Lightweight markup language
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A lightweight markup language (LML), also termed a simple or humane markup language, is a markup language with simple, unobtrusive syntax. It is designed to be easy to write using any generic text editor and easy to read in its raw form. It is used in applications where it may be necessary to read the raw document and the final rendered output.
For instance, a person downloading a software library might prefer to read the documentation in a text editor rather than a web browser. Another use for such languages is to provide for data entry in web-based publishing, as in blogs and wikis, where the input interface is a simple text box. The server software then converts the input into a common document markup language like HTML.
History
Lightweight markup languages were originally used on text-only displays which could not display characters in italics or bold, so informal methods to convey this information had to be developed. This formatting choice was naturally carried forth to plain-text email communications. Console browsers may also resort to similar display conventions.
In 1986 international standard SGML provided facilities to define and parse lightweight markup languages using grammars and tag implication. The 1998 W3C XML is a profile of SGML that omits these facilities. However, no SGML document type definition (DTD) for any of the languages listed below is known.
Types
Lightweight markup languages can be categorized by their tag types. Like HTML (<b>bold</b>), some languages use named elements that share a common format for start and end tags (e.g., BBCode [b]bold[/b]), whereas proper lightweight markup languages are restricted to ASCII-only punctuation marks and other non-letter symbols for tags, but some also mix both styles (e.g., Textile bq.) or allow embedded HTML (e.g., Markdown), possibly extended with custom elements (e.g., MediaWiki <ref>'''source'''</ref>).
Most languages distinguish between markup for lines or blocks and for shorter spans of texts, but some only support inline markup.
Some markup languages are tailored for a specific purpose, such as documenting computer code (e.g., POD, reST, RD) or being converted to a certain output format (usually HTML or LaTeX) and nothing else, others are more general in application. This includes whether they are oriented on textual presentation or on data serialization.[<span title="Script error: No such module "decodeEncode".">clarification needed]
Presentation oriented languages include AsciiDoc, atx, BBCode, Creole, Crossmark, Djot, Epytext, Haml, JsonML, MakeDoc, Markdown, Org-mode, POD (Perl), reST (Python), RD (Ruby), Setext, SiSU, SPIP, Xupl, Texy!, Textile, txt2tags, UDO and Wikitext.
Data serialization oriented languages include Curl (homoiconic, but also reads JSON; every object serializes), JSON, and YAML.
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| [icon] | This section needs expansion with: comparison table with types of languages explained above; could be integrated into other high-level tables. You can help by Template:Protected page maintenance message. (June 2014) |
Comparison of language features
| Language | HTML export tool | HTML import tool | Tables | Link titles | class attribute
|
id attribute
|
Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Rh | AsciiDoc | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2002-11-25[1] |
| Template:Rh | BBCode | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | 1998 |
| Template:Rh | Creole | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | 2007-07-04[2] |
| Template:Rh | Djot | Yes | Yes[3] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2022-07-30[4] |
| Template:Rh | DokuWiki | Yes | Yes/No | Yes | Yes | Yes/No | Yes/No | 2004-07-04[5] |
| Template:Rh | Gemtext | Yes | Yes[6] | No | Yes | No | No | 2020 |
| Template:Rh | GitHub Flavored Markdown | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | 2011-04-28+ |
| Template:Rh | Jira Formatting Notation | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | 2002+[7] |
| Template:Rh | Markdown | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes/No | Yes/No | 2004-03-19[8][9] |
| Template:Rh | Markdown Extra | Yes | Yes | Yes[10] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2013-04-11[11] |
| Template:Rh | MediaWiki | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2002[12] |
| Template:Rh | MultiMarkdown | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | 2009-07-13 |
| Template:Rh | Org-mode | Yes | Yes[13] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2003[14] |
| Template:Rh | PmWiki | Yes[15] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2002-01 |
| Template:Rh | POD | Yes | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | 1994 |
| Template:Rh | reStructuredText | Yes | Yes[13] | Yes | Yes | Yes | auto | 2002-04-02[16] |
| Template:Rh | setext | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | 1992[17] |
| Template:Rh | Slack | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | 2013+[18][19] |
| Template:Rh | Textile | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2002-12-26[20] |
| Template:Rh | Texy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2004[21] |
| Template:Rh | TiddlyWiki | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 2004-09[22] |
| Template:Rh | txt2tags | Yes | Yes[23] | Yes[24] | Yes | Yes/No | Yes/No | 2001-07-26[25] |
| Template:Rh | WhatsApp | No | No | No | No | No | No | 2016-03-16[26] |
Markdown's own syntax does not support class attributes or id attributes; however, since Markdown supports the inclusion of native HTML code, these features can be implemented using direct HTML. (Some extensions may support these features.)
