Markdown cheatsheet · Bold & italic

Bold and italic in markdown

Wrap text in asterisks: two for bold, one for italic, three for both. Underscores work too, with one catch inside words.

The syntax

**bold text**

*italic text*

***bold and italic***

Asterisks or underscores?

__bold__ and _italic_ render exactly like their asterisk twins. The difference shows up in the middle of a word: underscores don't emphasize there, asterisks do.

a super**power** move

a super__power__ move

Strikethrough

Two tildes cross text out, ~~like this~~, and it nests with bold and italic. It's a GitHub Flavored Markdown extension with one notable quirk (Slack uses a single tilde), covered in the strikethrough guide.

~~the old plan~~ the new plan

Why isn't my emphasis rendering?

The two classic causes:

• A space just inside the markers. ** bold ** doesn't render; the opening ** must hug the first character: **bold**.
• A literal asterisk in the text. Escape it with a backslash (\*) so it doesn't open an emphasis span by accident.

Common questions

How do I underline in markdown?

You can't; underline isn't part of markdown, mostly by design, since underlined text reads as a link on the web. If you really need it and your renderer allows HTML, <u>underlined</u> works.

Can I bold part of a heading or a link?

Yes. Emphasis nests inside most other elements: # A **very** big deal or [a **bold** link](url) both render as expected.

Related syntax

• Full cheatsheet
• Headings
• Strikethrough
• Underline
• Highlight
• Code
• Blockquotes

Updated July 2026 · All markdown guides