This is the complete Markdown reference for Ava CMS. Ava uses CommonMark as the base parser with GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extensions enabled by default.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs are separated by one or more blank lines. A single line break within text does not create a new paragraph—it's treated as a space.
This is the first paragraph.
This is the second paragraph.
Line Breaks
To create a line break (<br>) without starting a new paragraph, end a line with two or more spaces, or use a backslash (\).
The ·· represents two spaces.
Violets are blue
Violets are blue
Headings
Create headings using # symbols (ATX style) or underlines (Setext style). There are six levels of headings.
ATX Style (Recommended)
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Heading 4
Heading 5
Heading 6
Setext Style (H1 and H2 only)
Heading 1
Heading 2
Emphasis (Bold & Italic)
Use asterisks (*) or underscores (_) for emphasis. One for italic, two for bold, three for both.
| Style | Markdown | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Italic | *italic* or _italic_ | italic |
| Bold | **bold** or __bold__ | bold |
| Bold + Italic | ***both*** or ___both___ | both |
| Mixed | **bold and _nested italic_** | bold and nested italic |
Strikethrough GFM
Wrap text in double tildes to strike it through.
Lists
Unordered Lists
Use -, *, or + followed by a space.
- First item
- Second item
- Third item
Ordered Lists
Use numbers followed by a period. The actual numbers don't matter—Markdown will number them sequentially.
- First item
- Second item
- Third item
Nested Lists
Indent items with 2–4 spaces to create nested lists.
- Parent item
- Child item
- Child item
- Grandchild
- Another parent
Mixed Lists
You can mix ordered and unordered lists by nesting.
- First step
- Sub-point A
- Sub-point B
- Second step
Task Lists GFM
Create checkboxes with [ ] (unchecked) or [x] (checked).
- Write documentation
- Test examples
- Publish
Links
Inline Links
Links with Titles
Add a title in quotes—it appears on hover.
Reference Links
Define links separately for cleaner content. The reference can go anywhere in the document.
Check out Ava CMS for more.
Autolinks
Wrap URLs or emails in angle brackets to make them clickable.
Automatic URL Linking GFM
Plain URLs are automatically converted to links.
Images
Same syntax as links, but with a leading !. The text in brackets becomes the alt text.
Basic Image
Image with Title
Linked Image
Wrap an image in link syntax to make it clickable.
Code
Inline Code
Wrap text in single backticks for inline code.
echo command.Inline Code with Backticks
To include a literal backtick, use double backticks.
Use `backticks` in codeFenced Code Blocks
Use triple backticks or tildes. Add a language identifier for syntax highlighting.
<?php
echo "Hello, World!";Indented Code Blocks
Indent lines by 4 spaces or 1 tab. No syntax highlighting available.
function hello() {
return "Hi!";
}Common Language Identifiers
| Language | Identifier |
|---|---|
| PHP | php |
| JavaScript | js or javascript |
| HTML | html |
| CSS | css |
| JSON | json |
| YAML | yaml or yml |
| Bash / Shell | bash or sh |
| Plain text | text or plaintext |
Blockquotes
Prefix lines with > to create a blockquote.
Basic Blockquote
This is a blockquote. It can span multiple lines.
Nested Blockquotes
Outer quoteNested quoteDeeply nested
Blockquotes with Other Elements
Heading in a quote
- List item one
- List item two
Bold works too.
Horizontal Rules
Create a horizontal line with three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores on their own line.
| Markdown | Result |
|---|---|
--- | |
*** | |
___ |
You can also use spaces between: - - - or * * *
Tables GFM
Create tables using pipes (|) and hyphens (-).
Basic Table
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Ada | Developer |
| Grace | Manager |
Column Alignment
Use colons in the separator row to control alignment.
| Syntax | Alignment |
|---|---|
:--- | Left (default) |
:---: | Center |
---: | Right |
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Apples | 5 | $1.20 |
| Bread | 2 | $3.50 |
Escaping Characters
Prefix special characters with a backslash (\) to display them literally.
Characters You Can Escape
| Character | Name | Escaped |
|---|---|---|
\ | Backslash | \\ |
` | Backtick | \` |
* | Asterisk | \* |
_ | Underscore | \_ |
{} | Curly braces | \{ \} |
[] | Square brackets | \[ \] |
() | Parentheses | \( \) |
# | Hash | \# |
+ | Plus | \+ |
- | Hyphen | \- |
. | Period | \. |
! | Exclamation | \! |
| | Pipe | \| |
*This is not italic*
1. Not a list item
Raw HTML
By default, Ava allows raw HTML in your Markdown. This is controlled by the content.markdown.allow_html setting.
This has highlighted text.
Click to expand
Hidden content here.HTML Entities
Standard HTML entities work as expected.
| Entity | Result | Description |
|---|---|---|
& | & | Ampersand |
< | < | Less than |
> | > | Greater than |
© | © | Copyright |
— | — | Em dash |
| (non-breaking space) | Non-breaking space |
Disallowed Tags
You can block specific HTML tags for security using content.markdown.disallowed_tags in your config, even when HTML is allowed.
Ava-Specific Features Ava
Automatic Heading IDs
Ava automatically adds id attributes to headings for anchor links. This is enabled by default via content.markdown.heading_ids.
This lets you link directly to sections: /docs/page#getting-started
Path Aliases
Use configured aliases (like /media/) in image and link paths. Ava expands them during rendering.
Configure aliases in app/config/ava.php under paths.aliases.
Shortcodes
Ava processes shortcodes in your content after Markdown rendering. See the Shortcodes documentation for details.
Features Not Supported by Default
These features are not enabled in Ava's default Markdown configuration. They can be added via plugins using the markdown.configure hook.
- Footnotes (
[^1]) - Definition lists
- Abbreviations
- Table row/column spans
- Math/LaTeX (
$x^2$) - Smart typography (curly quotes, em-dashes)
- Wiki-style links (
[[Page]]) - Mermaid diagrams
- Table of contents generation
See Creating Plugins to learn how to extend the Markdown parser.