Creole 0.3

This is the stable v0.3 spec of Creole (19 Dec 2006).

Changes from Creole 0.2:

• Tables - all cells separated by single pipes
• Removed rule: "Links should not be allowed to contain a linebreak."
• Added summary of reasoning for markup elements in comment boxes.

Single element examples#

Bold and Italics#

Bold and Italics should be able to embed in lists and one should be able to make links bold and italic. Bold and/or italics can span lines, but not span across lines in lists nor across different paragraphs.

Bold#

Creole:

 **bold** 

Recommended XHTML:

 <strong>bold</strong> 

Sample Output: bold

Italics#

Ignore for italics processing if immediately following http: or ftp:

Creole:

 //italics// 

Recommended XHTML:

 <em>italics</em> 

Sample Output: italics

---

Creole:

Bold and italics should //be
able// to cross lines.

But, should //not be...

...able// to cross paragraphs.

Recommended XHTML:

<p>
Bold and italics should <em>be<br />
able</em> to cross lines.
</p>
<p>
But, should //not be...
</p>
<p>
...able// to cross paragraphs.
</p>

Sample output:

Bold and italics should be
able to cross lines.

But, should not be...

...able to cross paragraphs.

Bold Italics#

Creole:

**//bold italics//**
//**bold italics**//
//This is **also** good.//

Recommended XHTML:

<strong><em>bold italics</em></strong>
<em><strong>bold italics</strong></em>
<em>This is <strong>also</strong> good.</em>

Sample Output:

Bold italics
Bold italics
This is also good

---

Unacceptable:

**//bold italics**//
//**bold italics//**

Lists#

Bold, italics, links, pre can be embedded in lists. Whitespace is optional before and after the * or # character, however a space is required afterwards if someone wishes to start a list element with bold text. A list element ends at the end of a line. It is recommended to have support for a depth of at least five levels.

About unordered lists and bold: a line starting with (including optional whitespace before and afterwards), immediately following an unordered list element a line above, will be treated as a nested unordered list element. Otherwise it will be treated as the beginning of bold text. Also note that bold and/or italics cannot span lines in a list.

Unordered Lists#

Creole:

* Item 1
** Item 1.1
* Item 2

Recommended XHTML:

<ul>
<li>Item 1
  <ul>
  <li>Item 1.1</li>
  </ul>
</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
</ul>

Sample Output:

• Item 1
  • Item 1.1
• Item 2

Ordered Lists#

Creole:

# Item 1
## Item 1.1
# Item 2

Recommended XHTML:

<ol>
<li>Item 1
  <ol>
  <li>Item 1.1</li>
  </ol>
</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
</ol>

Sample Output:

1. Item 1
   1. Item 1.1
2. Item 2

Headings#

Only three different sized levels of headings are required. Closing (right-side) equal signs are optional. If both left side and right side equal signs exist, the left side takes precedence. Whitespace is not allowed before the left-side equal signs. Only whitespace characters are permitted after the closing equal signs. No linebreaks are allowed within headings (this includes logical linebreaks made by using a backslash at the end of a line, for example). Bold, italics, links and preformatted text are not allowed in headings.

Creole:

== Level 2 (largest) ==
=== Level 3 ===
==== Level 4 ====
===== Level 5 =====
====== Level 6 ======
=== Also level 3
=== Also level 3 =
=== Also level 3 ==
=== **not** //parsed// ===

Recommended XHTML:

<h2>Level 2 (largest)</h2>
<h3>Level 3</h3>
<h4>Level 4</h4>
<h5>Level 5</h5>
<h6>Level 6</h6>
<h3>Also level 3</h3>
<h3>Also level 3</h3>
<h3>Also level 3</h3>
<h3>**not** //parsed//</h3>

Links - Internal and External#

Any markup except for images within a link will not be parsed.

