Creole 0.2

This is the final v0.2 spec of Creole (20 Nov 2006). Also see: Creole 0.3.

Changes from Creole 0.1:

• Images now can have optional ALT text {{flower.png|alt text}}

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 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><strong>not</strong> <em>parsed</em></h3>

Internal and External Links#

Links should not be allowed to contain a linebreak. 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.

Linebreaks#

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"/> 

Placeholder#

When there is something advanced like tables, 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>//this// is **not** [[processed]]</li>
</ol>

Sample Output:

• bold item
• italic item

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