot be |
| interpretable as a [code fence], [ATX header][ATX headers], |
| [block quote][block quotes], [horizontal rule][horizontal rules], |
| [list item][list items], or [HTML block][HTML blocks]. |
| |
| A [setext header underline](@setext-header-underline) is a sequence of |
| `=` characters or a sequence of `-` characters, with no more than 3 |
| spaces indentation and any number of trailing spaces. If a line |
| containing a single `-` can be interpreted as an |
| empty [list items], it should be interpreted this way |
| and not as a [setext header underline]. |
| |
| The header is a level 1 header if `=` characters are used in the |
| [setext header underline], and a level 2 |
| header if `-` characters are used. The contents of the header are the |
| result of parsing the first line as Markdown inline content. |
| |
| In general, a setext header need not be preceded or followed by a |
| blank line. However, it cannot interrupt a paragraph, so when a |
| setext header comes after a paragraph, a blank line is needed between |
| them. |
| |
| Simple examples: |
| |
| . |
| Foo *bar* |
| ========= |
| |
| Foo *bar* |
| --------- |
| . |
| <h1>Foo <em>bar</em></h1> |
| <h2>Foo <em>bar</em></h2> |
| . |
| |
| The underlining can be any length: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| ------------------------- |
| |
| Foo |
| = |
| . |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| . |
| |
| The header content can be indented up to three spaces, and need |
| not line up with the underlining: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| --- |
| |
| Foo |
| ----- |
| |
| Foo |
| === |
| . |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces indent is too much: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| --- |
| |
| Foo |
| --- |
| . |
| <pre><code>Foo |
| --- |
| |
| Foo |
| </code></pre> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| The setext header underline can be indented up to three spaces, and |
| may have trailing spaces: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| ---- |
| . |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces is too much: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| --- |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| ---</p> |
| . |
| |
| The setext header underline cannot contain internal spaces: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| = = |
| |
| Foo |
| --- - |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| = =</p> |
| <p>Foo</p> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| Trailing spaces in the content line do not cause a line break: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| ----- |
| . |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| . |
| |
| Nor does a backslash at the end: |
| |
| . |
| Foo\ |
| ---- |
| . |
| <h2>Foo\</h2> |
| . |
| |
| Since indicators of block structure take precedence over |
| indicators of inline structure, the following are setext headers: |
| |
| . |
| `Foo |
| ---- |
| ` |
| |
| <a title="a lot |
| --- |
| of dashes"/> |
| . |
| <h2>`Foo</h2> |
| <p>`</p> |
| <h2><a title="a lot</h2> |
| <p>of dashes"/></p> |
| . |
| |
| The setext header underline cannot be a [lazy continuation |
| line] in a list item or block quote: |
| |
| . |
| > Foo |
| --- |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>Foo</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - Foo |
| --- |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>Foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| A setext header cannot interrupt a paragraph: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| Bar |
| --- |
| |
| Foo |
| Bar |
| === |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| Bar</p> |
| <hr /> |
| <p>Foo |
| Bar |
| ===</p> |
| . |
| |
| But in general a blank line is not required before or after: |
| |
| . |
| --- |
| Foo |
| --- |
| Bar |
| --- |
| Baz |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| <h2>Foo</h2> |
| <h2>Bar</h2> |
| <p>Baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| Setext headers cannot be empty: |
| |
| . |
| |
| ==== |
| . |
| <p>====</p> |
| . |
| |
| Setext header text lines must not be interpretable as block |
| constructs other than paragraphs. So, the line of dashes |
| in these examples gets interpreted as a horizontal rule: |
| |
| . |
| --- |
| --- |
| . |
| <hr /> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| ----- |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| --- |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| ----- |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| If you want a header with `> foo` as its literal text, you can |
| use backslash escapes: |
| |
| . |
| \> foo |
| ------ |
| . |
| <h2>> foo</h2> |
| . |
| |
| ## Indented code blocks |
| |
| An [indented code block](@indented-code-block) is composed of one or more |
| [indented chunk]s separated by blank lines. |
| An [indented chunk](@indented-chunk) is a sequence of non-blank lines, |
| each indented four or more spaces. The contents of the code block are |
| the literal contents of the lines, including trailing |
| [line ending]s, minus four spaces of indentation. |
| An indented code block has no [info string]. |
| |
| An indented code block cannot interrupt a paragraph, so there must be |
| a blank line between a paragraph and a following indented code block. |
| (A blank line is not needed, however, between a code block and a following |
| paragraph.) |
| |
| . |
| a simple |
| indented code block |
| . |
| <pre><code>a simple |
| indented code block |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| If there is any ambiguity between an interpretation of indentation |
| as a code block and as indicating that material belongs to a [list |
| item][list items], the list item interpretation takes precedence: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 1. foo |
| |
| - bar |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| |
| The contents of a code block are literal text, and do not get parsed |
| as Markdown: |
| |
| . |
| <a/> |
| *hi* |
| |
| - one |
| . |
| <pre><code><a/> |
| *hi* |
| |
| - one |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Here we have three chunks separated by blank lines: |
| |
| . |
| chunk1 |
| |
| chunk2 |
| |
| |
| |
| chunk3 |
| . |
| <pre><code>chunk1 |
| |
| chunk2 |
| |
| |
| |
| chunk3 |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Any initial spaces beyond four will be included in the content, even |
| in interior blank lines: |
| |
| . |
| chunk1 |
| |
| chunk2 |
| . |
| <pre><code>chunk1 |
| |
| chunk2 |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| An indented code block cannot interrupt a paragraph. (This |
| allows hanging indents and the like.) |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| bar |
| |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| However, any non-blank line with fewer than four leading spaces ends |
| the code block immediately. So a paragraph may occur immediately |
| after indented code: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| bar |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| And indented code can occur immediately before and after other kinds of |
| blocks: |
| |
| . |
| # Header |
| foo |
| Header |
| ------ |
| foo |
| ---- |
| . |
| <h1>Header</h1> |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| <h2>Header</h2> |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| The first line can be indented more than four spaces: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| bar |
| . |
| <pre><code> foo |
| bar |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Blank lines preceding or following an indented code block |
| are not included in it: |
| |
| . |
| |
| |
| foo |
| |
| |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Trailing spaces are included in the code block's content: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| . |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## Fenced code blocks |
| |
| A [code fence](@code-fence) is a sequence |
| of at least three consecutive backtick characters (`` ` ``) or |
| tildes (`~`). (Tildes and backticks cannot be mixed.) |
| A [fenced code block](@fenced-code-block) |
| begins with a code fence, indented no more than three spaces. |
| |
| The line with the opening code fence may optionally contain some text |
| following the code fence; this is trimmed of leading and trailing |
| spaces and called the [info string](@info-string). |
| The [info string] may not contain any backtick |
| characters. (The reason for this restriction is that otherwise |
| some inline code would be incorrectly interpreted as the |
| beginning of a fenced code block.) |
| |
| The content of the code block consists of all subsequent lines, until |
| a closing [code fence] of the same type as the code block |
| began with (backticks or tildes), and with at least as many backticks |
| or tildes as the opening code fence. If the leading code fence is |
| indented N spaces, then up to N spaces of indentation are removed from |
| each line of the content (if present). (If a content line is not |
| indented, it is preserved unchanged. If it is indented less than N |
| spaces, all of the indentation is removed.) |
| |
| The closing code fence may be indented up to three spaces, and may be |
| followed only by spaces, which are ignored. If the end of the |
| containing block (or document) is reached and no closing code fence |
| has been found, the code block contains all of the lines after the |
| opening code fence until the end of the containing block (or |
| document). (An alternative spec would require backtracking in the |
| event that a closing code fence is not found. But this makes parsing |
| much less efficient, and there seems to be no real down side to the |
| behavior described here.) |
| |
| A fenced code block may interrupt a paragraph, and does not require |
| a blank line either before or after. |
| |
| The content of a code fence is treated as literal text, not parsed |
| as inlines. The first word of the [info string] is typically used to |
| specify the language of the code sample, and rendered in the `class` |
| attribute of the `code` tag. However, this spec does not mandate any |
| particular treatment of the [info string]. |
| |
| Here is a simple example with backticks: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| < |
| > |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>< |
| > |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| With tildes: |
| |
| . |
| ~~~ |
| < |
| > |
| ~~~ |
| . |
| <pre><code>< |
| > |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| The closing code fence must use the same character as the opening |
| fence: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| ~~~ |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| ~~~ |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ~~~ |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| ~~~ |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| ``` |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| The closing code fence must be at least as long as the opening fence: |
| |
| . |
| ```` |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| `````` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| ``` |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ~~~~ |
| aaa |
| ~~~ |
| ~~~~ |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| ~~~ |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Unclosed code blocks are closed by the end of the document |
| (or the enclosing [block quote] or [list item]): |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code></code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ````` |
| |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| . |
| <pre><code> |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > ``` |
| > aaa |
| |
| bbb |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| </blockquote> |
| <p>bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| A code block can have all empty lines as its content: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| |
| |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code> |
| |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| A code block can be empty: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code></code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Fences can be indented. If the opening fence is indented, |
| content lines will have equivalent opening indentation removed, |
| if present: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| aaa |
| aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces indentation produces an indented code block: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>``` |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Closing fences may be indented by 0-3 spaces, and their indentation |
| need not match that of the opening fence: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| This is not a closing fence, because it is indented 4 spaces: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| ``` |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Code fences (opening and closing) cannot contain internal spaces: |
| |
| . |
| ``` ``` |
| aaa |
| . |
| <p><code></code> |
| aaa</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ~~~~~~ |
| aaa |
| ~~~ ~~ |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| ~~~ ~~ |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Fenced code blocks can interrupt paragraphs, and can be followed |
| directly by paragraphs, without a blank line between: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| ``` |
| bar |
| ``` |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| Other blocks can also occur before and after fenced code blocks |
| without an intervening blank line: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| --- |
| ~~~ |
| bar |
| ~~~ |
| # baz |
| . |
| <h2>foo</h2> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| <h1>baz</h1> |
| . |
| |
| An [info string] can be provided after the opening code fence. |
| Opening and closing spaces will be stripped, and the first word, prefixed |
| with `language-`, is used as the value for the `class` attribute of the |
| `code` element within the enclosing `pre` element. |
| |
| . |
| ```ruby |
| def foo(x) |
| return 3 |
| end |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code class="language-ruby">def foo(x) |
| return 3 |
| end |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ~~~~ ruby startline=3 $%@#$ |
| def foo(x) |
| return 3 |
| end |
| ~~~~~~~ |
| . |
| <pre><code class="language-ruby">def foo(x) |
| return 3 |
| end |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ````; |
| ```` |
| . |
| <pre><code class="language-;"></code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| [Info string]s for backtick code blocks cannot contain backticks: |
| |
| . |
| ``` aa ``` |
| foo |
| . |
| <p><code>aa</code> |
| foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| Closing code fences cannot have [info string]s: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| ``` aaa |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code>``` aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## HTML blocks |
| |
| An [HTML block](@html-block) is a group of lines that is treated |
| as raw HTML (and will not be escaped in HTML output). |
| |
| There are seven kinds of [HTML block], which can be defined |
| by their start and end conditions. The block begins with a line that |
| meets a [start condition](@start-condition) (after up to three spaces |
| optional indentation). It ends with the first subsequent line that |
| meets a matching [end condition](@end-condition), or the last line of |
| the document, if no line is encountered that meets the |
| [end condition]. If the first line meets both the [start condition] |
| and the [end condition], the block will contain just that line. |
| |
| 1. **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<script`, |
| `<pre`, or `<style` (case-insensitive), followed by whitespace, |
| the string `>`, or the end of the line.\ |
| **End condition:** line contains an end tag |
| `</script>`, `</pre>`, or `</style>` (case-insensitive; it |
| need not match the start tag). |
| |
| 2. **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<!--`.\ |
| **End condition:** line contains the string `-->`. |
| |
| 3. **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<?`.\ |
| **End condition:** line contains the string `?>`. |
| |
| 4. **Start condition:** line begins with the string `<!` |
| followed by an uppercase ASCII letter.\ |
| **End condition:** line contains the character `>`. |
| |
| 5. **Start condition:** line begins with the string |
| `<![CDATA[`.\ |
| **End condition:** line contains the string `]]>`. |
| |
| 6. **Start condition:** line begins the string `<` or `</` |
| followed by one of the strings (case-insensitive) `address`, |
| `article`, `aside`, `base`, `basefont`, `blockquote`, `body`, |
| `caption`, `center`, `col`, `colgroup`, `dd`, `details`, `dialog`, |
| `dir`, `div`, `dl`, `dt`, `fieldset`, `figcaption`, `figure`, |
| `footer`, `form`, `frame`, `frameset`, `h1`, `head`, `header`, `hr`, |
| `html`, `iframe`, `legend`, `li`, `link`, `main`, `menu`, `menuitem`, |
| `meta`, `nav`, `noframes`, `ol`, `optgroup`, `option`, `p`, `param`, |
| `section`, `source`, `summary`, `table`, `tbody`, `td`, |
| `tfoot`, `th`, `thead`, `title`, `tr`, `track`, `ul`, followed |
| by [whitespace], the end of the line, the string `>`, or |
| the string `/>`.\ |
| **End condition:** line is followed by a [blank line]. |
| |
| 7. **Start condition:** line begins with a complete [open tag] |
| or [closing tag] (with any [tag name] other than `script`, |
| `style`, or `pre`) followed only by [whitespace] |
| or the end of the line.\ |
| **End condition:** line is followed by a [blank line]. |
| |
| All types of [HTML blocks] except type 7 may interrupt |
| a paragraph. Blocks of type 7 may not interrupt a paragraph. |
| (This restriction is intended to prevent unwanted interpretation |
| of long tags inside a wrapped paragraph as starting HTML blocks.) |
| |
| Some simple examples follow. Here are some basic HTML blocks |
| of type 6: |
| |
| . |
| <table> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| hi |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </table> |
| |
| okay. |
| . |
| <table> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| hi |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </table> |
| <p>okay.</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <div> |
| *hello* |
| <foo><a> |
| . |
| <div> |
| *hello* |
| <foo><a> |
| . |
| |
| A block can also start with a closing tag: |
| |
| . |
| </div> |
| *foo* |
| . |
| </div> |
| *foo* |
| . |
| |
| Here we have two HTML blocks with a Markdown paragraph between them: |
| |
| . |
| <DIV CLASS="foo"> |
| |
| *Markdown* |
| |
| </DIV> |
| . |
| <DIV CLASS="foo"> |
| <p><em>Markdown</em></p> |
| </DIV> |
| . |
| |
| The tag on the first line can be partial, as long |
| as it is split where there would be whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| <div id="foo" |
| class="bar"> |
| </div> |
| . |
| <div id="foo" |
| class="bar"> |
| </div> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <div id="foo" class="bar |
| baz"> |
| </div> |
| . |
| <div id="foo" class="bar |
| baz"> |
| </div> |
| . |
| |
| An open tag need not be closed: |
| . |
| <div> |
| *foo* |
| |
| *bar* |
| . |
| <div> |
| *foo* |
| <p><em>bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| A partial tag need not even be completed (garbage |
| in, garbage out): |
| |
| . |
| <div id="foo" |
| *hi* |
| . |
| <div id="foo" |
| *hi* |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <div class |
| foo |
| . |
| <div class |
| foo |
| . |
| |
| The initial tag doesn't even need to be a valid |
| tag, as long as it starts like one: |
| |
| . |
| <div *???-&&&-<--- |
| *foo* |
| . |
| <div *???-&&&-<--- |
| *foo* |
| . |
| |
| In type 6 blocks, the initial tag need not be on a line by |
| itself: |
| |
| . |
| <div><a href="bar">*foo*</a></div> |
| . |
| <div><a href="bar">*foo*</a></div> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <table><tr><td> |
| foo |
| </td></tr></table> |
| . |
| <table><tr><td> |
| foo |
| </td></tr></table> |
| . |
| |
| Everything until the next blank line or end of document |
| gets included in the HTML block. So, in the following |
| example, what looks like a Markdown code block |
| is actually part of the HTML block, which continues until a blank |
| line or the end of the document is reached: |
| |
| . |
| <div></div> |
| ``` c |
| int x = 33; |
| ``` |
| . |
| <div></div> |
| ``` c |
| int x = 33; |
| ``` |
| . |
| |
| To start an [HTML block] with a tag that is *not* in the |
| list of block-level tags in (6), you must put the tag by |
| itself on the first line (and it must be complete): |
| |
| . |
| <a href="foo"> |
