Editing Lightweight markup language (section)

=== Inline span syntax ===
Although usually documented as yielding italic and bold text, most lightweight markup processors output semantic HTML elements <code>em</code> and <code>strong</code> instead. Monospaced text may either result in semantic <code>code</code> or presentational <code>tt</code> 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.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Comparison of text formatting syntax
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | HTML output
!width="20%"| <code>&lt;strong>strongly emphasized&lt;/strong></code> 
!width="20%"| <code>&lt;em>emphasized text&lt;/em></code> 
!width="20%"| <code>&lt;code>code&lt;/code></code> 
! semantic
|-
! <code>&lt;b>bold text&lt;/b></code> 
! <code>&lt;i>italic text&lt;/i></code> 
! <code>&lt;tt>monospace text&lt;/tt></code> 
! presentational
|-
|rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[AsciiDoc]]
|rowspan=2| <code><nowiki>*bold&nbsp;text*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_italic&nbsp;text_</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>`monospace&nbsp;text`</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2| Can double operators to apply formatting where there is no word boundary (for example <code><nowiki>**b**old t**ex**t</nowiki></code> yields '''b'''old t'''ex'''t).
|-
| {{varies|<code><nowiki>'italic&nbsp;text'</nowiki></code>{{efn|name=asciidoctor-deprecation|Deprecated in Asciidoctor 2.0; versions after this represent the current rendition of the language and are aligned to the standard which is still being produced as of April 2025. This syntax [https://docs.asciidoctor.org/asciidoctor/latest/migrate/upgrade/ remains available through a compatibility mode].|group=asciidoc}}}}
| {{varies|<code><nowiki>+monospace&nbsp;text+</nowiki></code>{{efn|name=asciidoctor-deprecation}}}}
|-
! {{rh}} | [[BBCode]]
| <code><nowiki>[b]bold&nbsp;text[/b]</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>[i]italic&nbsp;text[/i]</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>[code]monospace&nbsp;text[/code]</nowiki></code>
| Formatting works across line breaks.
|-
! {{rh}} | [[Creole (markup)|Creole]]
| <code><nowiki>**bold text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>//italic text//</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>{{{monospace text}}}</nowiki></code>
| Triple curly braces are for ''nowiki'' which is optionally monospace.
|-
! {{rh}} | Djot
| <code><nowiki>*bold&nbsp;text*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_italic text_</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>`monospace text`</nowiki></code>
| 
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[DokuWiki]]
|rowspan=2 | <code><nowiki>**bold&nbsp;text**</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2 | <code><nowiki>//italic&nbsp;text//</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki><code>code</code></nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2 |
|-
| <code><nowiki>''monospace&nbsp;text''</nowiki></code>
|-
! {{rh}} | [[Gemtext]]
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
| <code><nowiki>```</nowiki>alt text<br/>monospace text<br/><nowiki>```</nowiki></code>
| Text immediately following the first three backticks is alt-text.
|-
! {{rh}} | [[Jira (software)|Jira Formatting Notation]]
| <code><nowiki>*bold&nbsp;text*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_italic text_</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>{{monospace&nbsp;text}}</nowiki></code>
| 
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[Markdown]]<ref name="markdown_syntax">{{cite web|url=http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax |title=Markdown Syntax |publisher=Daringfireball.net |access-date=2013-10-08}}</ref>
| <code><nowiki>**bold&nbsp;text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>*italic&nbsp;text*</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2| <code><nowiki>`monospace text`</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2| semantic HTML tags
