Adding Indentation in Markdown

Indentation refers to adding space before a text or a line. These days, it is particularly helpful in writing easy-to-follow programs.

In some rare cases, you may want to write text with indentation. It can help you organize or structure your Markdown document providing clarity.

There is no Markdown-specific syntax to it. But you can use HTML notations to add indentation in Markdown.

Here are various ways to add indentation in Markdown:

• Using four spaces
• Using Tab
• Using > (greater than)
• Using   or  

You can add hard spaces, press tab key, or refer to various other methods to add indentation in a Markdown document.

For instance, if you have a list in your Markdown document with sub-points, you can add an indentation to denote the child lists and keep them separate from the parent list.

Adding Indentation With   or  

While this may not be the cleanest/most efficient way to add indentations to your document, it sure works. You must add the   before your text or sentence to add a visible space:

  This is the example line.

  stands for non-breaking space that adds spaces between both sides. This is a character that renders space for HTML view.

So, adding to the start of a word or sentence will not have an impact. You might want to use the quickest way to add a new line in Markdown along with this for a faster experience.

Similarly, you can replace it with   to add e-n size spaces, visually acting as two regular spaces.

You are using another markup language to add a space here. It should work, but the Markdown document that makes it possible may look a bit ugly as per your requirements.

Adding Indentation Using 4 Spaces With Lists

4 spaces add one level of indentation. You can test this out when you want to create sub-level of lists.

Here's what the Markdown code looks like:

- List
- List 2
    - Sub-level list 1 with four spaces
    - Sub-level list 2 with four spaces

Of course, you must know how to create nested lists in Markdown before incorporating indentation.

Adding Indentation Using Tab With Lists

Instead of 4 keystrokes, you need to press the Tab key once, and that's it.

The Tab key should be handy when adding more spaces, like adding a third sub-level in a list.

Here's what it looks like:

The Markdown code for it looks like this:

- List
- List 2
    - Sub-level list 1 with four spaces
		- Sub-level list 2 with two tabs

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Using Indentation With Blocks

Note that > does not add an indentation but a blockquote.

The line must be indented if you need to add a blockquote within a list item.

Just like this:

* List item example

    >blockquote with indentation using 4 spaces

Indentation keeps it tidy

It might sound like a small thing in a Markdown document. But indentation helps structure your sentences and lists to provide a clean layout.

I recommend using a proper Markdown editor actually. It is easier to deal with your document that way. Still, knowledge of syntax always helps.

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Markdown is a simple markup language. It’s lightweight and easy to learn. If you haven’t seen any markdown document yet, just head over to GitHub and enter any open-source project. The README file almost certainly will be written using Markdown. Basically, you use some ‘code’ before your text

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I hope this quick tip with indentation helps you create better Markdown documents. Share your thoughts in the comments below.