md036.md

MD036 - Emphasis used instead of a heading

Tags: emphasis, headings

Aliases: no-emphasis-as-heading

Parameters:

• punctuation: Punctuation characters (string, default .,;:!?。，；：！？)

This check looks for instances where emphasized (i.e. bold or italic) text is used to separate sections, where a heading should be used instead:

**My document**

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...

_Another section_

Consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod.

To fix this, use Markdown headings instead of emphasized text to denote sections:

# My document

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...

## Another section

Consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod.

Note: This rule looks for single-line paragraphs that consist entirely of emphasized text. It won't fire on emphasis used within regular text, multi-line emphasized paragraphs, or paragraphs ending in punctuation (normal or full-width). Similarly to rule MD026, you can configure what characters are recognized as punctuation.

Rationale: Using emphasis instead of a heading prevents tools from inferring the structure of a document. More information: https://cirosantilli.com/markdown-style-guide#emphasis-vs-headers.