`, ``, ``, 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:
```````````````````````````````` example HTML blocks: 40
*Emphasized* text.
.
.
Document[0, 34]
HtmlBlock[0, 6]
Paragraph[7, 26] isTrailingBlankLine
Emphasis[7, 19] textOpen:[7, 8, "*"] text:[8, 18, "Emphasized"] textClose:[18, 19, "*"]
Text[8, 18] chars:[8, 18, "Emphasized"]
Text[19, 25] chars:[19, 25, " text."]
HtmlBlock[27, 34]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example HTML blocks: 41
*Emphasized* text.
.
*Emphasized* text.
.
Document[0, 32]
HtmlBlock[0, 32]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example HTML blocks: 42
.
.
Document[0, 46]
HtmlBlock[0, 8]
HtmlBlock[9, 14]
HtmlBlock[15, 29]
HtmlBlock[30, 36]
HtmlBlock[37, 46]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example HTML blocks: 43
.
.
Document[0, 64]
HtmlBlock[0, 8]
HtmlBlock[9, 16]
IndentedCodeBlock[21, 45]
HtmlBlock[46, 54]
HtmlBlock[55, 64]
````````````````````````````````
Fortunately, blank lines are usually not necessary and can be
deleted. The exception is inside `` tags, but as described
above, raw HTML blocks starting with `` *can* contain blank
lines.
## Link reference definitions
A [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 characters] 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 links]
and reference-style [images] elsewhere in the document. [Link
reference definitions] can come either before or after the links that use
them.
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 1
[foo]: /url "title"
[foo]
.
foo
.
Document[0, 27]
Reference[0, 19] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/url"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "\""] title:[13, 18, "title"] titleClose:[18, 19, "\""]
Paragraph[21, 27]
LinkRef[21, 26] referenceOpen:[21, 22, "["] reference:[22, 25, "foo"] referenceClose:[25, 26, "]"]
Text[22, 25] chars:[22, 25, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 2
[foo]:
/url
'the title'
[foo]
.
foo
.
Document[0, 56]
Reference[3, 46] refOpen:[3, 4, "["] ref:[4, 7, "foo"] refClose:[7, 9, "]:"] url:[17, 21, "/url"] titleOpen:[35, 36, "'"] title:[36, 45, "the title"] titleClose:[45, 46, "'"]
Paragraph[50, 56]
LinkRef[50, 55] referenceOpen:[50, 51, "["] reference:[51, 54, "foo"] referenceClose:[54, 55, "]"]
Text[51, 54] chars:[51, 54, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 3
[Foo*bar\]]:my_(url) 'title (with parens)'
[Foo*bar\]]
.
Foo*bar]
.
Document[0, 56]
Reference[0, 42] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 10, "Foo*bar\]"] refClose:[10, 12, "]:"] url:[12, 20, "my_(url)"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "'"] title:[22, 41, "title (with parens)"] titleClose:[41, 42, "'"]
Paragraph[44, 56]
LinkRef[44, 55] referenceOpen:[44, 45, "["] reference:[45, 54, "Foo*bar\]"] referenceClose:[54, 55, "]"]
Text[45, 54] chars:[45, 54, "Foo*bar\]"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 4
[Foo bar]:
'title'
[Foo bar]
.
Foo bar
.
Document[0, 41]
Reference[0, 29] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 8, "Foo bar"] refClose:[8, 10, "]:"] urlOpen:[11, 12, "<"] url:[12, 20, "my%20url"] urlClose:[20, 21, ">"] titleOpen:[22, 23, "'"] title:[23, 28, "title"] titleClose:[28, 29, "'"]
Paragraph[31, 41]
LinkRef[31, 40] referenceOpen:[31, 32, "["] reference:[32, 39, "Foo bar"] referenceClose:[39, 40, "]"]
Text[32, 39] chars:[32, 39, "Foo bar"]
````````````````````````````````
The title may extend over multiple lines:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 5
[foo]: /url '
title
line1
line2
'
[foo]
.
foo
.
Document[0, 41]
Reference[0, 33] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/url"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "'"] title:[13, 32, "\ntitle\nline1\nline2\n"] titleClose:[32, 33, "'"]
Paragraph[35, 41]
LinkRef[35, 40] referenceOpen:[35, 36, "["] reference:[36, 39, "foo"] referenceClose:[39, 40, "]"]
Text[36, 39] chars:[36, 39, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
However, it may not contain a [blank line]:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 6
[foo]: /url 'title
with blank line'
[foo]
.
[foo]: /url 'title
with blank line'
[foo]
.
Document[0, 44]
Paragraph[0, 19] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 18] chars:[5, 18, ": /ur … title"]
Paragraph[20, 37] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[20, 36] chars:[20, 36, "with … line'"]
Paragraph[38, 44]
LinkRef[38, 43] referenceOpen:[38, 39, "["] reference:[39, 42, "foo"] referenceClose:[42, 43, "]"]
Text[39, 42] chars:[39, 42, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
The title may be omitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 7
[foo]:
/url
[foo]
.
foo
.
Document[0, 19]
Reference[0, 11] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/url"]
Paragraph[13, 19]
LinkRef[13, 18] referenceOpen:[13, 14, "["] reference:[14, 17, "foo"] referenceClose:[17, 18, "]"]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
The link destination may not be omitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 8
[foo]:
[foo]
.
[foo]:
[foo]
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 7] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, ":"]
Paragraph[8, 14]
LinkRef[8, 13] referenceOpen:[8, 9, "["] reference:[9, 12, "foo"] referenceClose:[12, 13, "]"]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Both title and destination can contain backslash escapes
and literal backslashes:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 9
[foo]: /url\bar\*baz "foo\"bar\baz"
[foo]
.
foo
.
Document[0, 43]
Reference[0, 35] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 20, "/url\bar\*baz"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 34, "foo\\"bar\baz"] titleClose:[34, 35, "\""]
Paragraph[37, 43]
LinkRef[37, 42] referenceOpen:[37, 38, "["] reference:[38, 41, "foo"] referenceClose:[41, 42, "]"]
Text[38, 41] chars:[38, 41, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
A link can come before its corresponding definition:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 10
[foo]
[foo]: url
.
foo
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[7, 17] refOpen:[7, 8, "["] ref:[8, 11, "foo"] refClose:[11, 13, "]:"] url:[14, 17, "url"]
````````````````````````````````
If there are several matching definitions, the first one takes
precedence:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 11
[foo]
[foo]: first
[foo]: second
.
foo
.
Document[0, 34]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[7, 19] refOpen:[7, 8, "["] ref:[8, 11, "foo"] refClose:[11, 13, "]:"] url:[14, 19, "first"]
Reference[20, 33] refOpen:[20, 21, "["] ref:[21, 24, "foo"] refClose:[24, 26, "]:"] url:[27, 33, "second"]
````````````````````````````````
As noted in the section on [Links], matching of labels is
case-insensitive (see [matches]).
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 12
[FOO]: /url
[Foo]
.
Foo
.
Document[0, 19]
Reference[0, 11] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "FOO"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/url"]
Paragraph[13, 19]
LinkRef[13, 18] referenceOpen:[13, 14, "["] reference:[14, 17, "Foo"] referenceClose:[17, 18, "]"]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "Foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 13
[ΑΓΩ]: /φου
[αγω]
.
αγω
.
Document[0, 19]
Reference[0, 11] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "ΑΓΩ"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/φου"]
Paragraph[13, 19]
LinkRef[13, 18] referenceOpen:[13, 14, "["] reference:[14, 17, "αγω"] referenceClose:[17, 18, "]"]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "αγω"]
````````````````````````````````
Here is a link reference definition with no corresponding link.
It contributes nothing to the document.
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 14
[foo]: /url
.
.
Document[0, 12]
Reference[0, 11] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
Here is another one:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 15
[
foo
]: /url
bar
.
bar
.
Document[0, 18]
Reference[0, 13] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[2, 5, "foo"] refClose:[6, 8, "]:"] url:[9, 13, "/url"]
Paragraph[14, 18]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not a link reference definition, because there are
[non-whitespace characters] after the title:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 16
[foo]: /url "title" ok
.
[foo]: /url "title" ok
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 22] chars:[5, 22, ": /ur … e\" ok"]
````````````````````````````````
This is a link reference definition, but it has no title:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 17
[foo]: /url
"title" ok
.
"title" ok
.
Document[0, 23]
Reference[0, 11] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 11, "/url"]
Paragraph[12, 23]
Text[12, 22] chars:[12, 22, "\"title\" ok"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not a link reference definition, because it is indented
four spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 18
[foo]: /url "title"
[foo]
.
[foo]: /url "title"
[foo]
.
Document[0, 31]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 24]
Paragraph[25, 31]
LinkRef[25, 30] referenceOpen:[25, 26, "["] reference:[26, 29, "foo"] referenceClose:[29, 30, "]"]
Text[26, 29] chars:[26, 29, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not a link reference definition, because it occurs inside
a code block:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 19
```
[foo]: /url
```
[foo]
.
[foo]: /url
[foo]
.
Document[0, 27]
FencedCodeBlock[0, 19] open:[0, 3, "```"] content:[4, 16] lines[1] close:[16, 19, "```"]
Text[4, 16] chars:[4, 16, "[foo] … /url\n"]
Paragraph[21, 27]
LinkRef[21, 26] referenceOpen:[21, 22, "["] reference:[22, 25, "foo"] referenceClose:[25, 26, "]"]
Text[22, 25] chars:[22, 25, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
A [link reference definition] cannot interrupt a paragraph.
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 20
Foo
[bar]: /baz
[bar]
.
Foo
[bar]: /baz
[bar]
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "Foo"]
SoftLineBreak[3, 4]
LinkRef[4, 9] referenceOpen:[4, 5, "["] reference:[5, 8, "bar"] referenceClose:[8, 9, "]"]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "bar"]
Text[9, 15] chars:[9, 15, ": /baz"]
Paragraph[17, 23]
LinkRef[17, 22] referenceOpen:[17, 18, "["] reference:[18, 21, "bar"] referenceClose:[21, 22, "]"]
Text[18, 21] chars:[18, 21, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
However, it can directly follow other block elements, such as headings
and thematic breaks, and it need not be followed by a blank line.
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 21
# [Foo]
[foo]: /url
> bar
.
bar
.
Document[0, 26]
Heading[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "#"] text:[2, 7, "[Foo]"]
LinkRef[2, 7] referenceOpen:[2, 3, "["] reference:[3, 6, "Foo"] referenceClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "Foo"]
Reference[8, 19] refOpen:[8, 9, "["] ref:[9, 12, "foo"] refClose:[12, 14, "]:"] url:[15, 19, "/url"]
BlockQuote[20, 26] marker:[20, 21, ">"]
Paragraph[22, 26]
Text[22, 25] chars:[22, 25, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Several [link reference definitions]
can occur one after another, without intervening blank lines.
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 22
[foo]: /foo-url "foo"
[bar]: /bar-url
"bar"
[baz]: /baz-url
[foo],
[bar],
[baz]
.
foo,
bar,
baz
.
Document[0, 83]
Reference[0, 21] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 15, "/foo-url"] titleOpen:[16, 17, "\""] title:[17, 20, "foo"] titleClose:[20, 21, "\""]
Reference[22, 45] refOpen:[22, 23, "["] ref:[23, 26, "bar"] refClose:[26, 28, "]:"] url:[29, 37, "/bar-url"] titleOpen:[40, 41, "\""] title:[41, 44, "bar"] titleClose:[44, 45, "\""]
Reference[46, 61] refOpen:[46, 47, "["] ref:[47, 50, "baz"] refClose:[50, 52, "]:"] url:[53, 61, "/baz-url"]
Paragraph[63, 83]
LinkRef[63, 68] referenceOpen:[63, 64, "["] reference:[64, 67, "foo"] referenceClose:[67, 68, "]"]
Text[64, 67] chars:[64, 67, "foo"]
Text[68, 69] chars:[68, 69, ","]
SoftLineBreak[69, 70]
LinkRef[70, 75] referenceOpen:[70, 71, "["] reference:[71, 74, "bar"] referenceClose:[74, 75, "]"]
Text[71, 74] chars:[71, 74, "bar"]
Text[75, 76] chars:[75, 76, ","]
SoftLineBreak[76, 77]
LinkRef[77, 82] referenceOpen:[77, 78, "["] reference:[78, 81, "baz"] referenceClose:[81, 82, "]"]
Text[78, 81] chars:[78, 81, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
[Link reference definitions] can occur
inside block containers, like lists and block quotations. They
affect the entire document, not just the container in which they
are defined:
```````````````````````````````` example Link reference definitions: 23
[foo]
> [foo]: /url
.
foo
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
BlockQuote[7, 21] marker:[7, 8, ">"]
Reference[9, 20] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 20, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
## Paragraphs
A sequence of non-blank lines that cannot be interpreted as other
kinds of blocks forms a [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:
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 1
aaa
bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 4] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "aaa"]
Paragraph[5, 9]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
Paragraphs can contain multiple lines, but no blank lines:
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 2
aaa
bbb
ccc
ddd
.
aaa
bbb
ccc
ddd
.
Document[0, 17]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "aaa"]
SoftLineBreak[3, 4]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "bbb"]
Paragraph[9, 17]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "ccc"]
SoftLineBreak[12, 13]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "ddd"]
````````````````````````````````
Multiple blank lines between paragraph have no effect:
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 3
aaa
bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 4] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "aaa"]
Paragraph[6, 10]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
Leading spaces are skipped:
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 4
aaa
bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[2, 11]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "aaa"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
Lines after the first may be indented any amount, since indented
code blocks cannot interrupt paragraphs.
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 5
aaa
bbb
ccc
.
aaa
bbb
ccc
.
Document[0, 64]
Paragraph[0, 64]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "aaa"]
SoftLineBreak[3, 4]
Text[17, 20] chars:[17, 20, "bbb"]
SoftLineBreak[20, 21]
Text[60, 63] chars:[60, 63, "ccc"]
````````````````````````````````
However, the first line may be indented at most three spaces,
or an indented code block will be triggered:
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 6
aaa
bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[3, 11]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "aaa"]
SoftLineBreak[6, 7]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 7
aaa
bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 12]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 8]
Paragraph[8, 12]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
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]:
```````````````````````````````` example Paragraphs: 8
aaa
bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "aaa"]
HardLineBreak[3, 9]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
## Blank lines
[Blank lines] 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.
```````````````````````````````` example Blank lines: 1
aaa
# aaa
.
aaa
aaa
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[4, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "aaa"]
Heading[12, 17] textOpen:[12, 13, "#"] text:[14, 17, "aaa"]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "aaa"]
````````````````````````````````
# 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](@)
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](@) 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:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 1
> # Foo
> bar
> baz
.
Foo
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 20]
BlockQuote[0, 20] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Heading[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "#"] text:[4, 7, "Foo"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "Foo"]
Paragraph[10, 20]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[13, 14]
Text[16, 19] chars:[16, 19, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
The spaces after the `>` characters can be omitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 2
># Foo
>bar
> baz
.
Foo
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 18]
BlockQuote[0, 18] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Heading[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "#"] text:[3, 6, "Foo"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "Foo"]
Paragraph[8, 18]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[11, 12]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
The `>` characters can be indented 1-3 spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 3
> # Foo
> bar
> baz
.
Foo
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 27]
BlockQuote[3, 27] marker:[3, 4, ">"]
Heading[5, 10] textOpen:[5, 6, "#"] text:[7, 10, "Foo"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "Foo"]
Paragraph[16, 27]
Text[16, 19] chars:[16, 19, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[19, 20]
Text[23, 26] chars:[23, 26, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
Four spaces gives us a code block:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 4
> # Foo
> bar
> baz
.
> # Foo
> bar
> baz
.
Document[0, 32]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 32]
````````````````````````````````
The Laziness clause allows us to omit the `>` before
[paragraph continuation text]:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 5
> # Foo
> bar
baz
.
Foo
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 18]
BlockQuote[0, 18] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Heading[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "#"] text:[4, 7, "Foo"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "Foo"]
Paragraph[10, 18]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[13, 14]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
A block quote can contain some lazy and some non-lazy
continuation lines:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 6
> bar
baz
> foo
.
bar
baz
foo
.
Document[0, 16]
BlockQuote[0, 16] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 16]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "baz"]
SoftLineBreak[9, 10]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Laziness only applies to lines that would have been continuations of
paragraphs had they been prepended with [block quote markers].
For example, the `> ` cannot be omitted in the second line of
``` markdown
> foo
> ---
```
without changing the meaning:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 7
> foo
---
.
foo
.
Document[0, 10]
BlockQuote[0, 6] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
ThematicBreak[6, 9]
````````````````````````````````
Similarly, if we omit the `> ` in the second line of
``` markdown
> - foo
> - bar
```
then the block quote ends after the first line:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 8
> - foo
- bar
.
.
Document[0, 14]
BlockQuote[0, 8] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
BulletList[2, 8] isTight
BulletListItem[2, 8] open:[2, 3, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[4, 8]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
BulletList[8, 14] isTight
BulletListItem[8, 14] open:[8, 9, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
For the same reason, we can't omit the `> ` in front of
subsequent lines of an indented or fenced code block:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 9
> foo
bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 18]
BlockQuote[0, 10] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
IndentedCodeBlock[6, 10]
IndentedCodeBlock[14, 18]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 10
> ```
foo
```
.
foo
.
Document[0, 14]
BlockQuote[0, 6] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
FencedCodeBlock[2, 6] open:[2, 5, "```"] lines[0]
Paragraph[6, 10]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "foo"]
FencedCodeBlock[10, 14] open:[10, 13, "```"] lines[0]
````````````````````````````````
Note that in the following case, we have a [lazy
continuation line]:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 11
> foo
- bar
.
foo
- bar
.
Document[0, 16]
BlockQuote[0, 16] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 16]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[10, 15] chars:[10, 15, "- bar"]
````````````````````````````````
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 [paragraph continuation text].
A block quote can be empty:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 12
>
.
.
Document[0, 2]
BlockQuote[0, 2] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 13
>
>
>
.
.
Document[0, 9]
BlockQuote[0, 9] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
A block quote can have initial or final blank lines:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 14
>
> foo
>
.
foo
.
Document[0, 12]
BlockQuote[0, 12] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[4, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
A blank line always separates block quotes:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 15
> foo
> bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 13]
BlockQuote[0, 6] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BlockQuote[7, 13] marker:[7, 8, ">"]
Paragraph[9, 13]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
(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:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 16
> foo
> bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 12]
BlockQuote[0, 12] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 12]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
To get a block quote with two paragraphs, use:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 17
> foo
>
> bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 14]
BlockQuote[0, 14] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Block quotes can interrupt paragraphs:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 18
foo
> bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 4]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
BlockQuote[4, 10] marker:[4, 5, ">"]
Paragraph[6, 10]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
In general, blank lines are not needed before or after block
quotes:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 19
> aaa
***
> bbb
.
aaa
bbb
.
Document[0, 16]
BlockQuote[0, 6] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "aaa"]
ThematicBreak[6, 9]
BlockQuote[10, 16] marker:[10, 11, ">"]
Paragraph[12, 16]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "bbb"]
````````````````````````````````
However, because of laziness, a blank line is needed between
a block quote and a following paragraph:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 20
> bar
baz
.
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 10]
BlockQuote[0, 10] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 10]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 21
> bar
baz
.
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 11]
BlockQuote[0, 6] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "bar"]
Paragraph[7, 11]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 22
> bar
>
baz
.
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 12]
BlockQuote[0, 8] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "bar"]
Paragraph[8, 12]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 23
> > > foo
bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 14]
BlockQuote[0, 14] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
BlockQuote[2, 14] marker:[2, 3, ">"]
BlockQuote[4, 14] marker:[4, 5, ">"]
Paragraph[6, 14]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[9, 10]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 24
>>> foo
> bar
>>baz
.
foo
bar
baz
.