| *bar* |
| </a> |
| . |
| <a href="foo"> |
| *bar* |
| </a> |
| . |
| |
| In type 7 blocks, the [tag name] can be anything: |
| |
| . |
| <Warning> |
| *bar* |
| </Warning> |
| . |
| <Warning> |
| *bar* |
| </Warning> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <i class="foo"> |
| *bar* |
| </i> |
| . |
| <i class="foo"> |
| *bar* |
| </i> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| </ins> |
| *bar* |
| . |
| </ins> |
| *bar* |
| . |
| |
| These rules are designed to allow us to work with tags that |
| can function as either block-level or inline-level tags. |
| The `<del>` tag is a nice example. We can surround content with |
| `<del>` tags in three different ways. In this case, we get a raw |
| HTML block, because the `<del>` tag is on a line by itself: |
| |
| . |
| <del> |
| *foo* |
| </del> |
| . |
| <del> |
| *foo* |
| </del> |
| . |
| |
| In this case, we get a raw HTML block that just includes |
| the `<del>` tag (because it ends with the following blank |
| line). So the contents get interpreted as CommonMark: |
| |
| . |
| <del> |
| |
| *foo* |
| |
| </del> |
| . |
| <del> |
| <p><em>foo</em></p> |
| </del> |
| . |
| |
| Finally, in this case, the `<del>` tags are interpreted |
| as [raw HTML] *inside* the CommonMark paragraph. (Because |
| the tag is not on a line by itself, we get inline HTML |
| rather than an [HTML block].) |
| |
| . |
| <del>*foo*</del> |
| . |
| <p><del><em>foo</em></del></p> |
| . |
| |
| HTML tags designed to contain literal content |
| (`script`, `style`, `pre`), comments, processing instructions, |
| and declarations are treated somewhat differently. |
| Instead of ending at the first blank line, these blocks |
| end at the first line containing a corresponding end tag. |
| As a result, these blocks can contain blank lines: |
| |
| A pre tag (type 1): |
| |
| . |
| <pre language="haskell"><code> |
| import Text.HTML.TagSoup |
| |
| main :: IO () |
| main = print $ parseTags tags |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| <pre language="haskell"><code> |
| import Text.HTML.TagSoup |
| |
| main :: IO () |
| main = print $ parseTags tags |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| A script tag (type 1): |
| |
| . |
| <script type="text/javascript"> |
| // JavaScript example |
| |
| document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "Hello JavaScript!"; |
| </script> |
| . |
| <script type="text/javascript"> |
| // JavaScript example |
| |
| document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "Hello JavaScript!"; |
| </script> |
| . |
| |
| A style tag (type 1): |
| |
| . |
| <style |
| type="text/css"> |
| h1 {color:red;} |
| |
| p {color:blue;} |
| </style> |
| . |
| <style |
| type="text/css"> |
| h1 {color:red;} |
| |
| p {color:blue;} |
| </style> |
| . |
| |
| If there is no matching end tag, the block will end at the |
| end of the document (or the enclosing [block quote] or |
| [list item]): |
| |
| . |
| <style |
| type="text/css"> |
| |
| foo |
| . |
| <style |
| type="text/css"> |
| |
| foo |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > <div> |
| > foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <div> |
| foo |
| </blockquote> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - <div> |
| - foo |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <div> |
| </li> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| The end tag can occur on the same line as the start tag: |
| |
| . |
| <style>p{color:red;}</style> |
| *foo* |
| . |
| <style>p{color:red;}</style> |
| <p><em>foo</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <!-- foo -->*bar* |
| *baz* |
| . |
| <!-- foo -->*bar* |
| <p><em>baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that anything on the last line after the |
| end tag will be included in the [HTML block]: |
| |
| . |
| <script> |
| foo |
| </script>1. *bar* |
| . |
| <script> |
| foo |
| </script>1. *bar* |
| . |
| |
| A comment (type 2): |
| |
| . |
| <!-- Foo |
| |
| bar |
| baz --> |
| . |
| <!-- Foo |
| |
| bar |
| baz --> |
| . |
| |
| |
| A processing instruction (type 3): |
| |
| . |
| <?php |
| |
| echo '>'; |
| |
| ?> |
| . |
| <?php |
| |
| echo '>'; |
| |
| ?> |
| . |
| |
| A declaration (type 4): |
| |
| . |
| <!DOCTYPE html> |
| . |
| <!DOCTYPE html> |
| . |
| |
| CDATA (type 5): |
| |
| . |
| <![CDATA[ |
| function matchwo(a,b) |
| { |
| if (a < b && a < 0) then { |
| return 1; |
| |
| } else { |
| |
| return 0; |
| } |
| } |
| ]]> |
| . |
| <![CDATA[ |
| function matchwo(a,b) |
| { |
| if (a < b && a < 0) then { |
| return 1; |
| |
| } else { |
| |
| return 0; |
| } |
| } |
| ]]> |
| . |
| |
| The opening tag can be indented 1-3 spaces, but not 4: |
| |
| . |
| <!-- foo --> |
| |
| <!-- foo --> |
| . |
| <!-- foo --> |
| <pre><code><!-- foo --> |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <div> |
| |
| <div> |
| . |
| <div> |
| <pre><code><div> |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| An HTML block of types 1--6 can interrupt a paragraph, and need not be |
| preceded by a blank line. |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| <div> |
| bar |
| </div> |
| . |
| <p>Foo</p> |
| <div> |
| bar |
| </div> |
| . |
| |
| However, a following blank line is needed, except at the end of |
| a document, and except for blocks of types 1--5, above: |
| |
| . |
| <div> |
| bar |
| </div> |
| *foo* |
| . |
| <div> |
| bar |
| </div> |
| *foo* |
| . |
| |
| HTML blocks of type 7 cannot interrupt a paragraph: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| <a href="bar"> |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| <a href="bar"> |
| baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| This rule differs from John Gruber's original Markdown syntax |
| specification, which says: |
| |
| > The only restrictions are that block-level HTML elements — |
| > e.g. `<div>`, `<table>`, `<pre>`, `<p>`, etc. — must be separated from |
| > surrounding content by blank lines, and the start and end tags of the |
| > block should not be indented with tabs or spaces. |
| |
| In some ways Gruber's rule is more restrictive than the one given |
| here: |
| |
| - It requires that an HTML block be preceded by a blank line. |
| - It does not allow the start tag to be indented. |
| - It requires a matching end tag, which it also does not allow to |
| be indented. |
| |
| Most Markdown implementations (including some of Gruber's own) do not |
| respect all of these restrictions. |
| |
| There is one respect, however, in which Gruber's rule is more liberal |
| than the one given here, since it allows blank lines to occur inside |
| an HTML block. There are two reasons for disallowing them here. |
| First, it removes the need to parse balanced tags, which is |
| expensive and can require backtracking from the end of the document |
| if no matching end tag is found. Second, it provides a very simple |
| and flexible way of including Markdown content inside HTML tags: |
| simply separate the Markdown from the HTML using blank lines: |
| |
| Compare: |
| |
| . |
| <div> |
| |
| *Emphasized* text. |
| |
| </div> |
| . |
| <div> |
| <p><em>Emphasized</em> text.</p> |
| </div> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <div> |
| *Emphasized* text. |
| </div> |
| . |
| <div> |
| *Emphasized* text. |
| </div> |
| . |
| |
| Some Markdown implementations have adopted a convention of |
| interpreting content inside tags as text if the open tag has |
| the attribute `markdown=1`. The rule given above seems a simpler and |
| more elegant way of achieving the same expressive power, which is also |
| much simpler to parse. |
| |
| The main potential drawback is that one can no longer paste HTML |
| blocks into Markdown documents with 100% reliability. However, |
| *in most cases* this will work fine, because the blank lines in |
| HTML are usually followed by HTML block tags. For example: |
| |
| . |
| <table> |
| |
| <tr> |
| |
| <td> |
| Hi |
| </td> |
| |
| </tr> |
| |
| </table> |
| . |
| <table> |
| <tr> |
| <td> |
| Hi |
| </td> |
| </tr> |
| </table> |
| . |
| |
| There are problems, however, if the inner tags are indented |
| *and* separated by spaces, as then they will be interpreted as |
| an indented code block: |
| |
| . |
| <table> |
| |
| <tr> |
| |
| <td> |
| Hi |
| </td> |
| |
| </tr> |
| |
| </table> |
| . |
| <table> |
| <tr> |
| <pre><code><td> |
| Hi |
| </td> |
| </code></pre> |
| </tr> |
| </table> |
| . |
| |
| Fortunately, blank lines are usually not necessary and can be |
| deleted. The exception is inside `<pre>` tags, but as described |
| above, raw HTML blocks starting with `<pre>` *can* contain blank |
| lines. |
| |
| ## Link reference definitions |
| |
| A [link reference definition](@link-reference-definition) |
| consists of a [link label], indented up to three spaces, followed |
| by a colon (`:`), optional [whitespace] (including up to one |
| [line ending]), a [link destination], |
| optional [whitespace] (including up to one |
| [line ending]), and an optional [link |
| title], which if it is present must be separated |
| from the [link destination] by [whitespace]. |
| No further [non-whitespace character]s may occur on the line. |
| |
| A [link reference definition] |
| does not correspond to a structural element of a document. Instead, it |
| defines a label which can be used in [reference link]s |
| and reference-style [images] elsewhere in the document. [Link |
| reference definitions] can come either before or after the links that use |
| them. |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: |
| /url |
| 'the title' |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="the title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [Foo*bar\]]:my_(url) 'title (with parens)' |
| |
| [Foo*bar\]] |
| . |
| <p><a href="my_(url)" title="title (with parens)">Foo*bar]</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [Foo bar]: |
| <my url> |
| 'title' |
| |
| [Foo bar] |
| . |
| <p><a href="my%20url" title="title">Foo bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The title may extend over multiple lines: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url ' |
| title |
| line1 |
| line2 |
| ' |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title=" |
| title |
| line1 |
| line2 |
| ">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| However, it may not contain a [blank line]: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url 'title |
| |
| with blank line' |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p>[foo]: /url 'title</p> |
| <p>with blank line'</p> |
| <p>[foo]</p> |
| . |
| |
| The title may be omitted: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: |
| /url |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The link destination may not be omitted: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p>[foo]:</p> |
| <p>[foo]</p> |
| . |
| |
| Both title and destination can contain backslash escapes |
| and literal backslashes: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url\bar\*baz "foo\"bar\baz" |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url%5Cbar*baz" title="foo"bar\baz">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| A link can come before its corresponding definition: |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| |
| [foo]: url |
| . |
| <p><a href="url">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| If there are several matching definitions, the first one takes |
| precedence: |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| |
| [foo]: first |
| [foo]: second |
| . |
| <p><a href="first">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| As noted in the section on [Links], matching of labels is |
| case-insensitive (see [matches]). |
| |
| . |
| [FOO]: /url |
| |
| [Foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url">Foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [ΑΓΩ]: /φου |
| |
| [αγω] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%85">αγω</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Here is a link reference definition with no corresponding link. |
| It contributes nothing to the document. |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url |
| . |
| . |
| |
| Here is another one: |
| |
| . |
| [ |
| foo |
| ]: /url |
| bar |
| . |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not a link reference definition, because there are |
| [non-whitespace character]s after the title: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url "title" ok |
| . |
| <p>[foo]: /url "title" ok</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is a link reference definition, but it has no title: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url |
| "title" ok |
| . |
| <p>"title" ok</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not a link reference definition, because it is indented |
| four spaces: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <pre><code>[foo]: /url "title" |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>[foo]</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not a link reference definition, because it occurs inside |
| a code block: |
| |
| . |
| ``` |
| [foo]: /url |
| ``` |
| |
| [foo] |
| . |
| <pre><code>[foo]: /url |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>[foo]</p> |
| . |
| |
| A [link reference definition] cannot interrupt a paragraph. |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| [bar]: /baz |
| |
| [bar] |
| . |
| <p>Foo |
| [bar]: /baz</p> |
| <p>[bar]</p> |
| . |
| |
| However, it can directly follow other block elements, such as headers |
| and horizontal rules, and it need not be followed by a blank line. |
| |
| . |
| # [Foo] |
| [foo]: /url |
| > bar |
| . |
| <h1><a href="/url">Foo</a></h1> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| Several [link reference definition]s |
| can occur one after another, without intervening blank lines. |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /foo-url "foo" |
| [bar]: /bar-url |
| "bar" |
| [baz]: /baz-url |
| |
| [foo], |
| [bar], |
| [baz] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/foo-url" title="foo">foo</a>, |
| <a href="/bar-url" title="bar">bar</a>, |
| <a href="/baz-url">baz</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| [Link reference definition]s can occur |
| inside block containers, like lists and block quotations. They |
| affect the entire document, not just the container in which they |
| are defined: |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| |
| > [foo]: /url |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url">foo</a></p> |
| <blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## Paragraphs |
| |
| A sequence of non-blank lines that cannot be interpreted as other |
| kinds of blocks forms a [paragraph](@paragraph). |
| The contents of the paragraph are the result of parsing the |
| paragraph's raw content as inlines. The paragraph's raw content |
| is formed by concatenating the lines and removing initial and final |
| [whitespace]. |
| |
| A simple example with two paragraphs: |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| |
| bbb |
| . |
| <p>aaa</p> |
| <p>bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| Paragraphs can contain multiple lines, but no blank lines: |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| bbb |
| |
| ccc |
| ddd |
| . |
| <p>aaa |
| bbb</p> |
| <p>ccc |
| ddd</p> |
| . |
| |
| Multiple blank lines between paragraph have no effect: |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| |
| |
| bbb |
| . |
| <p>aaa</p> |
| <p>bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| Leading spaces are skipped: |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| bbb |
| . |
| <p>aaa |
| bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| Lines after the first may be indented any amount, since indented |
| code blocks cannot interrupt paragraphs. |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| bbb |
| ccc |
| . |
| <p>aaa |
| bbb |
| ccc</p> |
| . |
| |
| However, the first line may be indented at most three spaces, |
| or an indented code block will be triggered: |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| bbb |
| . |
| <p>aaa |
| bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| bbb |
| . |
| <pre><code>aaa |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| Final spaces are stripped before inline parsing, so a paragraph |
| that ends with two or more spaces will not end with a [hard line |
| break]: |
| |
| . |
| aaa |
| bbb |
| . |
| <p>aaa<br /> |
| bbb</p> |
| . |
| |
| ## Blank lines |
| |
| [Blank line]s between block-level elements are ignored, |
| except for the role they play in determining whether a [list] |
| is [tight] or [loose]. |
| |
| Blank lines at the beginning and end of the document are also ignored. |
| |
| . |
| |
| |
| aaa |
| |
| |
| # aaa |
| |
| |
| . |
| <p>aaa</p> |
| <h1>aaa</h1> |
| . |
| |
| |
| # Container blocks |
| |
| A [container block] is a block that has other |
| blocks as its contents. There are two basic kinds of container blocks: |
| [block quotes] and [list items]. |
| [Lists] are meta-containers for [list items]. |
| |
| We define the syntax for container blocks recursively. The general |
| form of the definition is: |
| |
| > If X is a sequence of blocks, then the result of |
| > transforming X in such-and-such a way is a container of type Y |
| > with these blocks as its content. |
| |
| So, we explain what counts as a block quote or list item by explaining |
| how these can be *generated* from their contents. This should suffice |
| to define the syntax, although it does not give a recipe for *parsing* |
| these constructions. (A recipe is provided below in the section entitled |
| [A parsing strategy](#appendix-a-parsing-strategy).) |
| |
| ## Block quotes |
| |
| A [block quote marker](@block-quote-marker) |
| consists of 0-3 spaces of initial indent, plus (a) the character `>` together |
| with a following space, or (b) a single character `>` not followed by a space. |
| |
| The following rules define [block quotes]: |
| |
| 1. **Basic case.** If a string of lines *Ls* constitute a sequence |
| of blocks *Bs*, then the result of prepending a [block quote |
| marker] to the beginning of each line in *Ls* |
| is a [block quote](#block-quotes) containing *Bs*. |
| |
| 2. **Laziness.** If a string of lines *Ls* constitute a [block |
| quote](#block-quotes) with contents *Bs*, then the result of deleting |
| the initial [block quote marker] from one or |
| more lines in which the next [non-whitespace character] after the [block |
| quote marker] is [paragraph continuation |
| text] is a block quote with *Bs* as its content. |
| [Paragraph continuation text](@paragraph-continuation-text) is text |
| that will be parsed as part of the content of a paragraph, but does |
| not occur at the beginning of the paragraph. |
| |
| 3. **Consecutiveness.** A document cannot contain two [block |
| quotes] in a row unless there is a [blank line] between them. |
| |
| Nothing else counts as a [block quote](#block-quotes). |
| |
| Here is a simple example: |
| |
| . |
| > # Foo |
| > bar |
| > baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| <p>bar |
| baz</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| The spaces after the `>` characters can be omitted: |
| |
| . |
| ># Foo |
| >bar |
| > baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| <p>bar |
| baz</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| The `>` characters can be indented 1-3 spaces: |
| |
| . |
| > # Foo |
| > bar |
| > baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| <p>bar |
| baz</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces gives us a code block: |
| |
| . |
| > # Foo |
| > bar |
| > baz |
| . |
| <pre><code>> # Foo |
| > bar |
| > baz |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| The Laziness clause allows us to omit the `>` before a |
| paragraph continuation line: |
| |
| . |
| > # Foo |
| > bar |
| baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| <p>bar |
| baz</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| A block quote can contain some lazy and some non-lazy |
| continuation lines: |
| |
| . |
| > bar |
| baz |
| > foo |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar |
| baz |
| foo</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| Laziness only applies to lines that would have been continuations of |
| paragraphs had they been prepended with [block quote marker]s. |
| For example, the `> ` cannot be omitted in the second line of |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > foo |
| > --- |
| ``` |
| |
| without changing the meaning: |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| --- |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <hr /> |
| . |
| |
| Similarly, if we omit the `> ` in the second line of |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > - foo |
| > - bar |
| ``` |
| |
| then the block quote ends after the first line: |
| |
