Basic formatting syntax

Fable notes are written in Obsidian Flavored Markdown, a superset of standard Markdown. This page is your cheat sheet for the everyday building blocks: headings, emphasis, lists, tasks, tables, quotes and code. Every example is copy-paste ready.

Quick reference

Headings

Start a line with one to six # characters, followed by a space, then the heading text.

# Top-level heading
## Section
### Subsection

Bold, italic and highlight

*italic* or _italic_
**bold** or __bold__
***bold and italic***
~~strikethrough~~
==highlight==
You can **nest _italic_ inside bold**.

A note on underscores: _ and __ do not create emphasis in the middle of a word (so snake_case stays intact), while * and ** do. Highlight, with ==, is an Obsidian extension and a Fable favorite for marking passages to revisit.

Lists

Start unordered items with -, * or +. Start ordered items with a number and a . or ). Indent to nest.

- Groceries
  - Apples
  - Oats
- Errands

1. Wake up
2. Make coffee
3. Write

• The first ordered item sets the starting number; the rest are renumbered when rendered.
• Leave no blank line between items for a tight list, or add blank lines for a looser, more spaced list.
• To write a line that starts with a number and a period without making a list, escape the period: 1\. Not a list.

Task lists

A task is a list item with a checkbox. Use - [ ] for something to do and - [x] for something done. Click the box in Live Preview or Reading view to toggle it.

- [ ] Draft the outline
- [x] Collect references
- [/] Write the introduction
- [-] Abandoned idea

The bracket holds exactly one character. [x] and [X] mean done; any other single character is a custom status that themes can style distinctly. Common conventions:

The exact look of custom statuses depends on your theme. Only the empty box and x have universal meaning.

Blockquotes

Prefix each line with >. Stack them to nest.

> The palest ink is better than the best memory.
>
> > A nested quote.

A blockquote whose first line begins with [!type] becomes a callout, a colored, titled admonition box. Callouts have their own page: see advanced syntax.

Code

Wrap inline code in single backticks. For a block, fence it with three or more backticks, optionally naming the language for syntax highlighting.

Use `git status` to see changes.

```js
function greet(name) {
  return `Hello, ${name}`;
}
```

• To show a literal backtick inline, wrap it in a longer run of backticks.
• To nest a fenced block inside another, the outer fence must use more backticks than the inner one (four around three).
• An unknown language renders as plain monospaced text.

Tables

Build a table with pipes. A header row, then a delimiter row of hyphens, then body rows. Colons in the delimiter row set column alignment.

| Feature   | Status | Priority |
| :-------- | :----: | -------: |
| Wikilinks | Done   | High     |
| Graph     | Done   | Medium   |

• :-- aligns left, :--: centers, --: aligns right.
• The delimiter row is required; without it the text is not a table.
• Cells hold inline formatting only, not block elements. To put a literal pipe in a cell, escape it as \|. This also matters for wikilink aliases inside tables, written [[Note\|Alias]].

Rules, line breaks and escaping

Three or more -, * or _ on their own line draw a horizontal rule. For line breaks, a single Enter already starts a new line by default; end a line with two spaces or press Shift Enter for an explicit break.

Above the line.

---

Below the line.

To show a character that Markdown would otherwise interpret, put a backslash before it. For example \*not italic\* renders as literal asterisks, and \# keeps a hash from starting a tag or heading.