Markdown blockquotes and horizontal rules

A blockquote starts a line with a greater-than sign (>); a horizontal rule is three or more dashes (---) on a line of their own. One quotes text and sets it apart, the other draws a divider between sections. Both are plain text, and both work in any Markdown editor.

How to write a blockquote

Put a > and a space at the start of a line. That line becomes a quote, usually rendered with an indent and a vertical bar down the left side.

> Read the document, not the syntax.

That produces a single quoted line, offset from the text around it.

A quote can run for more than one line. Start each line of the paragraph with its own >:

> Markdown is a plain-text format.
> You write in symbols, and a reader turns them into formatting.

You can also leave the continuation lines bare and let the parser join them into one quoted paragraph. Marking every line is clearer, so prefer that.

To put a gap between two separate quotes, leave a blank > line between them, or end the first quote and start a new one after an empty line.

How to nest a blockquote

Quotes can sit inside quotes. Add a second > for each level you go in:

> She wrote back the next morning.
>
> > I read it twice. Send the rest.

The first level is the outer quote. The > > line is a quote inside that quote, rendered one step further in. This is how you show a reply to a quote, or a quote within a quote, without losing track of who said what.

Blockquotes also hold other Markdown. You can put a list, a heading, or bold text inside one:

> Three things to check before you send:
>
> - the subject line
> - the first sentence
> - the link actually works

The list renders inside the quote, indented along with it.

How to write a horizontal rule

Type three or more dashes on a line by themselves, with a blank line above and below:

First section ends here.

---

Second section starts here.

That draws a horizontal line across the page, a clean break between the two sections. Without the blank line above, some parsers read the dashes as a heading underline instead of a rule, so keep the spacing.

Dashes are the common choice, but three or more asterisks or underscores do the same thing:

***

___

All three render as the same divider. Pick one and stay with it so your source stays readable. Dashes are the easiest to spot later.

In Unmarked

Both render. A blockquote shows with an indent and a left bar, nested quotes step in level by level, and a horizontal rule draws a full divider line. In Write mode you can drop a quote or a divider from the + Insert menu instead of typing the marks. A quote also continues itself: press Enter and the next line keeps its >, until you press Enter on an empty quote line to break out.