Showing the marks themselves

In this lesson you will learn when a backslash is needed, which characters it covers, and the simpler alternatives that often make escaping unnecessary.

Syntax

Type *asterisks* to show literal asterisks.

# Not a heading.

Use [brackets] for the characters themselves.

A backslash before a formatting character displays the character and suppresses its meaning. The characters worth knowing: \ * _ # [ ] ( ) ` > | $. This is not an exhaustive reference — these are the ones that actually appear in real notes.

Cases that actually bite

• Math-like text — 3 * 5 = 15 can emphasize the middle. When a sentence mixes words and asterisks, backslash the marks or rephrase with ×.
• Lines starting with # — version tags, C# notes, issue numbers. A leading \# keeps them as text.
• Dollar amounts — \$5 guarantees a literal price even where math rendering might otherwise claim the dollars (Typehall already keeps plain $5 literal — the next lessons explain exactly when dollars become math).

Often simpler: code spans

When you are documenting syntax itself — showing someone the characters to type — inline code beats escaping. Compare \*\*bold\*\* with **bold**: the second is unambiguous and needs no backslashes, because nothing formats inside backticks. Rule of thumb: escape in prose, use code spans in instructions.

Write one line that shows a literal *asterisk*, one line that starts with a literal # character, and one line with a $5 price.

Render all three without any of them turning into formatting.

That closes the core syntax. Next, diagrams from text: Mermaid diagrams.