LOVEMarkdown

Markdown Syntax Guide: Line Breaks, Quotes, Lists & More

The LoveMarkdown TeamPublished

This guide covers all the Markdown formatting syntax you'll ever need, from basic text styling to advanced layout techniques. Each section includes copy-paste examples.

Line Breaks & New Lines

One of the most common questions in Markdown: how to add a line break. Unlike word processors, pressing Enter once doesn't create a new line in rendered Markdown.

This is line one.··(two spaces at end)
This is line two.

— OR use a backslash —
This is line one.\\
This is line two.

— OR use HTML —
This is line one.<br>
This is line two.

New paragraph: Simply leave a blank line between two blocks of text.

Blockquotes

Use the > character to create blockquotes. Great for citing sources or highlighting important information.

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

> **Nested quote**
>> This is a nested blockquote.

> Blockquotes can contain other **Markdown** formatting:
> - Lists
> - *Emphasis*
> - `Code`

Bold, Italic & Underline

**Bold text**         → bold
*Italic text*         → italic
***Bold and italic*** → both
__Bold with underscores__
_Italic with underscores_

Underline: <u>underlined text</u> (HTML tag)

Note: Standard Markdown doesn't have native underline syntax. Use the HTML <u> tag.

Bullet Points & Lists

## Unordered lists
- Dash items
* Asterisk items
+ Plus items

## Nested lists
- Parent item
  - Child item
    - Grandchild

## Ordered lists
1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

## Task lists (GitHub-flavored)
- [x] Done
- [ ] Not done

Horizontal Rules

Create visual dividers using three or more dashes, asterisks, or underscores:

---
***
___

Text Alignment & Centering

Markdown doesn't have native centering. Use HTML for centered text:

<div align="center">
  This text is centered.
</div>

—or—

<center>Centered text</center>

Comments in Markdown

Markdown has no official comment syntax, but these workarounds are widely used:

[comment]: <> (This is a comment, won't appear in output)

<!-- HTML comment also works -->

[//]: # (Another comment style)

Subscript & Superscript

Standard Markdown doesn't support sub/superscript natively. Use HTML:

H<sub>2</sub>O → H₂O
E = mc<sup>2</sup> → E = mc²

Indentation

## Code indentation
    Four spaces or one tab creates a code block.

## List indentation
- Parent
  - Two spaces for child
    - Four spaces for grandchild

## Paragraph indentation
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Indented with HTML non-breaking spaces.

Tables

| Left | Center | Right |
|:-----|:------:|------:|
| L1   |   C1   |    R1 |
| L2   |   C2   |    R2 |

Convert Your Markdown

After writing your Markdown, convert it to professional output:

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I create a line break in Markdown?

End a line with two or more spaces, or with a backslash, then press Enter. A single Enter is treated as a space — Markdown joins the lines into one paragraph. Leaving a blank line between them starts a new paragraph instead.

Why is my Markdown not rendering?

The usual causes are a missing blank line before a block element, mixing tabs and spaces for indentation, or using syntax your renderer doesn't support. Markdown flavours differ: tables, task lists and strikethrough are GitHub Flavored Markdown extensions, not part of the original specification.

How do I escape a special character in Markdown?

Put a backslash before it. \* renders a literal asterisk instead of starting italics, and \# renders a literal hash instead of a heading. Backslash escaping works for the punctuation Markdown treats as syntax. {"\\ * _ { } [ ] ( ) # + - . !"}`

Does Markdown support tables?

Not in the original specification — tables come from GitHub Flavored Markdown and are now widely supported. Colons in the separator row control alignment: :--- left, :---: centre, ---: right.