Markdown Syntax
Markdown Syntax Guide
SourceForge uses markdown syntax everywhere to allow you to create rich
text markup, and extends markdown in several ways to allow for quick linking
to other artifacts in your project.
Markdown was created to be easy to read, easy to write, and still readable in plain text format.
Links
Most URLs will automatically be turned into links. To be explicit, just write it like this:
<http://someurl> <somebbob@example.com>
Output:
To use text for the link, write it:
[like this](http://someurl)
Output:
You can add a *title* (which shows up under the cursor):
[like this](http://someurl "this title shows up when you hover")
Output:
Reference Links
You can also put the [link URL][1] below the current paragraph like [this][2]. [1]: http://url [2]: http://another.url "A funky title"
Output:
Here the text "link URL" gets linked to "http://url", and the lines showing "[1]: http://url" won't show anything.
Or you can use a [shortcut][] reference, which links the text "shortcut" to the link named "[shortcut]" on the next paragraph.
Or you can use a [shortcut][] reference, which links the text "shortcut" to the link named "[shortcut]" on the next paragraph. [shortcut]: http://goes/with/the/link/name/text
Output:
Or you can use a shortcut reference, which links the text
"shortcut" to the link named "[shortcut]" on the next paragraph.
Artifact Links
Any forge resource (artifact) can be linked with surrounding square brackets, e.g. [MyPage] or [#123]. These artifact links can take several forms.
Simple Links
Most commonly, the artifact identifier can simply be surrounded with square brackets. Here are some examples:
[MyWikiPage] # Wiki - name of wiki page [#123] # Tracker - ticket number [r10721] # SVN - revision number [3b9d48] # Git & Mercurial - first 6 characters of revision hash [2012/02/my-post] # Blog - post slug, including YYYY/MM/ prefix [a6d38f98] # Discussion Thread - thread id [a6d38f98#42f8] # Discussion Post - thread_id#post_id
Two-part Links
To link to an artifact in a specific tool, use the form: `[tool:artifact]`, where `tool` is the name of the tool as it appears in the URL. Two-part links are useful when you have two tools of the same type installed. For example, let's say you have a 'bugs' tracker and a 'features' tracker installed, and you want to link to the first ticket in each:
[bugs:#1] [features:#1]
Three-part Links
To link to an artifact in another project, use the form: `[project:tool:artifact]`, where `project` is the name of the project as it appears in the URL. For example:
[allura:wiki:Home]
To link to an artifact in a subproject, use the form: `[project/subproject:tool:artifact]`, where `subproject` is the name of the subproject as it appears in the URL. For example:
[allura/sub:code:3b9d48]
Basic Text Formatting
Use * or _ to emphasize things:
*this is in italic* and _so is this_ **this is in bold** and __so is this__ ***this is bold and italic*** and ___so is this___
Output:
this is in italic and so is this
this is in bold and so is this
this is bold and italic and so is this
You can strike through text using HTML like this:
<s>this is strike through text</s>
Output:
this is strike through text
A carriage return makes a line break. Two carriage returns make a new paragraph.
Output:
A carriage return
makes a line break.
Two carriage returns make a new paragraph.
Blockquotes
Use the > character in front of a line, just like in email
> Use it if you're quoting a person, a song or whatever. > You can use *italic* or lists inside them also. And just like with other paragraphs, all of these lines are still part of the blockquote, even without the > character in front. To end the blockquote, just put a blank line before the following paragraph.
Output:
Use it if you're quoting a person, a song or whatever.
You can use italic or lists inside them also.
And just like with other paragraphs,
all of these lines are still
part of the blockquote, even without the > character in front.
To end the blockquote, just put a blank line before the following
paragraph.
Preformatted Text
If you want some text to show up exactly as you write it, without Markdown doing anything to it, just indent every line by at least 4 spaces (or 1 tab). As an alternative to indenting, you can use 4 or more tildes before and after the text. See examples in the Code Highlighting section
This line won't *have any markdown* formatting applied.
I can even write <b>HTML</b> and it will show up as text.
This is great for showing program source code, or HTML or even
Markdown. <b>this won't show up as HTML</b> but
exactly <i>as you see it in this text file</i>.
Within a paragraph, you can use backquotes to do the same thing.
`This won't be *italic* or **bold** at all.`
Output:
This line won't *have any markdown* formatting applied. I can even write <b>HTML</b> and it will show up as text. This is great for showing program source code, or HTML or even Markdown. <b>this won't show up as HTML</b> but exactly <i>as you see it in this text file</i>.
Within a paragraph, you can use backquotes to do the same thing.
This won't be *italic* or **bold** at all.
Lists
* an asterisk starts an unordered list
* and this is another item in the list
+ or you can also use the + character
- or the - character
To start an ordered list, write this:
1. this starts a list *with* numbers
+ this will show as number "2"
* this will show as number "3."
9. any number, +, -, or * will keep the list going.
* just indent by 4 spaces (or tab) to make a sub-list
1. keep indenting for more sub lists
* here i'm back to the second level
Output:
- an asterisk starts an unordered list
- and this is another item in the list
- or you can also use the + character
- or the - character
To start an ordered list, write this:
- this starts a list with numbers
- this will show as number "2"
- this will show as number "3."
- any number, +, -, or * will keep the list going.
