Incubator escapee wiki

Lightweight markup language

Article Discussion

Template:Short description

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }}

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. Lightweight markup languages are used in applications where it may be necessary to read the raw document as well as 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 application for such languages is to provide for data entry in web-based publishing, such as 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.

HistoryEdit

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.

TypesEdit

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.Template:Clarify

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. Template:Expand section


Comparison of language featuresEdit

Comparing language features
Language HTML export tool HTML import tool Tables Link titles class attribute id attribute Release date
Template:Rh | AsciiDoc Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | BBCode Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No 1998
Template:Rh | Creole Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Djot Template:Yes Template:Yes<ref name="djot">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | DokuWiki Template:Yes Template:Yes-no Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes-no Template:Yes-no citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Gemtext Template:Yes Template:Dunno Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No 2020
Template:Rh | GitHub Flavored Markdown Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No 2011-04-28+
Template:Rh | Jira Formatting Notation Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Markdown Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes-no Template:Yes-no citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref name="gruber-2004-release">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Markdown Extra Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | MediaWiki Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | MultiMarkdown Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No 2009-07-13
Template:Rh | Org-mode Template:Yes Template:Yes<ref name="pandoc">Pandoc, which is written in Haskell, parses Markdown (in two forms) and ReStructuredText, as well as HTML and LaTeX; it writes from any of these formats to HTML, RTF, LaTeX, ConTeXt, OpenDocument, EPUB and several other formats, including (via LaTeX) PDF.</ref> Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | PmWiki Template:Yes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes 2002-01
Template:Rh | POD Template:Yes Template:Dunno Template:No Template:Yes Template:Dunno Template:Dunno 1994
Template:Rh | reStructuredText Template:Yes Template:Yes<ref name="pandoc" /> Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes-No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | setext Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Slack Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref name="slack-api">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Textile Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | Texy Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | TiddlyWiki Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | txt2tags Template:Yes Template:Yes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Yes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Yes Template:Yes-no Template:Yes-no citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | WhatsApp Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DokuWiki does not support HTML import natively, but HTML to DokuWiki converters and importers exist and are mentioned in the official documentation.<ref name="DokuWiki Tips htmltowiki">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="DokuWiki FAQ html">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In later versions, HTML code support can be achieved through plugins, though it is discouraged.<ref name="DokuWiki FAQ html"></ref>

Comparison of implementation featuresEdit

Template:Sort-under

Comparing implementations, especially output formats
Language Implementations XHTML Con/LaTeX PDF DocBook ODF EPUB DOC(X) Template:Abbr Other License
Template:Rh | AsciiDoc Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Java Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:N/a Man page, etc. GNU GPL, MIT
Template:Rh | BBCode Perl, PHP, C#, Python, Ruby Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a Public Domain
Template:Rh | Creole PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

colspan="9" Template:Varies CC_BY-SA 1.0
Template:Rh | Djot Lua (originally), JavaScript, Prolog, Rust<ref name="djot" /> Template:Yes Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Man page, S5 etc. MIT
Template:Rh rowspan=2| GitHub Flavored Markdown Haskell (Pandoc) Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes AsciiDoc, reST OPML GPL
Java,<ref name="pegdown">pegdown: A Java library for Markdown processing</ref> JavaScript,<ref name="gfms">gfms: Github Flavored Markdown Server</ref><ref name="marked">marked: A full-featured markdown parser and compiler, written in JavaScript. Built for speed.</ref><ref name="node-gfm">node-gfm: GitHub flavored markdown to HTML converter</ref> PHP,<ref name="parsedown">Parsedown: Markdown parser written in PHP</ref><ref name="ciconia">Ciconia: Markdown parser written in PHP</ref> Python,<ref name="grip">Grip: GitHub Readme Instant Preview</ref> Ruby<ref name="github-markdown">github-markdown: Self-contained Markdown parser for GitHub</ref> Template:Yes<ref name="gfms" /><ref name="marked" /><ref name="node-gfm" /><ref name="ciconia" /><ref name="grip" /> Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a Proprietary
Template:Rh | Markdown Perl (originally), C,<ref>peg-markdown is an implementation of markdown in C.</ref><ref>Discount is also an implementation of markdown in C.</ref> Python,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> JavaScript, Haskell,<ref name="pandoc" /> Ruby,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref> C#, Java, PHP

