Common syntax

The following common Markdown constructs are processed in the same way for both mdita and markdown topics.

Hard line breaks

A line break that is preceded by two or more spaces is parsed as a hard line break. Because DITA doesn’t have a <br> element for line break, hard line breaks are converted into <?linebreak?> processing instructions.

foo··
baz

<p>foo<?linebreak?>baz</p>

The LwDITA plug-in contains extensions for HTML5 and PDF outputs to generate line breaks.

Links

The format of local link targets is detected based on file name extension. The following extensions are treated as DITA files:

extension	format
.dita	dita
.xml	dita
.md	markdown
.markdown	markdown

All other link targets detect the format from the file name extension and are treated as non-DITA files. Absolute link targets are treated as external scope links:

[Markdown](test.md)
[DITA](test.dita)
[HTML](test.html)
[External](http://www.example.com/test.html)

<xref href="test.md">Markdown</xref>
<xref href="test.dita">DITA</xref>
<xref href="test.html" format="html">HTML</xref>
<xref href="http://www.example.com/test.html" format="html" scope="external">External</xref>

Links to DITA or Markdown files use the URI-based addressing as defined in the DITA specification, not HTML5 linking. This means that links to non-topic elements follow the DITA fragment identifier syntax:

[Section](filename.md#topicID/sectionID)

<xref href="filename.md#topicID/sectionID">Section</xref>

Images

Images used in inline content are processed with inline placement. If a block-level image contains a title, it is treated as an image wrapped in a figure element:

An inline ![Alt](test.jpg).

![Alt](test.jpg)

![Alt](test.jpg 'Title')

<p>An inline <image href="test.jpg"><alt>Alt</alt></image>.</p>
<image href="test.jpg" placement="break">
  <alt>Alt</alt>
</image>
<fig>
  <title>Title</title>
  <image href="test.jpg">
    <alt>Alt</alt>
  </image>
</fig>

Key references

Keys can be referenced using standard Markdown syntax for shortcut reference links:

[key]
[link text][key]
![image-key]

<xref keyref="key"/>
<xref keyref="key">link text</xref>
<image keyref="image-key"/>

Inline

The following inline elements are supported:

**bold**
_italic_
`code`
~~strikethrough~~

<b>bold</b>
<i>italic</i>
<codeph>code</codeph>
<ph status="deleted">strikethrough</ph>

Lists

Standard Markdown syntax is used for both ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.

Unordered list items can be marked up using either asterisks “*” or hyphens “-” as list markers:

* one
* two
  - three
  - four

<ul>
  <li>one</li>
  <li>two
    <ul>
      <li>three</li>
      <li>four</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

Ordered lists use either numbers or number signs “#”, followed by a period:

1.  one
2.  two
    #. three
    #. four

<ol>
  <li>one</li>
  <li>two
    <ol>
      <li>three</li>
      <li>four</li>
    </ol>
  </li>
</ol>

Note: Markdown DITA supports both loose and tight list spacing (with no blank lines between list items). MDITA treats all lists as loose, and wraps each list item in a paragraph (<li><p>item</p></li>).

Definition lists use the PHP Markdown Extra format with a single-line term followed by a colon and the definition:

Term
: Definition.

<dl>
  <dlentry>
    <dt>Term</dt>
    <dd>Defintion.</dd>
  </dlentry>
</dl>

Each definition list entry must have only one term and contain only inline content.

Metadata

A YAML metadata block as defined in the pandoc_metadata_block extension can be used to specify metadata elements for the DITA prolog.

The supported elements are:

• author
• source
• publisher
• permissions
• audience
• category
• keyword
• resourceid

Any unrecognized keys are output using the <data> element.

---
author:
  - Author One
  - Author Two
source: Source
publisher: Publisher
permissions: Permissions
audience: Audience
category: Category
keyword:
  - Keyword1
  - Keyword2
resourceid:
  - Resourceid1
  - Resourceid2
workflow: review
---

# Sample with YAML header

<title>Sample with YAML header</title>
<prolog>
  <author>Author One</author>
  <author>Author Two</author>
  <source>Source</source>
  <publisher>Publisher</publisher>
  <permissions view="Permissions"/>
  <metadata>
    <audience audience="Audience"/>
    <category>Category</category>
    <keywords>
      <keyword>Keyword1</keyword>
      <keyword>Keyword2</keyword>
    </keywords>
  </metadata>
  <resourceid appid="Resourceid1"/>
  <resourceid appid="Resourceid2"/>
  <data name="workflow" value="review"/>
</prolog>