txt2tags' own syntax does not support class attributes or id attributes; however, since txt2tags supports inclusion of native HTML code in tagged areas, these features can be implemented using direct HTML when saving to an HTML target.[27]
DokuWiki does not support HTML import natively, but HTML to DokuWiki converters and importers exist and are mentioned in the official documentation.[28] DokuWiki does not support class or id attributes, but can be set up to support HTML code, which does support both features. HTML code support was built-in before release 2023-04-04.[29] In later versions, HTML code support can be achieved through plug-ins, though it is discouraged.[29]
Comparison of implementation features
Comparison of lightweight markup language syntax
Inline span syntax
Although usually documented as yielding italic and bold text, most lightweight markup processors output semantic HTML elements em and strong instead. Monospaced text may either result in semantic code or presentational tt elements. Few languages make a distinction, e.g., Textile, or allow the user to configure the output easily, e.g., Texy.
LMLs sometimes differ for multi-word markup where some require the markup characters to replace the inter-word spaces (infix). Some languages require one character as prefix and suffix, others need two or even three, or support both with slightly different meaning, e.g., different levels of emphasis.
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | HTML output | <strong>strongly emphasized</strong>
|
<em>emphasized text</em>
|
<code>code</code>
|
semantic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
<b>bold text</b>
|
<i>italic text</i>
|
<tt>monospace text</tt>
|
presentational | |
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | AsciiDoc | *bold text*
|
_italic text_
|
`monospace text`
|
Can double operators to apply formatting where there is no word boundary (for example **b**old t**ex**t yields bold text).
|
| Template:Varies | Template:Varies | |||
| Template:Rh | BBCode | [b]bold text[/b]
|
[i]italic text[/i]
|
[code]monospace text[/code]
|
Formatting works across line breaks. |
| Template:Rh | Creole | **bold text**
|
//italic text//
|
{{{monospace text}}}
|
Triple curly braces are for nowiki which is optionally monospace. |
| Template:Rh | Djot | *bold text*
|
_italic text_
|
`monospace text`
|
|
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | DokuWiki | **bold text**
|
//italic text//
|
<code>code</code>
|
|
''monospace text''
| ||||
| Template:Rh | Gemtext | Template:Screen reader-only | Template:Screen reader-only | ```alt text
|
Text immediately following the first three backticks is alt-text. |
| Template:Rh | Jira Formatting Notation | *bold text*
|
_italic text_
|
{{monospace text}}
|
|
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | Markdown[49] | **bold text**
|
*italic text*
|
`monospace text`
|
semantic HTML tags |
__bold text__
|
_italic text_
| |||
| Template:Rh | MediaWiki | '''bold text'''
|
''italic text''
|
<code>monospace text</code>
|
mostly resorts to inline HTML |
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | Org-mode | *bold text*
|
/italic text/
|
=code=
|
|
~verbatim~
| ||||
| Template:Rh | PmWiki | '''bold text'''
|
''italic text''
|
@@monospace text@@
|
|
| Template:Rh | POD | B<bold text>
|
I<italic text>
|
C<monospace text>
|
Indented text is also shown as monospaced code. |
| Template:Rh | reStructuredText | **bold text**
|
*italic text*
|
``monospace text``
|
|
| Template:Rh | Setext | **bold text**
|
~italic text~
|
`monospace text`
|
|
| Template:Rh | Slack | *bold text*
|
_italic text_
|
`monospace text`
|
```block of monospaced text```
|
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | Textile[50] | *strong*
|
_emphasis_
|
@monospace text@
|
semantic HTML tags |
**bold text**
|
__italic text__
|
presentational HTML tags | ||
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | Texy! | **bold text**
|
*italic text*
|
`monospace text`
|
semantic HTML tags by default, optional support for presentational tags |
//italic text//
| ||||
| rowspan=2 Template:Rh | TiddlyWiki | ''bold text''
|
//italic text//
|
`monospace text`
|
|
``monospace text``
| ||||
| Template:Rh | txt2tags | **bold text**
|
//italic text//
|
``monospace text``
|
|
| Template:Rh | WhatsApp | *bold text*
|
_italic text_
|
```monospace text```
|
Gemtext does not have any inline formatting, monospaced text (called preformatted text in the context of Gemtext) must have the opening and closing ``` on their own lines.