Document[0, 20]
BlockQuote[0, 20] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
BlockQuote[1, 20] marker:[1, 2, ">"]
BlockQuote[2, 20] marker:[2, 3, ">"]
Paragraph[4, 20]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[7, 8]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
SoftLineBreak[13, 14]
Text[16, 19] chars:[16, 19, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
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 `>`:
```````````````````````````````` example Block quotes: 25
> code
> not code
.
code
not code
.
Document[0, 26]
BlockQuote[0, 11] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
IndentedCodeBlock[6, 11]
BlockQuote[12, 26] marker:[12, 13, ">"]
Paragraph[17, 26]
Text[17, 25] chars:[17, 25, "not code"]
````````````````````````````````
## List items
A [list marker](@) is a
[bullet list marker] or an [ordered list marker].
A [bullet list marker](@)
is a `-`, `+`, or `*` character.
An [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 1 ≤ *N* ≤ 4 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.
Exceptions:
1. When the first list item in a [list] interrupts
a paragraph---that is, when it starts on a line that would
otherwise count as [paragraph continuation text]---then (a)
the lines *Ls* must not begin with a blank line, and (b) if
the list item is ordered, the start number must be 1.
2. If any line is a [thematic break][thematic breaks] then
that line is not a list item.
For example, let *Ls* be the lines
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 1
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
A block quote.
.
Document[0, 65]
Paragraph[0, 28] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 11] chars:[0, 11, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[11, 12]
Text[12, 27] chars:[12, 27, "with … ines."]
IndentedCodeBlock[33, 47]
BlockQuote[48, 65] marker:[48, 49, ">"]
Paragraph[50, 65]
Text[50, 64] chars:[50, 64, "A blo … uote."]
````````````````````````````````
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*:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 2
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
-
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
A block quote.
.
Document[0, 81]
OrderedList[0, 81] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 81] open:[0, 2, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[4, 36] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[4, 15] chars:[4, 15, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[15, 16]
Text[20, 35] chars:[20, 35, "with … ines."]
IndentedCodeBlock[45, 59]
BlockQuote[64, 81] marker:[64, 65, ">"]
Paragraph[66, 81]
Text[66, 80] chars:[66, 80, "A blo … uote."]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 3
- one
two
.
two
.
Document[0, 12]
BulletList[0, 6] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "one"]
Paragraph[8, 12]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "two"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 4
- one
two
.
.
Document[0, 13]
BulletList[0, 13] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 13] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "one"]
Paragraph[9, 13]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "two"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 5
- one
two
.
two
.
Document[0, 20]
BulletList[1, 10] isTight
BulletListItem[1, 10] open:[1, 2, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "one"]
IndentedCodeBlock[15, 20]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 6
- one
two
.
.
Document[0, 21]
BulletList[1, 21] isLoose
BulletListItem[1, 21] open:[1, 2, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "one"]
Paragraph[17, 21]
Text[17, 20] chars:[17, 20, "two"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 7
> > 1. one
>>
>> two
.
-
one
two
.
Document[0, 29]
BlockQuote[3, 29] marker:[3, 4, ">"]
BlockQuote[5, 29] marker:[5, 6, ">"]
OrderedList[7, 29] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[7, 29] open:[7, 9, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[11, 15] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "one"]
Paragraph[25, 29]
Text[25, 28] chars:[25, 28, "two"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 8
>>- one
>>
> > two
.
two
.
Document[0, 22]
BlockQuote[0, 22] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
BlockQuote[1, 22] marker:[1, 2, ">"]
BulletList[2, 8] isTight
BulletListItem[2, 8] open:[2, 3, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[4, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "one"]
Paragraph[18, 22]
Text[18, 21] chars:[18, 21, "two"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that at least one space is needed between the list marker and
any following content, so these are not list items:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 9
-one
2.two
.
-one
2.two
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 5] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "-one"]
Paragraph[6, 12]
Text[6, 11] chars:[6, 11, "2.two"]
````````````````````````````````
A list item may contain blocks that are separated by more than
one blank line.
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 10
- foo
bar
.
.
Document[0, 14]
BulletList[0, 14] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 14] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
A list item may contain any kind of block:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 11
1. foo
```
bar
```
baz
> bam
.
-
foo
bar
baz
bam
.
Document[0, 53]
OrderedList[0, 53] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 53] open:[0, 2, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[4, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
FencedCodeBlock[13, 32] open:[13, 16, "```"] content:[21, 25] lines[1] close:[29, 32, "```"]
Text[21, 25] chars:[21, 25, "bar\n"]
Paragraph[38, 42] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[38, 41] chars:[38, 41, "baz"]
BlockQuote[47, 53] marker:[47, 48, ">"]
Paragraph[49, 53]
Text[49, 52] chars:[49, 52, "bam"]
````````````````````````````````
A list item that contains an indented code block will preserve
empty lines within the code block verbatim.
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 12
- Foo
bar
baz
.
.
Document[0, 29]
BulletList[0, 29] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 29] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "Foo"]
IndentedCodeBlock[13, 29]
````````````````````````````````
Note that ordered list start numbers must be nine digits or less:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 13
123456789. ok
.
- ok
.
Document[0, 14]
OrderedList[0, 14] isTight start:123456789 delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 14] open:[0, 10, "123456789."] isTight
Paragraph[11, 14]
Text[11, 13] chars:[11, 13, "ok"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 14
1234567890. not ok
.
1234567890. not ok
.
Document[0, 19]
Paragraph[0, 19]
Text[0, 18] chars:[0, 18, "12345 … ot ok"]
````````````````````````````````
A start number may begin with 0s:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 15
0. ok
.
- ok
.
Document[0, 6]
OrderedList[0, 6] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 2, "0."] isTight
Paragraph[3, 6]
Text[3, 5] chars:[3, 5, "ok"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 16
003. ok
.
- ok
.
Document[0, 8]
OrderedList[0, 8] isTight start:3 delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 8] open:[0, 4, "003."] isTight
Paragraph[5, 8]
Text[5, 7] chars:[5, 7, "ok"]
````````````````````````````````
A start number may not be negative:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 17
-1. not ok
.
-1. not ok
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "-1. not ok"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 18
- foo
bar
.
.
Document[0, 17]
BulletList[0, 17] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 17] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
IndentedCodeBlock[13, 17]
````````````````````````````````
And in this case it is 11 spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 19
10. foo
bar
.
-
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 27]
OrderedList[2, 27] isLoose start:10 delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[2, 27] open:[2, 5, "10."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[7, 11] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "foo"]
IndentedCodeBlock[23, 27]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 20
indented code
paragraph
more code
.
indented code
paragraph
more code
.
Document[0, 44]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 18]
Paragraph[19, 29] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[19, 28] chars:[19, 28, "paragraph"]
IndentedCodeBlock[34, 44]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 21
1. indented code
paragraph
more code
.
-
indented code
paragraph
more code
.
Document[0, 53]
OrderedList[0, 53] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 53] open:[0, 2, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
IndentedCodeBlock[7, 21]
Paragraph[25, 35] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[25, 34] chars:[25, 34, "paragraph"]
IndentedCodeBlock[43, 53]
````````````````````````````````
Note that an additional space indent is interpreted as space
inside the code block:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 22
1. indented code
paragraph
more code
.
-
indented code
paragraph
more code
.
Document[0, 54]
OrderedList[0, 54] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 54] open:[0, 2, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
IndentedCodeBlock[7, 22]
Paragraph[26, 36] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[26, 35] chars:[26, 35, "paragraph"]
IndentedCodeBlock[44, 54]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 23
foo
bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[3, 7] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Paragraph[8, 12]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 24
- foo
bar
.
bar
.
Document[0, 16]
BulletList[0, 9] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 9] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[5, 9] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "foo"]
Paragraph[12, 16]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 25
- foo
bar
.
.
Document[0, 15]
BulletList[0, 15] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 15] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[3, 7] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Paragraph[11, 15]
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 26
-
foo
-
```
bar
```
-
baz
.
.
Document[0, 40]
BulletList[0, 40] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 8] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[4, 8]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
BulletListItem[8, 27] open:[8, 9, "-"] isTight
FencedCodeBlock[12, 27] open:[12, 15, "```"] content:[18, 22] lines[1] close:[24, 27, "```"]
Text[18, 22] chars:[18, 22, "bar\n"]
BulletListItem[28, 40] open:[28, 29, "-"] isTight
IndentedCodeBlock[36, 40]
````````````````````````````````
When the list item starts with a blank line, the number of spaces
following the list marker doesn't change the required indentation:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 27
-
foo
.
````````````````````````````````
A list item can begin with at most one blank line.
In the following example, `foo` is not part of the list
item:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 28
-
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 9]
BulletList[0, 1] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 1] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[5, 9]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Here is an empty bullet list item:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 29
- foo
-
- bar
.
.
Document[0, 14]
BulletList[0, 14] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletListItem[6, 7] open:[6, 7, "-"] isTight
BulletListItem[8, 14] open:[8, 9, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
It does not matter whether there are spaces following the [list marker]:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 30
- foo
-
- bar
.
.
Document[0, 17]
BulletList[0, 17] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletListItem[6, 7] open:[6, 7, "-"] isTight
BulletListItem[11, 17] open:[11, 12, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[13, 17]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Here is an empty ordered list item:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 31
1. foo
2.
3. bar
.
- foo
- bar
.
Document[0, 17]
OrderedList[0, 17] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 7] open:[0, 2, "1."] isTight
Paragraph[3, 7]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
OrderedListItem[7, 9] open:[7, 9, "2."] isTight
OrderedListItem[10, 17] open:[10, 12, "3."] isTight
Paragraph[13, 17]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
A list may start or end with an empty list item:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 32
*
.
.
Document[0, 2]
BulletList[0, 1] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 1] open:[0, 1, "*"] isTight
````````````````````````````````
However, an empty list item cannot interrupt a paragraph:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 33
foo
*
foo
1.
.
foo
*
foo
1.
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 34
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
-
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
A block quote.
.
Document[0, 85]
OrderedList[1, 85] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[1, 85] open:[1, 3, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[5, 38] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[5, 16] chars:[5, 16, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[16, 17]
Text[22, 37] chars:[22, 37, "with … ines."]
IndentedCodeBlock[48, 62]
BlockQuote[68, 85] marker:[68, 69, ">"]
Paragraph[70, 85]
Text[70, 84] chars:[70, 84, "A blo … uote."]
````````````````````````````````
Indented two spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 35
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
-
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
A block quote.
.
Document[0, 89]
OrderedList[2, 89] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[2, 89] open:[2, 4, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 40] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 17] chars:[6, 17, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[17, 18]
Text[24, 39] chars:[24, 39, "with … ines."]
IndentedCodeBlock[51, 65]
BlockQuote[72, 89] marker:[72, 73, ">"]
Paragraph[74, 89]
Text[74, 88] chars:[74, 88, "A blo … uote."]
````````````````````````````````
Indented three spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 36
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
-
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
A block quote.
.
Document[0, 93]
OrderedList[3, 93] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[3, 93] open:[3, 5, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[7, 42] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[7, 18] chars:[7, 18, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[18, 19]
Text[26, 41] chars:[26, 41, "with … ines."]
IndentedCodeBlock[54, 68]
BlockQuote[76, 93] marker:[76, 77, ">"]
Paragraph[78, 93]
Text[78, 92] chars:[78, 92, "A blo … uote."]
````````````````````````````````
Four spaces indent gives a code block:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 37
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
Document[0, 97]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 97]
````````````````````````````````
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](@)s.
Here is an example with [lazy continuation lines]:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 38
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
> A block quote.
.
-
A paragraph
with two lines.
indented code
A block quote.
.
Document[0, 83]
OrderedList[2, 83] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[2, 83] open:[2, 4, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 34] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 17] chars:[6, 17, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[17, 18]
Text[18, 33] chars:[18, 33, "with … ines."]
IndentedCodeBlock[45, 59]
BlockQuote[66, 83] marker:[66, 67, ">"]
Paragraph[68, 83]
Text[68, 82] chars:[68, 82, "A blo … uote."]
````````````````````````````````
Indentation can be partially deleted:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 39
1. A paragraph
with two lines.
.
- A paragraph
with two lines.
.
Document[0, 38]
OrderedList[2, 38] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[2, 38] open:[2, 4, "1."] isTight
Paragraph[6, 38]
Text[6, 17] chars:[6, 17, "A par … graph"]
SoftLineBreak[17, 18]
Text[22, 37] chars:[22, 37, "with … ines."]
````````````````````````````````
These examples show how laziness can work in nested structures:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 40
> 1. > Blockquote
continued here.
.
-
Blockquote
continued here.
.
Document[0, 34]
BlockQuote[0, 34] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
OrderedList[2, 34] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[2, 34] open:[2, 4, "1."] isTight
BlockQuote[5, 34] marker:[5, 6, ">"]
Paragraph[7, 34]
Text[7, 17] chars:[7, 17, "Blockquote"]
SoftLineBreak[17, 18]
Text[18, 33] chars:[18, 33, "conti … here."]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 41
> 1. > Blockquote
> continued here.
.
-
Blockquote
continued here.
.
Document[0, 36]
BlockQuote[0, 36] marker:[0, 1, ">"]
OrderedList[2, 36] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[2, 36] open:[2, 4, "1."] isTight
BlockQuote[5, 36] marker:[5, 6, ">"]
Paragraph[7, 36]
Text[7, 17] chars:[7, 17, "Blockquote"]
SoftLineBreak[17, 18]
Text[20, 35] chars:[20, 35, "conti … here."]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 42
- foo
- bar
- baz
- boo
.
.
Document[0, 36]
BulletList[0, 36] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 36] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletList[8, 36] isTight
BulletListItem[8, 36] open:[8, 9, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
BulletList[18, 36] isTight
BulletListItem[18, 36] open:[18, 19, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[20, 24]
Text[20, 23] chars:[20, 23, "baz"]
BulletList[30, 36] isTight
BulletListItem[30, 36] open:[30, 31, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[32, 36]
Text[32, 35] chars:[32, 35, "boo"]
````````````````````````````````
One is not enough:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 43
- foo
- bar
- baz
- boo
.
.
Document[0, 30]
BulletList[0, 30] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletListItem[7, 13] open:[7, 8, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[9, 13]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "bar"]
BulletListItem[15, 21] open:[15, 16, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[17, 21]
Text[17, 20] chars:[17, 20, "baz"]
BulletListItem[24, 30] open:[24, 25, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[26, 30]
Text[26, 29] chars:[26, 29, "boo"]
````````````````````````````````
Here we need four, because the list marker is wider:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 44
10) foo
- bar
.
- foo
.
Document[0, 18]
OrderedList[0, 18] isTight start:10 delimiter:')'
OrderedListItem[0, 18] open:[0, 3, "10)"] isTight
Paragraph[4, 8]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
BulletList[12, 18] isTight
BulletListItem[12, 18] open:[12, 13, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[14, 18]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Three is not enough:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 45
10) foo
- bar
.
- foo
.
Document[0, 17]
OrderedList[0, 8] isTight start:10 delimiter:')'
OrderedListItem[0, 8] open:[0, 3, "10)"] isTight
Paragraph[4, 8]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
BulletList[11, 17] isTight
BulletListItem[11, 17] open:[11, 12, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[13, 17]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
A list may be the first block in a list item:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 46
- - foo
.
.
Document[0, 8]
BulletList[0, 8] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 8] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
BulletList[2, 8] isTight
BulletListItem[2, 8] open:[2, 3, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[4, 8]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 47
1. - 2. foo
.
-
.
Document[0, 12]
OrderedList[0, 12] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 12] open:[0, 2, "1."] isTight
BulletList[3, 12] isTight
BulletListItem[3, 12] open:[3, 4, "-"] isTight
OrderedList[5, 12] isTight start:2 delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[5, 12] open:[5, 7, "2."] isTight
Paragraph[8, 12]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
A list item can contain a heading:
```````````````````````````````` example List items: 48
- # Foo
- Bar
---
baz
.
.
Document[0, 26]
BulletList[0, 26] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 7] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Heading[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "#"] text:[4, 7, "Foo"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "Foo"]
BulletListItem[8, 26] open:[8, 9, "-"] isTight
Heading[10, 19] text:[10, 13, "Bar"] textClose:[16, 19, "---"]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "Bar"]
Paragraph[22, 26]
Text[22, 25] chars:[22, 25, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
### 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
bar
```
as the four-space rule demands, rather than a single list,
``` html
```
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
```
and similarly
``` markdown
> - one
>
> two
```
as
``` html
```
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](@) is a sequence of one or more
list items [of the same type]. The list items
may be separated by any number of blank lines.
Two list items are [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](@)
if its constituent list items begin with
[ordered list markers], and a
[bullet list](@) if its constituent list
items begin with [bullet list markers].
The [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](@) 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](@).
(The difference in HTML output is that paragraphs in a loose list are
wrapped in `` tags, while paragraphs in a tight list are not.)
Changing the bullet or ordered list delimiter starts a new list:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 1
- foo
- bar
+ baz
.
.
Document[0, 18]
BulletList[0, 12] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletListItem[6, 12] open:[6, 7, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[8, 12]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
BulletList[12, 18] isTight
BulletListItem[12, 18] open:[12, 13, "+"] isTight
Paragraph[14, 18]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 2
1. foo
2. bar
3) baz
.
- foo
- bar
- baz
.
Document[0, 21]
OrderedList[0, 14] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 7] open:[0, 2, "1."] isTight
Paragraph[3, 7]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
OrderedListItem[7, 14] open:[7, 9, "2."] isTight
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
OrderedList[14, 21] isTight start:3 delimiter:')'
OrderedListItem[14, 21] open:[14, 16, "3)"] isTight
Paragraph[17, 21]
Text[17, 20] chars:[17, 20, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
In CommonMark, a list can interrupt a paragraph. That is,
no blank line is needed to separate a paragraph from a following
list:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 3
Foo
- bar
- baz
.
Foo
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 4]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "Foo"]
BulletList[4, 16] isTight
BulletListItem[4, 10] open:[4, 5, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[6, 10]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
BulletListItem[10, 16] open:[10, 11, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[12, 16]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
`Markdown.pl` does not allow this, through fear of triggering a list
via a numeral in a hard-wrapped line:
``` markdown
The number of windows in my house is
14. The number of doors is 6.
```
Oddly, though, `Markdown.pl` *does* allow a blockquote to
interrupt a paragraph, even though the same considerations might
apply.
In CommonMark, we do allow lists to interrupt paragraphs, for
two reasons. First, it is natural and not uncommon for people
to start lists without blank lines:
``` markdown
I need to buy
- new shoes
- a coat
- a plane ticket
```
Second, we are attracted to a
> [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
``` markdown
* 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 `` tags, since the list is "tight"),
then
``` markdown
I need to buy
- new shoes
- a coat
- a plane ticket
```
by itself should be a paragraph followed by a nested sublist.
Since it is well established Markdown practice to allow lists to
interrupt paragraphs inside list items, the [principle of
uniformity] requires us to allow this outside list items as
well. ([reStructuredText](http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html)
takes a different approach, requiring blank lines before lists
even inside other list items.)
In order to solve of unwanted lists in paragraphs with
hard-wrapped numerals, we allow only lists starting with `1` to
interrupt paragraphs. Thus,
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 4
The number of windows in my house is
14. The number of doors is 6.
.
The number of windows in my house is
14. The number of doors is 6.
.
Document[0, 68]
Paragraph[0, 68]
Text[0, 36] chars:[0, 36, "The n … se is"]
SoftLineBreak[36, 37]
Text[37, 67] chars:[37, 67, "14. … is 6."]
````````````````````````````````
We may still get an unintended result in cases like
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 5
The number of windows in my house is
1. The number of doors is 6.
.