| . |
| > - foo |
| - bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| </blockquote> |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| For the same reason, we can't omit the `> ` in front of |
| subsequent lines of an indented or fenced code block: |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| </blockquote> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > ``` |
| foo |
| ``` |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <pre><code></code></pre> |
| </blockquote> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <pre><code></code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Note that in the following case, we have a paragraph |
| continuation line: |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| - bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo |
| - bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| To see why, note that in |
| |
| ```markdown |
| > foo |
| > - bar |
| ``` |
| |
| the `- bar` is indented too far to start a list, and can't |
| be an indented code block because indented code blocks cannot |
| interrupt paragraphs, so it is a [paragraph continuation line]. |
| |
| A block quote can be empty: |
| |
| . |
| > |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > |
| > |
| > |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| A block quote can have initial or final blank lines: |
| |
| . |
| > |
| > foo |
| > |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| A blank line always separates block quotes: |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| |
| > bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| (Most current Markdown implementations, including John Gruber's |
| original `Markdown.pl`, will parse this example as a single block quote |
| with two paragraphs. But it seems better to allow the author to decide |
| whether two block quotes or one are wanted.) |
| |
| Consecutiveness means that if we put these block quotes together, |
| we get a single block quote: |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| > bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo |
| bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| To get a block quote with two paragraphs, use: |
| |
| . |
| > foo |
| > |
| > bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| Block quotes can interrupt paragraphs: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| > bar |
| . |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| In general, blank lines are not needed before or after block |
| quotes: |
| |
| . |
| > aaa |
| *** |
| > bbb |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>aaa</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <hr /> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bbb</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| However, because of laziness, a blank line is needed between |
| a block quote and a following paragraph: |
| |
| . |
| > bar |
| baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar |
| baz</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > bar |
| |
| baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <p>baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > bar |
| > |
| baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <p>baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| It is a consequence of the Laziness rule that any number |
| of initial `>`s may be omitted on a continuation line of a |
| nested block quote: |
| |
| . |
| > > > foo |
| bar |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo |
| bar</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| >>> foo |
| > bar |
| >>baz |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>foo |
| bar |
| baz</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| When including an indented code block in a block quote, |
| remember that the [block quote marker] includes |
| both the `>` and a following space. So *five spaces* are needed after |
| the `>`: |
| |
| . |
| > code |
| |
| > not code |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <pre><code>code |
| </code></pre> |
| </blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>not code</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## List items |
| |
| A [list marker](@list-marker) is a |
| [bullet list marker] or an [ordered list marker]. |
| |
| A [bullet list marker](@bullet-list-marker) |
| is a `-`, `+`, or `*` character. |
| |
| An [ordered list marker](@ordered-list-marker) |
| is a sequence of 1--9 arabic digits (`0-9`), followed by either a |
| `.` character or a `)` character. (The reason for the length |
| limit is that with 10 digits we start seeing integer overflows |
| in some browsers.) |
| |
| The following rules define [list items]: |
| |
| 1. **Basic case.** If a sequence of lines *Ls* constitute a sequence of |
| blocks *Bs* starting with a [non-whitespace character] and not separated |
| from each other by more than one blank line, and *M* is a list |
| marker of width *W* followed by 0 < *N* < 5 spaces, then the result |
| of prepending *M* and the following spaces to the first line of |
| *Ls*, and indenting subsequent lines of *Ls* by *W + N* spaces, is a |
| list item with *Bs* as its contents. The type of the list item |
| (bullet or ordered) is determined by the type of its list marker. |
| If the list item is ordered, then it is also assigned a start |
| number, based on the ordered list marker. |
| |
| For example, let *Ls* be the lines |
| |
| . |
| A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <p>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</p> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>A block quote.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| And let *M* be the marker `1.`, and *N* = 2. Then rule #1 says |
| that the following is an ordered list item with start number 1, |
| and the same contents as *Ls*: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</p> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>A block quote.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| The most important thing to notice is that the position of |
| the text after the list marker determines how much indentation |
| is needed in subsequent blocks in the list item. If the list |
| marker takes up two spaces, and there are three spaces between |
| the list marker and the next [non-whitespace character], then blocks |
| must be indented five spaces in order to fall under the list |
| item. |
| |
| Here are some examples showing how far content must be indented to be |
| put under the list item: |
| |
| . |
| - one |
| |
| two |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>one</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>two</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - one |
| |
| two |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>one</p> |
| <p>two</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - one |
| |
| two |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>one</li> |
| </ul> |
| <pre><code> two |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - one |
| |
| two |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>one</p> |
| <p>two</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| It is tempting to think of this in terms of columns: the continuation |
| blocks must be indented at least to the column of the first |
| [non-whitespace character] after the list marker. However, that is not quite right. |
| The spaces after the list marker determine how much relative indentation |
| is needed. Which column this indentation reaches will depend on |
| how the list item is embedded in other constructions, as shown by |
| this example: |
| |
| . |
| > > 1. one |
| >> |
| >> two |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>one</p> |
| <p>two</p> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| </blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| Here `two` occurs in the same column as the list marker `1.`, |
| but is actually contained in the list item, because there is |
| sufficient indentation after the last containing blockquote marker. |
| |
| The converse is also possible. In the following example, the word `two` |
| occurs far to the right of the initial text of the list item, `one`, but |
| it is not considered part of the list item, because it is not indented |
| far enough past the blockquote marker: |
| |
| . |
| >>- one |
| >> |
| > > two |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <blockquote> |
| <ul> |
| <li>one</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>two</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| Note that at least one space is needed between the list marker and |
| any following content, so these are not list items: |
| |
| . |
| -one |
| |
| 2.two |
| . |
| <p>-one</p> |
| <p>2.two</p> |
| . |
| |
| A list item may not contain blocks that are separated by more than |
| one blank line. Thus, two blank lines will end a list, unless the |
| two blanks are contained in a [fenced code block]. |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| bar |
| |
| - foo |
| |
| |
| bar |
| |
| - ``` |
| foo |
| |
| |
| bar |
| ``` |
| |
| - baz |
| |
| + ``` |
| foo |
| |
| |
| bar |
| ``` |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>foo |
| |
| |
| bar |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>baz</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>foo |
| |
| |
| bar |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| A list item may contain any kind of block: |
| |
| . |
| 1. foo |
| |
| ``` |
| bar |
| ``` |
| |
| baz |
| |
| > bam |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>baz</p> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>bam</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Note that ordered list start numbers must be nine digits or less: |
| |
| . |
| 123456789. ok |
| . |
| <ol start="123456789"> |
| <li>ok</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 1234567890. not ok |
| . |
| <p>1234567890. not ok</p> |
| . |
| |
| A start number may begin with 0s: |
| |
| . |
| 0. ok |
| . |
| <ol start="0"> |
| <li>ok</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 003. ok |
| . |
| <ol start="3"> |
| <li>ok</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| A start number may not be negative: |
| |
| . |
| -1. not ok |
| . |
| <p>-1. not ok</p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| 2. **Item starting with indented code.** If a sequence of lines *Ls* |
| constitute a sequence of blocks *Bs* starting with an indented code |
| block and not separated from each other by more than one blank line, |
| and *M* is a list marker of width *W* followed by |
| one space, then the result of prepending *M* and the following |
| space to the first line of *Ls*, and indenting subsequent lines of |
| *Ls* by *W + 1* spaces, is a list item with *Bs* as its contents. |
| If a line is empty, then it need not be indented. The type of the |
| list item (bullet or ordered) is determined by the type of its list |
| marker. If the list item is ordered, then it is also assigned a |
| start number, based on the ordered list marker. |
| |
| An indented code block will have to be indented four spaces beyond |
| the edge of the region where text will be included in the list item. |
| In the following case that is 6 spaces: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| And in this case it is 11 spaces: |
| |
| . |
| 10. foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <ol start="10"> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| If the *first* block in the list item is an indented code block, |
| then by rule #2, the contents must be indented *one* space after the |
| list marker: |
| |
| . |
| indented code |
| |
| paragraph |
| |
| more code |
| . |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>paragraph</p> |
| <pre><code>more code |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 1. indented code |
| |
| paragraph |
| |
| more code |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>paragraph</p> |
| <pre><code>more code |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Note that an additional space indent is interpreted as space |
| inside the code block: |
| |
| . |
| 1. indented code |
| |
| paragraph |
| |
| more code |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code> indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>paragraph</p> |
| <pre><code>more code |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Note that rules #1 and #2 only apply to two cases: (a) cases |
| in which the lines to be included in a list item begin with a |
| [non-whitespace character], and (b) cases in which |
| they begin with an indented code |
| block. In a case like the following, where the first block begins with |
| a three-space indent, the rules do not allow us to form a list item by |
| indenting the whole thing and prepending a list marker: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not a significant restriction, because when a block begins |
| with 1-3 spaces indent, the indentation can always be removed without |
| a change in interpretation, allowing rule #1 to be applied. So, in |
| the above case: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| 3. **Item starting with a blank line.** If a sequence of lines *Ls* |
| starting with a single [blank line] constitute a (possibly empty) |
| sequence of blocks *Bs*, not separated from each other by more than |
| one blank line, and *M* is a list marker of width *W*, |
| then the result of prepending *M* to the first line of *Ls*, and |
| indenting subsequent lines of *Ls* by *W + 1* spaces, is a list |
| item with *Bs* as its contents. |
| If a line is empty, then it need not be indented. The type of the |
| list item (bullet or ordered) is determined by the type of its list |
| marker. If the list item is ordered, then it is also assigned a |
| start number, based on the ordered list marker. |
| |
| Here are some list items that start with a blank line but are not empty: |
| |
| . |
| - |
| foo |
| - |
| ``` |
| bar |
| ``` |
| - |
| baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>bar |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>baz |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| A list item can begin with at most one blank line. |
| In the following example, `foo` is not part of the list |
| item: |
| |
| . |
| - |
| |
| foo |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li></li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| Here is an empty bullet list item: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - |
| - bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li></li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| It does not matter whether there are spaces following the [list marker]: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - |
| - bar |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li></li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| Here is an empty ordered list item: |
| |
| . |
| 1. foo |
| 2. |
| 3. bar |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li></li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| A list may start or end with an empty list item: |
| |
| . |
| * |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li></li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| |
| 4. **Indentation.** If a sequence of lines *Ls* constitutes a list item |
| according to rule #1, #2, or #3, then the result of indenting each line |
| of *Ls* by 1-3 spaces (the same for each line) also constitutes a |
| list item with the same contents and attributes. If a line is |
| empty, then it need not be indented. |
| |
| Indented one space: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</p> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>A block quote.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Indented two spaces: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</p> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>A block quote.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Indented three spaces: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</p> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>A block quote.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Four spaces indent gives a code block: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <pre><code>1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| |
| 5. **Laziness.** If a string of lines *Ls* constitute a [list |
| item](#list-items) with contents *Bs*, then the result of deleting |
| some or all of the indentation from one or more lines in which the |
| next [non-whitespace character] after the indentation is |
| [paragraph continuation text] is a |
| list item with the same contents and attributes. The unindented |
| lines are called |
| [lazy continuation line](@lazy-continuation-line)s. |
| |
| Here is an example with [lazy continuation line]s: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| |
| indented code |
| |
| > A block quote. |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</p> |
| <pre><code>indented code |
| </code></pre> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>A block quote.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Indentation can be partially deleted: |
| |
| . |
| 1. A paragraph |
| with two lines. |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li>A paragraph |
| with two lines.</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| These examples show how laziness can work in nested structures: |
| |
| . |
| > 1. > Blockquote |
| continued here. |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>Blockquote |
| continued here.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| > 1. > Blockquote |
| > continued here. |
| . |
| <blockquote> |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>Blockquote |
| continued here.</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| </blockquote> |
| . |
| |
| |
| 6. **That's all.** Nothing that is not counted as a list item by rules |
| #1--5 counts as a [list item](#list-items). |
| |
| The rules for sublists follow from the general rules above. A sublist |
| must be indented the same number of spaces a paragraph would need to be |
| in order to be included in the list item. |
| |
| So, in this case we need two spaces indent: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - bar |
| - baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| One is not enough: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - bar |
| - baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| Here we need four, because the list marker is wider: |
| |
| . |
| 10) foo |
| - bar |
| . |
| <ol start="10"> |
| <li>foo |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Three is not enough: |
| |
| . |
| 10) foo |
| - bar |
| . |
| <ol start="10"> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ol> |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| A list may be the first block in a list item: |
| |
| . |
| - - foo |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 1. - 2. foo |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <ol start="2"> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ol> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| A list item can contain a header: |
| |
| . |
| - # Foo |
| - Bar |
| --- |
| baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <h1>Foo</h1> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <h2>Bar</h2> |
| baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| ### Motivation |
| |
| John Gruber's Markdown spec says the following about list items: |
| |
| 1. "List markers typically start at the left margin, but may be indented |
| by up to three spaces. List markers must be followed by one or more |
| spaces or a tab." |
| |
| 2. "To make lists look nice, you can wrap items with hanging indents.... |
| But if you don't want to, you don't have to." |
| |
| 3. "List items may consist of multiple paragraphs. Each subsequent |
| paragraph in a list item must be indented by either 4 spaces or one |
| tab." |
| |
| 4. "It looks nice if you indent every line of the subsequent paragraphs, |
| but here again, Markdown will allow you to be lazy." |
| |
| 5. "To put a blockquote within a list item, the blockquote's `>` |
| delimiters need to be indented." |
| |
| 6. "To put a code block within a list item, the code block needs to be |
| indented twice — 8 spaces or two tabs." |
| |
| These rules specify that a paragraph under a list item must be indented |
| four spaces (presumably, from the left margin, rather than the start of |
| the list marker, but this is not said), and that code under a list item |
| must be indented eight spaces instead of the usual four. They also say |
| that a block quote must be indented, but not by how much; however, the |
| example given has four spaces indentation. Although nothing is said |
| about other kinds of block-level content, it is certainly reasonable to |