Emphasis syntax
In HTML, text is emphasized with the <em> and <strong> element types, whereas <i> and <b> traditionally mark up text to be italicized or bold-faced, respectively.
Microsoft Word and Outlook, and accordingly other word processors and mail clients that strive for a similar user experience, support the basic convention of using asterisks for boldface and underscores for italic style. While Word removes the characters, Outlook retains them.
| Code | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*italic*
|
No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
**italic**
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
_italic_
|
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
__italic__
|
Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
'italic'
|
Yes/No[b] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
''italic''
|
Yes/No[b] | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
/italic/
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
//italic//
|
No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
~italic~
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Code | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*bold*
|
Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
**bold**
|
Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
__bold__
|
No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
''bold''
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
'''bold'''
|
No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Editorial syntax
In HTML, removed or deleted and inserted text is marked up with the <del> and <ins> element types, respectively. However, legacy element types <s> or <strike> and <u> are still also available for stricken and underlined spans of text.
Language Code
|
DokuWiki | Jira | Markdown | Org-mode | Setext | Texy! | TiddlyWiki | txt2tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_underline_
|
No | No | Optional | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
__underline__
|
Yes | No | Optional | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
+underline+
|
No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
++underline++
|
No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
AsciiDoc, ATX, Creole, MediaWiki, PmWiki, reST, Slack, Textile and WhatsApp do not support dedicated markup for underlining text. Textile does, however, support insertion via the +inserted+ syntax.
Language Code
|
Jira | Markdown | Org-mode | Slack | Textile | Texy | TiddlyWiki | txt2tags | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
~stricken~
|
No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
~~stricken~~
|
No | GFM | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
+stricken+
|
No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
-stricken-
|
Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
--stricken--
|
No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
ATX, Creole, MediaWiki, PmWiki, reST and Setext do not support dedicated markup for striking through text.
DokuWiki supports HTML-like <del>stricken</del> syntax, even with embedded HTML disabled.
AsciiDoc supports stricken text through a built-in text span[c] prefix: [.line-through]#stricken#.
Programming syntax
Quoted computer code is traditionally presented in typewriter-like fonts where each character occupies the same fixed width. HTML offers the semantic <code> and the deprecated, presentational <tt> element types for this task.
| Code | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth | Template:Verth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
@code@
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
@@code@@
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
`code`
|
Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
``code``
|
Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
```code```
|
No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes/No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
=code=
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
~code~
|
No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
+code+
|
Yes/No[b] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
++code++
|
Yes/No[b] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
{{code}}
|
No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
{{{code}}}
|
No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
|code|
|
No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
;;code;;
|
Mediawiki and Gemtext do not provide lightweight markup for inline code spans.