The number of windows in my house is
- The number of doors is 6.
.
Document[0, 67]
Paragraph[0, 37]
Text[0, 36] chars:[0, 36, "The n … se is"]
OrderedList[37, 67] isTight delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[37, 67] open:[37, 39, "1."] isTight
Paragraph[41, 67]
Text[41, 66] chars:[41, 66, "The n … is 6."]
````````````````````````````````
but this rule should prevent most spurious list captures.
There can be any number of blank lines between items:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 6
- foo
- bar
- baz
.
.
Document[0, 21]
BulletList[0, 21] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[2, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletListItem[7, 13] open:[7, 8, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[9, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "bar"]
BulletListItem[15, 21] open:[15, 16, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[17, 21]
Text[17, 20] chars:[17, 20, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 7
- foo
- bar
- baz
bim
.
.
Document[0, 36]
BulletList[0, 36] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 36] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight hadBlankLine
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletList[8, 36] isTight
BulletListItem[8, 36] open:[8, 9, "-"] isTight hadBlankLine
Paragraph[10, 14]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
BulletList[18, 36] isLoose
BulletListItem[18, 36] open:[18, 19, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[20, 24] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[20, 23] chars:[20, 23, "baz"]
Paragraph[32, 36]
Text[32, 35] chars:[32, 35, "bim"]
````````````````````````````````
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, you can insert a blank HTML
comment:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 8
- foo
- bar
- baz
- bim
.
.
Document[0, 35]
BulletList[0, 12] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 6] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletListItem[6, 12] open:[6, 7, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[8, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
HtmlCommentBlock[13, 22]
BulletList[23, 35] isTight
BulletListItem[23, 29] open:[23, 24, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[25, 29]
Text[25, 28] chars:[25, 28, "baz"]
BulletListItem[29, 35] open:[29, 30, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[31, 35]
Text[31, 34] chars:[31, 34, "bim"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 9
- foo
notcode
- foo
code
.
code
.
Document[0, 50]
BulletList[0, 30] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 21] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[4, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
Paragraph[13, 21] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[13, 20] chars:[13, 20, "notcode"]
BulletListItem[22, 30] open:[22, 23, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[26, 30] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[26, 29] chars:[26, 29, "foo"]
HtmlCommentBlock[31, 40]
IndentedCodeBlock[45, 50]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 10
- a
- b
- c
- d
- e
- f
- g
- h
- i
.
.
Document[0, 52]
BulletList[0, 52] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletListItem[5, 9] open:[5, 6, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[7, 9]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, "b"]
BulletListItem[11, 15] open:[11, 12, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[13, 15]
Text[13, 14] chars:[13, 14, "c"]
BulletListItem[18, 22] open:[18, 19, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[20, 22]
Text[20, 21] chars:[20, 21, "d"]
BulletListItem[26, 30] open:[26, 27, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[28, 30]
Text[28, 29] chars:[28, 29, "e"]
BulletListItem[33, 37] open:[33, 34, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[35, 37]
Text[35, 36] chars:[35, 36, "f"]
BulletListItem[39, 43] open:[39, 40, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[41, 43]
Text[41, 42] chars:[41, 42, "g"]
BulletListItem[44, 48] open:[44, 45, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[46, 48]
Text[46, 47] chars:[46, 47, "h"]
BulletListItem[48, 52] open:[48, 49, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[50, 52]
Text[50, 51] chars:[50, 51, "i"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 11
1. a
2. b
3. c
.
-
a
-
b
-
c
.
Document[0, 23]
OrderedList[0, 23] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 5] open:[0, 2, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[3, 5] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[3, 4] chars:[3, 4, "a"]
OrderedListItem[8, 13] open:[8, 10, "2."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[11, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[11, 12] chars:[11, 12, "b"]
OrderedListItem[18, 23] open:[18, 20, "3."] isLoose
Paragraph[21, 23]
Text[21, 22] chars:[21, 22, "c"]
````````````````````````````````
This is a loose list, because there is a blank line between
two of the list items:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 12
- a
- b
- c
.
.
Document[0, 13]
BulletList[0, 13] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletListItem[4, 8] open:[4, 5, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "b"]
BulletListItem[9, 13] open:[9, 10, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[11, 13]
Text[11, 12] chars:[11, 12, "c"]
````````````````````````````````
So is this, with a empty second item:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 13
* a
*
* c
.
.
Document[0, 11]
BulletList[0, 11] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "*"] isLoose
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletListItem[4, 5] open:[4, 5, "*"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
BulletListItem[7, 11] open:[7, 8, "*"] isLoose
Paragraph[9, 11]
Text[9, 10] chars:[9, 10, "c"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 14
- a
- b
c
- d
.
.
Document[0, 17]
BulletList[0, 17] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletListItem[4, 13] open:[4, 5, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "b"]
Paragraph[11, 13]
Text[11, 12] chars:[11, 12, "c"]
BulletListItem[13, 17] open:[13, 14, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[15, 17]
Text[15, 16] chars:[15, 16, "d"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 15
- a
- b
[ref]: /url
- d
.
.
Document[0, 27]
BulletList[0, 27] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletListItem[4, 23] open:[4, 5, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[6, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "b"]
Reference[11, 22] refOpen:[11, 12, "["] ref:[12, 15, "ref"] refClose:[15, 17, "]:"] url:[18, 22, "/url"]
BulletListItem[23, 27] open:[23, 24, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[25, 27]
Text[25, 26] chars:[25, 26, "d"]
````````````````````````````````
This is a tight list, because the blank lines are in a code block:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 16
- a
- ```
b
```
- c
.
.
Document[0, 26]
BulletList[0, 26] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletListItem[4, 21] open:[4, 5, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
FencedCodeBlock[6, 21] open:[6, 9, "```"] content:[12, 16] lines[3] close:[18, 21, "```"]
Text[12, 16] chars:[12, 16, "b\n\n\n"]
BulletListItem[22, 26] open:[22, 23, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[24, 26]
Text[24, 25] chars:[24, 25, "c"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 17
- a
- b
c
- d
.
.
Document[0, 21]
BulletList[0, 21] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 17] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight hadBlankLine
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletList[6, 17] isLoose
BulletListItem[6, 17] open:[6, 7, "-"] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[8, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[8, 9] chars:[8, 9, "b"]
Paragraph[15, 17]
Text[15, 16] chars:[15, 16, "c"]
BulletListItem[17, 21] open:[17, 18, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[19, 21]
Text[19, 20] chars:[19, 20, "d"]
````````````````````````````````
This is a tight list, because the blank line is inside the
block quote:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 18
* a
> b
>
* c
.
.
Document[0, 18]
BulletList[0, 18] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 14] open:[0, 1, "*"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BlockQuote[6, 14] marker:[6, 7, ">"]
Paragraph[8, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[8, 9] chars:[8, 9, "b"]
BulletListItem[14, 18] open:[14, 15, "*"] isTight
Paragraph[16, 18]
Text[16, 17] chars:[16, 17, "c"]
````````````````````````````````
This list is tight, because the consecutive block elements
are not separated by blank lines:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 19
- a
> b
```
c
```
- d
.
.
Document[0, 30]
BulletList[0, 30] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 25] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BlockQuote[6, 10] marker:[6, 7, ">"]
Paragraph[8, 10]
Text[8, 9] chars:[8, 9, "b"]
FencedCodeBlock[12, 25] open:[12, 15, "```"] content:[18, 20] lines[1] close:[22, 25, "```"]
Text[18, 20] chars:[18, 20, "c\n"]
BulletListItem[26, 30] open:[26, 27, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[28, 30]
Text[28, 29] chars:[28, 29, "d"]
````````````````````````````````
A single-paragraph list is tight:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 20
- a
.
.
Document[0, 4]
BulletList[0, 4] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 4] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 21
- a
- b
.
.
Document[0, 10]
BulletList[0, 10] isTight
BulletListItem[0, 10] open:[0, 1, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletList[6, 10] isTight
BulletListItem[6, 10] open:[6, 7, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[8, 10]
Text[8, 9] chars:[8, 9, "b"]
````````````````````````````````
This list is loose, because of the blank line between the
two block elements in the list item:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 22
1. ```
foo
```
bar
.
-
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 29]
OrderedList[0, 29] isLoose delimiter:'.'
OrderedListItem[0, 29] open:[0, 2, "1."] isLoose hadBlankLineAfter
FencedCodeBlock[3, 20] open:[3, 6, "```"] content:[10, 14] lines[1] close:[17, 20, "```"]
Text[10, 14] chars:[10, 14, "foo\n"]
Paragraph[25, 29]
Text[25, 28] chars:[25, 28, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Here the outer list is loose, the inner list tight:
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 23
* foo
* bar
baz
.
.
Document[0, 21]
BulletList[0, 21] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 21] open:[0, 1, "*"] isLoose hadBlankLine
Paragraph[2, 6]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
BulletList[8, 14] isTight
BulletListItem[8, 14] open:[8, 9, "*"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[10, 14] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
Paragraph[17, 21]
Text[17, 20] chars:[17, 20, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Lists: 24
- a
- b
- c
- d
- e
- f
.
.
Document[0, 33]
BulletList[0, 33] isLoose
BulletListItem[0, 16] open:[0, 1, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[2, 4]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "a"]
BulletList[6, 16] isTight
BulletListItem[6, 10] open:[6, 7, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[8, 10]
Text[8, 9] chars:[8, 9, "b"]
BulletListItem[12, 16] open:[12, 13, "-"] isTight hadBlankLineAfter
Paragraph[14, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[14, 15] chars:[14, 15, "c"]
BulletListItem[17, 33] open:[17, 18, "-"] isLoose
Paragraph[19, 21]
Text[19, 20] chars:[19, 20, "d"]
BulletList[23, 33] isTight
BulletListItem[23, 27] open:[23, 24, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[25, 27]
Text[25, 26] chars:[25, 26, "e"]
BulletListItem[29, 33] open:[29, 30, "-"] isTight
Paragraph[31, 33]
Text[31, 32] chars:[31, 32, "f"]
````````````````````````````````
# 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
```````````````````````````````` example Inlines: 1
`hi`lo`
.
hi
lo`
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Code[0, 4] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 3, "hi"] textClose:[3, 4, "`"]
Text[1, 3] chars:[1, 3, "hi"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "lo`"]
````````````````````````````````
`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:
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 1
\!\"\#\$\%\&\'\(\)\*\+\,\-\.\/\:\;\<\=\>\?\@\[\\\]\^\_\`\{\|\}\~
.
!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~
.
Document[0, 65]
Paragraph[0, 65]
Text[0, 64] chars:[0, 64, "\!\\"\ … |\}\~"]
````````````````````````````````
Backslashes before other characters are treated as literal
backslashes:
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 2
\→\A\a\ \3\φ\«
.
\→\A\a\ \3\φ\«
.
Document[0, 15]
Paragraph[0, 15]
Text[0, 14] chars:[0, 14, "\\u2192\A\ … 3\φ\«"]
````````````````````````````````
Escaped characters are treated as regular characters and do
not have their usual Markdown meanings:
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 3
\*not emphasized*
\
not a tag
\[not a link](/foo)
\`not code`
1\. not a list
\* not a list
\# not a heading
\[foo]: /url "not a reference"
.
*not emphasized*
<br/> not a tag
[not a link](/foo)
`not code`
1. not a list
* not a list
# not a heading
[foo]: /url "not a reference"
.
Document[0, 144]
Paragraph[0, 144]
Text[0, 17] chars:[0, 17, "\*not … ized*"]
SoftLineBreak[17, 18]
Text[18, 34] chars:[18, 34, "\
\emphasis
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "\\"]
Emphasis[2, 12] textOpen:[2, 3, "*"] text:[3, 11, "emphasis"] textClose:[11, 12, "*"]
Text[3, 11] chars:[3, 11, "emphasis"]
````````````````````````````````
A backslash at the end of the line is a [hard line break]:
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 5
foo\
bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[3, 5]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Backslash escapes do not work in code blocks, code spans, autolinks, or
raw HTML:
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 6
`` \[\` ``
.
\[\`
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Code[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 2, "``"] text:[2, 8, " \[\` "] textClose:[8, 10, "``"]
Text[2, 8] chars:[2, 8, " \[\` "]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 7
\[\]
.
\[\]
.
Document[0, 9]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 9]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 8
~~~
\[\]
~~~
.
\[\]
.
Document[0, 13]
FencedCodeBlock[0, 12] open:[0, 3, "~~~"] content:[4, 9] lines[1] close:[9, 12, "~~~"]
Text[4, 9] chars:[4, 9, "\[\]\n"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 9
.
http://example.com?find=\*
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 29]
AutoLink[0, 28] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 27, "http://example.com?find=\*"] pageRef:[1, 27, "http://example.com?find=\*"] close:[27, 28, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 10
.
.
Document[0, 19]
HtmlBlock[0, 19]
````````````````````````````````
But they work in all other contexts, including URLs and link titles,
link references, and [info strings] in [fenced code blocks]:
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 11
[foo](/bar\* "ti\*tle")
.
foo
.
Document[0, 24]
Paragraph[0, 24]
Link[0, 23] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] linkOpen:[5, 6, "("] url:[6, 12, "/bar\*"] pageRef:[6, 12, "/bar\*"] titleOpen:[13, 14, "\""] title:[14, 21, "ti\*tle"] titleClose:[21, 22, "\""] linkClose:[22, 23, ")"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 12
[foo]
[foo]: /bar\* "ti\*tle"
.
foo
.
Document[0, 31]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[7, 30] refOpen:[7, 8, "["] ref:[8, 11, "foo"] refClose:[11, 13, "]:"] url:[14, 20, "/bar\*"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 29, "ti\*tle"] titleClose:[29, 30, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Backslash escapes: 13
``` foo\+bar
foo
```
.
foo
.
Document[0, 21]
FencedCodeBlock[0, 20] open:[0, 3, "```"] info:[4, 12, "foo\+bar"] content:[13, 17] lines[1] close:[17, 20, "```"]
Text[13, 17] chars:[13, 17, "foo\n"]
````````````````````````````````
## Entity and numeric character references
All valid HTML entity references and numeric character
references, except those occuring in code blocks and code spans,
are recognized as such and treated as equivalent to the
corresponding Unicode characters. Conforming CommonMark parsers
need not store information about whether a particular character
was represented in the source using a Unicode character or
an entity reference.
[Entity references](@) consist of `&` + any of the valid
HTML5 entity names + `;`. The
document
is used as an authoritative source for the valid entity
references and their corresponding code points.
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 1
& © Æ Ď
¾ ℋ ⅆ
∲ ≧̸
.
& © Æ Ď
¾ ℋ ⅆ
∲ ≧̸
.
Document[0, 110]
Paragraph[0, 110]
HtmlEntity[0, 6] " "
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, " "]
HtmlEntity[7, 12] "&"
Text[12, 13] chars:[12, 13, " "]
HtmlEntity[13, 19] "©"
Text[19, 20] chars:[19, 20, " "]
HtmlEntity[20, 27] "Æ"
Text[27, 28] chars:[27, 28, " "]
HtmlEntity[28, 36] "Ď"
SoftLineBreak[36, 37]
HtmlEntity[37, 45] "¾"
Text[45, 46] chars:[45, 46, " "]
HtmlEntity[46, 60] "ℋ"
Text[60, 61] chars:[60, 61, " "]
HtmlEntity[61, 76] "ⅆ"
SoftLineBreak[76, 77]
HtmlEntity[77, 103] "∲"
Text[103, 104] chars:[103, 104, " "]
HtmlEntity[104, 109] "≧̸"
````````````````````````````````
[Decimal numeric character
references](@)
consist of `` + a string of 1--8 arabic digits + `;`. A
numeric character reference is parsed as the corresponding
Unicode character. Invalid Unicode code points will be replaced by
the REPLACEMENT CHARACTER (`U+FFFD`). For security reasons,
the code point `U+0000` will also be replaced by `U+FFFD`.
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 2
# Ӓ Ϡ
.
# Ӓ Ϡ � �
.
Document[0, 38]
Paragraph[0, 38]
HtmlEntity[0, 5] "#"
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, " "]
HtmlEntity[6, 13] "Ӓ"
Text[13, 14] chars:[13, 14, " "]
HtmlEntity[14, 20] "Ϡ"
Text[20, 21] chars:[20, 21, " "]
HtmlEntity[21, 32] ""
Text[32, 33] chars:[32, 33, " "]
HtmlEntity[33, 37] ""
````````````````````````````````
[Hexadecimal numeric character
references](@) consist of `` +
either `X` or `x` + a string of 1-8 hexadecimal digits + `;`.
They too are parsed as the corresponding Unicode character (this
time specified with a hexadecimal numeral instead of decimal).
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 3
" ആ ಫ
.
" ആ ಫ
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
HtmlEntity[0, 6] """
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, " "]
HtmlEntity[7, 14] "ആ"
Text[14, 15] chars:[14, 15, " "]
HtmlEntity[15, 22] "ಫ"
````````````````````````````````
Here are some nonentities:
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 4
  &x;
&ThisIsNotDefined; &hi?;
.
  &x; &#; &#x;
&ThisIsNotDefined; &hi?;
.
Document[0, 44]
Paragraph[0, 44]
Text[0, 18] chars:[0, 18, "  … "]
SoftLineBreak[18, 19]
HtmlEntity[19, 37] "&ThisIsNotDefined;"
Text[37, 43] chars:[37, 43, " &hi?;"]
````````````````````````````````
Although HTML5 does accept some entity references
without a trailing semicolon (such as `©`), these are not
recognized here, because it makes the grammar too ambiguous:
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 5
©
.
©
.
Document[0, 6]
Paragraph[0, 6]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "©"]
````````````````````````````````
Strings that are not on the list of HTML5 named entities are not
recognized as entity references either:
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 6
&MadeUpEntity;
.
&MadeUpEntity;
.
Document[0, 15]
Paragraph[0, 15]
HtmlEntity[0, 14] "&MadeUpEntity;"
````````````````````````````````
Entity and numeric character references are recognized in any
context besides code spans or code blocks, including
URLs, [link titles], and [fenced code block][] [info strings]:
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 7
.
.
Document[0, 29]
HtmlBlock[0, 29]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 8
[foo](/föö "föö")
.
foo
.
Document[0, 38]
Paragraph[0, 38]
Link[0, 37] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] linkOpen:[5, 6, "("] url:[6, 20, "/föö"] pageRef:[6, 20, "/föö"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 35, "föö"] titleClose:[35, 36, "\""] linkClose:[36, 37, ")"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 9
[foo]
[foo]: /föö "föö"
.
foo
.
Document[0, 45]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[7, 44] refOpen:[7, 8, "["] ref:[8, 11, "foo"] refClose:[11, 13, "]:"] url:[14, 28, "/föö"] titleOpen:[29, 30, "\""] title:[30, 43, "föö"] titleClose:[43, 44, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 10
``` föö
foo
```
.
foo
.
Document[0, 26]
FencedCodeBlock[0, 25] open:[0, 3, "```"] info:[4, 17, "föö"] content:[18, 22] lines[1] close:[22, 25, "```"]
Text[18, 22] chars:[18, 22, "foo\n"]
````````````````````````````````
Entity and numeric character references are treated as literal
text in code spans and code blocks:
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 11
`föö`
.
föö
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Code[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 14, "f&oum … l;ö"] textClose:[14, 15, "`"]
Text[1, 14] chars:[1, 14, "f&oum … ouml;"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Entity and numeric character references: 12
föfö
.
föfö
.
Document[0, 19]
IndentedCodeBlock[4, 19]
````````````````````````````````
## Code spans
A [backtick string](@)
is a string of one or more backtick characters (`` ` ``) that is neither
preceded nor followed by a backtick.
A [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 endings] removed, and
[whitespace] collapsed to single spaces.