| infer that *all* block elements under a list item, including other |
| lists, must be indented four spaces. This principle has been called the |
| *four-space rule*. |
| |
| The four-space rule is clear and principled, and if the reference |
| implementation `Markdown.pl` had followed it, it probably would have |
| become the standard. However, `Markdown.pl` allowed paragraphs and |
| sublists to start with only two spaces indentation, at least on the |
| outer level. Worse, its behavior was inconsistent: a sublist of an |
| outer-level list needed two spaces indentation, but a sublist of this |
| sublist needed three spaces. It is not surprising, then, that different |
| implementations of Markdown have developed very different rules for |
| determining what comes under a list item. (Pandoc and python-Markdown, |
| for example, stuck with Gruber's syntax description and the four-space |
| rule, while discount, redcarpet, marked, PHP Markdown, and others |
| followed `Markdown.pl`'s behavior more closely.) |
| |
| Unfortunately, given the divergences between implementations, there |
| is no way to give a spec for list items that will be guaranteed not |
| to break any existing documents. However, the spec given here should |
| correctly handle lists formatted with either the four-space rule or |
| the more forgiving `Markdown.pl` behavior, provided they are laid out |
| in a way that is natural for a human to read. |
| |
| The strategy here is to let the width and indentation of the list marker |
| determine the indentation necessary for blocks to fall under the list |
| item, rather than having a fixed and arbitrary number. The writer can |
| think of the body of the list item as a unit which gets indented to the |
| right enough to fit the list marker (and any indentation on the list |
| marker). (The laziness rule, #5, then allows continuation lines to be |
| unindented if needed.) |
| |
| This rule is superior, we claim, to any rule requiring a fixed level of |
| indentation from the margin. The four-space rule is clear but |
| unnatural. It is quite unintuitive that |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| - foo |
| |
| bar |
| |
| - baz |
| ``` |
| |
| should be parsed as two lists with an intervening paragraph, |
| |
| ``` html |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| ``` |
| |
| as the four-space rule demands, rather than a single list, |
| |
| ``` html |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| ``` |
| |
| The choice of four spaces is arbitrary. It can be learned, but it is |
| not likely to be guessed, and it trips up beginners regularly. |
| |
| Would it help to adopt a two-space rule? The problem is that such |
| a rule, together with the rule allowing 1--3 spaces indentation of the |
| initial list marker, allows text that is indented *less than* the |
| original list marker to be included in the list item. For example, |
| `Markdown.pl` parses |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| - one |
| |
| two |
| ``` |
| |
| as a single list item, with `two` a continuation paragraph: |
| |
| ``` html |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>one</p> |
| <p>two</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| ``` |
| |
| and similarly |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > - one |
| > |
| > two |
| ``` |
| |
| as |
| |
| ``` html |
| <blockquote> |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>one</p> |
| <p>two</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </blockquote> |
| ``` |
| |
| This is extremely unintuitive. |
| |
| Rather than requiring a fixed indent from the margin, we could require |
| a fixed indent (say, two spaces, or even one space) from the list marker (which |
| may itself be indented). This proposal would remove the last anomaly |
| discussed. Unlike the spec presented above, it would count the following |
| as a list item with a subparagraph, even though the paragraph `bar` |
| is not indented as far as the first paragraph `foo`: |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| 10. foo |
| |
| bar |
| ``` |
| |
| Arguably this text does read like a list item with `bar` as a subparagraph, |
| which may count in favor of the proposal. However, on this proposal indented |
| code would have to be indented six spaces after the list marker. And this |
| would break a lot of existing Markdown, which has the pattern: |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| 1. foo |
| |
| indented code |
| ``` |
| |
| where the code is indented eight spaces. The spec above, by contrast, will |
| parse this text as expected, since the code block's indentation is measured |
| from the beginning of `foo`. |
| |
| The one case that needs special treatment is a list item that *starts* |
| with indented code. How much indentation is required in that case, since |
| we don't have a "first paragraph" to measure from? Rule #2 simply stipulates |
| that in such cases, we require one space indentation from the list marker |
| (and then the normal four spaces for the indented code). This will match the |
| four-space rule in cases where the list marker plus its initial indentation |
| takes four spaces (a common case), but diverge in other cases. |
| |
| ## Lists |
| |
| A [list](@list) is a sequence of one or more |
| list items [of the same type]. The list items |
| may be separated by single [blank lines], but two |
| blank lines end all containing lists. |
| |
| Two list items are [of the same type](@of-the-same-type) |
| if they begin with a [list marker] of the same type. |
| Two list markers are of the |
| same type if (a) they are bullet list markers using the same character |
| (`-`, `+`, or `*`) or (b) they are ordered list numbers with the same |
| delimiter (either `.` or `)`). |
| |
| A list is an [ordered list](@ordered-list) |
| if its constituent list items begin with |
| [ordered list marker]s, and a |
| [bullet list](@bullet-list) if its constituent list |
| items begin with [bullet list marker]s. |
| |
| The [start number](@start-number) |
| of an [ordered list] is determined by the list number of |
| its initial list item. The numbers of subsequent list items are |
| disregarded. |
| |
| A list is [loose](@loose) if any of its constituent |
| list items are separated by blank lines, or if any of its constituent |
| list items directly contain two block-level elements with a blank line |
| between them. Otherwise a list is [tight](@tight). |
| (The difference in HTML output is that paragraphs in a loose list are |
| wrapped in `<p>` tags, while paragraphs in a tight list are not.) |
| |
| Changing the bullet or ordered list delimiter starts a new list: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - bar |
| + baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 1. foo |
| 2. bar |
| 3) baz |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ol> |
| <ol start="3"> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| In CommonMark, a list can interrupt a paragraph. That is, |
| no blank line is needed to separate a paragraph from a following |
| list: |
| |
| . |
| Foo |
| - bar |
| - baz |
| . |
| <p>Foo</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| `Markdown.pl` does not allow this, through fear of triggering a list |
| via a numeral in a hard-wrapped line: |
| |
| . |
| The number of windows in my house is |
| 14. The number of doors is 6. |
| . |
| <p>The number of windows in my house is</p> |
| <ol start="14"> |
| <li>The number of doors is 6.</li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Oddly, `Markdown.pl` *does* allow a blockquote to interrupt a paragraph, |
| even though the same considerations might apply. We think that the two |
| cases should be treated the same. Here are two reasons for allowing |
| lists to interrupt paragraphs: |
| |
| First, it is natural and not uncommon for people to start lists without |
| blank lines: |
| |
| I need to buy |
| - new shoes |
| - a coat |
| - a plane ticket |
| |
| Second, we are attracted to a |
| |
| > [principle of uniformity](@principle-of-uniformity): |
| > if a chunk of text has a certain |
| > meaning, it will continue to have the same meaning when put into a |
| > container block (such as a list item or blockquote). |
| |
| (Indeed, the spec for [list items] and [block quotes] presupposes |
| this principle.) This principle implies that if |
| |
| * I need to buy |
| - new shoes |
| - a coat |
| - a plane ticket |
| |
| is a list item containing a paragraph followed by a nested sublist, |
| as all Markdown implementations agree it is (though the paragraph |
| may be rendered without `<p>` tags, since the list is "tight"), |
| then |
| |
| I need to buy |
| - new shoes |
| - a coat |
| - a plane ticket |
| |
| by itself should be a paragraph followed by a nested sublist. |
| |
| Our adherence to the [principle of uniformity] |
| thus inclines us to think that there are two coherent packages: |
| |
| 1. Require blank lines before *all* lists and blockquotes, |
| including lists that occur as sublists inside other list items. |
| |
| 2. Require blank lines in none of these places. |
| |
| [reStructuredText](http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html) takes |
| the first approach, for which there is much to be said. But the second |
| seems more consistent with established practice with Markdown. |
| |
| There can be blank lines between items, but two blank lines end |
| a list: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| - bar |
| |
| |
| - baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| As illustrated above in the section on [list items], |
| two blank lines between blocks *within* a list item will also end a |
| list: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| |
| bar |
| - baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| Indeed, two blank lines will end *all* containing lists: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - bar |
| - baz |
| |
| |
| bim |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| <pre><code> bim |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Thus, two blank lines can be used to separate consecutive lists of |
| the same type, or to separate a list from an indented code block |
| that would otherwise be parsed as a subparagraph of the final list |
| item: |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| - bar |
| |
| |
| - baz |
| - bim |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>foo</li> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| <ul> |
| <li>baz</li> |
| <li>bim</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - foo |
| |
| notcode |
| |
| - foo |
| |
| |
| code |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <p>notcode</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| <pre><code>code |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| List items need not be indented to the same level. The following |
| list items will be treated as items at the same list level, |
| since none is indented enough to belong to the previous list |
| item: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| - c |
| - d |
| - e |
| - f |
| - g |
| - h |
| - i |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a</li> |
| <li>b</li> |
| <li>c</li> |
| <li>d</li> |
| <li>e</li> |
| <li>f</li> |
| <li>g</li> |
| <li>h</li> |
| <li>i</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 1. a |
| |
| 2. b |
| |
| 3. c |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <p>a</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>b</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>c</p> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| This is a loose list, because there is a blank line between |
| two of the list items: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| |
| - c |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>a</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>b</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>c</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| So is this, with a empty second item: |
| |
| . |
| * a |
| * |
| |
| * c |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>a</p> |
| </li> |
| <li></li> |
| <li> |
| <p>c</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| These are loose lists, even though there is no space between the items, |
| because one of the items directly contains two block-level elements |
| with a blank line between them: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| |
| c |
| - d |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>a</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>b</p> |
| <p>c</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>d</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| |
| [ref]: /url |
| - d |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>a</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>b</p> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>d</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This is a tight list, because the blank lines are in a code block: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - ``` |
| b |
| |
| |
| ``` |
| - c |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a</li> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>b |
| |
| |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| <li>c</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This is a tight list, because the blank line is between two |
| paragraphs of a sublist. So the sublist is loose while |
| the outer list is tight: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| |
| c |
| - d |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>b</p> |
| <p>c</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| <li>d</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This is a tight list, because the blank line is inside the |
| block quote: |
| |
| . |
| * a |
| > b |
| > |
| * c |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>b</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| </li> |
| <li>c</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This list is tight, because the consecutive block elements |
| are not separated by blank lines: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| > b |
| ``` |
| c |
| ``` |
| - d |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a |
| <blockquote> |
| <p>b</p> |
| </blockquote> |
| <pre><code>c |
| </code></pre> |
| </li> |
| <li>d</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| A single-paragraph list is tight: |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a</li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li>a |
| <ul> |
| <li>b</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This list is loose, because of the blank line between the |
| two block elements in the list item: |
| |
| . |
| 1. ``` |
| foo |
| ``` |
| |
| bar |
| . |
| <ol> |
| <li> |
| <pre><code>foo |
| </code></pre> |
| <p>bar</p> |
| </li> |
| </ol> |
| . |
| |
| Here the outer list is loose, the inner list tight: |
| |
| . |
| * foo |
| * bar |
| |
| baz |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>foo</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>bar</li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>baz</p> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| - a |
| - b |
| - c |
| |
| - d |
| - e |
| - f |
| . |
| <ul> |
| <li> |
| <p>a</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>b</li> |
| <li>c</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| <li> |
| <p>d</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>e</li> |
| <li>f</li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| # Inlines |
| |
| Inlines are parsed sequentially from the beginning of the character |
| stream to the end (left to right, in left-to-right languages). |
| Thus, for example, in |
| |
| . |
| `hi`lo` |
| . |
| <p><code>hi</code>lo`</p> |
| . |
| |
| `hi` is parsed as code, leaving the backtick at the end as a literal |
| backtick. |
| |
| ## Backslash escapes |
| |
| Any ASCII punctuation character may be backslash-escaped: |
| |
| . |
| \!\"\#\$\%\&\'\(\)\*\+\,\-\.\/\:\;\<\=\>\?\@\[\\\]\^\_\`\{\|\}\~ |
| . |
| <p>!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~</p> |
| . |
| |
| Backslashes before other characters are treated as literal |
| backslashes: |
| |
| . |
| \→\A\a\ \3\φ\« |
| . |
| <p>\→\A\a\ \3\φ\«</p> |
| . |
| |
| Escaped characters are treated as regular characters and do |
| not have their usual Markdown meanings: |
| |
| . |
| \*not emphasized* |
| \<br/> not a tag |
| \[not a link](/foo) |
| \`not code` |
| 1\. not a list |
| \* not a list |
| \# not a header |
| \[foo]: /url "not a reference" |
| . |
| <p>*not emphasized* |
| <br/> not a tag |
| [not a link](/foo) |
| `not code` |
| 1. not a list |
| * not a list |
| # not a header |
| [foo]: /url "not a reference"</p> |
| . |
| |
| If a backslash is itself escaped, the following character is not: |
| |
| . |
| \\*emphasis* |
| . |
| <p>\<em>emphasis</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| A backslash at the end of the line is a [hard line break]: |
| |
| . |
| foo\ |
| bar |
| . |
| <p>foo<br /> |
| bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash escapes do not work in code blocks, code spans, autolinks, or |
| raw HTML: |
| |
| . |
| `` \[\` `` |
| . |
| <p><code>\[\`</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| \[\] |
| . |
| <pre><code>\[\] |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ~~~ |
| \[\] |
| ~~~ |
| . |
| <pre><code>\[\] |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <http://example.com?find=\*> |
| . |
| <p><a href="http://example.com?find=%5C*">http://example.com?find=\*</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <a href="/bar\/)"> |
| . |
| <a href="/bar\/)"> |
| . |
| |
| But they work in all other contexts, including URLs and link titles, |
| link references, and [info string]s in [fenced code block]s: |
| |
| . |
| [foo](/bar\* "ti\*tle") |
| . |
| <p><a href="/bar*" title="ti*tle">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /bar\* "ti\*tle" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/bar*" title="ti*tle">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ``` foo\+bar |
| foo |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code class="language-foo+bar">foo |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## Entities |
| |
| With the goal of making this standard as HTML-agnostic as possible, all |
| valid HTML entities (except in code blocks and code spans) |
| are recognized as such and converted into Unicode characters before |
| they are stored in the AST. This means that renderers to formats other |
| than HTML need not be HTML-entity aware. HTML renderers may either escape |
| Unicode characters as entities or leave them as they are. (However, |
| `"`, `&`, `<`, and `>` must always be rendered as entities.) |
| |
| [Named entities](@name-entities) consist of `&` + any of the valid |
| HTML5 entity names + `;`. The |
| [following document](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/entities.json) |
| is used as an authoritative source of the valid entity names and their |
| corresponding code points. |
| |
| . |
| & © Æ Ď |
| ¾ ℋ ⅆ |
| ∲ ≧̸ |
| . |
| <p> & © Æ Ď |
| ¾ ℋ ⅆ |
| ∲ ≧̸</p> |
| . |
| |
| [Decimal entities](@decimal-entities) |
| consist of `&#` + a string of 1--8 arabic digits + `;`. Again, these |
| entities need to be recognised and transformed into their corresponding |
| Unicode code points. Invalid Unicode code points will be replaced by |
| the "unknown code point" character (`U+FFFD`). For security reasons, |
| the code point `U+0000` will also be replaced by `U+FFFD`. |
| |
| . |
| # Ӓ Ϡ � � |
| . |
| <p># Ӓ Ϡ � �</p> |
| . |
| |
| [Hexadecimal entities](@hexadecimal-entities) consist of `&#` + either |
| `X` or `x` + a string of 1-8 hexadecimal digits + `;`. They will also |
| be parsed and turned into the corresponding Unicode code points in the |
| AST. |
| |
| . |
| " ആ ಫ |
| . |
| <p>" ആ ಫ</p> |
| . |
| |
| Here are some nonentities: |
| |
| . |
|   &x; &#; &#x; &ThisIsWayTooLongToBeAnEntityIsntIt; &hi?; |
| . |
| <p>&nbsp &x; &#; &#x; &ThisIsWayTooLongToBeAnEntityIsntIt; &hi?;</p> |
| . |
| |
| Although HTML5 does accept some entities without a trailing semicolon |
| (such as `©`), these are not recognized as entities here, because it |
| makes the grammar too ambiguous: |
| |
| . |
| © |
| . |
| <p>&copy</p> |
| . |
| |
| Strings that are not on the list of HTML5 named entities are not |
| recognized as entities either: |
| |
| . |
| &MadeUpEntity; |
| . |
| <p>&MadeUpEntity;</p> |
| . |
| |
| Entities are recognized in any context besides code spans or |
| code blocks, including raw HTML, URLs, [link title]s, and |
| [fenced code block] [info string]s: |
| |
| . |
| <a href="öö.html"> |
| . |
| <a href="öö.html"> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo](/föö "föö") |
| . |
