Reddit Formatting Guide 2026: Complete Markdown, Comment, and Post Reference

Reddit markdown cheat sheet

Reddit uses a customized version of Markdown. Most syntax is standard, but a few elements behave differently across new Reddit, old Reddit, and the official mobile apps. The cheat sheet below covers every supported element with the exact syntax to copy.

Fancy Pants vs Markdown editor

Reddit ships two composers. Fancy Pants is the WYSIWYG editor with formatting buttons. The Markdown editor accepts raw markdown syntax and is faster for users who already know the symbols. You can toggle between them in the post composer using the small icon labeled Markdown Mode or Switch to Markdown Editor.

Use Fancy Pants for occasional posts where you want visual feedback. Use Markdown for power workflows like long guides, comparison tables, and code-heavy comments. Switching mid-draft sometimes corrupts formatting, so pick one editor and stick with it for any given post.

Bold, italic, strikethrough, and inline styles

Reddit's inline text styles follow standard Markdown. Wrap text in two asterisks for bold, one asterisk or underscore for italic, two tildes for strikethrough, and combine them by stacking the symbols.

**bold text**
*italic text*
***bold and italic***
~~strikethrough~~
`inline code`

A common pitfall: if you bold a single word that contains an asterisk-adjacent character, like an emoji or some punctuation, the markdown can fail to close. Add a space around the bold span if you see it not rendering. Underscores around partial words also fail because Reddit treats mid-word underscores as literal characters.

Headers and section structure

Reddit supports H1 through H6 using one to six pound symbols followed by a space. Long Reddit posts read better with H2 and H3 only. Most readers skim, and an H1 is rarely needed because the post title already serves that purpose.

# H1 (rarely used in posts)
## H2 main section
### H3 subsection
#### H4 (use sparingly)

Bulleted, numbered, and nested lists

Lists are where most Reddit formatting breaks. The number-one cause is a missing blank line before the first list item. Without that blank line, Reddit renders your list as a single paragraph with literal hyphens.

Here is the correct way to start a list:

- First bullet
- Second bullet
- Third bullet

And here is a numbered list:

1. First step
2. Second step
3. Third step

Nested lists use 4 spaces or a tab:

- Top level item
    - Nested item
    - Another nested item

Numbered lists auto-increment. Even if you write 1. three times, Reddit renders 1, 2, 3. This is useful when you reorder steps and do not want to renumber.

Links, references, and subreddit shortcuts

Inline links use [anchor text](https://url.com). Bare URLs auto-link in most clients but not all. Subreddit and user mentions auto-link without brackets, which is a Reddit-specific convenience.

[Linkeddit blog](https://linkeddit.com/blog)
r/leadgeneration
u/spez
/r/SaaS
/u/automoderator

For accessibility and click-through rate, descriptive anchor text outperforms naked URLs. "See the comparison data" beats "click here." Reddit's algorithm also weighs comment readability, so cleaner link formatting tends to age better in search.

Block quotes

Prefix any line with > followed by a space to render it as a block quote. Stack multiple> for nested quotes when replying to a thread that already contains quoted text.

> This is a quoted line.
> Continuing the quote on a second line.

>> This is a nested quote inside another quote.

Code blocks and inline code

Reddit supports two ways to render code blocks. The traditional method is to indent every line by 4 spaces. On new Reddit and most third-party apps, you can also wrap code in triple backticks. Old Reddit does not render triple-backtick blocks, so technical subreddits frequently still expect the 4-space indent.

Method 1: 4-space indent (works everywhere)

    function hello() {
      return "Reddit";
    }

Method 2: triple backticks (new Reddit only)

```
function hello() {
  return "Reddit";
}
```

For inline code, wrap text in single backticks. Use this for variable names, file paths, short commands, and short JSON keys.

Tables on Reddit

Tables are supported on new Reddit and most third-party apps. They do not render on old Reddit, so users on old.reddit.com see your raw pipe and dash syntax. If your audience skews technical, expect a portion of readers on old Reddit and offer a fallback summary.

| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cell A | Cell B | Cell C |
| Cell D | Cell E | Cell F |

Alignment (optional):
| Left | Center | Right |
| :--- | :---: | ---: |
| a | b | c |

Superscript, spoilers, and special markup

Reddit supports a few extensions beyond standard Markdown. The most useful are superscript and spoilers. Superscript is helpful for citations and footnotes. Spoilers hide text behind a click, which is required in many entertainment subreddits.

Superscript single word: ^word
Superscript phrase: ^(multiple words here)
Spoiler: >!hidden text!<
Horizontal rule:

---

New Reddit vs old Reddit differences

Reddit users browse on three main interfaces: new Reddit at reddit.com, old Reddit at old.reddit.com, and mobile apps. Markdown rendering differs in subtle ways. The summary below covers the differences that matter for posts and comments.

Post and comment templates

The templates below cover the four post styles that perform best in B2B and SaaS subreddits: ask-for-help, comparison, value share, and case study. Each template uses Reddit-friendly formatting and avoids excessive promotion.

Template 1: Ask for help

**Quick context:** [1-2 sentences about your role and stack]

**The problem:** [Specific issue, with numbers if possible]

**What I have tried:**

- Tried X, result was Y
- Tried A, result was B

**What I am asking:**

[Specific question]

Open to suggestions and happy to share results back.

Template 2: Comparison post

**TL;DR:** [One-line conclusion]

I tested [Tool A], [Tool B], and [Tool C] for [use case] over [time period]. Here is what I found.

| Tool | Strength | Weakness | Price |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Tool A | ... | ... | $X |
| Tool B | ... | ... | $X |
| Tool C | ... | ... | $X |

**My pick:** [Tool] because [reason].

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

Template 3: Value share

I have been [doing X] for [time]. Here is the workflow that works best.

### Step 1: [Action]

[Detail]

### Step 2: [Action]

[Detail]

### Step 3: [Action]

[Detail]

### What I would skip

- [Pitfall]
- [Pitfall]

Hope this helps someone.

Template 4: Case study

**Company:** [Type of business]
**Goal:** [Outcome]
**Timeline:** [Window]
**Result:** [Specific number]

### What we did

1. [Action with detail]
2. [Action with detail]
3. [Action with detail]

### What surprised us

[Insight]

### What we would do differently

[Honest reflection]

AMA in the comments.

Why your formatting is not rendering

Most formatting issues come from a small set of mistakes. The list below covers the issues that account for the majority of broken Reddit posts.

• Missing blank line before a list: Reddit needs an empty line before the first bullet or numbered item, or the list renders inline.
• Switching editors mid-draft: Toggling between Fancy Pants and Markdown can drop or corrupt formatting. Pick one and finish.
• Pasting from Google Docs or Word: These tools insert smart quotes and hidden characters that break markdown. Paste as plain text first.
• Underscores inside words: Reddit ignores underscores that appear mid-word. Use asterisks for partial-word italics.
• Old Reddit users: Tables and triple-backtick code blocks do not render on old.reddit.com. Provide a plain-text fallback if your audience uses old Reddit.
• Mobile rendering: Some markdown extensions render differently on mobile. Always preview on mobile if a high portion of your audience reads there.
• Tables with misaligned pipes: Tables need every row to have the same number of pipes. A missing pipe collapses the row.

FAQ