Markdown Syntax

Pourdown is a full Markdown editor, not just an import tool. This page lists every Markdown syntax feature the editor actually renders and round-trips today, grouped the way you'd expect from a Markdown reference. Each entry shows the raw syntax and what it produces.

Headings

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

All six levels are supported.

Emphasis

**bold** or __bold__
*italic* or _italic_
~~strikethrough~~
`inline code`
==highlight==
~subscript~
^superscript^

<mark>, <sub>, and <sup> HTML tags also work as input and are normalized to the ==/~/^ shorthand above when the document is saved.

Line breaks

A single newline within a paragraph renders as a visible line break (Typora/GFM style) — you don't need a trailing double-space or a blank line to break a line.

Blockquotes

> A quoted line.
> Another line in the same quote.

Lists

- Bullet item
- Another item
  - Nested item

1. Ordered item
2. Another ordered item

- [ ] An unchecked task
- [x] A checked task
  - [ ] A nested task

Bullet lists (-, *, +), ordered lists, and nested/checkable task lists are all supported.

Horizontal rule

---

Code blocks

```js
function hello() {
  console.log("hello");
}
```

Fenced code blocks render with syntax highlighting for ~30 languages (JS/TS, Python, Rust, Go, C/C++, C#, Kotlin, shell, YAML, and more), including common aliases (js, py, rb, sh, rs, yml, …).

Mermaid diagrams

```mermaid
graph TD
  A[Start] --> B[End]
```

A fenced block with language mermaid (or mmd) renders as a live diagram instead of highlighted text.

Math

Inline math: $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$

Block math:

$$
\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}
$$

Both inline ($...$) and block ($$...$$) math render live via KaTeX. A fenced ```math, ```latex, or ```tex code block also renders as display math. Ordinary currency like $5 and $10 is left alone — it isn't mistaken for math.

Tables

| Name  | Role    |
| :---- | :-----: |
| Ada   | Engineer |
| Grace | Admiral  |

GFM pipe tables are supported, including left/center/right column alignment.

Links and images

[Pourdown](https://github.com/passpier/Pourdown "tooltip")

![Alt text](./assets/screenshot.png "optional title")

Bare URLs (e.g. https://example.com typed directly in text) are also auto-linked as you type.

Definition lists

Term
: Definition text.

Second term
: First definition.
: Second definition.

A blank line is required between separate terms — without one, the second term is read as a continuation of the first definition (standard Markdown paragraph rules), not a new term. A literal <dl>/<dt>/<dd> HTML block also still works, as raw HTML.

Footnotes

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

[^1]: This is the footnote text.

Footnote references and definitions are supported, with click-to-jump navigation between the two.

YAML front matter

---
title: My Document
tags: [notes, draft]
---

Front matter at the top of a document is preserved and editable as a yaml code block.

Inline HTML

Press <kbd>Cmd</kbd> + <kbd>S</kbd> to save.

<mark>Highlighted text</mark>

H<sub>2</sub>O and E = mc<sup>2</sup>

<u>Underlined text</u>

<abbr title="World Health Organization">WHO</abbr>

<small>Fine print</small>

Pourdown recognizes <kbd>, <mark> (highlight), <sub>, <sup>, <u> / <ins> (underline), <abbr title="...">, and <small> as inline formatting. Other block-level HTML (e.g. <div>, <details>) passes through as raw HTML.

Smart typography

As you type, -- becomes an en dash, ... becomes an ellipsis (…), (c) becomes ©, and similar common substitutions are applied automatically.

Emoji

Have a nice day :smile:!

Shortcodes are converted to the Unicode emoji character (😄) as you type or on import. This is one-way: the document is saved with the emoji character itself, not the :smile: shortcode.

Not yet supported

This is common in other Markdown editors but isn't implemented in Pourdown yet — tracked here as a future plan rather than documented as working:

• Syntax highlighting in Source mode (Source mode is currently plain text)