| <p><a href="/f%C3%B6%C3%B6" title="föö">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /föö "föö" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/f%C3%B6%C3%B6" title="föö">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ``` föö |
| foo |
| ``` |
| . |
| <pre><code class="language-föö">foo |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| Entities are treated as literal text in code spans and code blocks: |
| |
| . |
| `föö` |
| . |
| <p><code>f&ouml;&ouml;</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| föfö |
| . |
| <pre><code>f&ouml;f&ouml; |
| </code></pre> |
| . |
| |
| ## Code spans |
| |
| A [backtick string](@backtick-string) |
| is a string of one or more backtick characters (`` ` ``) that is neither |
| preceded nor followed by a backtick. |
| |
| A [code span](@code-span) begins with a backtick string and ends with |
| a backtick string of equal length. The contents of the code span are |
| the characters between the two backtick strings, with leading and |
| trailing spaces and [line ending]s removed, and |
| [whitespace] collapsed to single spaces. |
| |
| This is a simple code span: |
| |
| . |
| `foo` |
| . |
| <p><code>foo</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| Here two backticks are used, because the code contains a backtick. |
| This example also illustrates stripping of leading and trailing spaces: |
| |
| . |
| `` foo ` bar `` |
| . |
| <p><code>foo ` bar</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| This example shows the motivation for stripping leading and trailing |
| spaces: |
| |
| . |
| ` `` ` |
| . |
| <p><code>``</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| [Line ending]s are treated like spaces: |
| |
| . |
| `` |
| foo |
| `` |
| . |
| <p><code>foo</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| Interior spaces and [line ending]s are collapsed into |
| single spaces, just as they would be by a browser: |
| |
| . |
| `foo bar |
| baz` |
| . |
| <p><code>foo bar baz</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| Q: Why not just leave the spaces, since browsers will collapse them |
| anyway? A: Because we might be targeting a non-HTML format, and we |
| shouldn't rely on HTML-specific rendering assumptions. |
| |
| (Existing implementations differ in their treatment of internal |
| spaces and [line ending]s. Some, including `Markdown.pl` and |
| `showdown`, convert an internal [line ending] into a |
| `<br />` tag. But this makes things difficult for those who like to |
| hard-wrap their paragraphs, since a line break in the midst of a code |
| span will cause an unintended line break in the output. Others just |
| leave internal spaces as they are, which is fine if only HTML is being |
| targeted.) |
| |
| . |
| `foo `` bar` |
| . |
| <p><code>foo `` bar</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that backslash escapes do not work in code spans. All backslashes |
| are treated literally: |
| |
| . |
| `foo\`bar` |
| . |
| <p><code>foo\</code>bar`</p> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash escapes are never needed, because one can always choose a |
| string of *n* backtick characters as delimiters, where the code does |
| not contain any strings of exactly *n* backtick characters. |
| |
| Code span backticks have higher precedence than any other inline |
| constructs except HTML tags and autolinks. Thus, for example, this is |
| not parsed as emphasized text, since the second `*` is part of a code |
| span: |
| |
| . |
| *foo`*` |
| . |
| <p>*foo<code>*</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| And this is not parsed as a link: |
| |
| . |
| [not a `link](/foo`) |
| . |
| <p>[not a <code>link](/foo</code>)</p> |
| . |
| |
| Code spans, HTML tags, and autolinks have the same precedence. |
| Thus, this is code: |
| |
| . |
| `<a href="`">` |
| . |
| <p><code><a href="</code>">`</p> |
| . |
| |
| But this is an HTML tag: |
| |
| . |
| <a href="`">` |
| . |
| <p><a href="`">`</p> |
| . |
| |
| And this is code: |
| |
| . |
| `<http://foo.bar.`baz>` |
| . |
| <p><code><http://foo.bar.</code>baz>`</p> |
| . |
| |
| But this is an autolink: |
| |
| . |
| <http://foo.bar.`baz>` |
| . |
| <p><a href="http://foo.bar.%60baz">http://foo.bar.`baz</a>`</p> |
| . |
| |
| When a backtick string is not closed by a matching backtick string, |
| we just have literal backticks: |
| |
| . |
| ```foo`` |
| . |
| <p>```foo``</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| `foo |
| . |
| <p>`foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| ## Emphasis and strong emphasis |
| |
| John Gruber's original [Markdown syntax |
| description](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#em) says: |
| |
| > Markdown treats asterisks (`*`) and underscores (`_`) as indicators of |
| > emphasis. Text wrapped with one `*` or `_` will be wrapped with an HTML |
| > `<em>` tag; double `*`'s or `_`'s will be wrapped with an HTML `<strong>` |
| > tag. |
| |
| This is enough for most users, but these rules leave much undecided, |
| especially when it comes to nested emphasis. The original |
| `Markdown.pl` test suite makes it clear that triple `***` and |
| `___` delimiters can be used for strong emphasis, and most |
| implementations have also allowed the following patterns: |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| ***strong emph*** |
| ***strong** in emph* |
| ***emph* in strong** |
| **in strong *emph*** |
| *in emph **strong*** |
| ``` |
| |
| The following patterns are less widely supported, but the intent |
| is clear and they are useful (especially in contexts like bibliography |
| entries): |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| *emph *with emph* in it* |
| **strong **with strong** in it** |
| ``` |
| |
| Many implementations have also restricted intraword emphasis to |
| the `*` forms, to avoid unwanted emphasis in words containing |
| internal underscores. (It is best practice to put these in code |
| spans, but users often do not.) |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| internal emphasis: foo*bar*baz |
| no emphasis: foo_bar_baz |
| ``` |
| |
| The rules given below capture all of these patterns, while allowing |
| for efficient parsing strategies that do not backtrack. |
| |
| First, some definitions. A [delimiter run](@delimiter-run) is either |
| a sequence of one or more `*` characters that is not preceded or |
| followed by a `*` character, or a sequence of one or more `_` |
| characters that is not preceded or followed by a `_` character. |
| |
| A [left-flanking delimiter run](@left-flanking-delimiter-run) is |
| a [delimiter run] that is (a) not followed by [Unicode whitespace], |
| and (b) either not followed by a [punctuation character], or |
| preceded by [Unicode whitespace] or a [punctuation character]. |
| For purposes of this definition, the beginning and the end of |
| the line count as Unicode whitespace. |
| |
| A [right-flanking delimiter run](@right-flanking-delimiter-run) is |
| a [delimiter run] that is (a) not preceded by [Unicode whitespace], |
| and (b) either not preceded by a [punctuation character], or |
| followed by [Unicode whitespace] or a [punctuation character]. |
| For purposes of this definition, the beginning and the end of |
| the line count as Unicode whitespace. |
| |
| Here are some examples of delimiter runs. |
| |
| - left-flanking but not right-flanking: |
| |
| ``` |
| ***abc |
| _abc |
| **"abc" |
| _"abc" |
| ``` |
| |
| - right-flanking but not left-flanking: |
| |
| ``` |
| abc*** |
| abc_ |
| "abc"** |
| "abc"_ |
| ``` |
| |
| - Both left and right-flanking: |
| |
| ``` |
| abc***def |
| "abc"_"def" |
| ``` |
| |
| - Neither left nor right-flanking: |
| |
| ``` |
| abc *** def |
| a _ b |
| ``` |
| |
| (The idea of distinguishing left-flanking and right-flanking |
| delimiter runs based on the character before and the character |
| after comes from Roopesh Chander's |
| [vfmd](http://www.vfmd.org/vfmd-spec/specification/#procedure-for-identifying-emphasis-tags). |
| vfmd uses the terminology "emphasis indicator string" instead of "delimiter |
| run," and its rules for distinguishing left- and right-flanking runs |
| are a bit more complex than the ones given here.) |
| |
| The following rules define emphasis and strong emphasis: |
| |
| 1. A single `*` character [can open emphasis](@can-open-emphasis) |
| iff (if and only if) it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]. |
| |
| 2. A single `_` character [can open emphasis] iff |
| it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run] |
| and either (a) not part of a [right-flanking delimiter run] |
| or (b) part of a [right-flanking delimeter run] |
| preceded by punctuation. |
| |
| 3. A single `*` character [can close emphasis](@can-close-emphasis) |
| iff it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]. |
| |
| 4. A single `_` character [can close emphasis] iff |
| it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run] |
| and either (a) not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run] |
| or (b) part of a [left-flanking delimeter run] |
| followed by punctuation. |
| |
| 5. A double `**` [can open strong emphasis](@can-open-strong-emphasis) |
| iff it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]. |
| |
| 6. A double `__` [can open strong emphasis] iff |
| it is part of a [left-flanking delimiter run] |
| and either (a) not part of a [right-flanking delimiter run] |
| or (b) part of a [right-flanking delimeter run] |
| preceded by punctuation. |
| |
| 7. A double `**` [can close strong emphasis](@can-close-strong-emphasis) |
| iff it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]. |
| |
| 8. A double `__` [can close strong emphasis] |
| it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run] |
| and either (a) not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run] |
| or (b) part of a [left-flanking delimeter run] |
| followed by punctuation. |
| |
| 9. Emphasis begins with a delimiter that [can open emphasis] and ends |
| with a delimiter that [can close emphasis], and that uses the same |
| character (`_` or `*`) as the opening delimiter. There must |
| be a nonempty sequence of inlines between the open delimiter |
| and the closing delimiter; these form the contents of the emphasis |
| inline. |
| |
| 10. Strong emphasis begins with a delimiter that |
| [can open strong emphasis] and ends with a delimiter that |
| [can close strong emphasis], and that uses the same character |
| (`_` or `*`) as the opening delimiter. |
| There must be a nonempty sequence of inlines between the open |
| delimiter and the closing delimiter; these form the contents of |
| the strong emphasis inline. |
| |
| 11. A literal `*` character cannot occur at the beginning or end of |
| `*`-delimited emphasis or `**`-delimited strong emphasis, unless it |
| is backslash-escaped. |
| |
| 12. A literal `_` character cannot occur at the beginning or end of |
| `_`-delimited emphasis or `__`-delimited strong emphasis, unless it |
| is backslash-escaped. |
| |
| Where rules 1--12 above are compatible with multiple parsings, |
| the following principles resolve ambiguity: |
| |
| 13. The number of nestings should be minimized. Thus, for example, |
| an interpretation `<strong>...</strong>` is always preferred to |
| `<em><em>...</em></em>`. |
| |
| 14. An interpretation `<strong><em>...</em></strong>` is always |
| preferred to `<em><strong>..</strong></em>`. |
| |
| 15. When two potential emphasis or strong emphasis spans overlap, |
| so that the second begins before the first ends and ends after |
| the first ends, the first takes precedence. Thus, for example, |
| `*foo _bar* baz_` is parsed as `<em>foo _bar</em> baz_` rather |
| than `*foo <em>bar* baz</em>`. For the same reason, |
| `**foo*bar**` is parsed as `<em><em>foo</em>bar</em>*` |
| rather than `<strong>foo*bar</strong>`. |
| |
| 16. When there are two potential emphasis or strong emphasis spans |
| with the same closing delimiter, the shorter one (the one that |
| opens later) takes precedence. Thus, for example, |
| `**foo **bar baz**` is parsed as `**foo <strong>bar baz</strong>` |
| rather than `<strong>foo **bar baz</strong>`. |
| |
| 17. Inline code spans, links, images, and HTML tags group more tightly |
| than emphasis. So, when there is a choice between an interpretation |
| that contains one of these elements and one that does not, the |
| former always wins. Thus, for example, `*[foo*](bar)` is |
| parsed as `*<a href="bar">foo*</a>` rather than as |
| `<em>[foo</em>](bar)`. |
| |
| These rules can be illustrated through a series of examples. |
| |
| Rule 1: |
| |
| . |
| *foo bar* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the opening `*` is followed by |
| whitespace, and hence not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]: |
| |
| . |
| a * foo bar* |
| . |
| <p>a * foo bar*</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the opening `*` is preceded |
| by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation, and hence |
| not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]: |
| |
| . |
| a*"foo"* |
| . |
| <p>a*"foo"*</p> |
| . |
| |
| Unicode nonbreaking spaces count as whitespace, too: |
| |
| . |
| * a * |
| . |
| <p>* a *</p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword emphasis with `*` is permitted: |
| |
| . |
| foo*bar* |
| . |
| <p>foo<em>bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 5*6*78 |
| . |
| <p>5<em>6</em>78</p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 2: |
| |
| . |
| _foo bar_ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the opening `_` is followed by |
| whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| _ foo bar_ |
| . |
| <p>_ foo bar_</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the opening `_` is preceded |
| by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation: |
| |
| . |
| a_"foo"_ |
| . |
| <p>a_"foo"_</p> |
| . |
| |
| Emphasis with `_` is not allowed inside words: |
| |
| . |
| foo_bar_ |
| . |
| <p>foo_bar_</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 5_6_78 |
| . |
| <p>5_6_78</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| пристаням_стремятся_ |
| . |
| <p>пристаням_стремятся_</p> |
| . |
| |
| Here `_` does not generate emphasis, because the first delimiter run |
| is right-flanking and the second left-flanking: |
| |
| . |
| aa_"bb"_cc |
| . |
| <p>aa_"bb"_cc</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is emphasis, even though the opening delimiter is |
| both left- and right-flanking, because it is preceded by |
| punctuation: |
| |
| . |
| foo-_(bar)_ |
| . |
| <p>foo-<em>(bar)</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 3: |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the closing delimiter does |
| not match the opening delimiter: |
| |
| . |
| _foo* |
| . |
| <p>_foo*</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the closing `*` is preceded by |
| whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| *foo bar * |
| . |
| <p>*foo bar *</p> |
| . |
| |
| A newline also counts as whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| *foo bar |
| * |
| . |
| <p>*foo bar</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li></li> |
| </ul> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the second `*` is |
| preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric |
| (hence it is not part of a [right-flanking delimiter run]: |
| |
| . |
| *(*foo) |
| . |
| <p>*(*foo)</p> |
| . |
| |
| The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated |
| with this example: |
| |
| . |
| *(*foo*)* |
| . |
| <p><em>(<em>foo</em>)</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword emphasis with `*` is allowed: |
| |
| . |
| *foo*bar |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Rule 4: |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the closing `_` is preceded by |
| whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| _foo bar _ |
| . |
| <p>_foo bar _</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not emphasis, because the second `_` is |
| preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric: |
| |
| . |
| _(_foo) |
| . |
| <p>_(_foo)</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is emphasis within emphasis: |
| |
| . |
| _(_foo_)_ |
| . |
| <p><em>(<em>foo</em>)</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword emphasis is disallowed for `_`: |
| |
| . |
| _foo_bar |
| . |
| <p>_foo_bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _пристаням_стремятся |
| . |
| <p>_пристаням_стремятся</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _foo_bar_baz_ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo_bar_baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is emphasis, even though the closing delimiter is |
| both left- and right-flanking, because it is followed by |
| punctuation: |
| |
| . |
| _(bar)_. |
| . |
| <p><em>(bar)</em>.</p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 5: |
| |
| . |
| **foo bar** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo bar</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the opening delimiter is |
| followed by whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| ** foo bar** |
| . |
| <p>** foo bar**</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the opening `**` is preceded |
| by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation, and hence |
| not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]: |
| |
| . |
| a**"foo"** |
| . |
| <p>a**"foo"**</p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword strong emphasis with `**` is permitted: |
| |
| . |
| foo**bar** |
| . |
| <p>foo<strong>bar</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 6: |
| |
| . |
| __foo bar__ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo bar</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the opening delimiter is |
| followed by whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| __ foo bar__ |
| . |
| <p>__ foo bar__</p> |
| . |
| |
| A newline counts as whitespace: |
| . |
| __ |
| foo bar__ |
| . |
| <p>__ |
| foo bar__</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the opening `__` is preceded |
| by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation: |
| |
| . |
| a__"foo"__ |
| . |
| <p>a__"foo"__</p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword strong emphasis is forbidden with `__`: |
| |
| . |
| foo__bar__ |
| . |
| <p>foo__bar__</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| 5__6__78 |
| . |
| <p>5__6__78</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| пристаням__стремятся__ |
| . |
| <p>пристаням__стремятся__</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo, __bar__, baz__ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo, <strong>bar</strong>, baz</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is strong emphasis, even though the opening delimiter is |
| both left- and right-flanking, because it is preceded by |
| punctuation: |
| |
| . |
| foo-__(bar)__ |
| . |
| <p>foo-<strong>(bar)</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Rule 7: |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the closing delimiter is preceded |
| by whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| **foo bar ** |
| . |
| <p>**foo bar **</p> |
| . |
| |
| (Nor can it be interpreted as an emphasized `*foo bar *`, because of |
| Rule 11.) |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the second `**` is |
| preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric: |
| |
| . |
| **(**foo) |
| . |
| <p>**(**foo)</p> |
| . |
| |
| The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated |
| with these examples: |
| |
| . |
| *(**foo**)* |
| . |
| <p><em>(<strong>foo</strong>)</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **Gomphocarpus (*Gomphocarpus physocarpus*, syn. |
| *Asclepias physocarpa*)** |
| . |
| <p><strong>Gomphocarpus (<em>Gomphocarpus physocarpus</em>, syn. |
| <em>Asclepias physocarpa</em>)</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo "*bar*" foo** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo "<em>bar</em>" foo</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword emphasis: |
| |
| . |
| **foo**bar |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo</strong>bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 8: |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the closing delimiter is |
| preceded by whitespace: |
| |
| . |
| __foo bar __ |
| . |
| <p>__foo bar __</p> |
| . |
| |
| This is not strong emphasis, because the second `__` is |
| preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric: |
| |
| . |
| __(__foo) |
| . |
| <p>__(__foo)</p> |
| . |
| |
| The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated |
| with this example: |
| |
| . |
| _(__foo__)_ |
| . |
| <p><em>(<strong>foo</strong>)</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Intraword strong emphasis is forbidden with `__`: |
| |
| . |
| __foo__bar |
| . |
