If you’re anything into technical writing, you’re always on the lookout for new ways to optimize your workflow. One of many favorite tools is GitHub Markdown. It’s a simple way to format your text without having to use HTML tags, and it’s supported by most text editors.

But if you’re new to Markdown, it can be a little confusing. That’s why you will need this cheat sheet. It includes all of the basic elements you need to get started with Markdown, and it’s easy to reference when you need a refresher.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

Things You Should Know About GitHub Markdown Cheatsheet

• You want a quick reference.
• You want a showcase that could be used in future use.

List of Markdown Cheat Sheet GitHub

The list of markdowns on GitHub can be used to do various works on your project. Here is the list for you!

1. Table of Contents

You can download it from this post. I’ve included a table of contents below so you can easily navigate through this post.

• Headings
• Text styles
• Syntax Highlighting
• Alignments
• Tables
• Links
• Images
• Lists
• Horizontal Rule
• Diagrams
• Mathematical expressions
• Miscellaneous
• Bitbucket
• Tools

2. Headings

There are several methods for creating headings. To create the desired headings, we can use Markdown, HTML, or another syntax.

First, let’s go over the markdown syntax.

The second option is to use the HTML syntax.

Finally, we can employ a different syntax. This method is only applicable to headings 1 and 2. For heading 1 or heading 2, add any number of = or – below the text.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

3. Text Styles

We can change the styles of texts using markdown syntaxes, such as bold, italic, blockquotes, monospaced, underlined, strike-through, boxed, subscript, and superscript.

To make the text bold, we can use two asterisks (**), underscores ( ), or the HTML tag strong>. We can make the text italic by using one asterisk (*), underscore ( ), or the HTML tag em>. We can also make the text both bold and italic at the same time.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

We can use the greater than sign > to create a blockquote. We can make a single or multiple-line blockquote. Also, use a blockquote within a blockquote. Other text styles, such as bold or italic, can be used inside a blockquote.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

You can achieve monospaced and underlined styles using the HTML tags samp> and ins>. You can use two Tilda signs to create a strike-through style.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

To make a box, we can use the HTML table> tag.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

Using the HTML tags sub> and sup>, we can achieve subscript and superscript styles. It comes in handy when writing a mathematical formula.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

4. Syntax Highlighting

To create the following view, we can use a single backtick ‘ before and after the code block.

The word Class is highlighted, as you can see.

You can also create the following view by using triple backticks “‘ before and after the code block.

To enable syntax highlighting, we can add an optional language identifier. All valid keywords can be found in this and this GitHub document.

Let’s take a look at it on GitHub now.

5. Alignments

We can align README contents by using HTML tags.

Let’s now align some text.

6. Tables

Let’s make a table without any headers.

To make a header table, use dashes to separate each header cell and pipes to separate columns. The outer pipes are not required. To improve readability, we can use as many dashes and spaces as we want.

Columns can be aligned using colons. Use a colon to the left of dashes to left-align text. Use a colon on both sides of the dashes to center-align text. Use a colon to the right of dashes to right-align text. Left align is the default setting.

Display two tables side by side now.

Another example of two tables next to each other.

7. Links

We can establish a link in four ways. The first is to use an inline style. The second employs the reference style, the third employs relative links, and the final employs auto links.

If you use the same link repeatedly, using the reference style is advantageous because you don’t have to write the link every time, and it’s also simple to update the link. You can also use numbers in the reference text. You can also use the reference text as the link text.

We can also make relative links using any of the relative link operands, such as./ and../.

GitHub can generate links from standard URLs automatically.

8. Images

We can add images using the same methods we used to add links.

We can also include an image by using the HTML img tag.

We can also include GIF and SVG files.

9. Lists

We have ordered and unordered lists for lists.

Let’s make an ordered list with sub-items now.

We can use an asterisk, plus, or minus sign to make an unordered list.

Let’s make an unordered list with sub-items now.

We can also make a list using HTML.

Let’s make a task list now. To make a task list, use a hyphen followed by [ ], and to complete a task, place an x inside the brackets.

10. Horizontal Rule

To make a horizontal line, we can use three hyphens, asterisks, or underscores.

11. Diagrams

Mermaid now allows you to include diagrams. Flowcharts, Sequence diagrams, Gantt charts, Class diagrams, State diagrams, Pie charts, User Journey diagrams, and other diagrams are supported. Here’s an illustration of a pie chart. More information is available on GitHub.

12. Mathematical expressions

Mathjax now allows you to include diagrams. More information is available on GitHub. We can use the $ symbol to show inline math expressions and the $$ symbol to show math expressions as a block. An example of an inline math expression is as follows:

Here’s an example of a math expression written as a block:

13. Miscellaneous

We can include comments within.md files.

To escape literal characters, we can use a backslash. Before fleeing.

After escaping.

Emojis can also be included in our.md file.

We can mention someone or a team by typing @ followed by their username or team name.

By typing #, we can also get a list of suggested issues and pull requests from the repository.

14. Bitbucket

Markdown was supported by Bitbucket for READMEs. Make a table of contents as well.

Tools

There are several Markdown tools available to help you create a beautiful GitHub README faster.

1. Create a Markdown table of content — GitHub
2. Create an empty Markdown table — Tablesgenerator
3. Convert Excel to Markdown table — Tableconvert
4. Markdown preview for Sublime Text 3 — Packagecontrol
5. Markdown preview Visual Studio Code — Marketplace

Tips

Congratulations! You now understand how to write an awesome README for your next project. I hope you discovered something new. Examine the official documentation on GitHub now. Have fun coding!