The 5 fields and concepts you'll meet in the response — defined in plain English, each with a real example value.
A lightweight markup language using plain text formatting that converts to HTML.
Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown uses simple symbols (# for headers, * for bold) that are readable as text and convert cleanly to HTML. Popular for documentation, blogs, and README files.
Example# Heading, **bold**, [link](url)
GitHub's extended Markdown specification with tables, task lists, and enhanced code blocks.
GFM adds features beyond original Markdown: tables using pipes, task lists with checkboxes, strikethrough, autolinks, and fenced code blocks with language-specific syntax highlighting. It's become the de facto standard.
Example| Column | Column |, - [ ] Task, ~~strikethrough~~
A code block in Markdown surrounded by triple backticks, optionally with a language identifier.
Fenced code blocks preserve formatting and can specify a language for syntax highlighting. The language identifier (```javascript, ```python) enables client-side highlighters to apply appropriate coloring.
Example```javascript const x = 1; ```
Cleaning HTML output to remove potentially dangerous content like scripts.
Sanitization prevents XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) attacks by removing or escaping dangerous HTML elements and attributes. When converting user-provided Markdown to HTML, sanitization is essential for security.
ExampleRemoving <script> tags and onclick attributes
Coloring code based on programming language syntax for improved readability.
Markdown APIs output code blocks with language classes (class="language-javascript"). Client-side libraries like Prism.js or Highlight.js apply colors based on these classes. Different languages have different keyword and syntax patterns.
ExampleKeywords in blue, strings in green, comments in gray
