Intermediate

Extended Markdown Syntax

Go beyond the basics with tables, task lists, footnotes, emoji, math equations, Mermaid diagrams, and other advanced formatting options.

💡

Compatibility note: Extended syntax features are not part of the original Markdown specification. Support varies by platform. GitHub, GitLab, Obsidian, and most modern tools support most of these features, but always test on your target platform.

Tables

Markdown

# Basic table
| Name    | Role       | Location |
|---------|------------|----------|
| Alice   | Developer  | NYC      |
| Bob     | Designer   | London   |
| Charlie | Manager    | Tokyo    |

# Column alignment
| Left    | Center     | Right    |
|:--------|:----------:|---------:|
| aligned | aligned    | aligned  |
| left    | center     | right    |

Task Lists

Markdown

- [x] Write introduction
- [x] Add code examples
- [ ] Review and edit
- [ ] Publish to website

# Nested task lists
- [x] Phase 1
  - [x] Research
  - [x] Planning
- [ ] Phase 2
  - [x] Development
  - [ ] Testing

Footnotes

Markdown

This claim needs a source[^1].
Here is another referenced point[^note].

[^1]: Source: Journal of AI Research, 2025.
[^note]: This is a longer footnote that can
    span multiple lines with proper indentation.

Definition Lists

Markdown

Term 1
: Definition of term 1.

Term 2
: First definition of term 2.
: Second definition of term 2.

Emoji

Markdown

# Shortcode syntax (GitHub, Slack, Discord)
:smile:  :rocket:  :thumbsup:  :warning:
:heart:  :star:    :fire:      :bug:
:white_check_mark:  :x:  :bulb:  :memo:

# Or paste Unicode emoji directly
Great work! 🚀 ⭐ 🔥

Subscript and Superscript

Markdown

# Subscript (limited support)
H~2~O is water.

# Superscript (limited support)
E = mc^2^

# HTML fallback (works everywhere)
H<sub>2</sub>O and E = mc<sup>2</sup>

Highlight

Markdown

# Highlight text (limited support)
This is ==highlighted text== in Markdown.

# HTML fallback
This is <mark>highlighted text</mark> in Markdown.

Math Equations (LaTeX)

Markdown

# Inline math
The equation $E = mc^2$ is famous.

# Block math
$$
\frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}
$$

# Summation
$$
\sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i = x_1 + x_2 + \cdots + x_n
$$

# Matrix
$$
\begin{pmatrix}
a & b \\
c & d
\end{pmatrix}
$$

Diagrams with Mermaid

Mermaid is a diagram language supported by GitHub, GitLab, Obsidian, and many other platforms. You write diagrams as code inside fenced code blocks.

Mermaid Flowchart

```mermaid
graph TD
    A[User Query] --> B{RAG System}
    B --> C[Embed Query]
    B --> D[Search Vector DB]
    D --> E[Retrieve Documents]
    E --> F[Generate Response]
    C --> D
```

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    User->>App: Send message
    App->>API: Call Claude
    API->>App: Stream response
    App->>User: Display answer
```

Markdown

# Manual table of contents using links

## Table of Contents

- [Introduction](#introduction)
- [Getting Started](#getting-started)
  - [Installation](#installation)
  - [Configuration](#configuration)
- [Usage](#usage)
- [FAQ](#faq)

# The links use lowercase, hyphenated heading text
# "Getting Started" becomes #getting-started

Extended Syntax Support

Feature	GitHub	GitLab	Obsidian	VS Code
Tables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Task Lists	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Footnotes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Extension
Emoji Shortcodes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Extension
Math (LaTeX)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Extension
Mermaid Diagrams	Yes	Yes	Plugin	Extension
Highlight	No	No	Yes	Extension