Heading syntax
Headings are usually available in up to six levels, but the top one is often reserved to contain the same as the document title, which may be set externally. Some documentation may associate levels with divisional types, e.g., part, chapter, section, article or paragraph. This article uses 1 as the top level, but index of heading levels may begin at 1 or 0 in official documentation.
Most LMLs follow one of two styles for headings, either Setext-like underlines or atx-like[51] line markers, or they support both.
Underlined headings
Level 1 Heading =============== Level 2 Heading --------------- Level 3 Heading ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first style uses underlines, i.e., repeated characters (e.g., equals =, hyphen - or tilde ~, usually at least two or four times) in the line below the heading text.
Character Language
|
=
|
-
|
~
|
*
|
#
|
+
|
^
|
_
|
:
|
"
|
'
|
`
|
.
|
Min. length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Rh | AsciiDoc[b] | 1 | 2 | 3 | No | No | 5 | 4 | No | No | No | No | No | No | 2[d] |
| Template:Rh | Markdown | 1 | 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 1 |
| Template:Rh | reStructuredText | Heading structure is determined dynamically from the succession of headings | heading width | ||||||||||||
| Template:Rh | Setext | 1 | 2 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Template:Rh | Texy! | 3 | 4 | No | 2 | 1 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 3 |
Headings may optionally be overline in reStructuredText, in addition to being underlined.
Prefixed headings
# Level 1 Heading ## Level 2 Heading ## ### Level 3 Heading ###
The second style is based on repeated markers (e.g., hash #, equals = or asterisk *) at the start of the heading itself, where the number of repetitions indicates the (sometimes inverse) heading level. Most languages also support the reduplication of the markers at the end of the line, but whereas some make them mandatory, others do not even expect their numbers to match.
Character Language
|
=
|
#
|
*
|
!
|
+
|
Suffix | Levels | Indentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Rh | AsciiDoc | Yes | No | No | No | No | Optional | 1–6 | No |
| Template:Rh | Creole | Yes | No | No | No | No | Optional | 1–6 | No |
| Template:Rh | DokuWiki | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | 6-1 | No |
| Template:Rh | Gemtext | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | 1–3 | No |
| Template:Rh | Markdown | No | Yes | No | No | No | Optional | 1–6 | No |
| Template:Rh | MediaWiki | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | 1–6 | No |
| Template:Rh | Org-mode | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | 1– +∞ | alternative[52][53][54] |
| Template:Rh | PmWiki | No | No | No | Yes | No | Optional | 1–6 | No |
| Template:Rh | Texy! | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Optional | 6–1, dynamic | No |
| Template:Rh | TiddlyWiki | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | 1–6 | No |
| Template:Rh | txt2tags | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | 1–6 | No |
Org-mode supports indentation as a means of indicating the level.
BBCode does not support section headings at all.
POD and Textile choose the HTML convention of numbered heading levels instead.
| Language | Format |
|---|---|
| Template:Rh | POD | =head1 Level 1 Heading =head2 Level 2 Heading |
| Template:Rh | Jira[7], Textile[50] | h1. Level 1 Heading h2. Level 2 Heading h3. Level 3 Heading h4. Level 4 Heading h5. Level 5 Heading h6. Level 6 Heading |
Microsoft Word supports auto-formatting paragraphs as headings if they do not contain more than a handful of words, no period at the end and the user hits the enter key twice. For lower levels, the user may press the tabulator key the according number of times before entering the text, i.e., one through eight tabs for heading levels two through nine.
Link syntax
Hyperlinks can either be added inline, which may clutter the code because of long URLs, or with named alias or numbered id references to lines containing nothing but the address and related attributes and often may be located anywhere in the document.
Most languages allow the author to specify text Text to be displayed instead of the plain address http://example.com and some also provide methods to set a different link title Title which may contain more information about the destination.
LMLs that are tailored for special setups, e.g., wikis or code documentation, may automatically generate named anchors (for headings, functions etc.) inside the document, link to related pages (possibly in a different namespace) or provide a textual search for linked keywords.