| <p>__foo__bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __пристаням__стремятся |
| . |
| <p>__пристаням__стремятся</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo__bar__baz__ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo__bar__baz</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| This is strong emphasis, even though the closing delimiter is |
| both left- and right-flanking, because it is followed by |
| punctuation: |
| |
| . |
| __(bar)__. |
| . |
| <p><strong>(bar)</strong>.</p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 9: |
| |
| Any nonempty sequence of inline elements can be the contents of an |
| emphasized span. |
| |
| . |
| *foo [bar](/url)* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <a href="/url">bar</a></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo |
| bar* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo |
| bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| In particular, emphasis and strong emphasis can be nested |
| inside emphasis: |
| |
| . |
| _foo __bar__ baz_ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <strong>bar</strong> baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _foo _bar_ baz_ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <em>bar</em> baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo_ bar_ |
| . |
| <p><em><em>foo</em> bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo *bar** |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <em>bar</em></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo **bar** baz* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <strong>bar</strong> baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| But note: |
| |
| . |
| *foo**bar**baz* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em><em>bar</em><em>baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| The difference is that in the preceding case, the internal delimiters |
| [can close emphasis], while in the cases with spaces, they cannot. |
| |
| . |
| ***foo** bar* |
| . |
| <p><em><strong>foo</strong> bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo **bar*** |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <strong>bar</strong></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note, however, that in the following case we get no strong |
| emphasis, because the opening delimiter is closed by the first |
| `*` before `bar`: |
| |
| . |
| *foo**bar*** |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em><em>bar</em>**</p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Indefinite levels of nesting are possible: |
| |
| . |
| *foo **bar *baz* bim** bop* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <strong>bar <em>baz</em> bim</strong> bop</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo [*bar*](/url)* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <a href="/url"><em>bar</em></a></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| There can be no empty emphasis or strong emphasis: |
| |
| . |
| ** is not an empty emphasis |
| . |
| <p>** is not an empty emphasis</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **** is not an empty strong emphasis |
| . |
| <p>**** is not an empty strong emphasis</p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Rule 10: |
| |
| Any nonempty sequence of inline elements can be the contents of an |
| strongly emphasized span. |
| |
| . |
| **foo [bar](/url)** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <a href="/url">bar</a></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo |
| bar** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo |
| bar</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| In particular, emphasis and strong emphasis can be nested |
| inside strong emphasis: |
| |
| . |
| __foo _bar_ baz__ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <em>bar</em> baz</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo __bar__ baz__ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <strong>bar</strong> baz</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ____foo__ bar__ |
| . |
| <p><strong><strong>foo</strong> bar</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo **bar**** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <strong>bar</strong></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo *bar* baz** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <em>bar</em> baz</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| But note: |
| |
| . |
| **foo*bar*baz** |
| . |
| <p><em><em>foo</em>bar</em>baz**</p> |
| . |
| |
| The difference is that in the preceding case, the internal delimiters |
| [can close emphasis], while in the cases with spaces, they cannot. |
| |
| . |
| ***foo* bar** |
| . |
| <p><strong><em>foo</em> bar</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo *bar*** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <em>bar</em></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| Indefinite levels of nesting are possible: |
| |
| . |
| **foo *bar **baz** |
| bim* bop** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <em>bar <strong>baz</strong> |
| bim</em> bop</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo [*bar*](/url)** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo <a href="/url"><em>bar</em></a></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| There can be no empty emphasis or strong emphasis: |
| |
| . |
| __ is not an empty emphasis |
| . |
| <p>__ is not an empty emphasis</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ____ is not an empty strong emphasis |
| . |
| <p>____ is not an empty strong emphasis</p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Rule 11: |
| |
| . |
| foo *** |
| . |
| <p>foo ***</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo *\** |
| . |
| <p>foo <em>*</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo *_* |
| . |
| <p>foo <em>_</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo ***** |
| . |
| <p>foo *****</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo **\*** |
| . |
| <p>foo <strong>*</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo **_** |
| . |
| <p>foo <strong>_</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that when delimiters do not match evenly, Rule 11 determines |
| that the excess literal `*` characters will appear outside of the |
| emphasis, rather than inside it: |
| |
| . |
| **foo* |
| . |
| <p>*<em>foo</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo** |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em>*</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ***foo** |
| . |
| <p>*<strong>foo</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ****foo* |
| . |
| <p>***<em>foo</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo*** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo</strong>*</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo**** |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em>***</p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Rule 12: |
| |
| . |
| foo ___ |
| . |
| <p>foo ___</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo _\__ |
| . |
| <p>foo <em>_</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo _*_ |
| . |
| <p>foo <em>*</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo _____ |
| . |
| <p>foo _____</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo __\___ |
| . |
| <p>foo <strong>_</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo __*__ |
| . |
| <p>foo <strong>*</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo_ |
| . |
| <p>_<em>foo</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that when delimiters do not match evenly, Rule 12 determines |
| that the excess literal `_` characters will appear outside of the |
| emphasis, rather than inside it: |
| |
| . |
| _foo__ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em>_</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ___foo__ |
| . |
| <p>_<strong>foo</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ____foo_ |
| . |
| <p>___<em>foo</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo___ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo</strong>_</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _foo____ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo</em>___</p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 13 implies that if you want emphasis nested directly inside |
| emphasis, you must use different delimiters: |
| |
| . |
| **foo** |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *_foo_* |
| . |
| <p><em><em>foo</em></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __foo__ |
| . |
| <p><strong>foo</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _*foo*_ |
| . |
| <p><em><em>foo</em></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| However, strong emphasis within strong emphasis is possible without |
| switching delimiters: |
| |
| . |
| ****foo**** |
| . |
| <p><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ____foo____ |
| . |
| <p><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| Rule 13 can be applied to arbitrarily long sequences of |
| delimiters: |
| |
| . |
| ******foo****** |
| . |
| <p><strong><strong><strong>foo</strong></strong></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 14: |
| |
| . |
| ***foo*** |
| . |
| <p><strong><em>foo</em></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _____foo_____ |
| . |
| <p><strong><strong><em>foo</em></strong></strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 15: |
| |
| . |
| *foo _bar* baz_ |
| . |
| <p><em>foo _bar</em> baz_</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **foo*bar** |
| . |
| <p><em><em>foo</em>bar</em>*</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo __bar *baz bim__ bam* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo <strong>bar *baz bim</strong> bam</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 16: |
| |
| . |
| **foo **bar baz** |
| . |
| <p>**foo <strong>bar baz</strong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo *bar baz* |
| . |
| <p>*foo <em>bar baz</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Rule 17: |
| |
| . |
| *[bar*](/url) |
| . |
| <p>*<a href="/url">bar*</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _foo [bar_](/url) |
| . |
| <p>_foo <a href="/url">bar_</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *<img src="foo" title="*"/> |
| . |
| <p>*<img src="foo" title="*"/></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **<a href="**"> |
| . |
| <p>**<a href="**"></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __<a href="__"> |
| . |
| <p>__<a href="__"></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *a `*`* |
| . |
| <p><em>a <code>*</code></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| _a `_`_ |
| . |
| <p><em>a <code>_</code></em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| **a<http://foo.bar/?q=**> |
| . |
| <p>**a<a href="http://foo.bar/?q=**">http://foo.bar/?q=**</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| __a<http://foo.bar/?q=__> |
| . |
| <p>__a<a href="http://foo.bar/?q=__">http://foo.bar/?q=__</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## Links |
| |
| A link contains [link text] (the visible text), a [link destination] |
| (the URI that is the link destination), and optionally a [link title]. |
| There are two basic kinds of links in Markdown. In [inline link]s the |
| destination and title are given immediately after the link text. In |
| [reference link]s the destination and title are defined elsewhere in |
| the document. |
| |
| A [link text](@link-text) consists of a sequence of zero or more |
| inline elements enclosed by square brackets (`[` and `]`). The |
| following rules apply: |
| |
| - Links may not contain other links, at any level of nesting. If |
| multiple otherwise valid link definitions appear nested inside each |
| other, the inner-most definition is used. |
| |
| - Brackets are allowed in the [link text] only if (a) they |
| are backslash-escaped or (b) they appear as a matched pair of brackets, |
| with an open bracket `[`, a sequence of zero or more inlines, and |
| a close bracket `]`. |
| |
| - Backtick [code span]s, [autolink]s, and raw [HTML tag]s bind more tightly |
| than the brackets in link text. Thus, for example, |
| `` [foo`]` `` could not be a link text, since the second `]` |
| is part of a code span. |
| |
| - The brackets in link text bind more tightly than markers for |
| [emphasis and strong emphasis]. Thus, for example, `*[foo*](url)` is a link. |
| |
| A [link destination](@link-destination) consists of either |
| |
| - a sequence of zero or more characters between an opening `<` and a |
| closing `>` that contains no line breaks or unescaped `<` or `>` |
| characters, or |
| |
| - a nonempty sequence of characters that does not include |
| ASCII space or control characters, and includes parentheses |
| only if (a) they are backslash-escaped or (b) they are part of |
| a balanced pair of unescaped parentheses that is not itself |
| inside a balanced pair of unescaped parentheses. |
| |
| A [link title](@link-title) consists of either |
| |
| - a sequence of zero or more characters between straight double-quote |
| characters (`"`), including a `"` character only if it is |
| backslash-escaped, or |
| |
| - a sequence of zero or more characters between straight single-quote |
| characters (`'`), including a `'` character only if it is |
| backslash-escaped, or |
| |
| - a sequence of zero or more characters between matching parentheses |
| (`(...)`), including a `)` character only if it is backslash-escaped. |
| |
| Although [link title]s may span multiple lines, they may not contain |
| a [blank line]. |
| |
| An [inline link](@inline-link) consists of a [link text] followed immediately |
| by a left parenthesis `(`, optional [whitespace], an optional |
| [link destination], an optional [link title] separated from the link |
| destination by [whitespace], optional [whitespace], and a right |
| parenthesis `)`. The link's text consists of the inlines contained |
| in the [link text] (excluding the enclosing square brackets). |
| The link's URI consists of the link destination, excluding enclosing |
| `<...>` if present, with backslash-escapes in effect as described |
| above. The link's title consists of the link title, excluding its |
| enclosing delimiters, with backslash-escapes in effect as described |
| above. |
| |
| Here is a simple inline link: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/uri "title") |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri" title="title">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The title may be omitted: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/uri) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Both the title and the destination may be omitted: |
| |
| . |
| [link]() |
| . |
| <p><a href="">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link](<>) |
| . |
| <p><a href="">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| If the destination contains spaces, it must be enclosed in pointy |
| braces: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/my uri) |
| . |
| <p>[link](/my uri)</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link](</my uri>) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/my%20uri">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The destination cannot contain line breaks, even with pointy braces: |
| |
| . |
| [link](foo |
| bar) |
| . |
| <p>[link](foo |
| bar)</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link](<foo |
| bar>) |
| . |
| <p>[link](<foo |
| bar>)</p> |
| . |
| |
| One level of balanced parentheses is allowed without escaping: |
| |
| . |
| [link]((foo)and(bar)) |
| . |
| <p><a href="(foo)and(bar)">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| However, if you have parentheses within parentheses, you need to escape |
| or use the `<...>` form: |
| |
| . |
| [link](foo(and(bar))) |
| . |
| <p>[link](foo(and(bar)))</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link](foo(and\(bar\))) |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo(and(bar))">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link](<foo(and(bar))>) |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo(and(bar))">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Parentheses and other symbols can also be escaped, as usual |
| in Markdown: |
| |
| . |
| [link](foo\)\:) |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo):">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| A link can contain fragment identifiers and queries: |
| |
| . |
| [link](#fragment) |
| |
| [link](http://example.com#fragment) |
| |
| [link](http://example.com?foo=bar&baz#fragment) |
| . |
| <p><a href="#fragment">link</a></p> |
| <p><a href="http://example.com#fragment">link</a></p> |
| <p><a href="http://example.com?foo=bar&baz#fragment">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that a backslash before a non-escapable character is |
| just a backslash: |
| |
| . |
| [link](foo\bar) |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo%5Cbar">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| URL-escaping should be left alone inside the destination, as all |
| URL-escaped characters are also valid URL characters. HTML entities in |
| the destination will be parsed into the corresponding Unicode |
| code points, as usual, and optionally URL-escaped when written as HTML. |
| |
| . |
| [link](foo%20bä) |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo%20b%C3%A4">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that, because titles can often be parsed as destinations, |
| if you try to omit the destination and keep the title, you'll |
| get unexpected results: |
| |
| . |
| [link]("title") |
| . |
| <p><a href="%22title%22">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Titles may be in single quotes, double quotes, or parentheses: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/url "title") |
| [link](/url 'title') |
| [link](/url (title)) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">link</a> |
| <a href="/url" title="title">link</a> |
| <a href="/url" title="title">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash escapes and entities may be used in titles: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/url "title \""") |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title """>link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Nested balanced quotes are not allowed without escaping: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/url "title "and" title") |
| . |
| <p>[link](/url "title "and" title")</p> |
| . |
| |
| But it is easy to work around this by using a different quote type: |
| |
| . |
| [link](/url 'title "and" title') |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title "and" title">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| (Note: `Markdown.pl` did allow double quotes inside a double-quoted |
| title, and its test suite included a test demonstrating this. |
| But it is hard to see a good rationale for the extra complexity this |
| brings, since there are already many ways---backslash escaping, |
| entities, or using a different quote type for the enclosing title---to |
| write titles containing double quotes. `Markdown.pl`'s handling of |
| titles has a number of other strange features. For example, it allows |
| single-quoted titles in inline links, but not reference links. And, in |
| reference links but not inline links, it allows a title to begin with |
| `"` and end with `)`. `Markdown.pl` 1.0.1 even allows titles with no closing |
| quotation mark, though 1.0.2b8 does not. It seems preferable to adopt |
| a simple, rational rule that works the same way in inline links and |
| link reference definitions.) |
| |
| [Whitespace] is allowed around the destination and title: |
| |
| . |
| [link]( /uri |
| "title" ) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri" title="title">link</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| But it is not allowed between the link text and the |
| following parenthesis: |
| |
| . |
| [link] (/uri) |
| . |
| <p>[link] (/uri)</p> |
| . |
| |
| The link text may contain balanced brackets, but not unbalanced ones, |
| unless they are escaped: |
| |
| . |
| [link [foo [bar]]](/uri) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link [foo [bar]]</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link] bar](/uri) |
| . |
| <p>[link] bar](/uri)</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link [bar](/uri) |
| . |
| <p>[link <a href="/uri">bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link \[bar](/uri) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link [bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The link text may contain inline content: |
| |
| . |
| [link *foo **bar** `#`*](/uri) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link <em>foo <strong>bar</strong> <code>#</code></em></a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [![moon](moon.jpg)](/uri) |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri"><img src="moon.jpg" alt="moon" /></a></p> |
