TopolearnQuotes appear constantly in issues and reviews, and escaping is how you write text that looks like syntax.
A blockquote prefixes lines with >. It can contain any Markdown: paragraphs, lists, code, even nested quotes with > >. A blank line ends it; a blank line that starts with > keeps it going with a new paragraph inside.
Thanks to laziness, a continuation line of a paragraph inside a quote doesn't need the >, but adding it to every line is clearer.
A thematic break (horizontal rule) is a line of three or more -, * or _, optionally with spaces: ---. Watch out: --- directly under a line of text turns that text into a heading (the setext style). Leave a blank line before it, or use ***.
Escaping: a backslash before any ASCII punctuation character makes it literal: \#, \*, \_, \[, \>, \-, \\. Common needs:
- a line starting with a number and period that isn't a list:
2026\. A good year; - a leading
#or>that isn't a heading or quote; - literal asterisks or underscores around words.
Inside code spans and code blocks, backslashes are literal and nothing needs escaping. Characters with special meaning in HTML can be written as entities, such as ©, but plain Unicode characters are usually simpler.
Example
> **Note**
> Quoted text can contain *formatting*,
>
> multiple paragraphs,
> - and lists.
>
> > A nested quote.
Paragraph text.
---
2026\. A great year (not a list item).
\# Not a heading
Use \*asterisks\* literally, and `*here*` no escaping is needed.
Heading by accident
---Remember
- > quotes any Markdown, including nested quotes
- --- after a blank line is a rule; directly under text it makes a heading
- Backslash-escape punctuation to keep it literal
Watch out for
- Putting --- directly under a paragraph to draw a line and getting a heading instead.