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+(syntax/core)=
+
+# Core Syntax
+
+## Introduction
+
+MyST is a strict superset of the [CommonMark syntax specification](https://spec.commonmark.org/).
+It adds features focussed on scientific and technical documentation authoring, as detailed below.
+
+In addition, the roles and directives syntax provide inline/block-level extension points for plugins.
+This is detailed further in the [Roles and Directives](roles-directives) section.
+
+:::{seealso}
+The [syntax token reference tables](syntax-tokens)
+:::
+
+(syntax/commonmark)=
+
+## CommonMark
+
+The [CommonMark syntax specification](https://spec.commonmark.org/) details the full set of syntax rules.
+Here we provide a summary of most features:
+
+Element | Syntax
+--------------- | -------------------------------------------
+Heading | `# H1` to `###### H6`
+Bold | `**bold**`
+Italic | `*italic*`
+Inline Code | `` `code` ``
+Autolink | `<https://www.example.com>`
+URL Link | `[title](https://www.example.com)`
+Image | `![alt](https://www.example.com/image.png)`
+Reference Link | `[title][link]`
+Link Definition | `[link]: https://www.example.com`
+Thematic break | `---`
+Blockquote | `> quote`
+Ordered List | `1. item`
+Unordered List | `- item`
+Code Fence | opening ```` ```lang ```` to closing ```` ``` ````
+
+(syntax/frontmatter)=
+
+## Front Matter
+
+This is a [YAML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML) block at the start of the document, as used for example in [jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/front-matter/).
+The document should start with three or more `---` markers, and YAML is parsed until a closing `---` marker is found:
+
+```yaml
+---
+key1: value
+key2: [value1, value2]
+key3:
+ subkey1: value
+---
+```
+
+:::{seealso}
+Top-matter is also used for the [substitution syntax extension](syntax/substitutions),
+and can be used to store information for blog posting (see [ablog's myst-parser support](https://ablog.readthedocs.io/en/latest/manual/markdown/)).
+:::
+
+### Setting a title
+
+```{versionadded} 0.17.0
+```
+
+If `myst_title_to_header` is set to `True`, and a `title` key is present in the front matter,
+then the title will be used as the document's header (parsed as Markdown).
+For example:
+
+```md
+---
+title: My Title with *emphasis*
+---
+```
+
+would be equivalent to:
+
+```md
+# My Title with *emphasis*
+```
+
+(syntax/html_meta)=
+
+### Setting HTML Metadata
+
+The front-matter can contain the special key `html_meta`; a dict with data to add to the generated HTML as [`<meta>` elements](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meta).
+This is equivalent to using the [RST `meta` directive](https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html#html-metadata).
+
+HTML metadata can also be added globally in the `conf.py` *via* the `myst_html_meta` variable, in which case it will be added to all MyST documents.
+For each document, the `myst_html_meta` dict will be updated by the document level front-matter `html_meta`, with the front-matter taking precedence.
+
+::::{tab-set}
+:::{tab-item} Sphinx Configuration
+
+```python
+language = "en"
+myst_html_meta = {
+ "description lang=en": "metadata description",
+ "description lang=fr": "description des métadonnées",
+ "keywords": "Sphinx, MyST",
+ "property=og:locale": "en_US"
+}
+```
+
+:::
+
+:::{tab-item} MyST Front-Matter
+
+```yaml
+---
+myst:
+ html_meta:
+ "description lang=en": "metadata description"
+ "description lang=fr": "description des métadonnées"
+ "keywords": "Sphinx, MyST"
+ "property=og:locale": "en_US"
+---
+```
+
+:::
+
+:::{tab-item} RestructuredText
+
+```restructuredtext
+.. meta::
+ :description lang=en: metadata description
+ :description lang=fr: description des métadonnées
+ :keywords: Sphinx, MyST
+ :property=og:locale: en_US
+```
+
+:::
+
+:::{tab-item} HTML Output
+
+```html
+<html lang="en">
+ <head>
+ <meta content="metadata description" lang="en" name="description" xml:lang="en" />
+ <meta content="description des métadonnées" lang="fr" name="description" xml:lang="fr" />
+ <meta name="keywords" content="Sphinx, MyST">
+ <meta content="en_US" property="og:locale" />
+```
+
+:::
+::::
+
+(syntax/comments)=
+
+## Comments
+
+You may add comments by putting the `%` character at the beginning of a line. This will
+prevent the line from being parsed into the output document.
+
+For example, this code:
+
+```md
+% my comment
+```
+
+Is below, but it won't be parsed into the document.
+
+% my comment
+
+````{important}
+Since comments are a block-level entity, they will terminate the previous block.
+In practical terms, this means that the following lines
+will be broken up into two paragraphs, resulting in a new line between them:
+
+```
+a line
+% a comment
+another line
+```
+
+a line
+% a comment
+another line
+````
+
+:::{tip}
+Comments are equivalent to the RST syntax: `.. my comment`.