This is a simple code span:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 1
`foo`
.
foo
.
Document[0, 6]
Paragraph[0, 6]
Code[0, 5] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "`"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Here two backticks are used, because the code contains a backtick.
This example also illustrates stripping of leading and trailing spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 2
`` foo ` bar ``
.
foo ` bar
.
Document[0, 17]
Paragraph[0, 17]
Code[0, 16] textOpen:[0, 2, "``"] text:[2, 14, " foo … ` bar "] textClose:[14, 16, "``"]
Text[2, 14] chars:[2, 14, " foo … bar "]
````````````````````````````````
This example shows the motivation for stripping leading and trailing
spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 3
` `` `
.
``
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Code[0, 6] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 5, " `` "] textClose:[5, 6, "`"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, " `` "]
````````````````````````````````
[Line endings] are treated like spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 4
``
foo
``
.
foo
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Code[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 2, "``"] text:[2, 7, "\nfoo\n"] textClose:[7, 9, "``"]
Text[2, 7] chars:[2, 7, "\nfoo\n"]
````````````````````````````````
Interior spaces and [line endings] are collapsed into
single spaces, just as they would be by a browser:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 5
`foo bar
baz`
.
foo bar baz
````````````````````````````````
Not all [Unicode whitespace] (for instance, non-breaking space) is
collapsed, however:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 6
`a b`
.
a b
````````````````````````````````
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 endings]. Some, including `Markdown.pl` and
`showdown`, convert an internal [line ending] into a
`
` 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.)
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 7
`foo `` bar`
.
foo `` bar
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Code[0, 12] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 11, "foo `` bar"] textClose:[11, 12, "`"]
Text[1, 11] chars:[1, 11, "foo `` bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that backslash escapes do not work in code spans. All backslashes
are treated literally:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 8
`foo\`bar`
.
foo\
bar`
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Code[0, 6] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 5, "foo\"] textClose:[5, 6, "`"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo\"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, "bar`"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 9
*foo`*`
.
*foo*
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "*foo"]
Code[4, 7] textOpen:[4, 5, "`"] text:[5, 6, "*"] textClose:[6, 7, "`"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
And this is not parsed as a link:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 10
[not a `link](/foo`)
.
[not a link](/foo
)
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, "[not a "]
Code[7, 19] textOpen:[7, 8, "`"] text:[8, 18, "link](/foo"] textClose:[18, 19, "`"]
Text[8, 18] chars:[8, 18, "link](/foo"]
Text[19, 20] chars:[19, 20, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
Code spans, HTML tags, and autolinks have the same precedence.
Thus, this is code:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 11
``
.
<a href="
">`
.
Document[0, 15]
Paragraph[0, 15]
Code[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 10, "`"]
````````````````````````````````
But this is an HTML tag:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 12
`
.
`
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
HtmlInline[0, 12] chars:[0, 12, ""]
Text[12, 13] chars:[12, 13, "`"]
````````````````````````````````
And this is code:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 13
``
.
<http://foo.bar.
baz>`
.
Document[0, 24]
Paragraph[0, 24]
Code[0, 18] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 17, "`"]
````````````````````````````````
But this is an autolink:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 14
`
.
http://foo.bar.`baz`
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
AutoLink[0, 21] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 20, "http://foo.bar.`baz"] pageRef:[1, 20, "http://foo.bar.`baz"] close:[20, 21, ">"]
Text[21, 22] chars:[21, 22, "`"]
````````````````````````````````
When a backtick string is not closed by a matching backtick string,
we just have literal backticks:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 15
```foo``
.
```foo``
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "```foo``"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 16
`foo
.
`foo
.
Document[0, 5]
Paragraph[0, 5]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "`foo"]
````````````````````````````````
The following case also illustrates the need for opening and
closing backtick strings to be equal in length:
```````````````````````````````` example Code spans: 17
`foo``bar``
.
`foobar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "`foo"]
Code[4, 11] textOpen:[4, 6, "``"] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 11, "``"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
## 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
> `` tag; double `*`'s or `_`'s will be wrapped with an HTML ``
> 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](@) is either
a sequence of one or more `*` characters that is not preceded or
followed by a non-backslash-escaped `*` character, or a sequence
of one or more `_` characters that is not preceded or followed by
a non-backslash-escaped `_` character.
A [left-flanking delimiter run](@) is
a [delimiter run] that is (a) not followed by [Unicode whitespace],
and (b) 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](@) is
a [delimiter run] that is (a) not preceded by [Unicode whitespace],
and (b) 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](@)
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 delimiter run]
preceded by punctuation.
3. A single `*` character [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 delimiter run]
followed by punctuation.
5. A double `**` [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 delimiter run]
preceded by punctuation.
7. A double `**` [can close strong emphasis](@)
iff it is part of a [right-flanking delimiter run].
8. A double `__` [can close strong 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 delimiter 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. The
opening and closing delimiters must belong to separate
[delimiter runs]. If one of the delimiters can both
open and close emphasis, then the sum of the lengths of the
delimiter runs containing the opening and closing delimiters
must not be a multiple of 3.
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. The
opening and closing delimiters must belong to separate
[delimiter runs]. If one of the delimiters can both open
and close strong emphasis, then the sum of the lengths of
the delimiter runs containing the opening and closing
delimiters must not be a multiple of 3.
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 `...` is always preferred to
`...`.
14. An interpretation `...` is always
preferred to `...`.
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 `foo _bar baz_` rather
than `*foo bar* baz`.
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 bar baz`
rather than `foo **bar baz`.
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 `*foo*` rather than as
`[foo](bar)`.
These rules can be illustrated through a series of examples.
Rule 1:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 1
*foo bar*
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Emphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 8, "foo bar"] textClose:[8, 9, "*"]
Text[1, 8] chars:[1, 8, "foo bar"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not emphasis, because the opening `*` is followed by
whitespace, and hence not part of a [left-flanking delimiter run]:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 2
a * foo bar*
.
a * foo bar*
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 12] chars:[0, 12, "a * f … bar*"]
````````````````````````````````
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]:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 3
a*"foo"*
.
a*"foo"*
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "a*\"foo\"*"]
````````````````````````````````
Unicode nonbreaking spaces count as whitespace, too:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 4
* a *
.
* a *
.
Document[0, 6]
Paragraph[0, 6]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "* a *"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword emphasis with `*` is permitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 5
foo*bar*
.
foobar
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
Emphasis[3, 8] textOpen:[3, 4, "*"] text:[4, 7, "bar"] textClose:[7, 8, "*"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 6
5*6*78
.
5678
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "5"]
Emphasis[1, 4] textOpen:[1, 2, "*"] text:[2, 3, "6"] textClose:[3, 4, "*"]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "6"]
Text[4, 6] chars:[4, 6, "78"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 2:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 7
_foo bar_
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Emphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 8, "foo bar"] textClose:[8, 9, "_"]
Text[1, 8] chars:[1, 8, "foo bar"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not emphasis, because the opening `_` is followed by
whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 8
_ foo bar_
.
_ foo bar_
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "_ foo bar_"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not emphasis, because the opening `_` is preceded
by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 9
a_"foo"_
.
a_"foo"_
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "a_\"foo\"_"]
````````````````````````````````
Emphasis with `_` is not allowed inside words:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 10
foo_bar_
.
foo_bar_
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "foo_bar_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 11
5_6_78
.
5_6_78
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Text[0, 6] chars:[0, 6, "5_6_78"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 12
пристаням_стремятся_
.
пристаням_стремятся_
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
Text[0, 20] chars:[0, 20, "прист … ятся_"]
````````````````````````````````
Here `_` does not generate emphasis, because the first delimiter run
is right-flanking and the second left-flanking:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 13
aa_"bb"_cc
.
aa_"bb"_cc
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "aa_\"bb\"_cc"]
````````````````````````````````
This is emphasis, even though the opening delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is preceded by
punctuation:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 14
foo-_(bar)_
.
foo-(bar)
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo-"]
Emphasis[4, 11] textOpen:[4, 5, "_"] text:[5, 10, "(bar)"] textClose:[10, 11, "_"]
Text[5, 10] chars:[5, 10, "(bar)"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 3:
This is not emphasis, because the closing delimiter does
not match the opening delimiter:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 15
_foo*
.
_foo*
.
Document[0, 6]
Paragraph[0, 6]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "_foo*"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not emphasis, because the closing `*` is preceded by
whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 16
*foo bar *
.
*foo bar *
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "*foo bar *"]
````````````````````````````````
A newline also counts as whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 17
*foo bar
*
.
*foo bar
*
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "*foo bar"]
SoftLineBreak[8, 9]
Text[9, 10] chars:[9, 10, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
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]:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 18
*(*foo)
.
*(*foo)
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, "*(*foo)"]
````````````````````````````````
The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated
with this example:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 19
*(*foo*)*
.
(foo)
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Emphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 8, "(*foo*)"] textClose:[8, 9, "*"]
Text[1, 2] chars:[1, 2, "("]
Emphasis[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "*"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword emphasis with `*` is allowed:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 20
*foo*bar
.
foobar
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Emphasis[0, 5] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 4:
This is not emphasis, because the closing `_` is preceded by
whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 21
_foo bar _
.
_foo bar _
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "_foo bar _"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not emphasis, because the second `_` is
preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 22
_(_foo)
.
_(_foo)
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, "_(_foo)"]
````````````````````````````````
This is emphasis within emphasis:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 23
_(_foo_)_
.
(foo)
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Emphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 8, "(_foo_)"] textClose:[8, 9, "_"]
Text[1, 2] chars:[1, 2, "("]
Emphasis[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "_"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 7, "_"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword emphasis is disallowed for `_`:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 24
_foo_bar
.
_foo_bar
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "_foo_bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 25
_пристаням_стремятся
.
_пристаням_стремятся
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
Text[0, 20] chars:[0, 20, "_прис … мятся"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 26
_foo_bar_baz_
.
foo_bar_baz
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Emphasis[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 12, "foo_bar_baz"] textClose:[12, 13, "_"]
Text[1, 12] chars:[1, 12, "foo_b … r_baz"]
````````````````````````````````
This is emphasis, even though the closing delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is followed by
punctuation:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 27
_(bar)_.
.
(bar).
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Emphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 6, "(bar)"] textClose:[6, 7, "_"]
Text[1, 6] chars:[1, 6, "(bar)"]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, "."]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 5:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 28
**foo bar**
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
StrongEmphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 9, "foo bar"] textClose:[9, 11, "**"]
Text[2, 9] chars:[2, 9, "foo bar"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not strong emphasis, because the opening delimiter is
followed by whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 29
** foo bar**
.
** foo bar**
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 12] chars:[0, 12, "** fo … bar**"]
````````````````````````````````
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]:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 30
a**"foo"**
.
a**"foo"**
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "a**\"foo\"**"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword strong emphasis with `**` is permitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 31
foo**bar**
.
foobar
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
StrongEmphasis[3, 10] textOpen:[3, 5, "**"] text:[5, 8, "bar"] textClose:[8, 10, "**"]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 6:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 32
__foo bar__
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
StrongEmphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 9, "foo bar"] textClose:[9, 11, "__"]
Text[2, 9] chars:[2, 9, "foo bar"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not strong emphasis, because the opening delimiter is
followed by whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 33
__ foo bar__
.
__ foo bar__
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 12] chars:[0, 12, "__ fo … bar__"]
````````````````````````````````
A newline counts as whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 34
__
foo bar__
.
__
foo bar__
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "__"]
SoftLineBreak[2, 3]
Text[3, 12] chars:[3, 12, "foo bar__"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not strong emphasis, because the opening `__` is preceded
by an alphanumeric and followed by punctuation:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 35
a__"foo"__
.
a__"foo"__
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "a__\"foo\"__"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword strong emphasis is forbidden with `__`:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 36
foo__bar__
.
foo__bar__
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "foo__bar__"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 37
5__6__78
.
5__6__78
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "5__6__78"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 38
пристаням__стремятся__
.
пристаням__стремятся__
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
Text[0, 22] chars:[0, 22, "прист … тся__"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 39
__foo, __bar__, baz__
.
foo, bar, baz
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
StrongEmphasis[0, 21] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 19, "foo, __bar__, baz"] textClose:[19, 21, "__"]
Text[2, 7] chars:[2, 7, "foo, "]
StrongEmphasis[7, 14] textOpen:[7, 9, "__"] text:[9, 12, "bar"] textClose:[12, 14, "__"]
Text[9, 12] chars:[9, 12, "bar"]
Text[14, 19] chars:[14, 19, ", baz"]
````````````````````````````````
This is strong emphasis, even though the opening delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is preceded by
punctuation:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 40
foo-__(bar)__
.
foo-(bar)
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo-"]
StrongEmphasis[4, 13] textOpen:[4, 6, "__"] text:[6, 11, "(bar)"] textClose:[11, 13, "__"]
Text[6, 11] chars:[6, 11, "(bar)"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 7:
This is not strong emphasis, because the closing delimiter is preceded
by whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 41
**foo bar **
.
**foo bar **
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 12] chars:[0, 12, "**foo … ar **"]
````````````````````````````````
(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:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 42
**(**foo)
.
**(**foo)
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 9] chars:[0, 9, "**(**foo)"]
````````````````````````````````
The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated
with these examples:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 43
*(**foo**)*
.
(foo)
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Emphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 10, "(**foo**)"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[1, 2] chars:[1, 2, "("]
StrongEmphasis[2, 9] textOpen:[2, 4, "**"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 9, "**"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
Text[9, 10] chars:[9, 10, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 44
**Gomphocarpus (*Gomphocarpus physocarpus*, syn.
*Asclepias physocarpa*)**
.
Gomphocarpus (Gomphocarpus physocarpus, syn.
Asclepias physocarpa)
.
Document[0, 75]
Paragraph[0, 75]
StrongEmphasis[0, 74] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 72, "Gomphocarpus (*Gomphocarpus physocarpus*, syn.\n*Asclepias physocarpa*)"] textClose:[72, 74, "**"]
Text[2, 16] chars:[2, 16, "Gomph … pus ("]
Emphasis[16, 42] textOpen:[16, 17, "*"] text:[17, 41, "Gomphocarpus physocarpus"] textClose:[41, 42, "*"]
Text[17, 41] chars:[17, 41, "Gomph … arpus"]
Text[42, 48] chars:[42, 48, ", syn."]
SoftLineBreak[48, 49]
Emphasis[49, 71] textOpen:[49, 50, "*"] text:[50, 70, "Asclepias physocarpa"] textClose:[70, 71, "*"]
Text[50, 70] chars:[50, 70, "Ascle … carpa"]
Text[71, 72] chars:[71, 72, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 45
**foo "*bar*" foo**
.
foo "bar" foo
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
StrongEmphasis[0, 19] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 17, "foo \"*bar*\" foo"] textClose:[17, 19, "**"]
Text[2, 7] chars:[2, 7, "foo \""]
Emphasis[7, 12] textOpen:[7, 8, "*"] text:[8, 11, "bar"] textClose:[11, 12, "*"]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
Text[12, 17] chars:[12, 17, "\" foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword emphasis:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 46
**foo**bar
.
foobar
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
StrongEmphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 7, "**"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 8:
This is not strong emphasis, because the closing delimiter is
preceded by whitespace:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 47
__foo bar __
.
__foo bar __
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Text[0, 12] chars:[0, 12, "__foo … ar __"]
````````````````````````````````
This is not strong emphasis, because the second `__` is
preceded by punctuation and followed by an alphanumeric:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 48
__(__foo)
.
__(__foo)
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 9] chars:[0, 9, "__(__foo)"]
````````````````````````````````
The point of this restriction is more easily appreciated
with this example:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 49
_(__foo__)_
.
(foo)
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Emphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 10, "(__foo__)"] textClose:[10, 11, "_"]
Text[1, 2] chars:[1, 2, "("]
StrongEmphasis[2, 9] textOpen:[2, 4, "__"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 9, "__"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
Text[9, 10] chars:[9, 10, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
Intraword strong emphasis is forbidden with `__`:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 50
__foo__bar
.
__foo__bar
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 10] chars:[0, 10, "__foo__bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 51
__пристаням__стремятся
.
__пристаням__стремятся
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
Text[0, 22] chars:[0, 22, "__при … мятся"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 52
__foo__bar__baz__
.
foo__bar__baz
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
StrongEmphasis[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 15, "foo__bar__baz"] textClose:[15, 17, "__"]
Text[2, 15] chars:[2, 15, "foo__ … __baz"]
````````````````````````````````
This is strong emphasis, even though the closing delimiter is
both left- and right-flanking, because it is followed by
punctuation:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 53
__(bar)__.
.
(bar).
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
StrongEmphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 7, "(bar)"] textClose:[7, 9, "__"]
Text[2, 7] chars:[2, 7, "(bar)"]
Text[9, 10] chars:[9, 10, "."]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 9:
Any nonempty sequence of inline elements can be the contents of an
emphasized span.
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 54
*foo [bar](/url)*
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Emphasis[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 16, "foo [bar](/url)"] textClose:[16, 17, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
Link[5, 16] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] linkOpen:[10, 11, "("] url:[11, 15, "/url"] pageRef:[11, 15, "/url"] linkClose:[15, 16, ")"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 55
*foo
bar*
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Emphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 8, "foo\nbar"] textClose:[8, 9, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[4, 5]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
In particular, emphasis and strong emphasis can be nested
inside emphasis:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 56
_foo __bar__ baz_
.
foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Emphasis[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 16, "foo __bar__ baz"] textClose:[16, 17, "_"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[5, 12] textOpen:[5, 7, "__"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 12, "__"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Text[12, 16] chars:[12, 16, " baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 57
_foo _bar_ baz_
.
foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Emphasis[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 14, "foo _bar_ baz"] textClose:[14, 15, "_"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
Emphasis[5, 10] textOpen:[5, 6, "_"] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "_"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Text[10, 14] chars:[10, 14, " baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 58
__foo_ bar_
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Emphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 10, "_foo_ bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "_"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "_"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "_"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, " bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 59
*foo *bar**
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Emphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 10, "foo *bar*"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
Emphasis[5, 10] textOpen:[5, 6, "*"] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "*"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 60
*foo **bar** baz*
.
foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Emphasis[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 16, "foo **bar** baz"] textClose:[16, 17, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[5, 12] textOpen:[5, 7, "**"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 12, "**"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Text[12, 16] chars:[12, 16, " baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 61
*foo**bar**baz*
.
foobarbaz
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Emphasis[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 14, "foo**bar**baz"] textClose:[14, 15, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
StrongEmphasis[4, 11] textOpen:[4, 6, "**"] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 11, "**"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that in the preceding case, the interpretation
``` markdown
foobarbaz
```
is precluded by the condition that a delimiter that
can both open and close (like the `*` after `foo`)
cannot form emphasis if the sum of the lengths of
the delimiter runs containing the opening and
closing delimiters is a multiple of 3.
