title: Zettelmarkup: Text Formatting
role: manual
tags: #manual #zettelmarkup #zettelstore
syntax: zmk
back: 00001007040000 00001007800000 00001007990000 00001012920513
backward: 00001007040000 00001007050100 00001007800000 00001007990000 00001012920513
box-number: 1
copyright: (c) 2020-present by Detlef Stern <ds@zettelstore.de>
created: 20210126175322
forward: 00001007030800 00001007050000 00001007050100
lang: en
license: EUPL-1.2-or-later
modified: 20231113191353
published: 20231113191353
visibility: public

Text formatting is the way to make your text visually different.
Every text formatting element begins with two same characters.
It ends when these two same characters occur the second time.
It is possible that some [[attributes|00001007050000]] follow immediately, without any separating character.

Text formatting can be nested, up to a reasonable limit.

The following characters begin a text formatting:
* The low line character (""''_''"", U+005F) emphasizes its text.
** Example: ``abc __def__ ghi`` is rendered in HTML as: ::abc __def__ ghi::{="example"}.
* The asterisk character (""''*''"", U+002A) strongly emphasized its enclosed text.
** Example: ``abc **def** ghi`` is rendered in HTML as: ::abc **def** ghi::{="example"}.
* The greater-than sign character (""''>''"", U+003E) marks text as inserted.
** Example: ``abc >>def>> ghi`` is rendered in HTML as: ::abc >>def>> ghi::{="example"}.
* Similar, the tilde character (""''~''"", U+007E) marks deleted text.
** Example: ``abc ~~def~~ ghi`` is rendered in HTML as: ::abc ~~def~~ ghi::{="example"}.
* The circumflex accent character (""''^''"", U+005E) allows to enter super-scripted text.
** Example: ``e=mc^^2^^`` is rendered in HTML as: ::e=mc^^2^^::{="example"}.
* The comma character (""'',''"", U+002C) produces sub-scripted text.
** Example: ``H,,2,,O`` is rendered in HTML as: ::H,,2,,O::{="example"}.
* The quotation mark character (""''"''"", U+0022) marks an inline quotation, according to the [[specified language|00001007050100]].
** Example: ``""To be or not""`` is rendered in HTML as: ::""To be or not""::{="example"}.
** Example: ``""Sein oder nicht""{lang=de}`` is rendered in HTML as: ::""Sein oder nicht""{lang="de"}::{="example"}.
* The number sign (""''#''"", U+0023) marks the text visually, where the mark does not belong to the text itself.
  It is typically used to highlight some text that is important for you, but was not important for the original author.
** Example: ``abc ##def## ghi`` is rendered in HTML as: ::abc ##def## ghi::{="example"}.
* The colon character (""'':''"", U+003A) mark some text that should belong together. It fills a similar role as [[region blocks|00001007030800]], but just for inline elements.
** Example: ``abc ::def::{=example} ghi`` is rendered in HTML as: abc ::def::{="example"} ghi.