The text formatting rules below are designed to provide some of the power of HTML formatting, but in an easier to learn, more readable way. Note that HTML symbols will not work. Similarly to HTML, multiple whitespace (spaces, carriage returns etc.) will be compressed to single whitespace. Feel free to experiment on the ScratchPad.

Block level control

a line that starts with an exclamation mark (!) will be in mono-spaced text and unformatted by any of the rules listed below. The exclamation mark will be stripped off. This is the equivalent to HTML <PRE>formatted text

!this      line     preserves    whitespace
!
!
!     within    and         between       lines
this      line     preserves    whitespace


     within    and         between       lines

a line that contains one or more sets of two adjacent vertical bars (||) becomes a table with the bars delineating cells. any immediately subsequent table lines are encorporated into the same table. block-level formatting rules listed below do not apply within tables. inline-level formatting rules apply within table cells, but not across cell boundaries

one||two||three
apple||lemon||carrot
wish||happy||ire

one	two	three
apple	lemon	carrot
wish	happy	ire

four or more sequential dashes (----) alone on a line to make a horizontal rule

----

a line that starts with a single asterisk (*) is displayed as a big heading

*Big Heading Here

Big Heading Here

a line that starts with two asterisks (**) is displayed as a regular heading

**Regular Heading Here

Regular Heading Here

a line that starts with three asterisks (***) is displayed as a small heading

***Small Heading Here

Small Heading Here

lines that start with <space>* make a bullet (unordered) list

 *one
 *two
 *three

one
two
three

lines that start with <space># make a numbered list (the numbering happens automatically)

 #first
 #second
 #third

first
second
third

sublevels of lists can be constructed by increasing the number of spaces, eg. <space><space>* and bullet and numbered lists can be intermixed

 *one
  #un
  #deux
   *alpha
   *beta
   *gamma
  #trois
 *two
  #quatre
 *three

one
1. un
2. deux
  - alpha
  - beta
  - gamma
3. trois
two
1. quatre
three

four equal signs (=) on a new line followed immediately and only by a number indicate a write control boundary. See WriteControl for more details. A write control boundary has no effect on how any text is displayed.

line before write control
====4
line after write control

line before write control
line after write control

In-line control

external hyperlinks beginning http:// are resolved to clickable form. Text within a hyperlink is unformatted by any rules listed below. Prepending a hyperlink with a backquote will cancel this hyperlink behavior

http://www.paralog.com/wiki?FrontPage

http://www.paralog.com/wiki?FrontPage

see WikiNames for rules on how to construct links between documents

make a link back to the TextFormattingRule page

make a link back to the TextFormattingRule page

for regular paragraphs, type without carriage returns and the text will wrap automatically

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.  All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names.  They'd never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.  Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say, "Rudolph, with your nose so bright; won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose, and if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names. They'd never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games. Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say, "Rudolph, with your nose so bright; won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

insert a carriage return to force text to the next line

one dozen eggs
two loaves of bread
a large collard green
five apples

one dozen eggs
two loaves of bread
a large collard green
five apples

surround text with double single quotes for emphasis (usually italics). does not work across block boundaries

this should have ''some emphasized'' words

this should have some emphasized words

surround text with triple single quotes for strong format (usually boldface). does not work across block boundaries

this should have '''some strong''' words

this should have some strong words

surround text with quintuple single quotes (double and triple) for strong emphasis (usually boldface and italics). does not work across block boundaries

this should have '''''some strong, emphasized''''' words

this should have some strong, emphasized words

Character control

character control involves using a modifier character to affect how the following character is displayed. the modifier character itself is not displayed. the modifier characters are:

tilde ~ will display the following character as a symbol, see SymbolFont for more details
carat ^ will superscript the following character
underscore _ will subscript the following character
backquote ` will display the following character literally, removing modifier activity of the above characters
- a backquote prepended to either a WikiName or a hyperlink will also cause either one to be unlinked and displayed literally

there are a million ~mm in a single meter
Avogadro's number is 6.022 x 10^2^3
the chemical formula for sodium phosphate, dibasic, heptahydrate is Na_2HPO_4 ~. 7H_2O
show a `~tilde, `^carat, `_underscore, and ``backquote
neither a `WikiName nor a `http://www.hyperlink.com

there are a million μm in a single meter
Avogadro's number is 6.022 x 10²³
the chemical formula for sodium phosphate, dibasic, heptahydrate is Na₂HPO₄ ⋅ 7H₂O
show a ~tilde, ^carat, _underscore, and `backquote
neither a WikiName nor a http://www.hyperlink.com