PmWiki»Text Formatting Rules

Text Formatting Rules

This page provides a more complete list of some of the markup sequences available in PmWiki. Note that it's easy to create and edit pages without using any of the markups below, but if you ever need them, they're here.

To experiment with the rules, please try editing the WikiSandbox.


Paragraphs

  • Do not indent paragraphs using spaces or the tab key, use -> instead.
-> Indentation by using "->", it indents the entire paragraph,
as with a block quote.
Indentation by using "->", it indents the entire paragraph, as with a block quote.

 Indentation by using blank spaces at the left margin creates monospaced text.

For code samples better use [= code goes here =] bracketing (see Escape Sequence below)

You get the monospaced font, and it won't line-wrap. Instead, it will force the page to be as wide as the line is long. In some skins, the text is placed inside of a box with dashed-line border.

  • Words wrap and fill as needed
  • Use blank lines as separators
  • Use \ (single backslash) at the end of a line to join the current line to the next one.
  • Use \\ (two backslashes) at the end of a line to force a line break, but keep the current environment (e.g. stay inside the current list item).
  • Use \\\ (three backslashes) to force a line break and skip a line, keeping the current environment. (Every additional backslash skips another line)


Indented Paragraphs (Quotes)

Arrows (->) at the beginning of a paragraph can be used to produce an indented paragraph. More hyphens at the beginning (--->) produce larger indents.

->Four score and seven years ago our fathers placed upon this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers placed upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Inverted Arrows (-<)at the beginning of a paragraph can be used to produce a paragraph with a hanging indent. Adding hyphens at the beginning (---<) causes all the text to indent.

-<Four score and seven years ago our fathers placed upon this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers placed upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

--<Four score and seven years ago our fathers placed upon this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers placed upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

Bullet lists are made by placing asterisks at the left margin. Numbered lists are made by placing number-signs (#) at the left margin. More asterisks/number-signs increases the level of bullet:

* First-level list item
** Second-level list item
### Order this
#### And this (optional)
### Then this
** Another second-level item
* A first-level item: cooking
## Prepare the experiment
### Unwrap the pop-tart
### Insert the pop-tart into the toaster
## Begin cooking the pop tart
## Stand back
  • First-level list item
    • Second-level list item
      1. Order this
        1. And this (optional)
      2. Then this
    • Another second-level item
  • A first-level item: cooking
    1. Prepare the experiment
      1. Unwrap the pop-tart
      2. Insert the pop-tart into the toaster
    2. Begin cooking the pop tart
    3. Stand back

Also see: Cookbook:OutlineLists and Cookbook:NumberedHeaders


Definition Lists

Definition lists are made by placing colons at the left margin:

:term:definition of term
::second-level item: definition of 2nd-level item
term
definition of term
second-level item
definition of 2nd-level item


Horizontal Line

Four or more dashes (----) at the beginning of a line produce a horizontal line.


Emphasis

  • Enclose text in doubled single-quotes (''text''), i.e., two apostrophes, for emphasis (usually italics)
  • Enclose text in tripled single-quotes ('''text'''), i.e. three apostrophes, for strong emphasis (usually bold)
  • Enclose text in five single-quotes ('''''text'''''), or triples within doubles (five apostrophes), for some other kind of emphasis (usually bold italics)
  • Enclose text in doubled at-signs (@@text@@) for monospace text
  • Use [+large+] for large text, [++larger++] for larger, [-small-] for small text, and [--smaller--] for smaller.
  • Emphasis can be used multiple times within a line, but cannot span across markup line boundaries (i.e., you can't put a paragraph break in the middle of bold text).

Other styling

'+big+', '-small-', '^super^', '_sub_', 

{+insert or underscore+}, 

{-delete or strikethrough or strikeout-}

big, small, super, sub,

insert or underscore,

delete or strikethrough or strikeout

  • `WikiWord WikiWord neutralisation

See also Wiki Styles for advanced text formatting options.


References

  • Use words and phrases in double brackets (e.g., [[text formatting rules]]) to create links to other pages on this wiki.
  • On some PmWiki installations, capitalized words joined together (e.g., WikiWords) can also be used to make references to other pages without needing the double-brackets.
  • Precede URLs with "http:", "ftp:", "gopher:", "mailto:", or "news:" to create links automatically, as in http://www.pmichaud.com/toast.
  • URLs ending with .gif, .jpg, or .png are displayed as images in the page
  • Links with arbitrary text can be created as either [[target | text]] or [[text -> target]]. Text can be an image URL, in which case the image becomes the link to the remote url or WikiWord.
  • Anchor targets within pages (#-links) can be created using [[#target]].


Headings

Headings are made by placing an exclamation mark (!) at the left margin. More exclamation marks increase the level of heading. For example,

! Level 1 Heading
!! Level 2 Heading
!!! Level 3 Heading
!!!! Level 4 Heading

Level 1 Heading

Level 2 Heading

Level 3 Heading

Level 4 Heading


Escape sequence

Anything placed between [= and =] is not interpreted by PmWiki. This makes it possible to turn off special formatting interpretations and neutralise WikiWords that are not links (even easier is to use a tick ` in front, like `WikiWord.

The [= and =] can be applied to multiple input lines, including empty lines. This makes it very useful to enclose lines of code, which will be shown as monospaced font and not interpreted by PmWiki. Just leave an empty space in front of the opening [=, and finish with a closing =]. If there are [=..=] pairs in the code, put after each =] a =][=. example

 [=
Code goes here like [[PmWiki.PmWiki]]
$CurrentTime $[by] $AuthorLink:  [=$ChangeSummary=]=][='; #just some
code
=]
 
Code goes here like [[PmWiki.PmWiki]]
$CurrentTime $[by] $AuthorLink:  [=$ChangeSummary=]'; #just some code


Special Characters


Tables

Tables are defined by enclosing cells with '||'. A cell with leading and trailing spaces is centered; a cell with leading spaces is right-aligned; all other cells are left-aligned. An empty cell will cause the previous cell to span multiple columns. (There is currently no mechanism for spanning multiple rows.) A line beginning with '||' specifies the table attributes for subsequent tables. A '!' as the first character in a cell provides emphasis that can be used to provide headings. This is interesting stuff.

||border=1 width=50%
||!Table||!Heading||!Example||
||!Left   || Center || Right||
||A       ||!  a B   ||     C||
||        || single ||      ||
||        || multi span   ||||

TableHeadingExample
LeftCenterRight
Aa BC
 single 
 multi span


Can't find it here?

See MarkupMasterIndex, SimpleTables, AdvancedTables, or Links.

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