| . |
| |
| However, links may not contain other links, at any level of nesting. |
| |
| . |
| [foo [bar](/uri)](/uri) |
| . |
| <p>[foo <a href="/uri">bar</a>](/uri)</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo *[bar [baz](/uri)](/uri)*](/uri) |
| . |
| <p>[foo <em>[bar <a href="/uri">baz</a>](/uri)</em>](/uri)</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![[[foo](uri1)](uri2)](uri3) |
| . |
| <p><img src="uri3" alt="[foo](uri2)" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| These cases illustrate the precedence of link text grouping over |
| emphasis grouping: |
| |
| . |
| *[foo*](/uri) |
| . |
| <p>*<a href="/uri">foo*</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo *bar](baz*) |
| . |
| <p><a href="baz*">foo *bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that brackets that *aren't* part of links do not take |
| precedence: |
| |
| . |
| *foo [bar* baz] |
| . |
| <p><em>foo [bar</em> baz]</p> |
| . |
| |
| These cases illustrate the precedence of HTML tags, code spans, |
| and autolinks over link grouping: |
| |
| . |
| [foo <bar attr="](baz)"> |
| . |
| <p>[foo <bar attr="](baz)"></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo`](/uri)` |
| . |
| <p>[foo<code>](/uri)</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo<http://example.com/?search=](uri)> |
| . |
| <p>[foo<a href="http://example.com/?search=%5D(uri)">http://example.com/?search=](uri)</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| There are three kinds of [reference link](@reference-link)s: |
| [full](#full-reference-link), [collapsed](#collapsed-reference-link), |
| and [shortcut](#shortcut-reference-link). |
| |
| A [full reference link](@full-reference-link) |
| consists of a [link text], optional [whitespace], and a [link label] |
| that [matches] a [link reference definition] elsewhere in the document. |
| |
| A [link label](@link-label) begins with a left bracket (`[`) and ends |
| with the first right bracket (`]`) that is not backslash-escaped. |
| Between these brackets there must be at least one [non-whitespace character]. |
| Unescaped square bracket characters are not allowed in |
| [link label]s. A link label can have at most 999 |
| characters inside the square brackets. |
| |
| One label [matches](@matches) |
| another just in case their normalized forms are equal. To normalize a |
| label, perform the *Unicode case fold* and collapse consecutive internal |
| [whitespace] to a single space. If there are multiple |
| matching reference link definitions, the one that comes first in the |
| document is used. (It is desirable in such cases to emit a warning.) |
| |
| The contents of the first link label are parsed as inlines, which are |
| used as the link's text. The link's URI and title are provided by the |
| matching [link reference definition]. |
| |
| Here is a simple example: |
| |
| . |
| [foo][bar] |
| |
| [bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The rules for the [link text] are the same as with |
| [inline link]s. Thus: |
| |
| The link text may contain balanced brackets, but not unbalanced ones, |
| unless they are escaped: |
| |
| . |
| [link [foo [bar]]][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link [foo [bar]]</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [link \[bar][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link [bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The link text may contain inline content: |
| |
| . |
| [link *foo **bar** `#`*][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">link <em>foo <strong>bar</strong> <code>#</code></em></a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [![moon](moon.jpg)][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri"><img src="moon.jpg" alt="moon" /></a></p> |
| . |
| |
| However, links may not contain other links, at any level of nesting. |
| |
| . |
| [foo [bar](/uri)][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo <a href="/uri">bar</a>]<a href="/uri">ref</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo *bar [baz][ref]*][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo <em>bar <a href="/uri">baz</a></em>]<a href="/uri">ref</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| (In the examples above, we have two [shortcut reference link]s |
| instead of one [full reference link].) |
| |
| The following cases illustrate the precedence of link text grouping over |
| emphasis grouping: |
| |
| . |
| *[foo*][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>*<a href="/uri">foo*</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo *bar][ref] |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">foo *bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| These cases illustrate the precedence of HTML tags, code spans, |
| and autolinks over link grouping: |
| |
| . |
| [foo <bar attr="][ref]"> |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo <bar attr="][ref]"></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo`][ref]` |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo<code>][ref]</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo<http://example.com/?search=][ref]> |
| |
| [ref]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo<a href="http://example.com/?search=%5D%5Bref%5D">http://example.com/?search=][ref]</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Matching is case-insensitive: |
| |
| . |
| [foo][BaR] |
| |
| [bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Unicode case fold is used: |
| |
| . |
| [Толпой][Толпой] is a Russian word. |
| |
| [ТОЛПОЙ]: /url |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url">Толпой</a> is a Russian word.</p> |
| . |
| |
| Consecutive internal [whitespace] is treated as one space for |
| purposes of determining matching: |
| |
| . |
| [Foo |
| bar]: /url |
| |
| [Baz][Foo bar] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url">Baz</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| There can be [whitespace] between the [link text] and the [link label]: |
| |
| . |
| [foo] [bar] |
| |
| [bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| [bar] |
| |
| [bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| When there are multiple matching [link reference definition]s, |
| the first is used: |
| |
| . |
| [foo]: /url1 |
| |
| [foo]: /url2 |
| |
| [bar][foo] |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url1">bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that matching is performed on normalized strings, not parsed |
| inline content. So the following does not match, even though the |
| labels define equivalent inline content: |
| |
| . |
| [bar][foo\!] |
| |
| [foo!]: /url |
| . |
| <p>[bar][foo!]</p> |
| . |
| |
| [Link label]s cannot contain brackets, unless they are |
| backslash-escaped: |
| |
| . |
| [foo][ref[] |
| |
| [ref[]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo][ref[]</p> |
| <p>[ref[]: /uri</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo][ref[bar]] |
| |
| [ref[bar]]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[foo][ref[bar]]</p> |
| <p>[ref[bar]]: /uri</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [[[foo]]] |
| |
| [[[foo]]]: /url |
| . |
| <p>[[[foo]]]</p> |
| <p>[[[foo]]]: /url</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [foo][ref\[] |
| |
| [ref\[]: /uri |
| . |
| <p><a href="/uri">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| A [link label] must contain at least one [non-whitespace character]: |
| |
| . |
| [] |
| |
| []: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[]</p> |
| <p>[]: /uri</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [ |
| ] |
| |
| [ |
| ]: /uri |
| . |
| <p>[ |
| ]</p> |
| <p>[ |
| ]: /uri</p> |
| . |
| |
| A [collapsed reference link](@collapsed-reference-link) |
| consists of a [link label] that [matches] a |
| [link reference definition] elsewhere in the |
| document, optional [whitespace], and the string `[]`. |
| The contents of the first link label are parsed as inlines, |
| which are used as the link's text. The link's URI and title are |
| provided by the matching reference link definition. Thus, |
| `[foo][]` is equivalent to `[foo][foo]`. |
| |
| . |
| [foo][] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [*foo* bar][] |
| |
| [*foo* bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title"><em>foo</em> bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The link labels are case-insensitive: |
| |
| . |
| [Foo][] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">Foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| As with full reference links, [whitespace] is allowed |
| between the two sets of brackets: |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| [] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| A [shortcut reference link](@shortcut-reference-link) |
| consists of a [link label] that [matches] a |
| [link reference definition] elsewhere in the |
| document and is not followed by `[]` or a link label. |
| The contents of the first link label are parsed as inlines, |
| which are used as the link's text. the link's URI and title |
| are provided by the matching link reference definition. |
| Thus, `[foo]` is equivalent to `[foo][]`. |
| |
| . |
| [foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [*foo* bar] |
| |
| [*foo* bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title"><em>foo</em> bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [[*foo* bar]] |
| |
| [*foo* bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p>[<a href="/url" title="title"><em>foo</em> bar</a>]</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| [[bar [foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url |
| . |
| <p>[[bar <a href="/url">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| The link labels are case-insensitive: |
| |
| . |
| [Foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url" title="title">Foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| A space after the link text should be preserved: |
| |
| . |
| [foo] bar |
| |
| [foo]: /url |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url">foo</a> bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| If you just want bracketed text, you can backslash-escape the |
| opening bracket to avoid links: |
| |
| . |
| \[foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p>[foo]</p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that this is a link, because a link label ends with the first |
| following closing bracket: |
| |
| . |
| [foo*]: /url |
| |
| *[foo*] |
| . |
| <p>*<a href="/url">foo*</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Full references take precedence over shortcut references: |
| |
| . |
| [foo][bar] |
| |
| [foo]: /url1 |
| [bar]: /url2 |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url2">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| In the following case `[bar][baz]` is parsed as a reference, |
| `[foo]` as normal text: |
| |
| . |
| [foo][bar][baz] |
| |
| [baz]: /url |
| . |
| <p>[foo]<a href="/url">bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Here, though, `[foo][bar]` is parsed as a reference, since |
| `[bar]` is defined: |
| |
| . |
| [foo][bar][baz] |
| |
| [baz]: /url1 |
| [bar]: /url2 |
| . |
| <p><a href="/url2">foo</a><a href="/url1">baz</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Here `[foo]` is not parsed as a shortcut reference, because it |
| is followed by a link label (even though `[bar]` is not defined): |
| |
| . |
| [foo][bar][baz] |
| |
| [baz]: /url1 |
| [foo]: /url2 |
| . |
| <p>[foo]<a href="/url1">bar</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| |
| ## Images |
| |
| Syntax for images is like the syntax for links, with one |
| difference. Instead of [link text], we have an |
| [image description](@image-description). The rules for this are the |
| same as for [link text], except that (a) an |
| image description starts with `![` rather than `[`, and |
| (b) an image description may contain links. |
| An image description has inline elements |
| as its contents. When an image is rendered to HTML, |
| this is standardly used as the image's `alt` attribute. |
| |
| . |
| ![foo](/url "title") |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo *bar*] |
| |
| [foo *bar*]: train.jpg "train & tracks" |
| . |
| <p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="train & tracks" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo ![bar](/url)](/url2) |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url2" alt="foo bar" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo [bar](/url)](/url2) |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url2" alt="foo bar" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| Though this spec is concerned with parsing, not rendering, it is |
| recommended that in rendering to HTML, only the plain string content |
| of the [image description] be used. Note that in |
| the above example, the alt attribute's value is `foo bar`, not `foo |
| [bar](/url)` or `foo <a href="/url">bar</a>`. Only the plain string |
| content is rendered, without formatting. |
| |
| . |
| ![foo *bar*][] |
| |
| [foo *bar*]: train.jpg "train & tracks" |
| . |
| <p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="train & tracks" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo *bar*][foobar] |
| |
| [FOOBAR]: train.jpg "train & tracks" |
| . |
| <p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="train & tracks" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo](train.jpg) |
| . |
| <p><img src="train.jpg" alt="foo" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| My ![foo bar](/path/to/train.jpg "title" ) |
| . |
| <p>My <img src="/path/to/train.jpg" alt="foo bar" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo](<url>) |
| . |
| <p><img src="url" alt="foo" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![](/url) |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| Reference-style: |
| |
| . |
| ![foo] [bar] |
| |
| [bar]: /url |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![foo] [bar] |
| |
| [BAR]: /url |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| Collapsed: |
| |
| . |
| ![foo][] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![*foo* bar][] |
| |
| [*foo* bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo bar" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| The labels are case-insensitive: |
| |
| . |
| ![Foo][] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="Foo" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| As with full reference links, [whitespace] is allowed |
| between the two sets of brackets: |
| |
| . |
| ![foo] |
| [] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| Shortcut: |
| |
| . |
| ![foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ![*foo* bar] |
| |
| [*foo* bar]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="foo bar" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| Note that link labels cannot contain unescaped brackets: |
| |
| . |
| ![[foo]] |
| |
| [[foo]]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p>![[foo]]</p> |
| <p>[[foo]]: /url "title"</p> |
| . |
| |
| The link labels are case-insensitive: |
| |
| . |
| ![Foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p><img src="/url" alt="Foo" title="title" /></p> |
| . |
| |
| If you just want bracketed text, you can backslash-escape the |
| opening `!` and `[`: |
| |
| . |
| \!\[foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p>![foo]</p> |
| . |
| |
| If you want a link after a literal `!`, backslash-escape the |
| `!`: |
| |
| . |
| \![foo] |
| |
| [foo]: /url "title" |
| . |
| <p>!<a href="/url" title="title">foo</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| ## Autolinks |
| |
| [Autolink](@autolink)s are absolute URIs and email addresses inside |
| `<` and `>`. They are parsed as links, with the URL or email address |
| as the link label. |
| |
| A [URI autolink](@uri-autolink) consists of `<`, followed by an |
| [absolute URI] not containing `<`, followed by `>`. It is parsed as |
| a link to the URI, with the URI as the link's label. |
| |
| An [absolute URI](@absolute-uri), |
| for these purposes, consists of a [scheme] followed by a colon (`:`) |
| followed by zero or more characters other than ASCII |
| [whitespace] and control characters, `<`, and `>`. If |
| the URI includes these characters, you must use percent-encoding |
| (e.g. `%20` for a space). |
| |
| The following [schemes](@scheme) |
| are recognized (case-insensitive): |
| `coap`, `doi`, `javascript`, `aaa`, `aaas`, `about`, `acap`, `cap`, |
| `cid`, `crid`, `data`, `dav`, `dict`, `dns`, `file`, `ftp`, `geo`, `go`, |
| `gopher`, `h323`, `http`, `https`, `iax`, `icap`, `im`, `imap`, `info`, |
| `ipp`, `iris`, `iris.beep`, `iris.xpc`, `iris.xpcs`, `iris.lwz`, `ldap`, |
| `mailto`, `mid`, `msrp`, `msrps`, `mtqp`, `mupdate`, `news`, `nfs`, |
| `ni`, `nih`, `nntp`, `opaquelocktoken`, `pop`, `pres`, `rtsp`, |
| `service`, `session`, `shttp`, `sieve`, `sip`, `sips`, `sms`, `snmp`,` |
| soap.beep`, `soap.beeps`, `tag`, `tel`, `telnet`, `tftp`, `thismessage`, |
| `tn3270`, `tip`, `tv`, `urn`, `vemmi`, `ws`, `wss`, `xcon`, |
| `xcon-userid`, `xmlrpc.beep`, `xmlrpc.beeps`, `xmpp`, `z39.50r`, |
| `z39.50s`, `adiumxtra`, `afp`, `afs`, `aim`, `apt`,` attachment`, `aw`, |
| `beshare`, `bitcoin`, `bolo`, `callto`, `chrome`,` chrome-extension`, |
| `com-eventbrite-attendee`, `content`, `cvs`,` dlna-playsingle`, |
| `dlna-playcontainer`, `dtn`, `dvb`, `ed2k`, `facetime`, `feed`, |
| `finger`, `fish`, `gg`, `git`, `gizmoproject`, `gtalk`, `hcp`, `icon`, |
| `ipn`, `irc`, `irc6`, `ircs`, `itms`, `jar`, `jms`, `keyparc`, `lastfm`, |
| `ldaps`, `magnet`, `maps`, `market`,` message`, `mms`, `ms-help`, |
| `msnim`, `mumble`, `mvn`, `notes`, `oid`, `palm`, `paparazzi`, |
| `platform`, `proxy`, `psyc`, `query`, `res`, `resource`, `rmi`, `rsync`, |
| `rtmp`, `secondlife`, `sftp`, `sgn`, `skype`, `smb`, `soldat`, |
| `spotify`, `ssh`, `steam`, `svn`, `teamspeak`, `things`, `udp`, |
| `unreal`, `ut2004`, `ventrilo`, `view-source`, `webcal`, `wtai`, |
| `wyciwyg`, `xfire`, `xri`, `ymsgr`. |
| |
| Here are some valid autolinks: |
| |
| . |
| <http://foo.bar.baz> |
| . |
| <p><a href="http://foo.bar.baz">http://foo.bar.baz</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <http://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean> |
| . |
| <p><a href="http://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean">http://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <irc://foo.bar:2233/baz> |
| . |
| <p><a href="irc://foo.bar:2233/baz">irc://foo.bar:2233/baz</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Uppercase is also fine: |
| |
| . |
| <MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ> |
| . |
| <p><a href="MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ">MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Spaces are not allowed in autolinks: |
| |
| . |
| <http://foo.bar/baz bim> |
| . |
| <p><http://foo.bar/baz bim></p> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash-escapes do not work inside autolinks: |
| |
| . |
| <http://example.com/\[\> |
| . |
| <p><a href="http://example.com/%5C%5B%5C">http://example.com/\[\</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| An [email autolink](@email-autolink) |
| consists of `<`, followed by an [email address], |
| followed by `>`. The link's label is the email address, |
| and the URL is `mailto:` followed by the email address. |
| |
| An [email address](@email-address), |
| for these purposes, is anything that matches |
| the [non-normative regex from the HTML5 |
| spec](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/forms.html#e-mail-state-(type=email)): |
| |
| /^[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])? |
| (?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$/ |
| |
| Examples of email autolinks: |
| |
| . |
| <foo@bar.example.com> |
| . |
| <p><a href="mailto:foo@bar.example.com">foo@bar.example.com</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com> |
| . |
| <p><a href="mailto:foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com">foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com</a></p> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash-escapes do not work inside email autolinks: |
| |
| . |
| <foo\+@bar.example.com> |
| . |
| <p><foo+@bar.example.com></p> |
| . |
| |
| These are not autolinks: |
| |
| . |
| <> |
| . |
| <p><></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <heck://bing.bong> |
| . |
| <p><heck://bing.bong></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| < http://foo.bar > |
| . |
| <p>< http://foo.bar ></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <foo.bar.baz> |
| . |
| <p><foo.bar.baz></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <localhost:5001/foo> |
