Text formatting

The text of a bit is formatted by default: styles, links, references, formulas, inline images and lists, all written inside the text. Only plain, unformatted text is declared, with :text after the bit type:

[.article:text]
This text is shown exactly as written, **asterisks** included.

Toggle tags

A style is switched on and off: (+bold) turns bold on, (-bold) turns it off. Toggles are switches, not brackets, so ranges may overlap:

[.article]
(+bold)chlorophyll(+highlight:yellow) absorbs sunlight(-bold), and that energy drives the reaction(-highlight:yellow).

Here the bold ends inside the highlight.

Styles

[.article]
(+bold)bold(-bold)
(+italic)italic(-italic)
(+light)light(-light)
(+highlight)highlight(-highlight)
(+strike)strike(-strike)
(+subscript)subscript(-subscript)
(+superscript)superscript(-superscript)
(+ins)inserted(-ins)
(+del)deleted(-del)
(+underline)underline(-underline)
(+underline double)double underline(-underline double)
(+circle)circle(-circle)
(+color language)language emphasis(-color language)

Styles a reader applies to their own copy carry user:

[.article]
(+underline user)underline(-underline user)
(+underline double user)double underline(-underline double user)
(+strike user)strike(-strike user)
(+circle user)circle(-circle user)
(+highlight user)highlight(-highlight user)

The legacy forms **bold**, __italic__ and ==text==|bold| are deprecated: the parser still reads them, but new content uses toggles.

Names and values

Every mark with a toggle spelling is listed on its mark page. A compound name is the family first, with one space: underline double, highlight user, color language. A value follows a colon, and further properties follow |:

[.article]
(+link:https://example.com)the docs(-link)
(+highlight:yellow)highlighted(-highlight)
(+timer:egg|duration:PT3M)soft boiled(-timer)
(+xref:entropy|reference:chapter 3)entropy(-xref)

A value ends at the tag's ) — parentheses inside it are fine as long as they balance ((+link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_(protocol))HTTP(-link)) — or at a |. A ^ escapes the character after it: ^) and ^| inside a value.

(+semantic:…) attaches a named object of key/value pairs to a span:

[.article]
(+semantic:person|name:Albert Einstein|born:1879)Einstein(-semantic)

Where two toggles of the same name but different values overlap, the text they share carries the most recent value — except semantic, which keeps every one. Opening a toggle that is already open, with the same value or none, changes nothing:

[.article]
(+semantic:person)Marie Curie(+semantic:award) won the Nobel Prize(-semantic:person) in 1903(-semantic:award)

Here " won the Nobel Prize" is both a person and an award.

Closing

(-name) closes the most recently opened toggle of that name; (-name:value) closes the one opened with that value, wherever it is. A toggle left open closes at the end of its paragraph or list item, with a notice.

A footnote, a formula and an inline image or figure wrap their content and are written whole:

[.article]
(+footnote:1)So long, and thanks for all the fish(-footnote)
(+latex)E = mc^2(-latex)
(+image:https://example.com/power.svg)power symbol(-image)
(+figure:https://example.com/ohmmeter.svg|item:Figure 1)ohmmeter(-figure)

What is not a tag

Anything that is not a known toggle name stays text, untouched — (+1), Na(+), (+)-camphor, (+ bold). To write a toggle literally, break it with a caret: (^+bold) is the text (+bold).

Links

• A plain URL (http://www.example.org) becomes a clickable link.
• A link on words is a toggle: (+link:https://example.com)the docs(-link).
• A reference to another document names its address and, optionally, the provider that builds the real link from it:

[.article]
(+xref:urn:iso:9001:en,fr|provider:iso)ISO 9001(-xref)

Inline images, figures and symbols

A symbol is an inline image standing for a character, and sits in the middle of the line:

[.article]
(+symbol:https://example.com/earth.svg)Earth(-symbol)

A figure is an inline image that is a figure — numbered, captioned, and a link target — such as a figure inside a table cell:

[.article]
(+figure:https://example.com/ohmmeter.svg|anchor:f1|item:Figure 1|caption:Ohmmeter)(-figure)

References inside a document

A reference to a place inside the same document names the anchor it points to:

[.article]
See (+ref:chapter-3)section 3(-ref).

Hints

A hint is information that is not in the original text, such as the full title of a cited standard. It belongs to a link, a reference or a cross-reference, and has no toggle spelling yet. A link or reference with a hint keeps the legacy form: the text in ==…==, then its parts, each between |:

[.article]
See ==ISO==|link:https://iso.org|?Official site| and ==section 3==|►chapter-3|?Chapter 3: Results|.

|?…| is the hint, |►chapter-3| the reference to the anchor chapter-3. |?| is an empty hint, which is not the same as no hint; a hint given twice keeps the second one, with a warning.

Lists

Lists are the only blocks inside a bit's text. An empty line is needed after the list, a space is needed after the marker, and sublines are indented with a Tab (never spaces).

[.article]
• Bullet Line
• Second Bullet Line
	•1 Numbered Subline One
	•1 Numbered Subline Two

Every item uses the same marker, and the items count on by themselves: to insert an item, add a line — no other line changes.

[.article]
•A First lettered item
•A Second lettered item

A marker of a different type starts a new list, at every level:

[.article]
•1 First
•1 Second
• An aside: a new bullet list
•1 A new numbered list, starting at 1

Setting a number

Put the number in the marker. On the first item it sets where the list starts — handy when a list is spread over several bits. On a later item, add a ! to fix that item's number; the items after it count on from there:

[.article]
•4I Fourth (the list starts at IV)
•1I Fifth
•9!I Ninth (fixed)
•1I Tenth

The number goes first, in digits, then the !, then the list type: •4, •10! (numbered), •4a, •10!A (lettered), •4i, •10!I (Roman). This is the form regenerated bitmark always uses. When typing you may also write the ! after the type (•10I!), and lettered numbers as letters, any number of them (•d, •j!, •aaa). A single letter is always a letter, even •i and •I (both 9): Roman lists always have a number before the i or I. On a later item a number without ! is ignored, so hand-numbered lists (•1, •2, •3) still count 1, 2, 3.

The colon form

A colon and a value also state a number, on any item, with or without !: •I:IV or •I:4 (Roman IV), •a:j or •a:10 (the letter j), •1:5. The value may be digits or in the list's own style, in any case (•1I:iV). Before the colon only the list type counts, so •4:3 is the same as •1:3 and •c:3 the same as •a:3 — except that i: and I: are Roman. Regenerated bitmark never uses the colon form: it writes the digits form of the previous section.

A marker whose number is not valid for its list — •I:IIII, •a:0 — is not a marker: the line stays text. A numbered list may start at 0 (•0); Roman numerals run from 1 to 3999.

Headings

Headings are bits of their own, not part of a bit's text; see Headings and paragraphs.