Escape Markdown characters

Escape Markdown punctuation so text displays literally instead of becoming formatting.

freeworks offlinenothing uploaded
ToolMarkdown Escaper
Input
Output
—
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Preview

How it works

Selected punctuation receives backslashes while existing escapes are preserved or normalized according to the option. The output is source text intended to display literal characters.

  • Only Markdown-significant characters are targeted.
  • Backslash is the CommonMark punctuation escape mechanism.

Worked example

Escape markdown characters
Prevent special characters from being interpreted as formatting
Input
											Price is $10 * 2 = $20 (use **bold**)
Output
												Price is $10 \* 2 \= $20 \(use \*\*bold\*\*\)

When to use this

Generated README text, literal Markdown examples, and changelogs escape user content.

Edge cases

  • Existing backslashes can be double-escaped when normalization is disabled.
  • Code spans are parsed differently by Markdown renderers.
  • Escaping punctuation in a URL can change its destination.

References