+:::
+
+(syntax/blockbreaks)=
+
+## Block Breaks
+
+You may add a block break by putting `+++` at the beginning of a line.
+This constuct's intended use case is for mapping to cell based document formats,
+like [jupyter notebooks](https://jupyter.org/),
+to indicate a new text cell. It will not show up in the rendered text,
+but is stored in the internal document structure for use by developers.
+
+For example, this code:
+
+```md
++++ some text
+```
+
+Is below, but it won't be parsed into the document.
+
++++
+
+(syntax/referencing)=
+
+## Markdown Links and Referencing
+
+Markdown links are of the form: `[text](link)`.
+
+If you set the configuration `myst_all_links_external = True` (`False` by default),
+then all links will be treated simply as "external" links.
+For example, in HTML outputs, `[text](link)` will be rendered as `<a href="link">text</a>`.
+
+Otherwise, links will only be treated as "external" links if they are prefixed with a scheme,
+configured with `myst_url_schemes` (by default, `http`, `https`, `ftp`, or `mailto`).
+For example, `[example.com](https://example.com)` becomes [example.com](https://example.com).
+
+:::{note}
+The `text` will be parsed as nested Markdown, for example `[here's some *emphasised text*](https://example.com)` will be parsed as [here's some *emphasised text*](https://example.com).
+:::
+
+For "internal" links, myst-parser in Sphinx will attempt to resolve the reference to either a relative document path, or a cross-reference to a target (see [](syntax/targets)):
+
+- `[this doc](syntax.md)` will link to a rendered source document: [this doc](syntax.md)
+ - This is similar to `` {doc}`this doc <syntax>` ``; {doc}`this doc <syntax>`, but allows for document extensions, and parses nested Markdown text.
+- `[example text](example.txt)` will link to a non-source (downloadable) file: [example text](example.txt)
+ - The linked document itself will be copied to the build directory.
+ - This is similar to `` {download}`example text <example.txt>` ``; {download}`example text <example.txt>`, but parses nested Markdown text.
+- `[reference](syntax/referencing)` will link to an internal cross-reference: [reference](syntax/referencing)
+ - This is similar to `` {any}`reference <syntax/referencing>` ``; {any}`reference <syntax/referencing>`, but parses nested Markdown text.
+ - You can limit the scope of the cross-reference to specific [sphinx domains](sphinx:domain), by using the `myst_ref_domains` configuration.
+ For example, `myst_ref_domains = ("std", "py")` will only allow cross-references to `std` and `py` domains.
+
+Additionally, only if [](syntax/header-anchors) are enabled, then internal links to document headers can be used.
+For example `[a header](syntax.md#markdown-links-and-referencing)` will link to a header anchor: [a header](syntax.md#markdown-links-and-referencing).
+
+(syntax/targets)=
+
+## Targets and Cross-Referencing
+
+Targets are used to define custom anchors that you can refer to elsewhere in your
+documentation. They generally go before section titles so that you can easily refer
+to them.
+
+:::{tip}
+
+If you'd like to *automatically* generate targets for each of your section headers,
+check out the [](syntax/header-anchors) section of extended syntaxes.
+
+:::
+
+Target headers are defined with this syntax:
+
+```md
+(header_target)=
+```
+
+They can then be referred to with the [ref inline role](https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/roles.html#role-ref):
+
+```md
+{ref}`header_target`
+```
+
+By default, the reference will use the text of the target (such as the section title), but also you can directly specify the text:
+
+```md
+{ref}`my text <header_target>`
+```
+
+For example, see this ref: {ref}`syntax/targets`, and here's a ref back to the top of this page: {ref}`my text <syntax/core>`.
+
+Alternatively using the markdown syntax:
+
+```md
+[my text](header_target)
+```
+
+is equivalent to using the [any inline role](https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/roles.html#role-any):
+
+```md
+{any}`my text <header_target>`
+```
+
+but can also accept "nested" syntax (like bold text) and will recognise document paths that include extensions (e.g. `syntax/syntax` or `syntax/syntax.md`)
+
+Using the same example, see this ref: [](syntax/targets), here is a reference back to the top of
+this page: [my text with **nested** $\alpha$ syntax](syntax/core), and here is a reference to another page (`[](../intro.md)`): [](../intro.md).
+
+```{note}
+If you wish to have the target's title inserted into your text, you can
+leave the "text" section of the markdown link empty. For example, this
+markdown: `[](syntax.md)` will result in: [](syntax.md).
+```
+
+(syntax/code-blocks)=
+## Code syntax highlighting
+
+Code blocks contain a language identifier, which is used to determine the language of the code.
+This language is used to determine the syntax highlighting, using an available [pygments lexer](https://pygments.org/docs/lexers/).