Template:Yes Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Template:Yes-No Man page, S5 etc. BSD-style & GPL (both)
Template:Rh | Markdown Extra PHP (originally), Python, Ruby Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a BSD-style & GPL (both)
Template:Rh | MediaWiki Perl, PHP, Haskell, Python Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a GNU GPL
Template:Rh | MultiMarkdown C, Perl Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:N/a OPML GPL, MIT
Template:Rh | Org-mode Emacs Lisp, Ruby (parser only), Perl, OCaml Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes<ref name="Via ox-pandoc and pandoc itself">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> || Template:Yes<ref name="Via ox-pandoc and pandoc itself"/>

Markdown TXT, XOXO, iCalendar, Texinfo, man, contrib: groff, s5, deck.js, Confluence Wiki Markup,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> TaskJuggler, RSS, FreeMind

GPL
Template:Rh | PmWiki PHP Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a GNU GPL
Template:Rh | POD Perl Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:N/a Man page, plain text Artistic License, Perl's license
Template:Rh | reStructuredText Python,<ref>Docutils is an implementation of ReStructuredText in Python</ref><ref>Sphinx is an implementation of ReStructuredText in Python and Docutils with a number of output format Builders</ref> Haskell (Pandoc), Java, Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:N/a man, S5, Devhelp, QT Help, CHM, JSON Public Domain
Template:Rh | Textile PHP, JavaScript, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, ASP, C#, Haskell Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a Textile License
Template:Rh | Texy! PHP, C#, Java Template:Efn Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:N/a Template:N/a GNU GPL v2 License
Template:Rh | txt2tags Python,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> PHP<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Creole, AsciiDoc, MediaWiki, MoinMoin, PmWiki, DokuWiki, Google Code Wiki roff, man, MagicPoint, Lout, PageMaker, ASCII Art, TXT GPL

Comparison of lightweight markup language syntaxEdit

Inline span syntaxEdit

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 a single character as prefix and suffix, other need doubled or even tripled ones or support both with slightly different meaning, e.g. different levels of emphasis.

Comparison of text formatting syntax
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:N/A Template:N/A ```alt text
monospace 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<ref name="markdown_syntax">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

**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<ref name="textile_syntax">Textile Syntax Template:Webarchive</ref> *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 syntaxEdit

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.

Italic type or normal emphasis
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* Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No
**italic** Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
_italic_ Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes
__italic__ Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
'italic' Template:Yes-noTemplate:Efn Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
''italic'' Template:Yes-noTemplate:Efn Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
/italic/ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
//italic// Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No
~italic~ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
Bold face or strong emphasis
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* Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes
**bold** Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No
__bold__ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
''bold'' Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
'''bold''' Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No

Editorial syntaxEdit

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.

Underlined or inserted text
Template:Diagonal split header DokuWiki Jira Markdown Org-mode Setext TiddlyWiki txt2tags
_underline_ Template:No Template:No Template:Optional Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
__underline__ Template:Yes Template:No Template:Optional Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes
+underline+ Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No

AsciiDoc, ATX, Creole, MediaWiki, PmWiki, reST, Slack, Textile, Texy! and WhatsApp do not support dedicated markup for underlining text. Textile does, however, support insertion via the +inserted+ syntax.

Strike-through or deleted text
Template:Diagonal split header Jira Markdown Org-mode Slack Textile TiddlyWiki txt2tags WhatsApp
~stricken~ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes
~~stricken~~ Template:No Template:Yes-no Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
+stricken+ Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
-stricken- Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No
--stricken-- Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No

ATX, Creole, MediaWiki, PmWiki, reST, Setext and Texy! do not support dedicated markup for striking through text.

DokuWiki supports HTML-like <del>stricken</del> syntax, even with embedded HTML disabled.

AsciiDoc supports striken text through a built-in text spanTemplate:Efn prefix: [.line-through]#stricken#.

Programming syntaxEdit

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.

