Writing text

Text

Quarto builds on Pandoc Markdown, which supports a range of inline formatting for emphasis, code, strikethrough, and superscript/subscript. Some key features:

  • Italics can be written as *italics* or _italics_.
  • Bold is **bold** or __bold__.
  • Bold italics is ***bold italics*** (or alternatives combining ** and *).
  • Strikethrough: ~~text~~ → text.
  • Inline (verbatim) code: enclose text in backticks, e.g. `my_var <- 10` → my_var <- 10.
  • Superscript / subscript:   - superscript^2^ → superscript²   - subscript~2~ → subscript₂ You can also use braces to clarify: superscript^{2} or subscript_{2}.
  • Quarto also allows adding stylistic classes via span syntax, e.g.   [This is smallcaps]{.smallcaps} → (renders in small caps if supported).

This formatting gives you fine control over text appearance without leaving Markdown.

Lists

Lists are central to organizing information. Quarto supports both unordered and ordered lists, and nested lists.

  • Unordered lists: start lines with *, +, or -. For example:

    * Item A  
* Item B  
  + Sub-item B1  
  + Sub-item B2  
* Item C

Results in:

  • Item A

  • Item B

    • Sub-item B1
    • Sub-item B2

  • Item C

  • Ordered lists: use numbers followed by a dot:

    1. First step  
2. Second step  
   i) Subtask  
   ii) Another subtask  
3. Third

Results in:

  1. First step
  2. Second step
    1. Subtask
    2. Another subtask
  3. Third

  • Task lists: Quarto supports “checklist” style items using [ ] or [x]:

    - [ ] Task 1  
- [x] Task 2 (done)

Results in clickable boxes:

  • Continuation lists: Quarto allows list numbering to continue across interruptions using (@) to resume numbering.

One important note: unlike some Markdown flavors (e.g. GitHub-Flavored Markdown), Quarto requires a blank line before a list for it to render properly. If you don’t insert a blank line, the line may just appear as ordinary text. You can always quickly check this by switching to the visual mode in R studio.

Equations (Mathematical Notation)

Quarto supports LaTeX-style math syntax using $ and $$ delimiters.

  • Inline math: wrap expressions in single dollar signs, e.g.   This is inline: $E = mc^2$. → This is inline: \((E = mc^2)\).

  • Display (block) math: wrap in double dollar signs:

    $$
E = mc^2
$$

    → renders centered on its own line, looking as follows: \[ E = mc^2 \]

External Resources

Markdown basics

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