| . |
| <p><localhost:5001/foo></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| http://example.com |
| . |
| <p>http://example.com</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo@bar.example.com |
| . |
| <p>foo@bar.example.com</p> |
| . |
| |
| ## Raw HTML |
| |
| Text between `<` and `>` that looks like an HTML tag is parsed as a |
| raw HTML tag and will be rendered in HTML without escaping. |
| Tag and attribute names are not limited to current HTML tags, |
| so custom tags (and even, say, DocBook tags) may be used. |
| |
| Here is the grammar for tags: |
| |
| A [tag name](@tag-name) consists of an ASCII letter |
| followed by zero or more ASCII letters, digits, or |
| hyphens (`-`). |
| |
| An [attribute](@attribute) consists of [whitespace], |
| an [attribute name], and an optional |
| [attribute value specification]. |
| |
| An [attribute name](@attribute-name) |
| consists of an ASCII letter, `_`, or `:`, followed by zero or more ASCII |
| letters, digits, `_`, `.`, `:`, or `-`. (Note: This is the XML |
| specification restricted to ASCII. HTML5 is laxer.) |
| |
| An [attribute value specification](@attribute-value-specification) |
| consists of optional [whitespace], |
| a `=` character, optional [whitespace], and an [attribute |
| value]. |
| |
| An [attribute value](@attribute-value) |
| consists of an [unquoted attribute value], |
| a [single-quoted attribute value], or a [double-quoted attribute value]. |
| |
| An [unquoted attribute value](@unquoted-attribute-value) |
| is a nonempty string of characters not |
| including spaces, `"`, `'`, `=`, `<`, `>`, or `` ` ``. |
| |
| A [single-quoted attribute value](@single-quoted-attribute-value) |
| consists of `'`, zero or more |
| characters not including `'`, and a final `'`. |
| |
| A [double-quoted attribute value](@double-quoted-attribute-value) |
| consists of `"`, zero or more |
| characters not including `"`, and a final `"`. |
| |
| An [open tag](@open-tag) consists of a `<` character, a [tag name], |
| zero or more [attributes](@attribute], optional [whitespace], an optional `/` |
| character, and a `>` character. |
| |
| A [closing tag](@closing-tag) consists of the string `</`, a |
| [tag name], optional [whitespace], and the character `>`. |
| |
| An [HTML comment](@html-comment) consists of `<!--` + *text* + `-->`, |
| where *text* does not start with `>` or `->`, does not end with `-`, |
| and does not contain `--`. (See the |
| [HTML5 spec](http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/syntax.html#comments).) |
| |
| A [processing instruction](@processing-instruction) |
| consists of the string `<?`, a string |
| of characters not including the string `?>`, and the string |
| `?>`. |
| |
| A [declaration](@declaration) consists of the |
| string `<!`, a name consisting of one or more uppercase ASCII letters, |
| [whitespace], a string of characters not including the |
| character `>`, and the character `>`. |
| |
| A [CDATA section](@cdata-section) consists of |
| the string `<![CDATA[`, a string of characters not including the string |
| `]]>`, and the string `]]>`. |
| |
| An [HTML tag](@html-tag) consists of an [open tag], a [closing tag], |
| an [HTML comment], a [processing instruction], a [declaration], |
| or a [CDATA section]. |
| |
| Here are some simple open tags: |
| |
| . |
| <a><bab><c2c> |
| . |
| <p><a><bab><c2c></p> |
| . |
| |
| Empty elements: |
| |
| . |
| <a/><b2/> |
| . |
| <p><a/><b2/></p> |
| . |
| |
| [Whitespace] is allowed: |
| |
| . |
| <a /><b2 |
| data="foo" > |
| . |
| <p><a /><b2 |
| data="foo" ></p> |
| . |
| |
| With attributes: |
| |
| . |
| <a foo="bar" bam = 'baz <em>"</em>' |
| _boolean zoop:33=zoop:33 /> |
| . |
| <p><a foo="bar" bam = 'baz <em>"</em>' |
| _boolean zoop:33=zoop:33 /></p> |
| . |
| |
| Custom tag names can be used: |
| |
| . |
| <responsive-image src="foo.jpg" /> |
| |
| <My-Tag> |
| foo |
| </My-Tag> |
| . |
| <responsive-image src="foo.jpg" /> |
| <My-Tag> |
| foo |
| </My-Tag> |
| . |
| |
| Illegal tag names, not parsed as HTML: |
| |
| . |
| <33> <__> |
| . |
| <p><33> <__></p> |
| . |
| |
| Illegal attribute names: |
| |
| . |
| <a h*#ref="hi"> |
| . |
| <p><a h*#ref="hi"></p> |
| . |
| |
| Illegal attribute values: |
| |
| . |
| <a href="hi'> <a href=hi'> |
| . |
| <p><a href="hi'> <a href=hi'></p> |
| . |
| |
| Illegal [whitespace]: |
| |
| . |
| < a>< |
| foo><bar/ > |
| . |
| <p>< a>< |
| foo><bar/ ></p> |
| . |
| |
| Missing [whitespace]: |
| |
| . |
| <a href='bar'title=title> |
| . |
| <p><a href='bar'title=title></p> |
| . |
| |
| Closing tags: |
| |
| . |
| </a> |
| </foo > |
| . |
| </a> |
| </foo > |
| . |
| |
| Illegal attributes in closing tag: |
| |
| . |
| </a href="foo"> |
| . |
| <p></a href="foo"></p> |
| . |
| |
| Comments: |
| |
| . |
| foo <!-- this is a |
| comment - with hyphen --> |
| . |
| <p>foo <!-- this is a |
| comment - with hyphen --></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo <!-- not a comment -- two hyphens --> |
| . |
| <p>foo <!-- not a comment -- two hyphens --></p> |
| . |
| |
| Not comments: |
| |
| . |
| foo <!--> foo --> |
| |
| foo <!-- foo---> |
| . |
| <p>foo <!--> foo --></p> |
| <p>foo <!-- foo---></p> |
| . |
| |
| Processing instructions: |
| |
| . |
| foo <?php echo $a; ?> |
| . |
| <p>foo <?php echo $a; ?></p> |
| . |
| |
| Declarations: |
| |
| . |
| foo <!ELEMENT br EMPTY> |
| . |
| <p>foo <!ELEMENT br EMPTY></p> |
| . |
| |
| CDATA sections: |
| |
| . |
| foo <![CDATA[>&<]]> |
| . |
| <p>foo <![CDATA[>&<]]></p> |
| . |
| |
| Entities are preserved in HTML attributes: |
| |
| . |
| <a href="ö"> |
| . |
| <a href="ö"> |
| . |
| |
| Backslash escapes do not work in HTML attributes: |
| |
| . |
| <a href="\*"> |
| . |
| <a href="\*"> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <a href="\""> |
| . |
| <p><a href="""></p> |
| . |
| |
| ## Hard line breaks |
| |
| A line break (not in a code span or HTML tag) that is preceded |
| by two or more spaces and does not occur at the end of a block |
| is parsed as a [hard line break](@hard-line-break) (rendered |
| in HTML as a `<br />` tag): |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>foo<br /> |
| baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| For a more visible alternative, a backslash before the |
| [line ending] may be used instead of two spaces: |
| |
| . |
| foo\ |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>foo<br /> |
| baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| More than two spaces can be used: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>foo<br /> |
| baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| Leading spaces at the beginning of the next line are ignored: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| bar |
| . |
| <p>foo<br /> |
| bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo\ |
| bar |
| . |
| <p>foo<br /> |
| bar</p> |
| . |
| |
| Line breaks can occur inside emphasis, links, and other constructs |
| that allow inline content: |
| |
| . |
| *foo |
| bar* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo<br /> |
| bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| *foo\ |
| bar* |
| . |
| <p><em>foo<br /> |
| bar</em></p> |
| . |
| |
| Line breaks do not occur inside code spans |
| |
| . |
| `code |
| span` |
| . |
| <p><code>code span</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| `code\ |
| span` |
| . |
| <p><code>code\ span</code></p> |
| . |
| |
| or HTML tags: |
| |
| . |
| <a href="foo |
| bar"> |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo |
| bar"></p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| <a href="foo\ |
| bar"> |
| . |
| <p><a href="foo\ |
| bar"></p> |
| . |
| |
| Hard line breaks are for separating inline content within a block. |
| Neither syntax for hard line breaks works at the end of a paragraph or |
| other block element: |
| |
| . |
| foo\ |
| . |
| <p>foo\</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| . |
| <p>foo</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ### foo\ |
| . |
| <h3>foo\</h3> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| ### foo |
| . |
| <h3>foo</h3> |
| . |
| |
| ## Soft line breaks |
| |
| A regular line break (not in a code span or HTML tag) that is not |
| preceded by two or more spaces or a backslash is parsed as a |
| softbreak. (A softbreak may be rendered in HTML either as a |
| [line ending] or as a space. The result will be the same in |
| browsers. In the examples here, a [line ending] will be used.) |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>foo |
| baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| Spaces at the end of the line and beginning of the next line are |
| removed: |
| |
| . |
| foo |
| baz |
| . |
| <p>foo |
| baz</p> |
| . |
| |
| A conforming parser may render a soft line break in HTML either as a |
| line break or as a space. |
| |
| A renderer may also provide an option to render soft line breaks |
| as hard line breaks. |
| |
| ## Textual content |
| |
| Any characters not given an interpretation by the above rules will |
| be parsed as plain textual content. |
| |
| . |
| hello $.;'there |
| . |
| <p>hello $.;'there</p> |
| . |
| |
| . |
| Foo χρῆν |
| . |
| <p>Foo χρῆν</p> |
| . |
| |
| Internal spaces are preserved verbatim: |
| |
| . |
| Multiple spaces |
| . |
| <p>Multiple spaces</p> |
| . |
| |
| <!-- END TESTS --> |
| |
| # Appendix: A parsing strategy {-} |
| |
| In this appendix we describe some features of the parsing strategy |
| used in the CommonMark reference implementations. |
| |
| ## Overview {-} |
| |
| Parsing has two phases: |
| |
| 1. In the first phase, lines of input are consumed and the block |
| structure of the document---its division into paragraphs, block quotes, |
| list items, and so on---is constructed. Text is assigned to these |
| blocks but not parsed. Link reference definitions are parsed and a |
| map of links is constructed. |
| |
| 2. In the second phase, the raw text contents of paragraphs and headers |
| are parsed into sequences of Markdown inline elements (strings, |
| code spans, links, emphasis, and so on), using the map of link |
| references constructed in phase 1. |
| |
| At each point in processing, the document is represented as a tree of |
| **blocks**. The root of the tree is a `document` block. The `document` |
| may have any number of other blocks as **children**. These children |
| may, in turn, have other blocks as children. The last child of a block |
| is normally considered **open**, meaning that subsequent lines of input |
| can alter its contents. (Blocks that are not open are **closed**.) |
| Here, for example, is a possible document tree, with the open blocks |
| marked by arrows: |
| |
| ``` tree |
| -> document |
| -> block_quote |
| paragraph |
| "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet." |
| -> list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-) |
| list_item |
| paragraph |
| "Qui *quodsi iracundia*" |
| -> list_item |
| -> paragraph |
| "aliquando id" |
| ``` |
| |
| ## Phase 1: block structure {-} |
| |
| Each line that is processed has an effect on this tree. The line is |
| analyzed and, depending on its contents, the document may be altered |
| in one or more of the following ways: |
| |
| 1. One or more open blocks may be closed. |
| 2. One or more new blocks may be created as children of the |
| last open block. |
| 3. Text may be added to the last (deepest) open block remaining |
| on the tree. |
| |
| Once a line has been incorporated into the tree in this way, |
| it can be discarded, so input can be read in a stream. |
| |
| For each line, we follow this procedure: |
| |
| 1. First we iterate through the open blocks, starting with the |
| root document, and descending through last children down to the last |
| open block. Each block imposes a condition that the line must satisfy |
| if the block is to remain open. For example, a block quote requires a |
| `>` character. A paragraph requires a non-blank line. |
| In this phase we may match all or just some of the open |
| blocks. But we cannot close unmatched blocks yet, because we may have a |
| [lazy continuation line]. |
| |
| 2. Next, after consuming the continuation markers for existing |
| blocks, we look for new block starts (e.g. `>` for a block quote. |
| If we encounter a new block start, we close any blocks unmatched |
| in step 1 before creating the new block as a child of the last |
| matched block. |
| |
| 3. Finally, we look at the remainder of the line (after block |
| markers like `>`, list markers, and indentation have been consumed). |
| This is text that can be incorporated into the last open |
| block (a paragraph, code block, header, or raw HTML). |
| |
| Setext headers are formed when we detect that the second line of |
| a paragraph is a setext header line. |
| |
| Reference link definitions are detected when a paragraph is closed; |
| the accumulated text lines are parsed to see if they begin with |
| one or more reference link definitions. Any remainder becomes a |
| normal paragraph. |
| |
| We can see how this works by considering how the tree above is |
| generated by four lines of Markdown: |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > Lorem ipsum dolor |
| sit amet. |
| > - Qui *quodsi iracundia* |
| > - aliquando id |
| ``` |
| |
| At the outset, our document model is just |
| |
| ``` tree |
| -> document |
| ``` |
| |
| The first line of our text, |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > Lorem ipsum dolor |
| ``` |
| |
| causes a `block_quote` block to be created as a child of our |
| open `document` block, and a `paragraph` block as a child of |
| the `block_quote`. Then the text is added to the last open |
| block, the `paragraph`: |
| |
| ``` tree |
| -> document |
| -> block_quote |
| -> paragraph |
| "Lorem ipsum dolor" |
| ``` |
| |
| The next line, |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| sit amet. |
| ``` |
| |
| is a "lazy continuation" of the open `paragraph`, so it gets added |
| to the paragraph's text: |
| |
| ``` tree |
| -> document |
| -> block_quote |
| -> paragraph |
| "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet." |
| ``` |
| |
| The third line, |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > - Qui *quodsi iracundia* |
| ``` |
| |
| causes the `paragraph` block to be closed, and a new `list` block |
| opened as a child of the `block_quote`. A `list_item` is also |
| added as a child of the `list`, and a `paragraph` as a child of |
| the `list_item`. The text is then added to the new `paragraph`: |
| |
| ``` tree |
| -> document |
| -> block_quote |
| paragraph |
| "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet." |
| -> list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-) |
| -> list_item |
| -> paragraph |
| "Qui *quodsi iracundia*" |
| ``` |
| |
| The fourth line, |
| |
| ``` markdown |
| > - aliquando id |
| ``` |
| |
| causes the `list_item` (and its child the `paragraph`) to be closed, |
| and a new `list_item` opened up as child of the `list`. A `paragraph` |
| is added as a child of the new `list_item`, to contain the text. |
| We thus obtain the final tree: |
| |
| ``` tree |
| -> document |
| -> block_quote |
| paragraph |
| "Lorem ipsum dolor\nsit amet." |
| -> list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-) |
| list_item |
| paragraph |
| "Qui *quodsi iracundia*" |
| -> list_item |
| -> paragraph |
| "aliquando id" |
| ``` |
| |
| ## Phase 2: inline structure {-} |
| |
| Once all of the input has been parsed, all open blocks are closed. |
| |
| We then "walk the tree," visiting every node, and parse raw |
| string contents of paragraphs and headers as inlines. At this |
| point we have seen all the link reference definitions, so we can |
| resolve reference links as we go. |
| |
| ``` tree |
| document |
| block_quote |
| paragraph |
| str "Lorem ipsum dolor" |
| softbreak |
| str "sit amet." |
| list (type=bullet tight=true bullet_char=-) |
| list_item |
| paragraph |
| str "Qui " |
| emph |
| str "quodsi iracundia" |
| list_item |
| paragraph |
| str "aliquando id" |
| ``` |
| |
| Notice how the [line ending] in the first paragraph has |
| been parsed as a `softbreak`, and the asterisks in the first list item |
| have become an `emph`. |
| |
| ### An algorithm for parsing nested emphasis and links {-} |
| |
| By far the trickiest part of inline parsing is handling emphasis, |
| strong emphasis, links, and images. This is done using the following |
| algorithm. |
| |
| When we're parsing inlines and we hit either |
| |
| - a run of `*` or `_` characters, or |
| - a `[` or `![` |
| |
| we insert a text node with these symbols as its literal content, and we |
| add a pointer to this text node to the [delimiter stack](@delimiter-stack). |
| |
| The [delimiter stack] is a doubly linked list. Each |
| element contains a pointer to a text node, plus information about |
| |
| - the type of delimiter (`[`, `![`, `*`, `_`) |
| - the number of delimiters, |
| - whether the delimiter is "active" (all are active to start), and |
| - whether the delimiter is a potential opener, a potential closer, |
| or both (which depends on what sort of characters precede |
| and follow the delimiters). |
| |
| When we hit a `]` character, we call the *look for link or image* |
| procedure (see below). |
| |
| When we hit the end of the input, we call the *process emphasis* |
| procedure (see below), with `stack_bottom` = NULL. |
| |
| #### *look for link or image* {-} |
| |
| Starting at the top of the delimiter stack, we look backwards |
| through the stack for an opening `[` or `![` delimiter. |
| |
| - If we don't find one, we return a literal text node `]`. |
| |
| - If we do find one, but it's not *active*, we remove the inactive |
| delimiter from the stack, and return a literal text node `]`. |
| |
| - If we find one and it's active, then we parse ahead to see if |
| we have an inline link/image, reference link/image, compact reference |
| link/image, or shortcut reference link/image. |
| |
| + If we don't, then we remove the opening delimiter from the |
| delimiter stack and return a literal text node `]`. |
| |
| + If we do, then |
| |
| * We return a link or image node whose children are the inlines |
| after the text node pointed to by the opening delimiter. |
| |
| * We run *process emphasis* on these inlines, with the `[` opener |
| as `stack_bottom`. |
| |
| * We remove the opening delimiter. |
| |
| * If we have a link (and not an image), we also set all |
| `[` delimiters before the opening delimiter to *inactive*. (This |
| will prevent us from getting links within links.) |
| |
| #### *process emphasis* {-} |
| |
| Parameter `stack_bottom` sets a lower bound to how far we |
| descend in the [delimiter stack]. If it is NULL, we can |
| go all the way to the bottom. Otherwise, we stop before |
| visiting `stack_bottom`. |
| |
| Let `current_position` point to the element on the [delimiter stack] |
| just above `stack_bottom` (or the first element if `stack_bottom` |
| is NULL). |
| |
| We keep track of the `openers_bottom` for each delimiter |
| type (`*`, `_`). Initialize this to `stack_bottom`. |
| |
| Then we repeat the following until we run out of potential |
| closers: |
| |
| - Move `current_position` forward in the delimiter stack (if needed) |
| until we find the first potential closer with delimiter `*` or `_`. |
| (This will be the potential closer closest |
| to the beginning of the input -- the first one in parse order.) |
| |
| - Now, look back in the stack (staying above `stack_bottom` and |
| the `openers_bottom` for this delimiter type) for the |
| first matching potential opener ("matching" means same delimiter). |
| |
| - If one is found: |
| |
| + Figure out whether we have emphasis or strong emphasis: |
| if both closer and opener spans have length >= 2, we have |
| strong, otherwise regular. |
| |
| + Insert an emph or strong emph node accordingly, after |
| the text node corresponding to the opener. |
| |
| + Remove any delimiters between the opener and closer from |
| the delimiter stack. |
| |
| + Remove 1 (for regular emph) or 2 (for strong emph) delimiters |
| from the opening and closing text nodes. If they become empty |
| as a result, remove them and remove the corresponding element |
| of the delimiter stack. If the closing node is removed, reset |
| `current_position` to the next element in the stack. |
| |
| - If none in found: |
| |
| + Set `openers_bottom` to the element before `current_position`. |
| (We know that there are no openers for this kind of closer up to and |
| including this point, so this puts a lower bound on future searches.) |
| |
| + If the closer at `current_position` is not a potential opener, |
| remove it from the delimiter stack (since we know it can't |
| be a closer either). |
| |
| + Advance `current_position` to the next element in the stack. |
| |
| After we're done, we remove all delimiters above `stack_bottom` from the |
| delimiter stack. |
| |