+
+````markdown
+```python
+from a import b
+c = "string"
+```
+````
+
+```python
+from a import b
+c = "string"
+```
+
+You can create and register your own lexer, using the [`pygments.lexers` entry point](https://pygments.org/docs/plugins/#register-plugins),
+or within a sphinx extension, with the [`app.add_lexer` method](sphinx:sphinx.application.Sphinx.add_lexer).
+
+Using the `myst_number_code_blocks` configuration option, you can also control whether code blocks are numbered by line.
+For example, using `myst_number_code_blocks = ["typescript"]`:
+
+```typescript
+type MyBool = true | false;
+
+interface User {
+ name: string;
+ id: number;
+}
+```
+
+### Show backticks inside raw markdown blocks
+
+If you'd like to show backticks inside of your markdown, you can do so by nesting them
+in backticks of a greater length. Markdown will treat the outer-most backticks as the
+edges of the "raw" block and everything inside will show up. For example:
+
+``` `` `hi` `` ``` will be rendered as: `` `hi` ``
+
+and
+
+`````
+````
+```
+hi
+```
+````
+`````
+
+will be rendered as:
+
+````
+```
+hi
+```
+````
+
+## Tables
+
+Tables can be written using the standard [Github Flavoured Markdown syntax](https://github.github.com/gfm/#tables-extension-):
+
+```md
+| foo | bar |
+| --- | --- |
+| baz | bim |
+```
+
+| foo | bar |
+| --- | --- |
+| baz | bim |
+
+Cells in a column can be aligned using the `:` character:
+
+```md
+| left | center | right |
+| :--- | :----: | ----: |
+| a | b | c |
+```
+
+| left | center | right |
+| :--- | :----: | ----: |
+| a | b | c |
+
+:::{note}
+
+Text is aligned by assigning `text-left`, `text-center`, or `text-right` to the cell.
+It is then necessary for the theme you are using to include the appropriate css styling.
+
+```html
+<table class="colwidths-auto table">
+ <thead>
+ <tr><th class="text-left head"><p>left</p></th></tr>
+ </thead>
+ <tbody>
+ <tr><td class="text-left"><p>a</p></td></tr>
+ </tbody>
+</table>
+```
+
+:::
+
+## Images
+
+MyST provides a few different syntaxes for including images in your documentation.
+
+The standard Markdown syntax is:
+
+```md
+![fishy](img/fun-fish.png)
+```
+
+![fishy](img/fun-fish.png)
+
+But you can also enable extended image syntaxes, to control attributes like width and captions.
+See the [extended image syntax guide](syntax/images).
+
+(syntax/footnotes)=
+## Footnotes
+
+Footnotes use the [pandoc specification](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#footnotes).
+Their labels **start with `^`** and can then be any alphanumeric string (no spaces), which is case-insensitive.
+
+- If the label is an integer, then it will always use that integer for the rendered label (i.e. they are manually numbered).
+- For any other labels, they will be auto-numbered in the order which they are referenced, skipping any manually numbered labels.
+
+All footnote definitions are collected, and displayed at the bottom of the page (in the order they are referenced).
+Note that un-referenced footnote definitions will not be displayed.
+
+```md
+- This is a manually-numbered footnote reference.[^3]
+- This is an auto-numbered footnote reference.[^myref]
+
+[^myref]: This is an auto-numbered footnote definition.
+[^3]: This is a manually-numbered footnote definition.
+```
+
+- This is a manually-numbered footnote reference.[^3]
+- This is an auto-numbered footnote reference.[^myref]
+
+[^myref]: This is an auto-numbered footnote definition.
+[^3]: This is a manually-numbered footnote definition.
+
+Any preceding text after a footnote definitions, which is
+indented by four or more spaces, will also be included in the footnote definition, and the text is rendered as MyST Markdown, e.g.
+
+```md
+A longer footnote definition.[^mylongdef]
+
+[^mylongdef]: This is the _**footnote definition**_.
+
+ That continues for all indented lines
+
+ - even other block elements
+
+ Plus any preceding unindented lines,
+that are not separated by a blank line
+
+This is not part of the footnote.
+```
+
+A longer footnote definition.[^mylongdef]
+
+[^mylongdef]: This is the _**footnote definition**_.
+
+ That continues for all indented lines
+
+ - even other block elements
+
+ Plus any subsequent unindented lines,
+that are not separated by a blank line
+
+This is not part of the footnote.
+
+````{important}
+Although footnote references can be used just fine within directives, e.g.[^myref],
+it is recommended that footnote definitions are not set within directives,
+unless they will only be referenced within that same directive:
+
+```md
+[^other]
+
+[^other]: A definition within a directive
+```
+
+[^other]
+
+[^other]: A definition within a directive
+
+This is because, in the current implementation, they may not be available to reference in text above that particular directive.
+````
+
+By default, a transition line (with a `footnotes` class) will be placed before any footnotes.
+This can be turned off by adding `myst_footnote_transition = False` to the config file.