|-
| <code><nowiki>__bold&nbsp;text__</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_italic&nbsp;text_</nowiki></code>
|-
! {{rh}} | [[MediaWiki#Markup|MediaWiki]]
| <code><nowiki>'''bold text'''</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>''italic text''</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki><code>monospace text</code></nowiki></code>
| mostly resorts to inline HTML
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[Org-mode]]
|rowspan=2| <code><nowiki>*bold text*</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2| <code><nowiki>/italic text/</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>=code=</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2|
|-
| <code><nowiki>~verbatim~</nowiki></code>
|-
! {{rh}} | [[PmWiki]]
| <code><nowiki>'''bold text'''</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>''italic text''</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>@@monospace text@@</nowiki></code>
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[Plain Old Documentation|POD]]
| <code><nowiki>B<bold text></nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>I<italic text></nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>C<monospace text></nowiki></code>
| Indented text is also shown as monospaced code.
|-
! {{rh}} | [[reStructuredText]]
| <code><nowiki>**bold text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>*italic text*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>``monospace text``</nowiki></code>
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[Setext]]
| <code><nowiki>**bold text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>~italic text~</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>`monospace text`</nowiki></code>
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[Slack (software)|Slack]]
| <code><nowiki>*bold&nbsp;text*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_italic text_</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>`monospace&nbsp;text`</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>```block of monospaced text```</nowiki></code>
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[Textile (markup language)|Textile]]<ref name="textile_syntax">[http://textile.thresholdstate.com/ Textile Syntax] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812131431/http://textile.thresholdstate.com/ |date=2010-08-12 }}</ref>
| <code><nowiki>*strong*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_emphasis_</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2| <code><nowiki>@monospace text@</nowiki></code>
| semantic HTML tags
|-
| <code><nowiki>**bold&nbsp;text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>__italic&nbsp;text__</nowiki></code>
| presentational HTML tags
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[Texy!]]
|rowspan=2|<code><nowiki>**bold text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>*italic text*</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2|<code><nowiki>`monospace text`</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2| semantic HTML tags by default, optional support for presentational tags
|-
| <code><nowiki>//italic text//</nowiki></code>
|-
!rowspan=2 {{rh}} | [[TiddlyWiki]]
|rowspan=2|<code><nowiki>''bold text''</nowiki></code>
|rowspan=2|<code><nowiki>//italic text//</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>`monospace text`</nowiki></code>
|
|-
| <code><nowiki>``monospace text``</nowiki></code>
|-
! {{rh}} | [[txt2tags]]
| <code><nowiki>**bold text**</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>//italic text//</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>``monospace text``</nowiki></code>
|
|-
! {{rh}} | [[WhatsApp]]
| <code><nowiki>*bold&nbsp;text*</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>_italic text_</nowiki></code>
| <code><nowiki>```monospace&nbsp;text```</nowiki></code>
| 
|}