Most languages employ (double) square or angular brackets to surround links, but hardly any two languages are completely compatible. Many can automatically recognize and parse absolute URLs inside the text without further markup.
| Languages | Basic syntax | Text syntax | Title syntax |
|---|---|---|---|
| AsciiDoc | http://example.com[Text]
|
http://example.com
|
|
| BBCode, Creole, MediaWiki, PmWiki | |||
| Slack | <http://example.com|Text> |
||
| Textile | "Text":http://example.com
|
"Text (Title)":http://example.com
| |
| Texy! | "Text .(Title)":http://example.com
| ||
| Jira | [http://example.com]
|
[Text|http://example.com]
|
|
| MediaWiki | [http://example.com Text]
|
||
| txt2tags | [Text http://example.com]
|
||
| Creole, MediaWiki, PmWiki, DokuWiki | [[Name]]
|
[[Name|Text]]
|
|
| Org-mode | [[Name][Text]]
|
||
| TiddlyWiki | [[Text|Name]]
|
||
| Creole | [[Namespace:Name]]
|
[[Namespace:Name|Text]]
|
|
| Org-mode | [[Namespace:Name][Text]]
|
||
| Creole, PmWiki | [[http://example.com]]
|
[[http://example.com|Text]]
|
|
| BBCode | [url]http://example.com[/url]
|
[url=http://example.com]Text[/url]
|
|
| Markdown | <http://example.com>
|
[Text](http://example.com)
|
[Text](http://example.com "Title")
|
| reStructuredText | `Text <http://example.com/>`_
|
||
| Gemtext | => gemini://example.com
|
=> gemini://example.com Text
| |
| POD | L<http://example.com/>
|
L</Name>
|
|
| setext | ^.. _Link_name URL
|
||
Gemtext and setext links must be on a line by themselves, they cannot be used inline.
| Languages | Text syntax | Title syntax |
|---|---|---|
| AsciiDoc | … [[id]] …
<<id>>
|
… [[id]] …
<<id,Text>>
|
… anchor:id …
xref:id
|
… anchor:id …
xref:id[Text]
| |
| Markdown | … [Text][id] …
[id]: http://example.com
|
… [Text][id] …
[id]: http://example.com "Title"
|
… [Text][] …
[Text]: http://example.com
|
… [Text][] …
[Text]: http://example.com "Title"
| |
… [Text] …
[Text]: http://example.com
|
… [Text] …
[Text]: http://example.com "Title"
| |
| reStructuredText | … Name_ …
.. _Name: http://example.com
|
|
| setext | … Link_name_ … ^.. _Link_name URL |
|
| Textile | … "Text":alias … [alias]http://example.com |
… "Text":alias … [alias (Title)]http://example.com |
| Texy! | … "Text":alias … [alias]: http://example.com |
… "Text":alias … [alias]: http://example.com .(Title) |
Org-mode's normal link syntax does a text search of the file. You can also put in dedicated targets with <<id>>.
Media and external resource syntax
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| [icon] | This section needs expansion with: comparison table featuring how languages handle embedded images, audio, video and other types of media (e.g., social media links). You can help by Template:Protected page maintenance message. (June 2014) |
List syntax
HTML requires an explicit element for the list, specifying its type, and one for each list item, but most lightweight markup languages need only different line prefixes for the bullet points or enumerated items. Some languages rely on indentation for nested lists, others use repeated parent list markers.
