Markdown Cheat Sheet 2026: Every Syntax You Need

Why You Need a Markdown Cheat Sheet

Markdown is everywhere. GitHub READMEs, blog posts, documentation, note-taking apps, and even chat platforms all support it. The syntax is simple enough to learn in an afternoon, but there are dozens of elements. Nobody remembers all of them.

This markdown syntax guide is a practical reference. Each section shows you the raw Markdown, what it produces, and any quirks worth knowing about. Keep it open in a tab.

Headings

Headings use the # symbol. One # for the biggest heading, six for the smallest.

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
##### Heading 5
###### Heading 6

Always put a space after the #. Most parsers require it. Don't skip levels either. Going from H2 straight to H4 breaks accessibility and looks sloppy in your document outline.

Text Formatting

Here's where most people start. Bold, italic, strikethrough, and inline code cover 90% of text formatting needs.

**bold text**
*italic text*
***bold and italic***
~~strikethrough~~
`inline code`

A few notes: you can use underscores instead of asterisks (_italic_ works the same as *italic*), but asterisks are more common and less likely to cause problems in the middle of words.

Links and Images

Links and images use similar syntax. The difference is that images start with an exclamation mark.

[Link text](https://example.com)
[Link with title](https://example.com "Title on hover")

![Alt text](image-url.jpg)
![Alt text](image-url.jpg "Optional title")

You can also use reference-style links to keep your Markdown clean when you have many URLs:

Check out [Morphkit][1] for free conversion tools.

[1]: https://morphkit.io

This keeps your paragraphs readable, especially in longer documents.

Lists

Markdown supports three kinds of lists: unordered, ordered, and nested.

Unordered lists

Use -, *, or + followed by a space. Pick one and stick with it.

- First item
- Second item
- Third item

Ordered lists

Use numbers followed by a period.

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

Nested lists

Indent with two or four spaces to create sub-items.

- Main item
  - Sub-item
  - Another sub-item
    - Even deeper
- Back to top level

Blockquotes

Prefix lines with > to create blockquotes.

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

You can nest blockquotes by stacking the > symbols.

Code Blocks

For multi-line code, use three backticks on the lines before and after. Add a language identifier for syntax highlighting.

Common language identifiers: python, javascript, typescript, html, css, json, bash, sql, yaml, markdown.

Tables

Tables use pipes (|) and hyphens (-).

| Name    | Role       | Location  |
|---------|------------|-----------|
| Alice   | Developer  | Berlin    |
| Bob     | Designer   | Tokyo     |

Column alignment

Use colons in the separator row to control alignment:

| Left-aligned | Center-aligned | Right-aligned |
|:-------------|:--------------:|--------------:|
| Text         | Text           | Text          |

Got a spreadsheet you need to convert? Morphkit's Text to Markdown Converter can save you from typing all those pipes by hand.

Horizontal Rules

Three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores on a line by themselves create a horizontal divider.

---

Task Lists

Task lists work on GitHub, GitLab, and many Markdown editors.

- [x] Write the introduction
- [x] Add code examples
- [ ] Proofread the final draft
- [ ] Publish

The [x] creates a checked box. [ ] creates an unchecked one.

Footnotes

Footnotes let you add references without cluttering your main text.

Here's a statement that needs a source[^1].

[^1]: This is the first footnote.

Definition Lists

Definition lists aren't part of the original Markdown spec, but many extended parsers support them.

Markdown
: A lightweight markup language for creating formatted text.

HTML
: The standard markup language for web pages.

Escaped Characters

If you need to display a character that Markdown normally interprets as formatting, put a backslash before it.

\*This is not italic\*
\# This is not a heading

Quick Reference Table

Element	Syntax
Heading	`# H1` through `###### H6`
Bold	`text`
Italic	`text`
Bold + Italic	`*text*`
Strikethrough	`~~text~~`
Inline code	`code`
Link	`[text](url)`
Image	`![alt](url)`
Unordered list	`- item`
Ordered list	`1. item`
Blockquote	`> text`
Table	`
Horizontal rule	`---`
Task list	`- [x] done` / `- [ ] todo`
Footnote	`text[^1]` + `[^1]: note`

Turn Your Markdown Into Something Shareable

Knowing the syntax is half the job. The other half is getting your Markdown into the format you actually need.

Morphkit has free browser-based tools that handle this in seconds, no account, no installs:

Markdown to HTML Converter: Paste your Markdown, get clean HTML.
Markdown to PDF Converter: Turn your docs into polished PDFs.
Markdown to Word Converter: When your team or client needs a .docx file.
Text to Markdown Converter: Going the other direction? Paste plain text and get valid Markdown back.

All the tools run in your browser. Your content stays on your machine.

Try the Markdown to HTML Converter right now, paste in some of the syntax from this markdown formatting guide and see the output instantly.