The same condition ensures that the following
cases are all strong emphasis nested inside
emphasis, even when the interior spaces are
omitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 62
***foo** bar*
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Emphasis[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 12, "**foo** bar"] textClose:[12, 13, "*"]
StrongEmphasis[1, 8] textOpen:[1, 3, "**"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 8, "**"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[8, 12] chars:[8, 12, " bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 63
*foo **bar***
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Emphasis[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 12, "foo **bar**"] textClose:[12, 13, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[5, 12] textOpen:[5, 7, "**"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 12, "**"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 64
*foo**bar***
.
foobar
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Emphasis[0, 12] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 11, "foo**bar**"] textClose:[11, 12, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
StrongEmphasis[4, 11] textOpen:[4, 6, "**"] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 11, "**"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Indefinite levels of nesting are possible:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 65
*foo **bar *baz* bim** bop*
.
foo bar baz bim bop
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 28]
Emphasis[0, 27] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 26, "foo **bar *baz* bim** bop"] textClose:[26, 27, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[5, 22] textOpen:[5, 7, "**"] text:[7, 20, "bar *baz* bim"] textClose:[20, 22, "**"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, "bar "]
Emphasis[11, 16] textOpen:[11, 12, "*"] text:[12, 15, "baz"] textClose:[15, 16, "*"]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "baz"]
Text[16, 20] chars:[16, 20, " bim"]
Text[22, 26] chars:[22, 26, " bop"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 66
*foo [*bar*](/url)*
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
Emphasis[0, 19] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 18, "foo [*bar*](/url)"] textClose:[18, 19, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
Link[5, 18] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 11, "*bar*"] textClose:[11, 12, "]"] linkOpen:[12, 13, "("] url:[13, 17, "/url"] pageRef:[13, 17, "/url"] linkClose:[17, 18, ")"]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
There can be no empty emphasis or strong emphasis:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 67
** is not an empty emphasis
.
** is not an empty emphasis
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 28]
Text[0, 27] chars:[0, 27, "** is … hasis"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 68
**** is not an empty strong emphasis
.
**** is not an empty strong emphasis
.
Document[0, 37]
Paragraph[0, 37]
Text[0, 36] chars:[0, 36, "**** … hasis"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 10:
Any nonempty sequence of inline elements can be the contents of an
strongly emphasized span.
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 69
**foo [bar](/url)**
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
StrongEmphasis[0, 19] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 17, "foo [bar](/url)"] textClose:[17, 19, "**"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Link[6, 17] textOpen:[6, 7, "["] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "]"] linkOpen:[11, 12, "("] url:[12, 16, "/url"] pageRef:[12, 16, "/url"] linkClose:[16, 17, ")"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 70
**foo
bar**
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
StrongEmphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 9, "foo\nbar"] textClose:[9, 11, "**"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
In particular, emphasis and strong emphasis can be nested
inside strong emphasis:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 71
__foo _bar_ baz__
.
foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
StrongEmphasis[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 15, "foo _bar_ baz"] textClose:[15, 17, "__"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "_"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "_"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Text[11, 15] chars:[11, 15, " baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 72
__foo __bar__ baz__
.
foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
StrongEmphasis[0, 19] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 17, "foo __bar__ baz"] textClose:[17, 19, "__"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[6, 13] textOpen:[6, 8, "__"] text:[8, 11, "bar"] textClose:[11, 13, "__"]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
Text[13, 17] chars:[13, 17, " baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 73
____foo__ bar__
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
StrongEmphasis[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 13, "__foo__ bar"] textClose:[13, 15, "__"]
StrongEmphasis[2, 9] textOpen:[2, 4, "__"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 9, "__"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
Text[9, 13] chars:[9, 13, " bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 74
**foo **bar****
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
StrongEmphasis[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 13, "foo **bar**"] textClose:[13, 15, "**"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[6, 13] textOpen:[6, 8, "**"] text:[8, 11, "bar"] textClose:[11, 13, "**"]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 75
**foo *bar* baz**
.
foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
StrongEmphasis[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 15, "foo *bar* baz"] textClose:[15, 17, "**"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Text[11, 15] chars:[11, 15, " baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 76
**foo*bar*baz**
.
foobarbaz
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
StrongEmphasis[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 13, "foo*bar*baz"] textClose:[13, 15, "**"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Emphasis[5, 10] textOpen:[5, 6, "*"] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "*"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 77
***foo* bar**
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
StrongEmphasis[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 11, "*foo* bar"] textClose:[11, 13, "**"]
Emphasis[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "*"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, " bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 78
**foo *bar***
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
StrongEmphasis[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 11, "foo *bar*"] textClose:[11, 13, "**"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Indefinite levels of nesting are possible:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 79
**foo *bar **baz**
bim* bop**
.
foo bar baz
bim bop
.
Document[0, 30]
Paragraph[0, 30]
StrongEmphasis[0, 29] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 27, "foo *bar **baz**\nbim* bop"] textClose:[27, 29, "**"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 23] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 22, "bar **baz**\nbim"] textClose:[22, 23, "*"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, "bar "]
StrongEmphasis[11, 18] textOpen:[11, 13, "**"] text:[13, 16, "baz"] textClose:[16, 18, "**"]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "baz"]
SoftLineBreak[18, 19]
Text[19, 22] chars:[19, 22, "bim"]
Text[23, 27] chars:[23, 27, " bop"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 80
**foo [*bar*](/url)**
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
StrongEmphasis[0, 21] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 19, "foo [*bar*](/url)"] textClose:[19, 21, "**"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Link[6, 19] textOpen:[6, 7, "["] text:[7, 12, "*bar*"] textClose:[12, 13, "]"] linkOpen:[13, 14, "("] url:[14, 18, "/url"] pageRef:[14, 18, "/url"] linkClose:[18, 19, ")"]
Emphasis[7, 12] textOpen:[7, 8, "*"] text:[8, 11, "bar"] textClose:[11, 12, "*"]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
There can be no empty emphasis or strong emphasis:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 81
__ is not an empty emphasis
.
__ is not an empty emphasis
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 28]
Text[0, 27] chars:[0, 27, "__ is … hasis"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 82
____ is not an empty strong emphasis
.
____ is not an empty strong emphasis
.
Document[0, 37]
Paragraph[0, 37]
Text[0, 36] chars:[0, 36, "____ … hasis"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 11:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 83
foo ***
.
foo ***
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, "foo ***"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 84
foo *\**
.
foo *
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
Emphasis[4, 8] textOpen:[4, 5, "*"] text:[5, 7, "\*"] textClose:[7, 8, "*"]
Text[5, 7] chars:[5, 7, "\*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 85
foo *_*
.
foo _
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
Emphasis[4, 7] textOpen:[4, 5, "*"] text:[5, 6, "_"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, "_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 86
foo *****
.
foo *****
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 9] chars:[0, 9, "foo *****"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 87
foo **\***
.
foo *
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[4, 10] textOpen:[4, 6, "**"] text:[6, 8, "\*"] textClose:[8, 10, "**"]
Text[6, 8] chars:[6, 8, "\*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 88
foo **_**
.
foo _
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[4, 9] textOpen:[4, 6, "**"] text:[6, 7, "_"] textClose:[7, 9, "**"]
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "_"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 89
**foo*
.
*foo
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "*"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "*"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "*"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 90
*foo**
.
foo*
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Emphasis[0, 5] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 91
***foo**
.
*foo
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "*"]
StrongEmphasis[1, 8] textOpen:[1, 3, "**"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 8, "**"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 92
****foo*
.
***foo
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "***"]
Emphasis[3, 8] textOpen:[3, 4, "*"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 8, "*"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 93
**foo***
.
foo*
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
StrongEmphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 7, "**"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 94
*foo****
.
foo***
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Emphasis[0, 5] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "***"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 12:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 95
foo ___
.
foo ___
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, "foo ___"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 96
foo _\__
.
foo _
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
Emphasis[4, 8] textOpen:[4, 5, "_"] text:[5, 7, "\_"] textClose:[7, 8, "_"]
Text[5, 7] chars:[5, 7, "\_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 97
foo _*_
.
foo *
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
Emphasis[4, 7] textOpen:[4, 5, "_"] text:[5, 6, "*"] textClose:[6, 7, "_"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 98
foo _____
.
foo _____
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 9] chars:[0, 9, "foo _____"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 99
foo __\___
.
foo _
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[4, 10] textOpen:[4, 6, "__"] text:[6, 8, "\_"] textClose:[8, 10, "__"]
Text[6, 8] chars:[6, 8, "\_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 100
foo __*__
.
foo *
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[4, 9] textOpen:[4, 6, "__"] text:[6, 7, "*"] textClose:[7, 9, "__"]
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 101
__foo_
.
_foo
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "_"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "_"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "_"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 102
_foo__
.
foo_
.
Document[0, 7]
Paragraph[0, 7]
Emphasis[0, 5] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "_"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, "_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 103
___foo__
.
_foo
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "_"]
StrongEmphasis[1, 8] textOpen:[1, 3, "__"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 8, "__"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 104
____foo_
.
___foo
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "___"]
Emphasis[3, 8] textOpen:[3, 4, "_"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 8, "_"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 105
__foo___
.
foo_
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
StrongEmphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 7, "__"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, "_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 106
_foo____
.
foo___
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Emphasis[0, 5] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "_"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "___"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 13 implies that if you want emphasis nested directly inside
emphasis, you must use different delimiters:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 107
**foo**
.
foo
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
StrongEmphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 7, "**"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 108
*_foo_*
.
foo
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Emphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 6, "_foo_"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "_"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "_"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 109
__foo__
.
foo
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
StrongEmphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 7, "__"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 110
_*foo*_
.
foo
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Emphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 6, "*foo*"] textClose:[6, 7, "_"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "*"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "*"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
However, strong emphasis within strong emphasis is possible without
switching delimiters:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 111
****foo****
.
foo
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
StrongEmphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 9, "**foo**"] textClose:[9, 11, "**"]
StrongEmphasis[2, 9] textOpen:[2, 4, "**"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 9, "**"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 112
____foo____
.
foo
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
StrongEmphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "__"] text:[2, 9, "__foo__"] textClose:[9, 11, "__"]
StrongEmphasis[2, 9] textOpen:[2, 4, "__"] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 9, "__"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 13 can be applied to arbitrarily long sequences of
delimiters:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 113
******foo******
.
foo
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
StrongEmphasis[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 2, "**"] text:[2, 13, "****foo****"] textClose:[13, 15, "**"]
StrongEmphasis[2, 13] textOpen:[2, 4, "**"] text:[4, 11, "**foo**"] textClose:[11, 13, "**"]
StrongEmphasis[4, 11] textOpen:[4, 6, "**"] text:[6, 9, "foo"] textClose:[9, 11, "**"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 14:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 114
***foo***
.
foo
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Emphasis[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 8, "**foo**"] textClose:[8, 9, "*"]
StrongEmphasis[1, 8] textOpen:[1, 3, "**"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 8, "**"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 115
_____foo_____
.
foo
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Emphasis[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 12, "____foo____"] textClose:[12, 13, "_"]
StrongEmphasis[1, 12] textOpen:[1, 3, "__"] text:[3, 10, "__foo__"] textClose:[10, 12, "__"]
StrongEmphasis[3, 10] textOpen:[3, 5, "__"] text:[5, 8, "foo"] textClose:[8, 10, "__"]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 15:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 116
*foo _bar* baz_
.
foo _bar baz_
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Emphasis[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 9, "foo _bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "*"]
Text[1, 9] chars:[1, 9, "foo _bar"]
Text[10, 15] chars:[10, 15, " baz_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 117
*foo __bar *baz bim__ bam*
.
foo bar *baz bim bam
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 27]
Emphasis[0, 26] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 25, "foo __bar *baz bim__ bam"] textClose:[25, 26, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[5, 21] textOpen:[5, 7, "__"] text:[7, 19, "bar *baz bim"] textClose:[19, 21, "__"]
Text[7, 19] chars:[7, 19, "bar * … z bim"]
Text[21, 25] chars:[21, 25, " bam"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 16:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 118
**foo **bar baz**
.
**foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Text[0, 6] chars:[0, 6, "**foo "]
StrongEmphasis[6, 17] textOpen:[6, 8, "**"] text:[8, 15, "bar baz"] textClose:[15, 17, "**"]
Text[8, 15] chars:[8, 15, "bar baz"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 119
*foo *bar baz*
.
*foo bar baz
.
Document[0, 15]
Paragraph[0, 15]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "*foo "]
Emphasis[5, 14] textOpen:[5, 6, "*"] text:[6, 13, "bar baz"] textClose:[13, 14, "*"]
Text[6, 13] chars:[6, 13, "bar baz"]
````````````````````````````````
Rule 17:
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 120
*[bar*](/url)
.
*bar*
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "*"]
Link[1, 13] textOpen:[1, 2, "["] text:[2, 6, "bar*"] textClose:[6, 7, "]"] linkOpen:[7, 8, "("] url:[8, 12, "/url"] pageRef:[8, 12, "/url"] linkClose:[12, 13, ")"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "bar*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 121
_foo [bar_](/url)
.
_foo bar_
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "_foo "]
Link[5, 17] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 10, "bar_"] textClose:[10, 11, "]"] linkOpen:[11, 12, "("] url:[12, 16, "/url"] pageRef:[12, 16, "/url"] linkClose:[16, 17, ")"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, "bar_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 122
*
.
*
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 28]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "*"]
HtmlInline[1, 27] chars:[1, 27, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 123
**
.
**
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "**"]
HtmlInline[2, 15] chars:[2, 15, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 124
__
.
__
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "__"]
HtmlInline[2, 15] chars:[2, 15, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 125
*a `*`*
.
a *
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Emphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 6, "a `*`"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[1, 3] chars:[1, 3, "a "]
Code[3, 6] textOpen:[3, 4, "`"] text:[4, 5, "*"] textClose:[5, 6, "`"]
Text[4, 5] chars:[4, 5, "*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 126
_a `_`_
.
a _
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Emphasis[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "_"] text:[1, 6, "a `_`"] textClose:[6, 7, "_"]
Text[1, 3] chars:[1, 3, "a "]
Code[3, 6] textOpen:[3, 4, "`"] text:[4, 5, "_"] textClose:[5, 6, "`"]
Text[4, 5] chars:[4, 5, "_"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 127
**a
.
**ahttp://foo.bar/?q=**
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 26]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "**a"]
AutoLink[3, 25] open:[3, 4, "<"] text:[4, 24, "http://foo.bar/?q=**"] pageRef:[4, 24, "http://foo.bar/?q=**"] close:[24, 25, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Emphasis and strong emphasis: 128
__a
.
__ahttp://foo.bar/?q=__
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 26]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "__a"]
AutoLink[3, 25] open:[3, 4, "<"] text:[4, 24, "http://foo.bar/?q=__"] pageRef:[4, 24, "http://foo.bar/?q=__"] close:[24, 25, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
## 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 links] the
destination and title are given immediately after the link text. In
[reference links] the destination and title are defined elsewhere in
the document.
A [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 spans], [autolinks], and raw [HTML tags] 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](@) consists of either
- a sequence of zero or more characters between an opening `<` and a
closing `>` that contains no spaces, 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. (Implementations
may impose limits on parentheses nesting to avoid performance
issues, but at least three levels of nesting should be supported.)
A [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 titles] may span multiple lines, they may not contain
a [blank line].
An [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:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 1
[link](/uri "title")
.
link
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
Link[0, 20] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 11, "/uri"] pageRef:[7, 11, "/uri"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "\""] title:[13, 18, "title"] titleClose:[18, 19, "\""] linkClose:[19, 20, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
The title may be omitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 2
[link](/uri)
.
link
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Link[0, 12] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 11, "/uri"] pageRef:[7, 11, "/uri"] linkClose:[11, 12, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Both the title and the destination may be omitted:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 3
[link]()
.
link
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Link[0, 8] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 7] pageRef:[7, 7] linkClose:[7, 8, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 4
[link](<>)
.
link
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Link[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] urlOpen:[7, 8, "<"] url:[8, 8] urlClose:[8, 9, ">"] pageRef:[8, 8] linkClose:[9, 10, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
The destination cannot contain spaces or line breaks,
even if enclosed in pointy brackets:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 5
[link](/my uri)
.
[link](/my uri)
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 15] chars:[6, 15, "(/my uri)"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 6
[link]()
.
[link](</my uri>)
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 17] chars:[6, 17, "()"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 7
[link](foo
bar)
.
[link](foo
bar)
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, "(foo"]
SoftLineBreak[10, 11]
Text[11, 15] chars:[11, 15, "bar)"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 8
[link]()
.
[link]()
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "("]
HtmlInline[7, 16] chars:[7, 16, ""]
Text[16, 17] chars:[16, 17, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
Parentheses inside the link destination may be escaped:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 9
[link](\(foo\))
.
link
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Link[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 14, "\(foo\)"] pageRef:[7, 14, "\(foo\)"] linkClose:[14, 15, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Any number of parentheses are allowed without escaping, as long as they are
balanced:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 10
[link](foo(and(bar)))
.
link
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
Link[0, 21] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 20, "foo(and(bar))"] pageRef:[7, 20, "foo(and(bar))"] linkClose:[20, 21, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
However, if you have unbalanced parentheses, you need to escape or use the
`<...>` form:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 11
[link](foo\(and\(bar\))
.
link
.
Document[0, 24]
Paragraph[0, 24]
Link[0, 23] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 22, "foo\(and\(bar\)"] pageRef:[7, 22, "foo\(and\(bar\)"] linkClose:[22, 23, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 12
[link]()
.
link
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
Link[0, 22] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] urlOpen:[7, 8, "<"] url:[8, 20, "foo(and(bar)"] urlClose:[20, 21, ">"] pageRef:[8, 20, "foo(and(bar)"] linkClose:[21, 22, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Parentheses and other symbols can also be escaped, as usual
in Markdown:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 13
[link](foo\)\:)
.
link
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Link[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 14, "foo\)\:"] pageRef:[7, 14, "foo\)\:"] linkClose:[14, 15, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
A link can contain fragment identifiers and queries:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 14
[link](#fragment)
[link](http://example.com#fragment)
[link](http://example.com?foo=3#frag)
.
link
link
link
.
Document[0, 94]
Paragraph[0, 18] isTrailingBlankLine
Link[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 16, "#fragment"] pageRef:[7, 7] anchorMarker:[7, 8, "#"] anchorRef:[8, 16, "fragment"] linkClose:[16, 17, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Paragraph[19, 55] isTrailingBlankLine
Link[19, 54] textOpen:[19, 20, "["] text:[20, 24, "link"] textClose:[24, 25, "]"] linkOpen:[25, 26, "("] url:[26, 53, "http://example.com#fragment"] pageRef:[26, 44, "http://example.com"] anchorMarker:[44, 45, "#"] anchorRef:[45, 53, "fragment"] linkClose:[53, 54, ")"]
Text[20, 24] chars:[20, 24, "link"]
Paragraph[56, 94]
Link[56, 93] textOpen:[56, 57, "["] text:[57, 61, "link"] textClose:[61, 62, "]"] linkOpen:[62, 63, "("] url:[63, 92, "http://example.com?foo=3#frag"] pageRef:[63, 87, "http://example.com?foo=3"] anchorMarker:[87, 88, "#"] anchorRef:[88, 92, "frag"] linkClose:[92, 93, ")"]
Text[57, 61] chars:[57, 61, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that a backslash before a non-escapable character is
just a backslash:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 15
[link](foo\bar)
.
link
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Link[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 14, "foo\bar"] pageRef:[7, 14, "foo\bar"] linkClose:[14, 15, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
URL-escaping should be left alone inside the destination, as all
URL-escaped characters are also valid URL characters. Entity and
numerical character references in the destination will be parsed
into the corresponding Unicode code points, as usual. These may
be optionally URL-escaped when written as HTML, but this spec
does not enforce any particular policy for rendering URLs in
HTML or other formats. Renderers may make different decisions
about how to escape or normalize URLs in the output.
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 16
[link](foo%20bä)
.
link
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
Link[0, 21] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 20, "foo%20bä"] pageRef:[7, 20, "foo%20bä"] linkClose:[20, 21, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 17
[link]("title")
.
link
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Link[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 14, "\"title\""] pageRef:[7, 14, "\"title\""] linkClose:[14, 15, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Titles may be in single quotes, double quotes, or parentheses:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 18
[link](/url "title")
[link](/url 'title')
[link](/url (title))
.
link
link
link
.