Creole:

[[link]]
[[MyBigPage|Go to my page]]
[[http://www.wikicreole.org/]]
http://www.rawlink.org/
[[http://www.wikicreole.org/|Visit the WikiCreole website]]
[[Weird Stuff|**Weird** //Stuff//]]

Recommended XHTML:

<a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/link">link</a>
<a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/MyBigPage">Go to my page</a>
<a href="http://www.wikicreole.org/">http://www.wikicreole.org/</a>
<a href="http://www.rawlink.org/">http://www.rawlink.org/</a>
<a href="http://www.wikicreole.org/">Visit the WikiCreole website</a>
<a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/Weird_Stuff">**Weird** //Stuff//</a>

Sample Output:

link
Go to my page
http://www.wikicreole.org/
http://www.rawlink.org/
Visit the WikiCreole website
__Weird__ ''Stuff''

Paragraphs#

Blank line makes paragraph.

Creole:

This is my text.

This is more text.

Recommended XHTML:

<p>This is my text.</p>

<p>This is more text.</p>

Sample Output: This is my text.

This is more text.

Line breaks#

Treat line breaks as line breaks. Best practice: line continuations made with backslash at end of line. This rule is optional If implementing a mixed native/creole mode.

Creole:

This is the first line.
This is the second line.

Recommended XHTML:

<p>
This is the first line.<br />
This is the second line.
</p>

Sample Output:

This is the first line.
This is the second line.

---

Creole:

* This is a single list item
followed by a paragraph?

Recommended XHTML:

<ul>
<li>This is a single list item</li>
</ul>
<p>
followed by a paragraph
</p>

Sample Output:

• This is a single list item

followed by a paragraph

Preformatted#

This works in-line or as a block. No wiki markup is interpreted between these characters and all characters become monospace. As a block, the three curly braces should be on one line by itself to open and another line of three curly braces should be on a line by itself to close.

Creole:

{{{
//This// does **not** get [[formatted]] 
}}}

Recommended XHTML:

<pre>
//This// does **not** get [[formatted]]
</pre>

Sample Output:

//This// does **not** get [[formatted]]

---

Creole:

Some examples of markup are: {{{** <i>this</i> ** }}}

Recommended XHTML:

Some examples of markup are: <tt>** &lt;i&gt;this&lt;/i&gt; **</tt>

Sample output:

Some examples of markup are: ** <i>this</i> **

Horizontal Rule#

Whitespace is optional before and after the hyphens, but no whitespace is allowed between them. The four hyphens must be the only characters (other than whitespace) on that line.

Creole:

 ---- 

Recommended XHTML:

 <hr /> 

Image (inline)#

Creole:

 {{myimage.png|this is my image}} 

Recommended XHTML:

 <img src="myimage.png" alt="this is my image"/> 

Tables#

All cells are separated by single pipes. The ending pipe is optional. You can embed links, bold, italics, and monospace in table cells. Comparison details found on List Of Table Markups

Creole:

|Heading Col 1  |Heading Col 2 |
|Cell 1.1       |Cell 1.2      |
|Cell 2.1       |Cell 2.2      |

Recommended XHTML:

<table>
<tr>
<td>Heading Col 1</td>
<td>Heading Col 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cell 1.1</td>
<td>Cell 1.2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cell 2.1</td>
<td>Cell 2.2</td>
</tr>
</table>

Sample output:

Heading Col 1	Heading Col 2
Cell 1.1	Cell 1.2
Cell 2.1	Cell 2.2

Placeholder#

When there is something advanced, a placeholder will show up, so users will not be confused seeing more than one syntax. (optional for wiki developers)

Creole:

 <<x>> 

Mixed syntax examples#

Bold and/or italic links#

Creole:

//[[Important page|this link is bold]]//
**[[Important page]]**
//**[[Important page]]**//

Recommended XHTML:

<em><a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/Important_Page">this link is bold</a></em>
<strong><a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/Important_page">Important page</a></strong>
<em><strong><a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/Important_page">Important page</a></strong></em>

Sample Output: this link is bold
Important page
Important page

Bold, Italics, Links, Pre in Lists#

Creole:

* **bold** item
* //italic// item
# item about a [[certain page]]
# {{{ //this// is **not** [[processed]] }}}

Recommended XHTML:

<ul>
<li><strong>bold</strong> item</li>
<li><em>italic</em> item</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>item about a <a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/certain_page">certain page</a></li>
<li><tt>//this// is **not** [[processed]]</tt></li>
</ol>

Sample Output:

• bold item
• italic item

1. item about a certain page
2. //this// is **not** [[processed]]