Blockquotes, Horizontal Rules & Escaping

~10 min · markdown, blockquotes, escaping

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Quoting, dividing, and escaping

Blockquotes prefix lines with >. They can nest (>>) and can contain any Markdown — headings, lists, code blocks, even other blockquotes. Use them for citations, callouts, and quoted dialogue.

Horizontal rules are three or more -, *, or _ on a line by themselves. They produce an <hr> element. Spaces between the characters are allowed (- - -).

Escaping special characters

Precede any Markdown special character with a backslash to display it literally. The full set: \ ` * _ { } [ ] ( ) # + - . ! |. If you've ever typed 5*5*5 and gotten weird italics, this is your fix: 5\*5\*5.

HR vs front matter: three dashes (---) at the very top of a file is usually parsed as the start of YAML front matter, not as a horizontal rule. Put your first HR after at least one paragraph of content.

Code

Blockquotes (nested + with content)·markdown

> This is a blockquote.
> It can span multiple lines.
>
> Multiple paragraphs inside a quote.

> Nested blockquotes:
>> Second level
>>> Third level

> ## Heading inside a quote
> - List inside a quote
> - Works fine

Horizontal rules (six valid forms)·markdown

---
***
___

- - -
* * *
_ _ _

Escaping·markdown

\* Not italic \*
\# Not a heading
\[Not a link\](not-a-url)
\- Not a list item

Special characters: \ ` * _ { } [ ] ( ) # + - . ! |

External links

Exercise

Write a Markdown 'reading note' file: a quote in a blockquote, your two reactions as bullet points inside the same blockquote, an HR, and below it your own response paragraph. Force yourself to escape at least one literal asterisk in the response. This locks in three syntaxes at once.

Blockquotes, Horizontal Rules & Escaping

Quoting, dividing, and escaping

Escaping special characters

Code

External links

Exercise

Progress

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