Some Examples of Headers

Headers may be written in two different styles, setext headers which are marked up with "underscores", and ATX headers which are marked up with hash marks ("#").

1. Setext headers are denoted with "underscores" (actually, at least 3 equal signs or dashes on the next line of text). The text line of a setext header must usually be preceded by a blank line, it cannot "interrupt" another container.

   Written:

   Header 1
   ========
   Header 2
   ---

   Rendered:

   Header 1

   Header 2

   summarize

   After a code fence —

   After a theme break

   (Rules for finding the beginning of a setext header differ slightly between flexmark, pegdown, and pandoc.)

   In flexmark, no preceding blank line is needed at the beginning of a document or the beginning of a blockquote. Likewise, no preceding blank line is needed where the preceding container has closed after a code fence or after a theme break). Oddly, a setext header cannot be the first element in a list item, but can appear in a later paragraph within the list item.

   • item 1

     Header 2 —

2. ATX headers are denoted with "hash" marks ("#") and a space, before the header text. Up to six levels of headers are supported in HTML. No preceding blank line required in this style.

   Written:

   # Header 1
   ## Header 2
   ### Header 3
   #### Header 4
   ##### Header 5
   ###### Header 6
   ####### not header 7

   Rendered:

   Header 1

   Header 2

   Header 3

   Header 4

   Header 5

   Header 6

   not header 7

3. Headers may appear within
   • Blockquotes. Written:

   > ### Quoted header

    Rendered:

   Quoted header

   • Lists, written: ~~~

• Item 1

• Item 2

  ~~~ Rendered:

  • Item 1

• Item 2