Markdown cheatsheet · Emoji
Emoji in markdown
Two ways: paste the emoji character itself, which works in every renderer, or type a :shortcode: on platforms that support it.
Paste the character (works everywhere)
Emoji are ordinary Unicode characters, the same as letters and punctuation. Markdown passes them through untouched, so a pasted emoji renders in every markdown tool with no syntax at all.
Ship it 🚀
Ship it 🚀
Your OS has a built-in picker: press Ctrl+Cmd+Space on macOS or Win+. (the Windows key and a period) on Windows to insert emoji at the cursor.
Shortcodes (GitHub, Slack, Discord...)
On some platforms you can type an emoji's name between colons and the renderer swaps it for the character.
:tada: v1.0 is out :rocket:
🎉 v1.0 is out 🚀
Shortcodes are not markdown. They appear in neither CommonMark nor the GFM spec; they are a text replacement feature each platform layers on top. GitHub, GitLab, Slack and Discord all accept the colon syntax, but each keeps its own list of names, and codes do not always transfer between them. A plain CommonMark renderer, and most converters without an emoji plugin, will print :tada: literally, colons and all.
Popular GitHub shortcodes
These all work in GitHub issues, comments and README files. The full list is served by GitHub's emoji API.
| Code | Emoji | Code | Emoji |
|---|---|---|---|
:+1: | 👍 | :warning: | ⚠️ |
:tada: | 🎉 | :memo: | 📝 |
:rocket: | 🚀 | :white_check_mark: | ✅ |
:fire: | 🔥 | :x: | ❌ |
:bug: | 🐛 | :eyes: | 👀 |
## 🚀 Launch gets the anchor #-launch. Before linking to such a heading, hover it on GitHub and copy the anchor instead of guessing, or keep emoji out of headings you link to.Common questions
Why do my shortcodes show as plain text?
The renderer does not support them. Shortcodes only work where the platform implements the replacement; everywhere else, paste the actual character. It needs no support at all.
Do emoji work inside bold, links and lists?
Yes. Because emoji are plain characters, they behave like any other text: **🔥 hot** bolds normally, and an emoji in link text is just link text.