Character Language
|
*
|
-
|
+
|
#
|
.
|
Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | _
|
:
|
Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | nest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Rh | AsciiDoc | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0[e] | ? | repeat or alternate the marker |
| Template:Rh | DokuWiki | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 2+ | 0+ | indent |
| Template:Rh | Gemtext | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0 | 1+ | Template:Screen reader-only |
| Template:Rh | Jira | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0 | 1+ | repeat |
| Template:Rh | Markdown | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0–3 | 1–3 | indent |
| Template:Rh | MediaWiki, TiddlyWiki | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0 | 1+ | repeat |
| Template:Rh | Org-mode | Yes[55] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0+ | indent | |
| Template:Rh | Textile | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0 | 1+ | repeat |
| Template:Rh | Texy! | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 2+ | ? | indent |
Microsoft Word automatically converts paragraphs that start with an asterisk *, hyphen-minus - or greater-than bracket > followed by a space or horizontal tabulator as bullet list items. It will also start an enumerated list for the digit 1 and the case-insensitive letters a (for alphabetic lists) or i (for roman numerals), if they are followed by a period ., a closing round parenthesis ), a greater-than sign > or a hyphen-minus - and a space or tab; in case of the round parenthesis an optional opening one ( before the list marker is also supported.
Languages differ on whether they support optional or mandatory digits in numbered list items, which kinds of enumerators they understand (e.g., decimal digit 1, roman numerals i or I, alphabetic letters a or A) and whether they support to keep explicit values in the output format. Some Markdown dialects, for instance, will respect a start value other than 1, but ignore any other explicit value.
Character Language
|
+
|
#
|
-
|
.
|
#1
|
1.
|
1)
|
1]
|
1}
|
(1)
|
[1]
|
{1}
|
Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | Page Template:Tooltip/styles.css has no content.Template:Encodefirst | nest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Rh | AsciiDoc | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes[f] | 0[e] | ? | repeat or alternate the marker | |||
| Template:Rh | DokuWiki | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 2+ | 0+ | indent |
| Template:Rh | Jira, MediaWiki, Textile, TiddlyWiki | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0 | 1+ | repeat |
| Template:Rh | Markdown | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | 0–3 | 1–3 | indent |
| Template:Rh | Org-mode | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Optional | No | No | 0+ | indent | ||
| Template:Rh | Texy! | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Only with ) delimiter |
No | Only with ) delimiter |
2+ | ? | indent | |
Slack assists the user in entering enumerated and bullet lists, but does not actually format them as such, i.e., it just includes a leading digit followed by a period and a space or a bullet character • in front of a line.
| Languages | Term being defined | Definition of the term |
|---|---|---|
| AsciiDoc | Term::
|
No specific requirements; may be mixed with ordered or unordered lists, with nesting optional |
Term::::
| ||
Term;;
| ||
| MediaWiki | ; Term
|
: Definition
|
| Textile | ||
| TiddlyWiki | ||
| Texy! | Term: - Definition | |
| Org-mode | - Term :: Definition
| |
Quotation syntax
Page Module:Message box/ambox.css has no content.
| [icon] | This section needs expansion with: differentiation between in-line and block quotes, and any handling for attribution. You can help by Template:Protected page maintenance message. (June 2014) |
Table syntax
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| [icon] | This section needs expansion with: Cell, Row, Column, Header, Caption. You can help by Template:Protected page maintenance message. (June 2014) |
Historical formats
The following lightweight markup languages, while similar to some of those already mentioned, have not yet been added to the comparison tables in this article:
- EtText:[56]Template:R/superscript circa 2000.
- Grutatext:[57]Template:R/superscript circa 2002.
See also
- Comparison of document-markup languages
- Comparison of documentation generators
- Lightweight programming language
Notes
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- ^ JTexy has full compatibility with Texy! 1.0 syntax and some compatibility with 2.0+.
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
asciidoctor-deprecationwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Text spans in AsciiDoc are termed quoted text attributes in legacy implementations.
- ^ Width of title ± 2 characters
- ^ a b Indenting by a single whitepace in AsciiDoc will preformat the text of that line.
- ^ The modern language specification only supports a full stop as a delimiter for any ordered list. In the legacy AsciiDoc.py syntax, only a right parenthesis was acceptable for either lower alpha or Roman numerals.
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."AsciiDoc ChangeLog". Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WikiCreole Versions". Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."djot". Retrieved 2023-08-26.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."djot 0.1.0". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."DokuWiki old_changes". Retrieved 2024-11-26.
