Markdown italics
One asterisk either side gives italic text. A single underscore does the same, with one exception worth knowing about inside words.
italic text
also italic
bold with italic inside
What usually goes wrong
_snake_case_will not italicise the middle: underscores inside words are ignored so identifiers stay intact. Use asterisks if you really mean emphasis there.- A lone asterisk in a sentence, as in
2 * 3, can start an emphasis run that swallows text until the next asterisk. Escape it with\*or wrap the expression in backticks. - Italics in a blockquote or a list item work normally, but only if the markers stay on one line.
Where it behaves differently
| Platform | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Slack | Italic is a single underscore, _italic_. A single asterisk is bold. |
| Discord | Both * and _ work as italic. |
For the .md file that arrives in Mail
A markdown file on a phone is the worst case: no editor, no preview, and a share sheet full of apps that want to import it into a library. The iPhone and iPad app opens it where it landed, renders it, and lets you edit and save it back.
Soon on theApp StoreDigital Sandbox, who are building it →
For iPhone and iPad.