Monospaced font, teletype text or code
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@ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
@@code@@ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
`code` Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No
``code`` Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No
```code``` Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes-no Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes
=code= Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
~code~ Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
+code+ Template:Yes-noTemplate:Efn Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
++code++ Template:Yes-noTemplate:Efn Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
{{code}} Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
{{{code}}} Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
|code| Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No
;;code;;

Mediawiki and Gemtext do not provide lightweight markup for inline code spans.

Heading syntaxEdit

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<ref>"atx, the true structured text format" by Aaron Swartz (2002)</ref> line markers, or they support both.

Underlined headingsEdit

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.

Underlined heading levels
Template:Diagonal split header = - ~ * # + ^ _ : " ' ` . Min. length
Template:Rh | AsciiDocTemplate:Efn Template:Yes-no Template:Yes-no Template:Yes-no Template:No Template:No Template:Yes-no Template:Yes-no Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 2Template:Efn
Template:Rh | Markdown Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 1
Template:Rh | reStructuredText colspan="13" Template:Yes heading width
Template:Rh | Setext Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Dunno
Template:Rh | Texy! Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 3

Headings may optionally be overline in reStructuredText, in addition to being underlined.

Prefixed headingsEdit

# 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.

Line prefix (and suffix) headings
Template:Diagonal split header = # * ! + Suffix Levels Indentation
Template:Rh | AsciiDoc Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Optional 1–6 Template:No
Template:Rh | Creole Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Optional 1–6 Template:No
Template:Rh | DokuWiki Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes 6-1 Template:No
Template:Rh | Gemtext Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Dunno 1–3 Template:No
Template:Rh | Markdown Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Optional 1–6 Template:No
Template:Rh | MediaWiki Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes 1–6 Template:No
Template:Rh | Org-mode Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No 1– +∞ Template:Yes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Rh | PmWiki Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Optional 1–6 Template:No
Template:Rh | Texy! Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Optional 6–1, dynamic Template:No
Template:Rh | TiddlyWiki Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No 1–6 Template:No
Template:Rh | txt2tags Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes 1–6 Template: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.

Other heading formats
Language Format
Template:Rh | POD 
=head1 Level 1 Heading
=head2 Level 2 Heading
Template:Rh | Textile,<ref name="textile_syntax"/> Jira<ref name="jira"/> 
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 syntaxEdit

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.

Hyperlink syntax
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.

Reference syntax
Languages Text syntax Title syntax
AsciiDoc <syntaxhighlight lang="md">… id …

<<id>></syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… id …

<<id,Text>></syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… anchor:id …

xref:id</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… anchor:id …

xref:id[Text]</syntaxhighlight>

Markdown <syntaxhighlight lang="md">… [Text][id] …

[id]: http://example.com</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… [Text][id] …

[id]: http://example.com "Title"</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… [Text][] …

[Text]: http://example.com</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… [Text][] …

[Text]: http://example.com "Title"</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… [Text] …

[Text]: http://example.com</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="md">… [Text] …

[Text]: http://example.com "Title"</syntaxhighlight>

reStructuredText <syntaxhighlight lang="rest">… Name_ …

.. _Name: http://example.com</syntaxhighlight>

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 syntaxEdit

Template:Expand section

List syntaxEdit

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.

Template:Sort-under

Unordered, bullet list items
Template:Diagonal split header * - + # . Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip _ : Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip nest
Template:Rh | AsciiDoc Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0Template:Efn Template:Dunno repeat or alternate the marker
Template:Rh | DokuWiki Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 2+ 0+ indent
Template:Rh | Gemtext Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0 1+ Template:N/a
Template:Rh | Jira Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0 1+ repeat
Template:Rh | Markdown Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0–3 1–3 indent
Template:Rh | MediaWiki, TiddlyWiki Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0 1+ repeat
Template:Rh | Org-mode Template:Yes-no Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0+ indent
Template:Rh | Textile Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0 1+ repeat
Template:Rh | Texy! Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 2+ Template:Dunno 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.

Template:Sort-under

Ordered, enumerated list items
Template:Diagonal split header + # - . #1 1. 1) 1] 1} (1) [1] {1} Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip nest
Template:Rh | AsciiDoc Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No colspan="4" Template:YesTemplate:Efn 0Template:Efn Template:Dunno repeat or alternate the marker
Template:Rh | DokuWiki Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 2+ 0+ indent
Template:Rh | Jira, MediaWiki, Textile, TiddlyWiki Template:No Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0 1+ repeat
Template:Rh | Markdown Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No 0–3 1–3 indent
Template:Rh | Org-mode Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No colspan="2" Template:Optional Template:No Template:No 0+ indent
Template:Rh | Texy! Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No Template:No colspan="2" Template:Yes-no Template:No Template:Yes-no 2+ Template:Dunno 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.

Labeled, glossary, description/definition list syntax
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
Texy! 
Term:
    - Definition
TiddlyWiki 
; Term
: Definition
Org-mode - Term :: Definition

Quotation syntaxEdit

Template:Expand section

Table syntaxEdit

Template:Expand section


Historical formatsEdit

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:

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

Template:Notelist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Markup languages

de:Auszeichnungssprache#Lightweight Markup Language

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Lightweight_markup_language&oldid=460618"