Markdown help request - lists

charlie98

I seem to be completely incompetent when it comes to putting lists into my postings. I end up using MOU as an editor and create my lists that way. I have tried every combination of spaces, tabs that I can think of within this forum but am unsuccessful.

within MOU I can create a list by typing 1. some info and when i enter it inserts 2. at the start of the new line and life is good. Or I can use bullets, just start the first line with a bullet and after enter the next line automatically starts with a bullet. these simple things do not seem to work for me within this forum

how do I do this with this vanilla forum, it says it supports markdown but I cannot discover the secret

thightower

Hey Charlie

I suspect you are searching for something like this

• Example

1. This works
2. This does not

What I end up doing is " - Example" on first line, Next line is "1. This works" next line is "2. This does not"

I have tried other combinations which fail but that is all I have been able to get to work natively.

*Do note the "." is required for the numbering to work properly

--

Tom Hightower

AgileBits (1Password) Support Moderator / Dropbox Forum Moderator

charlie98

Thanks for the reply Tom. Based on your reply and the judicious use of spaces I have figured it out.
I'm going to type all of this 6. first line 7. 2nd line 1. 3rd line and it will come out in the 1,2 3 order. I will have 2 spaces at the end of this line, a blank line and voila, order becomes 1,2,3. you can even insert into the list and it will be renumbered correctly. it doesn't matter what number you use, they could even all be the same and it will still show as 1,2,3

6. first line
7. 2nd line
8. 3rd line

charlie98

it turns out that if you want to put a paragraph under a numbered or bulleted list you simply start it with 4 spaces

1. first line
   another paragraph
2. second item
   when typing the above in I used 1.
   and another paragraph.
   spaces are the key
3. item started with 66. still comes out as 3.

edit. upon further examination the 4 spaces to indent may not be relevant, it's the 2 spaces at the end of the prior line that matter

MikeT

Hi Charlie,

You can cancel the automatic markdown conversion by appending \ before the dot. So, you type 1\. 2\. 3\. with empty lines between the items to get what you want more precisely. Markdown has a known limitation with continuous order lists, it'll simply restart each time there's a break.

1. first line

anything you want here.

2. second line

3. third line

khad

Indenting lines between numbered list items is indeed the way to keep the numbering continuous. I use a tab character, but 4 spaces should work as well. You just need to be sure to place line breaks around the paragraphs between the numbered items.

---

No Line Breaks

1. First item
    Notes about first item.
2. Second item
3. Third item

Will produce:

1. First item
   Notes about first item.
2. Second item
3. Third item

---

Line Breaks

1. First item

    Notes about first item.

2. Second item
3. Third item

Will produce:

1. First item

   Notes about first item.

2. Second item

3. Third item

---

All Line Breaks

Line breaks between the numbered items — 2 and 3 in this example — are optional. I usually insert them for readability of the source:

1. First item

    Notes about first item.

2. Second item

3. Third item

Will produce:

1. First item

   Notes about first item.

2. Second item

3. Third item

charlie98

Never having heard of markdown before, I know I've led a sheltered computing life, I would like to thank

• thightower
• Mike T
• Khad

for their responses which have proved quite educational.

Every response has led to a new insight, the latest being Khad and his use of

pre

Thank you gentlemen.

I also spent a bit of time, clearly not enough, at Daring Fireball

MikeT

Hi Charlie,

On behalf of the guys, you're welcome.

Markdown is our favorite textual language to work in many areas and it is worth learning. We'd love it if it was possible to use it everywhere on the Internet.