Gemtext does not have any inline formatting, monospaced text (called preformatted text in the context of Gemtext) must have the opening and closing <code><nowiki>```</nowiki></code> on their own lines.

==== Emphasis syntax ====

In HTML, text is emphasized with the <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;strong&gt;</code> element types, whereas <code>&lt;i&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;b&gt;</code> 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.

<!-- This table is getting very wide, interfering with the Wikipedia sidebar. Maybe this table could be transposed? -->
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Italic type or normal emphasis
|-
| Code
! {{verth|AsciiDoc}} !! {{verth|ATX}} !! {{verth|Creole,<br/>DokuWiki}} !! {{verth|Jira}} !! {{verth|Markdown}} !! {{verth|MediaWiki}} !! {{verth|Org-mode}} !! {{verth|PmWiki}} !! {{verth|{{abbr|reST|reStructuredText}}}} !! {{verth|Setext}} !! {{verth|Slack}} !! {{verth|Textile}} !! {{verth|Texy!}} !! {{verth|TiddlyWiki}} !! {{verth|txt2tags}} !! {{verth|WhatsApp}}
|-
! <code>*italic*</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>**italic**</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>_italic_</code>
| {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}}  
|-
! <code>__italic__</code>
| {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>'italic'</nowiki></code>
| {{yes-no}}{{efn|name=asciidoctor-deprecation}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>''italic''</nowiki></code>
| {{yes-no}}{{efn|name=asciidoctor-deprecation}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>/italic/</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>//italic//</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>~italic~</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Bold face or strong emphasis
|-
| Code
! {{verth|AsciiDoc}} !! {{verth|ATX}} !! {{verth|Creole,<br/>DokuWiki}} !! {{verth|Jira}} !! {{verth|Markdown}} !! {{verth|MediaWiki}} !! {{verth|Org-mode}} !! {{verth|PmWiki}} !! {{verth|{{abbr|reST|reStructuredText}}}} !! {{verth|Setext}} !! {{verth|Slack}} !! {{verth|Textile}} !! {{verth|Texy!}} !! {{verth|TiddlyWiki}} !! {{verth|txt2tags}} !! {{verth|WhatsApp}}
|-
! <code>*bold*</code>
| {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} 
|-
! <code>**bold**</code>
| {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>__bold__</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>''bold''</nowiki></code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>'''bold'''</nowiki></code>
| {{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 <code>&lt;del&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;ins&gt;</code> element types, respectively. However, legacy element types <code>&lt;s&gt;</code> or <code>&lt;strike&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;u&gt;</code> are still also available for stricken and underlined spans of text.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Underlined or inserted text
|-
! {{diagonal split header|Code|Language}}
! DokuWiki !! Jira !! Markdown !! Org-mode !! Setext !! TiddlyWiki !! txt2tags
|-
! <code>_underline_</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{optional}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>__underline__</code>
| {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{optional}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} 
|-
! <code>+underline+</code>
| {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{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 <code>+inserted+</code> syntax.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Strike-through or deleted text
|-
! {{diagonal split header|Code|Language}}
! Jira !! Markdown !! Org-mode !! Slack !! Textile !! TiddlyWiki !! txt2tags !! WhatsApp
|-
! <code>~stricken~</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} 
|-
! <code>~~stricken~~</code>
| {{no}} || {{yes-no|GFM}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>+stricken+</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>-stricken-</code>
| {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>--stricken--</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} ||{{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} 
|}

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

DokuWiki supports HTML-like <code><nowiki><del>stricken</del></nowiki></code> syntax, even with embedded HTML disabled. <!-- I would have added it to the table, but that would make it confusing for languages that do support the syntax but who interpret it as raw HTML instead of native syntax, making the syntax not 'dedicated' -->

AsciiDoc supports striken text through a built-in ''text span''{{efn|''Text spans'' in AsciiDoc are termed ''quoted text attributes'' in legacy implementations.|group=asciidoc}} prefix: <code><nowiki>[.line-through]#stricken#</nowiki></code>.

==== 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>&lt;code&gt;</code> and the deprecated, presentational <code>&lt;tt&gt;</code> element types for this task.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Monospaced font, teletype text or code
|-
| Code
! {{verth|AsciiDoc}} !! {{verth|ATX}} !! {{verth|Creole}} !! {{verth|Gemtext}} !! {{verth|Jira}} !! {{verth|Markdown}} !! {{verth|Org-mode}} !! {{verth|PmWiki}} !! {{verth|{{abbr|reST|reStructuredText}}}} !! {{verth|Slack}} !! {{verth|Textile}} !! {{verth|Texy!}} !! {{verth|TiddlyWiki}} !! {{verth|txt2tags}} !! {{verth|WhatsApp}}
|-
! <code>@code@</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>@@code@@</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>`code`</code>
| {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>``code``</code>
| {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>```code```</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes-no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} 
|-
! <code>=code=</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>~code~</code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>+code+</code>
| {{yes-no}}{{efn|name=asciidoctor-deprecation}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code>++code++</code>
| {{yes-no}}{{efn|name=asciidoctor-deprecation}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>{{code}}</nowiki></code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>{{{code}}}</nowiki></code>
| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
! <code><nowiki>|code|</nowiki></code>
| {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} 
|-
!<code>;;code;;</code>
|
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|}

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