Document[0, 63]
Paragraph[0, 63]
Link[0, 20] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 11, "/url"] pageRef:[7, 11, "/url"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "\""] title:[13, 18, "title"] titleClose:[18, 19, "\""] linkClose:[19, 20, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
SoftLineBreak[20, 21]
Link[21, 41] textOpen:[21, 22, "["] text:[22, 26, "link"] textClose:[26, 27, "]"] linkOpen:[27, 28, "("] url:[28, 32, "/url"] pageRef:[28, 32, "/url"] titleOpen:[33, 34, "'"] title:[34, 39, "title"] titleClose:[39, 40, "'"] linkClose:[40, 41, ")"]
Text[22, 26] chars:[22, 26, "link"]
SoftLineBreak[41, 42]
Link[42, 62] textOpen:[42, 43, "["] text:[43, 47, "link"] textClose:[47, 48, "]"] linkOpen:[48, 49, "("] url:[49, 53, "/url"] pageRef:[49, 53, "/url"] titleOpen:[54, 55, "("] title:[55, 60, "title"] titleClose:[60, 61, ")"] linkClose:[61, 62, ")"]
Text[43, 47] chars:[43, 47, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Backslash escapes and entity and numeric character references
may be used in titles:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 19
[link](/url "title \""")
.
link
.
Document[0, 30]
Paragraph[0, 30]
Link[0, 29] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 11, "/url"] pageRef:[7, 11, "/url"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "\""] title:[13, 27, "title \\"""] titleClose:[27, 28, "\""] linkClose:[28, 29, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Titles must be separated from the link using a [whitespace].
Other [Unicode whitespace] like non-breaking space doesn't work.
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 20
[link](/url "title")
.
link
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
Link[0, 20] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 19, "/url \"title\""] pageRef:[7, 19, "/url \"title\""] linkClose:[19, 20, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
Nested balanced quotes are not allowed without escaping:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 21
[link](/url "title "and" title")
.
[link](/url "title "and" title")
.
Document[0, 33]
Paragraph[0, 33]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 32] chars:[6, 32, "(/url … tle\")"]
````````````````````````````````
But it is easy to work around this by using a different quote type:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 22
[link](/url 'title "and" title')
.
link
.
Document[0, 33]
Paragraph[0, 33]
Link[0, 32] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 11, "/url"] pageRef:[7, 11, "/url"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "'"] title:[13, 30, "title \"and\" title"] titleClose:[30, 31, "'"] linkClose:[31, 32, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
(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,
entity and numeric character references, 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:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 23
[link]( /uri
"title" )
.
link
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 28]
Link[0, 27] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 5, "link"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[10, 14, "/uri"] pageRef:[10, 14, "/uri"] titleOpen:[17, 18, "\""] title:[18, 23, "title"] titleClose:[23, 24, "\""] linkClose:[26, 27, ")"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
````````````````````````````````
But it is not allowed between the link text and the
following parenthesis:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 24
[link] (/uri)
.
[link] (/uri)
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 13] chars:[6, 13, " (/uri)"]
````````````````````````````````
The link text may contain balanced brackets, but not unbalanced ones,
unless they are escaped:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 25
[link [foo [bar]]](/uri)
.
link [foo [bar]]
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 25]
Link[0, 24] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 17, "link [foo [bar]]"] textClose:[17, 18, "]"] linkOpen:[18, 19, "("] url:[19, 23, "/uri"] pageRef:[19, 23, "/uri"] linkClose:[23, 24, ")"]
Text[1, 17] chars:[1, 17, "link … bar]]"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 26
[link] bar](/uri)
.
[link] bar](/uri)
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
LinkRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 5, "link"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "link"]
Text[6, 17] chars:[6, 17, " bar] … /uri)"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 27
[link [bar](/uri)
.
[link bar
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Text[0, 6] chars:[0, 6, "[link "]
Link[6, 17] textOpen:[6, 7, "["] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "]"] linkOpen:[11, 12, "("] url:[12, 16, "/uri"] pageRef:[12, 16, "/uri"] linkClose:[16, 17, ")"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 28
[link \[bar](/uri)
.
link [bar
.
Document[0, 19]
Paragraph[0, 19]
Link[0, 18] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 11, "link \[bar"] textClose:[11, 12, "]"] linkOpen:[12, 13, "("] url:[13, 17, "/uri"] pageRef:[13, 17, "/uri"] linkClose:[17, 18, ")"]
Text[1, 11] chars:[1, 11, "link \[bar"]
````````````````````````````````
The link text may contain inline content:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 29
[link *foo **bar** `#`*](/uri)
.
link foo bar #
.
Document[0, 31]
Paragraph[0, 31]
Link[0, 30] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 23, "link *foo **bar** `#`*"] textClose:[23, 24, "]"] linkOpen:[24, 25, "("] url:[25, 29, "/uri"] pageRef:[25, 29, "/uri"] linkClose:[29, 30, ")"]
Text[1, 6] chars:[1, 6, "link "]
Emphasis[6, 23] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 22, "foo **bar** `#`"] textClose:[22, 23, "*"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[11, 18] textOpen:[11, 13, "**"] text:[13, 16, "bar"] textClose:[16, 18, "**"]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "bar"]
Text[18, 19] chars:[18, 19, " "]
Code[19, 22] textOpen:[19, 20, "`"] text:[20, 21, "#"] textClose:[21, 22, "`"]
Text[20, 21] chars:[20, 21, "#"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 30
[![moon](moon.jpg)](/uri)
.
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 26]
Link[0, 25] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 18, "![moon](moon.jpg)"] textClose:[18, 19, "]"] linkOpen:[19, 20, "("] url:[20, 24, "/uri"] pageRef:[20, 24, "/uri"] linkClose:[24, 25, ")"]
Image[1, 18] textOpen:[1, 3, "!["] text:[3, 7, "moon"] textClose:[7, 8, "]"] linkOpen:[8, 9, "("] url:[9, 17, "moon.jpg"] pageRef:[9, 17, "moon.jpg"] linkClose:[17, 18, ")"]
Text[3, 7] chars:[3, 7, "moon"]
````````````````````````````````
However, links may not contain other links, at any level of nesting.
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 31
[foo [bar](/uri)](/uri)
.
[foo bar](/uri)
.
Document[0, 24]
Paragraph[0, 24]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo "]
Link[5, 16] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] linkOpen:[10, 11, "("] url:[11, 15, "/uri"] pageRef:[11, 15, "/uri"] linkClose:[15, 16, ")"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Text[16, 23] chars:[16, 23, "](/uri)"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 32
[foo *[bar [baz](/uri)](/uri)*](/uri)
.
[foo [bar baz](/uri)](/uri)
.
Document[0, 38]
Paragraph[0, 38]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo "]
Emphasis[5, 30] textOpen:[5, 6, "*"] text:[6, 29, "[bar [baz](/uri)](/uri)"] textClose:[29, 30, "*"]
Text[6, 7] chars:[6, 7, "["]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, "bar "]
Link[11, 22] textOpen:[11, 12, "["] text:[12, 15, "baz"] textClose:[15, 16, "]"] linkOpen:[16, 17, "("] url:[17, 21, "/uri"] pageRef:[17, 21, "/uri"] linkClose:[21, 22, ")"]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "baz"]
Text[22, 29] chars:[22, 29, "](/uri)"]
Text[30, 37] chars:[30, 37, "](/uri)"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 33
![[[foo](uri1)](uri2)](uri3)
.
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 29]
Image[0, 28] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 21, "[[foo](uri1)](uri2)"] textClose:[21, 22, "]"] linkOpen:[22, 23, "("] url:[23, 27, "uri3"] pageRef:[23, 27, "uri3"] linkClose:[27, 28, ")"]
Text[2, 3] chars:[2, 3, "["]
Link[3, 14] textOpen:[3, 4, "["] text:[4, 7, "foo"] textClose:[7, 8, "]"] linkOpen:[8, 9, "("] url:[9, 13, "uri1"] pageRef:[9, 13, "uri1"] linkClose:[13, 14, ")"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
Text[14, 21] chars:[14, 21, "](uri2)"]
````````````````````````````````
These cases illustrate the precedence of link text grouping over
emphasis grouping:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 34
*[foo*](/uri)
.
*foo*
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "*"]
Link[1, 13] textOpen:[1, 2, "["] text:[2, 6, "foo*"] textClose:[6, 7, "]"] linkOpen:[7, 8, "("] url:[8, 12, "/uri"] pageRef:[8, 12, "/uri"] linkClose:[12, 13, ")"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo*"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 35
[foo *bar](baz*)
.
foo *bar
.
Document[0, 17]
Paragraph[0, 17]
Link[0, 16] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 9, "foo *bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] linkOpen:[10, 11, "("] url:[11, 15, "baz*"] pageRef:[11, 15, "baz*"] linkClose:[15, 16, ")"]
Text[1, 9] chars:[1, 9, "foo *bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that brackets that *aren't* part of links do not take
precedence:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 36
*foo [bar* baz]
.
foo [bar baz]
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Emphasis[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 9, "foo [bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "*"]
Text[1, 5] chars:[1, 5, "foo "]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, "["]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Text[10, 15] chars:[10, 15, " baz]"]
````````````````````````````````
These cases illustrate the precedence of HTML tags, code spans,
and autolinks over link grouping:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 37
[foo
.
[foo
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 25]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo "]
HtmlInline[5, 24] chars:[5, 24, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 38
[foo`](/uri)`
.
[foo](/uri)
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "[foo"]
Code[4, 13] textOpen:[4, 5, "`"] text:[5, 12, "](/uri)"] textClose:[12, 13, "`"]
Text[5, 12] chars:[5, 12, "](/uri)"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 39
[foo
.
[foohttp://example.com/?search=](uri)
.
Document[0, 40]
Paragraph[0, 40]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "[foo"]
AutoLink[4, 39] open:[4, 5, "<"] text:[5, 38, "http://example.com/?search=](uri)"] pageRef:[5, 38, "http://example.com/?search=](uri)"] close:[38, 39, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
There are three kinds of [reference link](@)s:
[full](#full-reference-link), [collapsed](#collapsed-reference-link),
and [shortcut](#shortcut-reference-link).
A [full reference link](@)
consists of a [link text] immediately followed by a [link label]
that [matches] a [link reference definition] elsewhere in the document.
A [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 inside the
opening and closing square brackets of [link labels]. A link
label can have at most 999 characters inside the square
brackets.
One label [matches](@)
another just in case their normalized forms are equal. To normalize a
label, strip off the opening and closing brackets,
perform the *Unicode case fold*, strip leading and trailing
[whitespace] 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:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 40
[foo][bar]
[bar]: /url "title"
.
foo
.
Document[0, 32]
Paragraph[0, 11] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] referenceOpen:[5, 6, "["] reference:[6, 9, "bar"] referenceClose:[9, 10, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[12, 31] refOpen:[12, 13, "["] ref:[13, 16, "bar"] refClose:[16, 18, "]:"] url:[19, 23, "/url"] titleOpen:[24, 25, "\""] title:[25, 30, "title"] titleClose:[30, 31, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
The rules for the [link text] are the same as with
[inline links]. Thus:
The link text may contain balanced brackets, but not unbalanced ones,
unless they are escaped:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 41
[link [foo [bar]]][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
link [foo [bar]]
.
Document[0, 37]
Paragraph[0, 24] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 23] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 17, "link [foo [bar]]"] textClose:[17, 18, "]"] referenceOpen:[18, 19, "["] reference:[19, 22, "ref"] referenceClose:[22, 23, "]"]
Text[1, 17] chars:[1, 17, "link … bar]]"]
Reference[25, 36] refOpen:[25, 26, "["] ref:[26, 29, "ref"] refClose:[29, 31, "]:"] url:[32, 36, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 42
[link \[bar][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
link [bar
.
Document[0, 31]
Paragraph[0, 18] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 11, "link \[bar"] textClose:[11, 12, "]"] referenceOpen:[12, 13, "["] reference:[13, 16, "ref"] referenceClose:[16, 17, "]"]
Text[1, 11] chars:[1, 11, "link \[bar"]
Reference[19, 30] refOpen:[19, 20, "["] ref:[20, 23, "ref"] refClose:[23, 25, "]:"] url:[26, 30, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
The link text may contain inline content:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 43
[link *foo **bar** `#`*][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
link foo bar #
.
Document[0, 43]
Paragraph[0, 30] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 29] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 23, "link *foo **bar** `#`*"] textClose:[23, 24, "]"] referenceOpen:[24, 25, "["] reference:[25, 28, "ref"] referenceClose:[28, 29, "]"]
Text[1, 6] chars:[1, 6, "link "]
Emphasis[6, 23] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 22, "foo **bar** `#`"] textClose:[22, 23, "*"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, "foo "]
StrongEmphasis[11, 18] textOpen:[11, 13, "**"] text:[13, 16, "bar"] textClose:[16, 18, "**"]
Text[13, 16] chars:[13, 16, "bar"]
Text[18, 19] chars:[18, 19, " "]
Code[19, 22] textOpen:[19, 20, "`"] text:[20, 21, "#"] textClose:[21, 22, "`"]
Text[20, 21] chars:[20, 21, "#"]
Reference[31, 42] refOpen:[31, 32, "["] ref:[32, 35, "ref"] refClose:[35, 37, "]:"] url:[38, 42, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 44
[![moon](moon.jpg)][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
.
Document[0, 38]
Paragraph[0, 25] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 24] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 18, "![moon](moon.jpg)"] textClose:[18, 19, "]"] referenceOpen:[19, 20, "["] reference:[20, 23, "ref"] referenceClose:[23, 24, "]"]
Image[1, 18] textOpen:[1, 3, "!["] text:[3, 7, "moon"] textClose:[7, 8, "]"] linkOpen:[8, 9, "("] url:[9, 17, "moon.jpg"] pageRef:[9, 17, "moon.jpg"] linkClose:[17, 18, ")"]
Text[3, 7] chars:[3, 7, "moon"]
Reference[26, 37] refOpen:[26, 27, "["] ref:[27, 30, "ref"] refClose:[30, 32, "]:"] url:[33, 37, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
However, links may not contain other links, at any level of nesting.
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 45
[foo [bar](/uri)][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
[foo bar]ref
.
Document[0, 36]
Paragraph[0, 23] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo "]
Link[5, 16] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] linkOpen:[10, 11, "("] url:[11, 15, "/uri"] pageRef:[11, 15, "/uri"] linkClose:[15, 16, ")"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Text[16, 17] chars:[16, 17, "]"]
LinkRef[17, 22] referenceOpen:[17, 18, "["] reference:[18, 21, "ref"] referenceClose:[21, 22, "]"]
Text[18, 21] chars:[18, 21, "ref"]
Reference[24, 35] refOpen:[24, 25, "["] ref:[25, 28, "ref"] refClose:[28, 30, "]:"] url:[31, 35, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 46
[foo *bar [baz][ref]*][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
[foo bar baz]ref
.
Document[0, 41]
Paragraph[0, 28] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo "]
Emphasis[5, 21] textOpen:[5, 6, "*"] text:[6, 20, "bar [baz][ref]"] textClose:[20, 21, "*"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, "bar "]
LinkRef[10, 20] textOpen:[10, 11, "["] text:[11, 14, "baz"] textClose:[14, 15, "]"] referenceOpen:[15, 16, "["] reference:[16, 19, "ref"] referenceClose:[19, 20, "]"]
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "baz"]
Text[21, 22] chars:[21, 22, "]"]
LinkRef[22, 27] referenceOpen:[22, 23, "["] reference:[23, 26, "ref"] referenceClose:[26, 27, "]"]
Text[23, 26] chars:[23, 26, "ref"]
Reference[29, 40] refOpen:[29, 30, "["] ref:[30, 33, "ref"] refClose:[33, 35, "]:"] url:[36, 40, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
(In the examples above, we have two [shortcut reference links]
instead of one [full reference link].)
The following cases illustrate the precedence of link text grouping over
emphasis grouping:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 47
*[foo*][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
*foo*
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "*"]
LinkRef[1, 12] textOpen:[1, 2, "["] text:[2, 6, "foo*"] textClose:[6, 7, "]"] referenceOpen:[7, 8, "["] reference:[8, 11, "ref"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo*"]
Reference[14, 25] refOpen:[14, 15, "["] ref:[15, 18, "ref"] refClose:[18, 20, "]:"] url:[21, 25, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 48
[foo *bar][ref]
[ref]: /uri
.
foo *bar
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 15] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 9, "foo *bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] referenceOpen:[10, 11, "["] reference:[11, 14, "ref"] referenceClose:[14, 15, "]"]
Text[1, 9] chars:[1, 9, "foo *bar"]
Reference[17, 28] refOpen:[17, 18, "["] ref:[18, 21, "ref"] refClose:[21, 23, "]:"] url:[24, 28, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
These cases illustrate the precedence of HTML tags, code spans,
and autolinks over link grouping:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 49
[foo
[ref]: /uri
.
[foo
.
Document[0, 38]
Paragraph[0, 25] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo "]
HtmlInline[5, 24] chars:[5, 24, ""]
Reference[26, 37] refOpen:[26, 27, "["] ref:[27, 30, "ref"] refClose:[30, 32, "]:"] url:[33, 37, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 50
[foo`][ref]`
[ref]: /uri
.
[foo][ref]
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "[foo"]
Code[4, 12] textOpen:[4, 5, "`"] text:[5, 11, "][ref]"] textClose:[11, 12, "`"]
Text[5, 11] chars:[5, 11, "][ref]"]
Reference[14, 25] refOpen:[14, 15, "["] ref:[15, 18, "ref"] refClose:[18, 20, "]:"] url:[21, 25, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 51
[foo
[ref]: /uri
.
[foohttp://example.com/?search=][ref]
.
Document[0, 53]
Paragraph[0, 40] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "[foo"]
AutoLink[4, 39] open:[4, 5, "<"] text:[5, 38, "http://example.com/?search=][ref]"] pageRef:[5, 38, "http://example.com/?search=][ref]"] close:[38, 39, ">"]
Reference[41, 52] refOpen:[41, 42, "["] ref:[42, 45, "ref"] refClose:[45, 47, "]:"] url:[48, 52, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
Matching is case-insensitive:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 52
[foo][BaR]
[bar]: /url "title"
.
foo
.
Document[0, 32]
Paragraph[0, 11] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] referenceOpen:[5, 6, "["] reference:[6, 9, "BaR"] referenceClose:[9, 10, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[12, 31] refOpen:[12, 13, "["] ref:[13, 16, "bar"] refClose:[16, 18, "]:"] url:[19, 23, "/url"] titleOpen:[24, 25, "\""] title:[25, 30, "title"] titleClose:[30, 31, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
Unicode case fold is used:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 53
[Толпой][Толпой] is a Russian word.
[ТОЛПОЙ]: /url
.
Толпой is a Russian word.
.
Document[0, 52]
Paragraph[0, 36] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 16] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 7, "Толпой"] textClose:[7, 8, "]"] referenceOpen:[8, 9, "["] reference:[9, 15, "Толпой"] referenceClose:[15, 16, "]"]
Text[1, 7] chars:[1, 7, "Толпой"]
Text[16, 35] chars:[16, 35, " is a … word."]
Reference[37, 51] refOpen:[37, 38, "["] ref:[38, 44, "ТОЛПОЙ"] refClose:[44, 46, "]:"] url:[47, 51, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
Consecutive internal [whitespace] is treated as one space for
purposes of determining matching:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 54
[Foo
bar]: /url
[Baz][Foo bar]
.
Baz
.
Document[0, 34]
Reference[0, 17] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 10, "Foo\n bar"] refClose:[10, 12, "]:"] url:[13, 17, "/url"]
Paragraph[19, 34]
LinkRef[19, 33] textOpen:[19, 20, "["] text:[20, 23, "Baz"] textClose:[23, 24, "]"] referenceOpen:[24, 25, "["] reference:[25, 32, "Foo bar"] referenceClose:[32, 33, "]"]
Text[20, 23] chars:[20, 23, "Baz"]
````````````````````````````````
No [whitespace] is allowed between the [link text] and the
[link label]:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 55
[foo] [bar]
[bar]: /url "title"
.