- just indent by 4 spaces (or tab) to make a sub-list
- keep indenting for more sub lists
- here i'm back to the second level
- just indent by 4 spaces (or tab) to make a sub-list
Tables
You can create tables using pipes and dashes like this:
First Header | Second Header ------------- | ------------- Content Cell | Content Cell Content Cell | Content Cell
Output:
| First Header | Second Header |
|---|---|
| Content Cell | Content Cell |
| Content Cell | Content Cell |
You can use markdown syntax within table cells for formatting:
First Header | Second Header ------------- | ------------- *Content Cell* | Content Cell Content Cell | Content Cell
Output:
| First Header | Second Header |
|---|---|
| Content Cell | Content Cell |
| Content Cell | Content Cell |
You can also create tables using HTML code.
Headers
Just put 1 or more dashes or equals signs (--- or ===) below the title.
This is a huge header ================== this is a smaller header ------------------
Output:
This is a huge header
this is a smaller header
Horizontal Rule
Just put three or more *'s or -'s on a line:
----------------
Output:
Or, you can use single spaces between then, like this:
* * *
Output:
or
- - - - - - -
Output:
you will get a header ---
Output:
you will get a header
Images
To include an image, just put a "!" in front of a text link:
Output:
The "alternate text" will show up if the browser can't load the image.
You can also use a title if you want, like this:
Output:
To reference an attached image, just use the img macro. You can add more attributes:
[[img src=attached-image.jpg alt=foobar]]
Output:
Videos
To embed a YouTube video, use the `embed` macro (only YouTube is supported at this time):
[[embed url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YbBmqUnoQM]]
Output:
Escapes and HTML
What if you want to just show asterisks, not italics?
* this shows up in italics: *a happy day* * this shows the asterisks: *a happy day*
Output:
- this shows up in italics: a happy day
- this shows the asterisks: *a happy day*
The backslashes will disappear and leave the asterisks. You can do the same with any of the characters that have a special meaning
for Markdown.
Many simple HTML tags are allowed, for example <b> And unknown tags will be dropped. To show a literal <b> or an unknown tag like <foobar> you need escape it with HTML entities: :
<b>this will be bold</b> you should escape <unknown> tags © special entities work &copy; if you want to escape it
Output:
this will be bold
you should escape <unknown> tags
© special entities work
© if you want to escape it
HTML tags that are block-level like <div> can be used, but if there is markdown formatting within it, you must add a "markdown" attribute: <div markdown> Some safe attributes are also allowed, permitting basic styling and layout: <div markdown style="float:left">
Individual ampersands (&) and less-than signs (<) are fine, they will be shown as expected.
More Headers
More ways of doing headers:
# this is a huge header # ## this is a smaller header ## ### this is even smaller ### #### more small #### ##### even smaller ##### ###### smallest still: `<h6>` header
Output:
this is a huge header
this is a smaller header
this is even smaller
more small
even smaller
smallest still: <h6> header
You can use up to 6 # characters at the beginning of the line.
Table of Contents
You can display a list of links to jump to headers in a document. Sub-headers will be nested.
[TOC] # Section 1 ## Sub-section 1 # Section 2
Output:
Code Highlighting
The Code highlighting used in the newforge is based on (http://www.freewisdom.org/projects/python-markdown/CodeHilite). It follows the same syntax as regular Markdown code blocks, except that there are two ways to tell the highlighter what language to use for the code block.
If the first line of the codeblock contains a shebang, the language is derived from that and line numbers are used.
#!/usr/bin/python
# Code goes here ...
Output:
1 2 |
#!/usr/bin/python # Code goes here ... |
If the first line contains a shebang, but the shebang line does not contain a path (a single / or even a space) or If the first line begins with three or more colons, the text following the colons identifies the language. In both cases, the first line is removed from the code block before processing.
:::python
# Code goes here ...
Output:
# Code goes here ...
You can also designate a code block by surrounding it with lines of tildes. The type of code highlighting to apply will be inferred based on the code within, or you can specify like above.
~~~~~~ <a href="#">My code</a> ~~~~~~
Output:
<a href="#">My code</a>
Includes
You can embed another wiki page directly:
[[include ref=SamplePage]]
No example output is available for this one because it only works on real wiki pages. Try it in your wiki!
Neighborhood Notifications
You can list updates from all projects in a neighborhood by tool type. Max_number (default is 5) and sort (default is pubdate) are optional:
[[neighborhood_feeds tool_name=wiki max_number=10 sort=pubdate]]
Neighborhood Blog Posts
You can view blog posts from all projects in a neighborhood. Max_number (default is 5) and sort (default is timestamp) are optional:
[[neighborhood_blog_posts max_number=10 sort=timestamp]]
Project Blog Posts
You can view blog posts from all blogs in a project. Max_number (default is 5), mount point (leave empty to view posts from all blog tools in a project), and sort (default is timestamp) are optional:
[[project_blog_posts max_number=10 sort=timestamp mount_point=news]]
Download Button
You can display a download button that links to the best download available for the active project. Please note that if you use this macro and there is no download associated with your project, the button will not appear.
[[download_button]]
Project Member List
You can display a list of project members. By default the list is limited to 20 members, and a link is provided to a page with the full list.
[[members]]
Project Screenshots
You can show all the screenshots for the current project as thumbnails that are linked to the full-size image.
[[project_screenshots]]
Thanks
Thanks to John Gruber and Aaron Swartz for creating Markdown.
This page is based on some examples from Greg Schueler, greg@vario.us