About writing and formatting on GitHub

GitHub combines a syntax for formatting text called GitHub Flavored Markdown with a few unique writing features.

Who can use this feature?

Markdown can be used in the GitHub web interface.

In this article

Markdown is an easy-to-read, easy-to-write language for formatting plain text.

We've added some custom functionality to create GitHub Flavored Markdown, used to format prose and code across our site.

You can also interact with other users in pull requests and issues using features like @-mentions, issue and PR references, and emoji. For more information, see Basic writing and formatting syntax.

Text formatting toolbar

Every comment field on GitHub contains a text formatting toolbar, which allows you to format your text without learning Markdown syntax. In addition to Markdown formatting like bold and italic styles and creating headers, links, and lists, the toolbar includes GitHub-specific features such as @-mentions, task lists, and links to issues and pull requests.

Enabling fixed-width fonts in the editor

You can enable a fixed-width font in every comment field on GitHub. Each character in a fixed-width, or monospace, font occupies the same horizontal space. This can make it easier to edit advanced Markdown structures such as tables and code snippets.

Screenshot of a GitHub comment showing a sample Markdown table listing two Git commands. All letters in the table are the same visual width.

  1. In the upper-right corner of any page on GitHub, click your profile photo, then click Settings.
  2. In the left sidebar, click Appearance.
  3. Under "Markdown editor font preference", select Use a fixed-width (monospace) font when editing Markdown.
    Screenshot of GitHub user settings for Markdown preference. The checkbox to use a fix-width font in Markdown is checked and outlined in dark orange.

Further reading