[foo] bar
.
Document[0, 33]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 6] chars:[5, 6, " "]
LinkRef[6, 11] referenceOpen:[6, 7, "["] reference:[7, 10, "bar"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Reference[13, 32] refOpen:[13, 14, "["] ref:[14, 17, "bar"] refClose:[17, 19, "]:"] url:[20, 24, "/url"] titleOpen:[25, 26, "\""] title:[26, 31, "title"] titleClose:[31, 32, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 56
[foo]
[bar]
[bar]: /url "title"
.
[foo]
bar
.
Document[0, 33]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
LinkRef[6, 11] referenceOpen:[6, 7, "["] reference:[7, 10, "bar"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Reference[13, 32] refOpen:[13, 14, "["] ref:[14, 17, "bar"] refClose:[17, 19, "]:"] url:[20, 24, "/url"] titleOpen:[25, 26, "\""] title:[26, 31, "title"] titleClose:[31, 32, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
This is a departure from John Gruber's original Markdown syntax
description, which explicitly allows whitespace between the link
text and the link label. It brings reference links in line with
[inline links], which (according to both original Markdown and
this spec) cannot have whitespace after the link text. More
importantly, it prevents inadvertent capture of consecutive
[shortcut reference links]. If whitespace is allowed between the
link text and the link label, then in the following we will have
a single reference link, not two shortcut reference links, as
intended:
``` markdown
[foo]
[bar]
[foo]: /url1
[bar]: /url2
```
(Note that [shortcut reference links] were introduced by Gruber
himself in a beta version of `Markdown.pl`, but never included
in the official syntax description. Without shortcut reference
links, it is harmless to allow space between the link text and
link label; but once shortcut references are introduced, it is
too dangerous to allow this, as it frequently leads to
unintended results.)
When there are multiple matching [link reference definitions],
the first is used:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 57
[foo]: /url1
[foo]: /url2
[bar][foo]
.
bar
.
Document[0, 39]
Reference[0, 12] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 4, "foo"] refClose:[4, 6, "]:"] url:[7, 12, "/url1"]
Reference[14, 26] refOpen:[14, 15, "["] ref:[15, 18, "foo"] refClose:[18, 20, "]:"] url:[21, 26, "/url2"]
Paragraph[28, 39]
LinkRef[28, 38] textOpen:[28, 29, "["] text:[29, 32, "bar"] textClose:[32, 33, "]"] referenceOpen:[33, 34, "["] reference:[34, 37, "foo"] referenceClose:[37, 38, "]"]
Text[29, 32] chars:[29, 32, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 58
[bar][foo\!]
[foo!]: /url
.
[bar][foo!]
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 12] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "bar"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] referenceOpen:[5, 6, "["] reference:[6, 11, "foo\!"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "bar"]
Reference[14, 26] refOpen:[14, 15, "["] ref:[15, 19, "foo!"] refClose:[19, 21, "]:"] url:[22, 26, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
[Link labels] cannot contain brackets, unless they are
backslash-escaped:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 59
[foo][ref[]
[ref[]: /uri
.
[foo][ref[]
[ref[]: /uri
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 9] chars:[5, 9, "[ref"]
LinkRef[9, 11] referenceOpen:[9, 10, "["] reference:[10, 10] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Paragraph[13, 26]
Text[13, 17] chars:[13, 17, "[ref"]
LinkRef[17, 19] referenceOpen:[17, 18, "["] reference:[18, 18] referenceClose:[18, 19, "]"]
Text[19, 25] chars:[19, 25, ": /uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 60
[foo][ref[bar]]
[ref[bar]]: /uri
.
[foo][ref[bar]]
[ref[bar]]: /uri
.
Document[0, 34]
Paragraph[0, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 9] chars:[5, 9, "[ref"]
LinkRef[9, 14] referenceOpen:[9, 10, "["] reference:[10, 13, "bar"] referenceClose:[13, 14, "]"]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, "bar"]
Text[14, 15] chars:[14, 15, "]"]
Paragraph[17, 34]
Text[17, 21] chars:[17, 21, "[ref"]
LinkRef[21, 26] referenceOpen:[21, 22, "["] reference:[22, 25, "bar"] referenceClose:[25, 26, "]"]
Text[22, 25] chars:[22, 25, "bar"]
Text[26, 33] chars:[26, 33, "]: /uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 61
[[[foo]]]
[[[foo]]]: /url
.
[[[foo]]]
[[[foo]]]: /url
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "[["]
LinkRef[2, 7] referenceOpen:[2, 3, "["] reference:[3, 6, "foo"] referenceClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 9] chars:[7, 9, "]]"]
Paragraph[11, 27]
Text[11, 13] chars:[11, 13, "[["]
LinkRef[13, 18] referenceOpen:[13, 14, "["] reference:[14, 17, "foo"] referenceClose:[17, 18, "]"]
Text[14, 17] chars:[14, 17, "foo"]
Text[18, 26] chars:[18, 26, "]]: /url"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 62
[foo][ref\[]
[ref\[]: /uri
.
foo
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 12] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] referenceOpen:[5, 6, "["] reference:[6, 11, "ref\["] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[14, 27] refOpen:[14, 15, "["] ref:[15, 20, "ref\["] refClose:[20, 22, "]:"] url:[23, 27, "/uri"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that in this example `]` is not backslash-escaped:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 63
[bar\\]: /uri
[bar\\]
.
bar\
.
Document[0, 23]
Reference[0, 13] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 6, "bar\\"] refClose:[6, 8, "]:"] url:[9, 13, "/uri"]
Paragraph[15, 23]
LinkRef[15, 22] referenceOpen:[15, 16, "["] reference:[16, 21, "bar\\"] referenceClose:[21, 22, "]"]
Text[16, 21] chars:[16, 21, "bar\\"]
````````````````````````````````
A [link label] must contain at least one [non-whitespace character]:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 64
[]
[]: /uri
.
[]
[]: /uri
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 3] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 2] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 1] referenceClose:[1, 2, "]"]
Paragraph[4, 13]
LinkRef[4, 6] referenceOpen:[4, 5, "["] reference:[5, 5] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[6, 12] chars:[6, 12, ": /uri"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 65
[
]
[
]: /uri
.
[
]
[
]: /uri
.
Document[0, 17]
Paragraph[0, 5] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 4] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[3, 3] referenceClose:[3, 4, "]"]
SoftLineBreak[1, 2]
Paragraph[6, 17]
LinkRef[6, 10] referenceOpen:[6, 7, "["] reference:[9, 9] referenceClose:[9, 10, "]"]
SoftLineBreak[7, 8]
Text[10, 16] chars:[10, 16, ": /uri"]
````````````````````````````````
A [collapsed reference link](@)
consists of a [link label] that [matches] a
[link reference definition] elsewhere in the
document, followed by 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]`.
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 66
[foo][]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
foo
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 7] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] textClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[9, 28] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 20, "/url"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 27, "title"] titleClose:[27, 28, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 67
[*foo* bar][]
[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 41]
Paragraph[0, 14] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 13] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 10, "*foo* bar"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"] textOpen:[11, 12, "["] textClose:[12, 13, "]"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "*"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "*"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, " bar"]
Reference[15, 40] refOpen:[15, 16, "["] ref:[16, 25, "*foo* bar"] refClose:[25, 27, "]:"] url:[28, 32, "/url"] titleOpen:[33, 34, "\""] title:[34, 39, "title"] titleClose:[39, 40, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
The link labels are case-insensitive:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 68
[Foo][]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
Foo
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 7] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "Foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] textClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "Foo"]
Reference[9, 28] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 20, "/url"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 27, "title"] titleClose:[27, 28, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
As with full reference links, [whitespace] is not
allowed between the two sets of brackets:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 69
[foo]
[]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
foo
[]
.
Document[0, 31]
Paragraph[0, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[6, 7]
LinkRef[7, 9] referenceOpen:[7, 8, "["] reference:[8, 8] referenceClose:[8, 9, "]"]
Reference[11, 30] refOpen:[11, 12, "["] ref:[12, 15, "foo"] refClose:[15, 17, "]:"] url:[18, 22, "/url"] titleOpen:[23, 24, "\""] title:[24, 29, "title"] titleClose:[29, 30, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
A [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][]`.
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 70
[foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
foo
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[7, 26] refOpen:[7, 8, "["] ref:[8, 11, "foo"] refClose:[11, 13, "]:"] url:[14, 18, "/url"] titleOpen:[19, 20, "\""] title:[20, 25, "title"] titleClose:[25, 26, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 71
[*foo* bar]
[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 39]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 11] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 10, "*foo* bar"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Emphasis[1, 6] textOpen:[1, 2, "*"] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "*"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Text[6, 10] chars:[6, 10, " bar"]
Reference[13, 38] refOpen:[13, 14, "["] ref:[14, 23, "*foo* bar"] refClose:[23, 25, "]:"] url:[26, 30, "/url"] titleOpen:[31, 32, "\""] title:[32, 37, "title"] titleClose:[37, 38, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 72
[[*foo* bar]]
[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
[foo bar]
.
Document[0, 41]
Paragraph[0, 14] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 1] chars:[0, 1, "["]
LinkRef[1, 12] referenceOpen:[1, 2, "["] reference:[2, 11, "*foo* bar"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"]
Emphasis[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "*"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, " bar"]
Text[12, 13] chars:[12, 13, "]"]
Reference[15, 40] refOpen:[15, 16, "["] ref:[16, 25, "*foo* bar"] refClose:[25, 27, "]:"] url:[28, 32, "/url"] titleOpen:[33, 34, "\""] title:[34, 39, "title"] titleClose:[39, 40, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 73
[[bar [foo]
[foo]: /url
.
[[bar foo
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 6] chars:[0, 6, "[[bar "]
LinkRef[6, 11] referenceOpen:[6, 7, "["] reference:[7, 10, "foo"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "foo"]
Reference[13, 24] refOpen:[13, 14, "["] ref:[14, 17, "foo"] refClose:[17, 19, "]:"] url:[20, 24, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
The link labels are case-insensitive:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 74
[Foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
Foo
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 6] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "Foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "Foo"]
Reference[7, 26] refOpen:[7, 8, "["] ref:[8, 11, "foo"] refClose:[11, 13, "]:"] url:[14, 18, "/url"] titleOpen:[19, 20, "\""] title:[20, 25, "title"] titleClose:[25, 26, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
A space after the link text should be preserved:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 75
[foo] bar
[foo]: /url
.
foo bar
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 10] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 9] chars:[5, 9, " bar"]
Reference[11, 22] refOpen:[11, 12, "["] ref:[12, 15, "foo"] refClose:[15, 17, "]:"] url:[18, 22, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
If you just want bracketed text, you can backslash-escape the
opening bracket to avoid links:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 76
\[foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
[foo]
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 7] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 6] chars:[0, 6, "\[foo]"]
Reference[8, 27] refOpen:[8, 9, "["] ref:[9, 12, "foo"] refClose:[12, 14, "]:"] url:[15, 19, "/url"] titleOpen:[20, 21, "\""] title:[21, 26, "title"] titleClose:[26, 27, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
Note that this is a link, because a link label ends with the first
following closing bracket:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 77
[foo*]: /url
*[foo*]
.
*foo*
.
Document[0, 22]
Reference[0, 12] refOpen:[0, 1, "["] ref:[1, 5, "foo*"] refClose:[5, 7, "]:"] url:[8, 12, "/url"]
Paragraph[14, 22]
Text[14, 15] chars:[14, 15, "*"]
LinkRef[15, 21] referenceOpen:[15, 16, "["] reference:[16, 20, "foo*"] referenceClose:[20, 21, "]"]
Text[16, 20] chars:[16, 20, "foo*"]
````````````````````````````````
Full and compact references take precedence over shortcut
references:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 78
[foo][bar]
[foo]: /url1
[bar]: /url2
.
foo
.
Document[0, 38]
Paragraph[0, 11] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] referenceOpen:[5, 6, "["] reference:[6, 9, "bar"] referenceClose:[9, 10, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[12, 24] refOpen:[12, 13, "["] ref:[13, 16, "foo"] refClose:[16, 18, "]:"] url:[19, 24, "/url1"]
Reference[25, 37] refOpen:[25, 26, "["] ref:[26, 29, "bar"] refClose:[29, 31, "]:"] url:[32, 37, "/url2"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 79
[foo][]
[foo]: /url1
.
foo
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 7] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] textClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[9, 21] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 21, "/url1"]
````````````````````````````````
Inline links also take precedence:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 80
[foo]()
[foo]: /url1
.
foo
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Link[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] linkOpen:[5, 6, "("] url:[6, 6] pageRef:[6, 6] linkClose:[6, 7, ")"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Reference[9, 21] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 21, "/url1"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 81
[foo](not a link)
[foo]: /url1
.
foo(not a link)
.
Document[0, 32]
Paragraph[0, 18] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 5] referenceOpen:[0, 1, "["] reference:[1, 4, "foo"] referenceClose:[4, 5, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
Text[5, 17] chars:[5, 17, "(not … link)"]
Reference[19, 31] refOpen:[19, 20, "["] ref:[20, 23, "foo"] refClose:[23, 25, "]:"] url:[26, 31, "/url1"]
````````````````````````````````
In the following case `[bar][baz]` is parsed as a reference,
`[foo]` as normal text:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 82
[foo][bar][baz]
[baz]: /url
.
[foo]bar
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo]"]
LinkRef[5, 15] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] referenceOpen:[10, 11, "["] reference:[11, 14, "baz"] referenceClose:[14, 15, "]"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Reference[17, 28] refOpen:[17, 18, "["] ref:[18, 21, "baz"] refClose:[21, 23, "]:"] url:[24, 28, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
Here, though, `[foo][bar]` is parsed as a reference, since
`[bar]` is defined:
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 83
[foo][bar][baz]
[baz]: /url1
[bar]: /url2
.
foobaz
.
Document[0, 43]
Paragraph[0, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
LinkRef[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "["] text:[1, 4, "foo"] textClose:[4, 5, "]"] referenceOpen:[5, 6, "["] reference:[6, 9, "bar"] referenceClose:[9, 10, "]"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
LinkRef[10, 15] referenceOpen:[10, 11, "["] reference:[11, 14, "baz"] referenceClose:[14, 15, "]"]
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "baz"]
Reference[17, 29] refOpen:[17, 18, "["] ref:[18, 21, "baz"] refClose:[21, 23, "]:"] url:[24, 29, "/url1"]
Reference[30, 42] refOpen:[30, 31, "["] ref:[31, 34, "bar"] refClose:[34, 36, "]:"] url:[37, 42, "/url2"]
````````````````````````````````
Here `[foo]` is not parsed as a shortcut reference, because it
is followed by a link label (even though `[bar]` is not defined):
```````````````````````````````` example Links: 84
[foo][bar][baz]
[baz]: /url1
[foo]: /url2
.
[foo]bar
.
Document[0, 43]
Paragraph[0, 16] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "[foo]"]
LinkRef[5, 15] textOpen:[5, 6, "["] text:[6, 9, "bar"] textClose:[9, 10, "]"] referenceOpen:[10, 11, "["] reference:[11, 14, "baz"] referenceClose:[14, 15, "]"]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
Reference[17, 29] refOpen:[17, 18, "["] ref:[18, 21, "baz"] refClose:[21, 23, "]:"] url:[24, 29, "/url1"]
Reference[30, 42] refOpen:[30, 31, "["] ref:[31, 34, "foo"] refClose:[34, 36, "]:"] url:[37, 42, "/url2"]
````````````````````````````````
## Images
Syntax for images is like the syntax for links, with one
difference. Instead of [link text], we have an
[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.
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 1
![foo](/url "title")
.
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
Image[0, 20] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 11, "/url"] pageRef:[7, 11, "/url"] titleOpen:[12, 13, "\""] title:[13, 18, "title"] titleClose:[18, 19, "\""] linkClose:[19, 20, ")"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 2
![foo *bar*]
[foo *bar*]: train.jpg "train & tracks"
.
.
Document[0, 55]
Paragraph[0, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 12] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 11, "foo *bar*"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Reference[15, 54] refOpen:[15, 16, "["] ref:[16, 25, "foo *bar*"] refClose:[25, 27, "]:"] url:[28, 37, "train.jpg"] titleOpen:[38, 39, "\""] title:[39, 53, "train & tracks"] titleClose:[53, 54, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 3
![foo ![bar](/url)](/url2)
.
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 27]
Image[0, 26] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 18, "foo ![bar](/url)"] textClose:[18, 19, "]"] linkOpen:[19, 20, "("] url:[20, 25, "/url2"] pageRef:[20, 25, "/url2"] linkClose:[25, 26, ")"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Image[6, 18] textOpen:[6, 8, "!["] text:[8, 11, "bar"] textClose:[11, 12, "]"] linkOpen:[12, 13, "("] url:[13, 17, "/url"] pageRef:[13, 17, "/url"] linkClose:[17, 18, ")"]
Text[8, 11] chars:[8, 11, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 4
![foo [bar](/url)](/url2)
.
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 26]
Image[0, 25] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 17, "foo [bar](/url)"] textClose:[17, 18, "]"] linkOpen:[18, 19, "("] url:[19, 24, "/url2"] pageRef:[19, 24, "/url2"] linkClose:[24, 25, ")"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Link[6, 17] textOpen:[6, 7, "["] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "]"] linkOpen:[11, 12, "("] url:[12, 16, "/url"] pageRef:[12, 16, "/url"] linkClose:[16, 17, ")"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
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 bar`. Only the plain string
content is rendered, without formatting.
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 5
![foo *bar*][]
[foo *bar*]: train.jpg "train & tracks"
.
.
Document[0, 56]
Paragraph[0, 15] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 14] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 11, "foo *bar*"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"] textOpen:[12, 13, "["] textClose:[13, 14, "]"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Reference[16, 55] refOpen:[16, 17, "["] ref:[17, 26, "foo *bar*"] refClose:[26, 28, "]:"] url:[29, 38, "train.jpg"] titleOpen:[39, 40, "\""] title:[40, 54, "train & tracks"] titleClose:[54, 55, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 6
![foo *bar*][foobar]
[FOOBAR]: train.jpg "train & tracks"
.
.
Document[0, 59]
Paragraph[0, 21] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 20] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 11, "foo *bar*"] textClose:[11, 12, "]"] referenceOpen:[12, 13, "["] reference:[13, 19, "foobar"] referenceClose:[19, 20, "]"]
Text[2, 6] chars:[2, 6, "foo "]
Emphasis[6, 11] textOpen:[6, 7, "*"] text:[7, 10, "bar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
Reference[22, 58] refOpen:[22, 23, "["] ref:[23, 29, "FOOBAR"] refClose:[29, 31, "]:"] url:[32, 41, "train.jpg"] titleOpen:[42, 43, "\""] title:[43, 57, "train & tracks"] titleClose:[57, 58, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 7
![foo](train.jpg)
.
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Image[0, 17] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] url:[7, 16, "train.jpg"] pageRef:[7, 16, "train.jpg"] linkClose:[16, 17, ")"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 8
My ![foo bar](/path/to/train.jpg "title" )
.
My
.
Document[0, 46]
Paragraph[0, 46]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "My "]
Image[3, 45] textOpen:[3, 5, "!["] text:[5, 12, "foo bar"] textClose:[12, 13, "]"] linkOpen:[13, 14, "("] url:[14, 32, "/path/to/train.jpg"] pageRef:[14, 32, "/path/to/train.jpg"] titleOpen:[34, 35, "\""] title:[35, 40, "title"] titleClose:[40, 41, "\""] linkClose:[44, 45, ")"]
Text[5, 12] chars:[5, 12, "foo bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 9
![foo]()
.
