What file uses .md extension and how should I edit

Question

On GitHub, several projects have README.md files. It seems like a simple format file to express text and pictures.

I guess there is an editor or syntax explanation somewhere.

Where can I find an introduction to .md files?

Answer 1

If you are creating .md files for your .NET solutions I recommend the Visual Studio 2015 extension Markdown Editor as it has a preview panel so you can see your changes in real time.

EDIT: This also should now work with Visual Studio 2017.

Answer 2

There is an ongoing effort to standardize Markdown and as of now, this is probably the best place to learn about markdown:

http://standardmarkdown.com/

Answer 3

Extension '.md' refers to Markdown files.

If you don't want to install an app to read them in that format, you can simply use TextEdit or Xcode itself to open it on Mac.

On any other OS, you should be able to open it using any text editor, though as expected, you will not see it in Markdown format.

Answer 4

Stack Edit is an online markdown editor with the ability to save to Google Drive and DropBox.

Answer 5

Microsoft's Visual Studio Code text editor has built in support for .md files written in markdown syntax.

The syntax is automatically color-coded inside of the .md file, and a preview window of the rendered markdown can be viewed by pressing Shift+Ctrl+V (Windows) or Shift+Cmd+V (Mac).

To see them side-by-side, drag the preview tab to the right side of the editor, or use Ctrl+K V (Windows) or Cmd+K V (Mac) instead.

VS Code uses the marked library for parsing, and has Github Flavored Markdown support enabled by default, but it will not display the Github Emoji inline like Github's Atom text editor does.

Also, VS Code supports has several markdown plugins available for extended functionality.

Answer 6

I suggest StackEdit. It is simple WISIWIG editor. You can use both editor and markdown syntax. There is a quick markdown help syntax there. Undo/redo, comments, GoogleDrive, Dropbox interconnection.