Common Markdown Syntax ⭐

Note: This is an early excerpt from my upcoming Markdown book. –Paul
The Markdown syntax you will encounter varies based on the Markdown variant you're using and even on which Markdown editor app you choose. So this reference focuses on just the most common Markdown syntax that's available everywhere and most relevant to writers.
Paragraphs
To begin a paragraph, just start writing. To start a new paragraph, tap the Enter key to add a blank line, tap the Enter key again, and then start writing the next paragraph.
Markdown:
B> This is a sentence in one paragraph. And this is another sentence in the same paragraph. B>
B>
B> This is the next paragraph.
Rendered:
B> This is a sentence in one paragraph. And this is another sentence. B>
B> This is the next paragraph.
✅ Tip: Markdown doesn't directly support indenting paragraphs. But you can find a workaround for this in the Features Missing From Markdown chapter.

Line breaks
To create a line break--a point at which one line of text ends and a new line of text continues below the first line without creating a new paragraph--you just add two spaces (" ") to the end of the text and then tap the Enter key to make the break.
Markdown:
B> This is the text before a line break
and this is the text after the line break
Rendered:
B> This is the text before a line break
and this is the text after the line break
Alternative syntax
Because the two empty spaces are difficult to see--and impossible to see in the example above--there are alternatives for creating a line break:

Backspace. Place a backspace character (\) at the end of the text before the line break.
HTML line break. Place the HTML link break tag (<br>) at the end of the text before the line break.

These alternatives work identically to the example above:
This is the text before a line break \
and this is the text after the line break
This is the text before a line break <br>
and this is the text after the line break

Emphasis
Markdown supports ways to add different forms of emphasis to words. These include bold, italic, and strikethrough.
✅ Tip: Markdown doesn't provide a direct way to underline text. But there's a workaround discussed in the Features Missing From Markdown chapter.

Bold
Add two asterisks before and after one or more words to apply bold formatting. There should be no space(s) between the asterisks and the characters you want to be bold.
Markdown:
**This text is bold**
Rendered:
This text is bold
Alternative syntax
You can also use a double underline ("__") as an alternative to apply a bold emphasis.

Markdown:
__This text is bold__

Rendered:
This text is bold

Italic
Add a single asterisk before and after one or more words to apply italics formatting to them. There should be no space(s) between the asterisks and the characters you want to be italicized.
Markdown:
*This text is italicized*
Rendered:
This text is...