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Image[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] linkOpen:[6, 7, "("] urlOpen:[7, 8, "<"] url:[8, 11, "url"] urlClose:[11, 12, ">"] pageRef:[8, 11, "url"] linkClose:[12, 13, ")"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 10
![](/url)
.
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Image[0, 9] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 2] textClose:[2, 3, "]"] linkOpen:[3, 4, "("] url:[4, 8, "/url"] pageRef:[4, 8, "/url"] linkClose:[8, 9, ")"]
````````````````````````````````
Reference-style:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 11
![foo][bar]
[bar]: /url
.
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] referenceOpen:[6, 7, "["] reference:[7, 10, "bar"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Reference[13, 24] refOpen:[13, 14, "["] ref:[14, 17, "bar"] refClose:[17, 19, "]:"] url:[20, 24, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 12
![foo][bar]
[BAR]: /url
.
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 12] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 2, "!["] text:[2, 5, "foo"] textClose:[5, 6, "]"] referenceOpen:[6, 7, "["] reference:[7, 10, "bar"] referenceClose:[10, 11, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Reference[13, 24] refOpen:[13, 14, "["] ref:[14, 17, "BAR"] refClose:[17, 19, "]:"] url:[20, 24, "/url"]
````````````````````````````````
Collapsed:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 13
![foo][]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
.
Document[0, 30]
Paragraph[0, 9] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 8] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 5, "foo"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"] textOpen:[6, 7, "["] textClose:[7, 8, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Reference[10, 29] refOpen:[10, 11, "["] ref:[11, 14, "foo"] refClose:[14, 16, "]:"] url:[17, 21, "/url"] titleOpen:[22, 23, "\""] title:[23, 28, "title"] titleClose:[28, 29, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 14
![*foo* bar][]
[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
.
Document[0, 42]
Paragraph[0, 15] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 14] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 11, "*foo* bar"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"] textOpen:[12, 13, "["] textClose:[13, 14, "]"]
Emphasis[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "*"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, " bar"]
Reference[16, 41] refOpen:[16, 17, "["] ref:[17, 26, "*foo* bar"] refClose:[26, 28, "]:"] url:[29, 33, "/url"] titleOpen:[34, 35, "\""] title:[35, 40, "title"] titleClose:[40, 41, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
The labels are case-insensitive:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 15
![Foo][]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
.
Document[0, 30]
Paragraph[0, 9] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 8] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 5, "Foo"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"] textOpen:[6, 7, "["] textClose:[7, 8, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "Foo"]
Reference[10, 29] refOpen:[10, 11, "["] ref:[11, 14, "foo"] refClose:[14, 16, "]:"] url:[17, 21, "/url"] titleOpen:[22, 23, "\""] title:[23, 28, "title"] titleClose:[28, 29, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
As with reference links, [whitespace] is not allowed
between the two sets of brackets:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 16
![foo]
[]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
[]
.
Document[0, 32]
Paragraph[0, 11] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 5, "foo"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[7, 8]
LinkRef[8, 10] referenceOpen:[8, 9, "["] reference:[9, 9] referenceClose:[9, 10, "]"]
Reference[12, 31] refOpen:[12, 13, "["] ref:[13, 16, "foo"] refClose:[16, 18, "]:"] url:[19, 23, "/url"] titleOpen:[24, 25, "\""] title:[25, 30, "title"] titleClose:[30, 31, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
Shortcut:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 17
![foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 7] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 5, "foo"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "foo"]
Reference[8, 27] refOpen:[8, 9, "["] ref:[9, 12, "foo"] refClose:[12, 14, "]:"] url:[15, 19, "/url"] titleOpen:[20, 21, "\""] title:[21, 26, "title"] titleClose:[26, 27, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 18
![*foo* bar]
[*foo* bar]: /url "title"
.
.
Document[0, 40]
Paragraph[0, 13] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 12] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 11, "*foo* bar"] referenceClose:[11, 12, "]"]
Emphasis[2, 7] textOpen:[2, 3, "*"] text:[3, 6, "foo"] textClose:[6, 7, "*"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 11] chars:[7, 11, " bar"]
Reference[14, 39] refOpen:[14, 15, "["] ref:[15, 24, "*foo* bar"] refClose:[24, 26, "]:"] url:[27, 31, "/url"] titleOpen:[32, 33, "\""] title:[33, 38, "title"] titleClose:[38, 39, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
Note that link labels cannot contain unescaped brackets:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 19
![[foo]]
[[foo]]: /url "title"
.
![[foo]]
[[foo]]: /url "title"
.
Document[0, 32]
Paragraph[0, 9] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "!["]
LinkRef[2, 7] referenceOpen:[2, 3, "["] reference:[3, 6, "foo"] referenceClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Text[7, 8] chars:[7, 8, "]"]
Paragraph[10, 32]
Text[10, 11] chars:[10, 11, "["]
LinkRef[11, 16] referenceOpen:[11, 12, "["] reference:[12, 15, "foo"] referenceClose:[15, 16, "]"]
Text[12, 15] chars:[12, 15, "foo"]
Text[16, 31] chars:[16, 31, "]: /u … itle\""]
````````````````````````````````
The link labels are case-insensitive:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 20
![Foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
.
Document[0, 28]
Paragraph[0, 7] isTrailingBlankLine
ImageRef[0, 6] referenceOpen:[0, 2, "!["] reference:[2, 5, "Foo"] referenceClose:[5, 6, "]"]
Text[2, 5] chars:[2, 5, "Foo"]
Reference[8, 27] refOpen:[8, 9, "["] ref:[9, 12, "foo"] refClose:[12, 14, "]:"] url:[15, 19, "/url"] titleOpen:[20, 21, "\""] title:[21, 26, "title"] titleClose:[26, 27, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
If you just want a literal `!` followed by bracketed text, you can
backslash-escape the opening `[`:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 21
!\[foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
![foo]
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, "!\[foo]"]
Reference[9, 28] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 20, "/url"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 27, "title"] titleClose:[27, 28, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
If you want a link after a literal `!`, backslash-escape the
`!`:
```````````````````````````````` example Images: 22
\![foo]
[foo]: /url "title"
.
!foo
.
Document[0, 29]
Paragraph[0, 8] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "\!"]
LinkRef[2, 7] referenceOpen:[2, 3, "["] reference:[3, 6, "foo"] referenceClose:[6, 7, "]"]
Text[3, 6] chars:[3, 6, "foo"]
Reference[9, 28] refOpen:[9, 10, "["] ref:[10, 13, "foo"] refClose:[13, 15, "]:"] url:[16, 20, "/url"] titleOpen:[21, 22, "\""] title:[22, 27, "title"] titleClose:[27, 28, "\""]
````````````````````````````````
## Autolinks
[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](@) 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](@),
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, they must be percent-encoded
(e.g. `%20` for a space).
For purposes of this spec, a [scheme](@) is any sequence
of 2--32 characters beginning with an ASCII letter and followed
by any combination of ASCII letters, digits, or the symbols plus
("+"), period ("."), or hyphen ("-").
Here are some valid autolinks:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 1
.
http://foo.bar.baz
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
AutoLink[0, 20] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 19, "http://foo.bar.baz"] pageRef:[1, 19, "http://foo.bar.baz"] close:[19, 20, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 2
.
http://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean
.
Document[0, 48]
Paragraph[0, 48]
AutoLink[0, 47] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 46, "http://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean"] pageRef:[1, 46, "http://foo.bar.baz/test?q=hello&id=22&boolean"] close:[46, 47, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 3
.
irc://foo.bar:2233/baz
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 25]
AutoLink[0, 24] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 23, "irc://foo.bar:2233/baz"] pageRef:[1, 23, "irc://foo.bar:2233/baz"] close:[23, 24, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
Uppercase is also fine:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 4
.
MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
AutoLink[0, 20] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 19, "MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ"] pageRef:[1, 19, "MAILTO:FOO@BAR.BAZ"] close:[19, 20, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
Note that many strings that count as [absolute URIs] for
purposes of this spec are not valid URIs, because their
schemes are not registered or because of other problems
with their syntax:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 5
.
a+b+c:d
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
AutoLink[0, 9] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 8, "a+b+c:d"] pageRef:[1, 8, "a+b+c:d"] close:[8, 9, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 6
.
made-up-scheme://foo,bar
.
Document[0, 27]
Paragraph[0, 27]
AutoLink[0, 26] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 25, "made-up-scheme://foo,bar"] pageRef:[1, 25, "made-up-scheme://foo,bar"] close:[25, 26, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 7
.
http://../
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
AutoLink[0, 12] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 11, "http://../"] pageRef:[1, 11, "http://../"] close:[11, 12, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 8
.
localhost:5001/foo
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
AutoLink[0, 20] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 19, "localhost:5001/foo"] pageRef:[1, 19, "localhost:5001/foo"] close:[19, 20, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
Spaces are not allowed in autolinks:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 9
.
<http://foo.bar/baz bim>
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 25]
Text[0, 24] chars:[0, 24, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Backslash-escapes do not work inside autolinks:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 10
.
http://example.com/\[\
.
Document[0, 25]
Paragraph[0, 25]
AutoLink[0, 24] open:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 23, "http://example.com/\[\"] pageRef:[1, 23, "http://example.com/\[\"] close:[23, 24, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
An [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](@),
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 11
.
foo@bar.example.com
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
MailLink[0, 21] textOpen:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 20, "foo@bar.example.com"] textClose:[20, 21, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 12
.
foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com
.
Document[0, 31]
Paragraph[0, 31]
MailLink[0, 30] textOpen:[0, 1, "<"] text:[1, 29, "foo+special@Bar.baz-bar0.com"] textClose:[29, 30, ">"]
````````````````````````````````
Backslash-escapes do not work inside email autolinks:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 13
.
<foo+@bar.example.com>
.
Document[0, 24]
Paragraph[0, 24]
Text[0, 23] chars:[0, 23, ""]
````````````````````````````````
These are not autolinks:
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 14
<>
.
<>
.
Document[0, 3]
Paragraph[0, 3]
Text[0, 2] chars:[0, 2, "<>"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 15
< http://foo.bar >
.
< http://foo.bar >
.
Document[0, 19]
Paragraph[0, 19]
Text[0, 18] chars:[0, 18, "< htt … bar >"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 16
.
<m:abc>
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 7] chars:[0, 7, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 17
.
<foo.bar.baz>
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 13] chars:[0, 13, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 18
http://example.com
.
http://example.com
.
Document[0, 19]
Paragraph[0, 19]
Text[0, 18] chars:[0, 18, "http: … e.com"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Autolinks: 19
foo@bar.example.com
.
foo@bar.example.com
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
Text[0, 19] chars:[0, 19, "foo@b … e.com"]
````````````````````````````````
## 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](@) consists of an ASCII letter
followed by zero or more ASCII letters, digits, or
hyphens (`-`).
An [attribute](@) consists of [whitespace],
an [attribute name], and an optional
[attribute value specification].
An [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](@)
consists of optional [whitespace],
a `=` character, optional [whitespace], and an [attribute
value].
An [attribute value](@)
consists of an [unquoted attribute value],
a [single-quoted attribute value], or a [double-quoted attribute value].
An [unquoted attribute value](@)
is a nonempty string of characters not
including spaces, `"`, `'`, `=`, `<`, `>`, or `` ` ``.
A [single-quoted attribute value](@)
consists of `'`, zero or more
characters not including `'`, and a final `'`.
A [double-quoted attribute value](@)
consists of `"`, zero or more
characters not including `"`, and a final `"`.
An [open tag](@) consists of a `<` character, a [tag name],
zero or more [attributes], optional [whitespace], an optional `/`
character, and a `>` character.
A [closing tag](@) consists of the string ``, a
[tag name], optional [whitespace], and the character `>`.
An [HTML comment](@) consists of ``,
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](@)
consists of the string ``, a string
of characters not including the string `?>`, and the string
`?>`.
A [declaration](@) consists of the
string ``, and the character `>`.
A [CDATA section](@) consists of
the string ``, and the string `]]>`.
An [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:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 1
.
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
HtmlInline[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, ""]
HtmlInline[3, 8] chars:[3, 8, ""]
HtmlInline[8, 13] chars:[8, 13, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Empty elements:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 2
.
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
HtmlInline[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, ""]
HtmlInline[4, 9] chars:[4, 9, ""]
````````````````````````````````
[Whitespace] is allowed:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 3
.
.
Document[0, 23]
Paragraph[0, 23]
HtmlInline[0, 6] chars:[0, 6, ""]
HtmlInline[6, 22] chars:[6, 22, ""]
````````````````````````````````
With attributes:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 4
.
.
Document[0, 64]
Paragraph[0, 64]
HtmlInline[0, 63] chars:[0, 63, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Custom tag names can be used:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 5
Foo
.
Foo
.
Document[0, 39]
Paragraph[0, 39]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "Foo "]
HtmlInline[4, 38] chars:[4, 38, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Illegal tag names, not parsed as HTML:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 6
<33> <__>
.
<33> <__>
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 9] chars:[0, 9, "<33> <__>"]
````````````````````````````````
Illegal attribute names:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 7
.
<a h*#ref="hi">
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Text[0, 15] chars:[0, 15, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Illegal attribute values:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 8
"]
````````````````````````````````
Illegal [whitespace]:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 9
< a><
foo>
.
< a><
foo><bar/ >
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Text[0, 5] chars:[0, 5, "< a><"]
SoftLineBreak[5, 6]
Text[6, 17] chars:[6, 17, "foo>< … ar/ >"]
````````````````````````````````
Missing [whitespace]:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 10
.
<a href='bar'title=title>
.
Document[0, 26]
Paragraph[0, 26]
Text[0, 25] chars:[0, 25, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Closing tags:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 11
.
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
HtmlInline[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, ""]
HtmlInline[4, 11] chars:[4, 11, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Illegal attributes in closing tag:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 12
.
</a href="foo">
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Text[0, 15] chars:[0, 15, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Comments:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 13
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 45]
Paragraph[0, 45]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
HtmlInlineComment[4, 44] chars:[4, 44, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 14
foo
.
foo <!-- not a comment -- two hyphens -->
.
Document[0, 42]
Paragraph[0, 42]
Text[0, 41] chars:[0, 41, "foo < … s -->"]
````````````````````````````````
Not comments:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 15
foo foo -->
foo
.
foo <!--> foo -->
foo <!-- foo--->
.
Document[0, 36]
Paragraph[0, 18] isTrailingBlankLine
Text[0, 17] chars:[0, 17, "foo < … o -->"]
Paragraph[19, 36]
Text[19, 35] chars:[19, 35, "foo < … o--->"]
````````````````````````````````
Processing instructions:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 16
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
HtmlInline[4, 21] chars:[4, 21, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Declarations:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 17
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 24]
Paragraph[0, 24]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
HtmlInline[4, 23] chars:[4, 23, ""]
````````````````````````````````
CDATA sections:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 18
foo &<]]>
.
foo &<]]>
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
HtmlInline[4, 19] chars:[4, 19, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Entity and numeric character references are preserved in HTML
attributes:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 19
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 22]
Paragraph[0, 22]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
HtmlInline[4, 21] chars:[4, 21, ""]
````````````````````````````````
Backslash escapes do not work in HTML attributes:
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 20
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 18]
Paragraph[0, 18]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo "]
HtmlInline[4, 17] chars:[4, 17, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Raw HTML: 21
.
<a href=""">
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 13] chars:[0, 13, ""]
````````````````````````````````
## 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](@) (rendered
in HTML as a `
` tag):
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 1
foo
baz
.
foo
baz
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[3, 6]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
For a more visible alternative, a backslash before the
[line ending] may be used instead of two spaces:
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 2
foo\
baz
.
foo
baz
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[3, 5]
Text[5, 8] chars:[5, 8, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
More than two spaces can be used:
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 3
foo
baz
.
foo
baz
.
Document[0, 15]
Paragraph[0, 15]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[3, 11]
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
Leading spaces at the beginning of the next line are ignored:
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 4
foo
bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 15]
Paragraph[0, 15]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[3, 6]
Text[11, 14] chars:[11, 14, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 5
foo\
bar
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[3, 5]
Text[10, 13] chars:[10, 13, " bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Line breaks can occur inside emphasis, links, and other constructs
that allow inline content:
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 6
*foo
bar*
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 12]
Paragraph[0, 12]
Emphasis[0, 11] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 10, "foo \nbar"] textClose:[10, 11, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[4, 7]
Text[7, 10] chars:[7, 10, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 7
*foo\
bar*
.
foo
bar
.
Document[0, 11]
Paragraph[0, 11]
Emphasis[0, 10] textOpen:[0, 1, "*"] text:[1, 9, "foo\\nbar"] textClose:[9, 10, "*"]
Text[1, 4] chars:[1, 4, "foo"]
HardLineBreak[4, 6]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "bar"]
````````````````````````````````
Line breaks do not occur inside code spans
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 8
`code
span`
.
code span
.
Document[0, 14]
Paragraph[0, 14]
Code[0, 13] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 12, "code … \nspan"] textClose:[12, 13, "`"]
Text[1, 12] chars:[1, 12, "code … \nspan"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 9
`code\
span`
.
code\ span
.
Document[0, 13]
Paragraph[0, 13]
Code[0, 12] textOpen:[0, 1, "`"] text:[1, 11, "code\\nspan"] textClose:[11, 12, "`"]
Text[1, 11] chars:[1, 11, "code\\nspan"]
````````````````````````````````
or HTML tags:
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 10
.
.
Document[0, 21]
Paragraph[0, 21]
HtmlInline[0, 20] chars:[0, 20, ""]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 11
.
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
HtmlInline[0, 19] chars:[0, 19, ""]
````````````````````````````````
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:
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 12
foo\
.
foo\
.
Document[0, 5]
Paragraph[0, 5]
Text[0, 4] chars:[0, 4, "foo\"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 13
foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 6]
Paragraph[0, 6]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 14
### foo\
.
foo\
.
Document[0, 9]
Heading[0, 8] textOpen:[0, 3, "###"] text:[4, 8, "foo\"]
Text[4, 8] chars:[4, 8, "foo\"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Hard line breaks: 15
### foo
.
foo
.
Document[0, 10]
Heading[0, 7] textOpen:[0, 3, "###"] text:[4, 7, "foo"]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "foo"]
````````````````````````````````
## 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.)
```````````````````````````````` example Soft line breaks: 1
foo
baz
.
foo
baz
.
Document[0, 8]
Paragraph[0, 8]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[3, 4]
Text[4, 7] chars:[4, 7, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
Spaces at the end of the line and beginning of the next line are
removed:
```````````````````````````````` example Soft line breaks: 2
foo
baz
.
foo
baz
.
Document[0, 10]
Paragraph[0, 10]
Text[0, 3] chars:[0, 3, "foo"]
SoftLineBreak[4, 5]
Text[6, 9] chars:[6, 9, "baz"]
````````````````````````````````
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.
```````````````````````````````` example Textual content: 1
hello $.;'there
.
hello $.;'there
.
Document[0, 16]
Paragraph[0, 16]
Text[0, 15] chars:[0, 15, "hello … there"]
````````````````````````````````
```````````````````````````````` example Textual content: 2
Foo χρῆν
.
Foo χρῆν
.
Document[0, 9]
Paragraph[0, 9]
Text[0, 8] chars:[0, 8, "Foo χρῆν"]
````````````````````````````````
Internal spaces are preserved verbatim:
```````````````````````````````` example Textual content: 3
Multiple spaces
.
Multiple spaces
.
Document[0, 20]
Paragraph[0, 20]
Text[0, 19] chars:[0, 19, "Multi … paces"]
````````````````````````````````
# 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 headings
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, heading, or raw HTML).
Setext headings are formed when we see a line of a paragraph
that is a [setext heading underline].
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 headings 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](@).
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.