Showing symbols literally

Put a backslash before a symbol to stop it formatting.

Sometimes you want a real asterisk, not italics. Put a \ (backslash) in front of the character.

You type

\*Not italic\*

1986\. A great year.

Price: 5 \* 3

You get

*Not italic*

1986. A great year.

Price: 5 * 3

Characters you can escape this way:

\ ` * _ { } [ ] ( ) # + - . ! |

Tip The 1986\. example matters: a number followed by a period at the start of a line would otherwise start a numbered list.

Write Markdown without memorizing it.

Prosedown shows your document styled as you type, with the Markdown one click away. This guide is built in: press F1.