- ^ https://github.com/LukeEmmet/html2gemini
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jira. "Text Formatting Notation Help". Atlassian. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Markdown". Aaron Swartz: The Weblog. 2004-03-19.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Daring Fireball: Markdown". Archived from the original on 2004-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."PHP Markdown Extra". Michel Fortin. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."PHP Markdown: History". Michel Fortin. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."MediaWiki history". Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ a b c Pandoc Script error: No such module "webarchive"., which is written in Haskell, parses Markdown (in two forms), ReStructuredText, HTML, and LaTeX; it writes from any of these formats to HTML, RTF, LaTeX, ConTeXt, OpenDocument, EPUB, PDF (via LaTeX), and several other formats.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Org mode for Emacs – Your Life in Plain Text". orgmode.org. OrgMode team. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."PmWiki Cookbook - Export addons". Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."An Introduction to reStructuredText". Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."TidBITS in new format". TidBITS. 1992-01-06. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Slack Help Center > Using Slack > Send messages > Format your messages". Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Slack API documentation: Basic message formatting". Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Textism › Tools › Textile". textism.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2002.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."What is Texy". Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."History of TiddlyWiki". tiddlywiki.com.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Html2wiki txt2tags module". MetaCPAN. cpan.org. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Txt2tags User Guide". Txt2tags.org. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."txt2tags changelog". Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WhatsApp FAQ: Formatting your messages". Retrieved 2017-11-21.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Txt2tags User Guide". Txt2tags.org. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."DokuWiki Tips htmltowiki". Retrieved 2024-11-26.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."DokuWiki FAQ html". Retrieved 2024-11-26.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Converters". WikiCreole. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ pegdown: A Java library for Markdown processing
- ^ a b gfms: Github Flavored Markdown Server
- ^ a b marked: A full-featured markdown parser and compiler, written in JavaScript. Built for speed.
- ^ a b node-gfm: GitHub flavored markdown to HTML converter
- ^ Parsedown: Markdown parser written in PHP
- ^ a b Ciconia: Markdown parser written in PHP
- ^ a b Grip: GitHub Readme Instant Preview
- ^ github-markdown: Self-contained Markdown parser for GitHub
- ^ peg-markdown is an implementation of markdown in C.
- ^ Discount is also an implementation of markdown in C.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Python-Markdown". Github.com. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bruce Williams. "kramdown: Project Info". RubyForge. Archived from the original on 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Via ox-pandoc and pandoc itself". GitHub.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Atlassian. "Confluence 4.0 Editor - What's Changed for Wiki Markup Users (Confluence Wiki Markup is dead)". Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ Docutils is an implementation of ReStructuredText in Python
- ^ Sphinx is an implementation of ReStructuredText in Python and Docutils with a number of output format Builders
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Aurelio Jargas www.aurelio.net (2012-01-11). "txt2tags". txt2tags. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."txt2tags.class.php - online convertor [sic]". Txt2tags.org. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Markdown Syntax". Daringfireball.net. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
- ^ a b Textile Syntax Script error: No such module "webarchive".
- ^ "atx, the true structured text format" by Aaron Swartz (2002)
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Org Manual: section "A Cleaner Outline View"". Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."using org-adapt-indentation".
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."using org-indent-mode or org-indent".
- ^ Footnote in official manual "When using ‘*’ as a bullet, lines must be indented so that they are not interpreted as headlines. Also, when you are hiding leading stars to get a clean outline view, plain list items starting with a star may be hard to distinguish from true headlines. In short: even though ‘*’ is supported, it may be better to not use it for plain list items."
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."EtText: Documentation: Using EtText". ettext.taint.org. Retrieved 2022-06-30. originally from the WebMake[1] project.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Un naufragio personal: The Grutatxt markup". triptico.com. Archived from the original on 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-06-30. Public domain format (since version 2.20); originally used in the Gruta CMS system.
External links
- Page Template:Sister-inline/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Sister project logo". Curl at Wikibooks
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found.