Formatting with Markdown

Markdown is a way to format text using plain characters. You type a few symbols around a word, and Interact turns them into bold text, a list, or a code block.

Any text field with the Markdown icon under it accepts everything on this page. You never have to use it. Plain text works fine.

The basics

Type this:

**bold** and *italic*

## A heading

- a list item
- another list item

1. a numbered step
2. the next step

> a quote

[a link](https://interact.school)

A blank line starts a new paragraph.

Code

Wrap a short piece of code in backticks to set it apart:

Use `Enum.map/2` to transform a list.

It shows up as:

Use Enum.map/2 to transform a list.

For a longer snippet, put three backticks on the line before and the line after. Name the language after the opening backticks and the code gets syntax highlighting.

```python
def greet(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}"
```

It shows up as:

def greet(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}"

Math

Interact renders LaTeX math. Put an expression between single dollar signs to keep it inside a sentence:

The area of a circle is $A = \pi r^2$.

It shows up as:

The area of a circle is A = \pi r^2.

Use double dollar signs to give an equation its own line:

$$x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}$$

It shows up as:

x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}

Images

Paste, drop, or attach an image in a text field and Interact adds the Markdown for you. It looks like this:

![a cat](https://example.com/cat.png)

The words in the square brackets describe the image for screen readers.

Tips

• Keep cards simple. One bold word does more than a fully formatted paragraph.

• The preview above the flashcard form shows how your formatting will look.

• If symbols show up as plain text, check for a missing closing symbol. \n\n## Related

• How to study math, where LaTeX does the heavy lifting

• How to study programming, with highlighted code blocks

• Fetch image and Visual flashcards for adding pictures to cards