The "draw" language

Sometimes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. To create some graphical representations, Zettelmarkup provides a simple mechanism. Characters like “|” or “-” already provide some visual feedback. For example, to create a picture containing two boxes that are connected via an arrow, the following representation is possible:

~~~draw
+-------+       .-------.
| Box 1 | ----> | Box 2 |
+-------+       '-------'
~~~

Zettelstore translates this to:

Box 1Box 2

Technically spoken, the drawing is translated to a SVG element.

The following characters are interpreted to create a graphical representation. Some of them will start a path that results in a recognized object.

CharacterMeaningPath Start
+CornerYes
-Horizontal lineYes
|Vertical lineYes
<Left arrowYes
>Right arrowNo
vDown arrowNo
^Up arrowYes
:Dashed vertical lineYes
=Dashed horizontal lineYes
.Rounded cornerYes
'Rounded cornerYes
/North-east diagonal lineYes
\South-east diagonal lineYes
xA tick on a lineNo
*A dot on a lineNo

Interpretation of these characters starts at the top left corner and continues depending on the current character.

All other characters are treated as text.