Search code examples
githubmarkdowngithub-pages

Where is GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) actually used in GitHub?

This has been a mystery to me for a while, and for some reason Google didn't help me, so let me ask.

EDIT: ok, I understand the GFM is everywhere in GitHub, and why GFM style line break edit is not available?? Is it turned off? and I know the original MD rule. What I'd like to confirm here is GFM line break rule. Thank you.

I like GFM very much especially for the straightfoward line break manner. https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown However, I have been never able to post my own Markdown with this line beak mode.

For instance, I copied some syntax list MD to a new page of one of my wiki on GitHub.

https://github.com/kenokabe/kenokabe.github.io/wiki/MarkDownGFM

As you can confirm the MD source. 

This is intended as a quick reference and showcase. 
For more complete info, see [John Gruber's original spec]

a single new line is applied; however, the result shown with no new line.

What do I miss? Where is GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) is actually used in GitHub?

(Technical note: Markdown Here uses GFM line breaks, so there's no need to use MD's two-space line breaks.)

It certainly says so, but I found this md uses 2 spaces br manner.

Solution

  • Contrary to the other answers, GFM is only used where text is only entered through the GitHub website, not in README.md and not on GitHub Wikis.

    From https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown (emphasis added)

    GitHub uses what we're calling "GitHub Flavored Markdown" (GFM) for messages, issues, and comments.

    The reasoning behind this is that README.md and Wikis are part of Git repositories, and therefore can be cloned outside of the site, where one would reasonably expect (standard) Markdown rather than GFM.

    For more on GitHub's rationale, see https://github.com/github/markup/issues/208#issuecomment-24927799

    Edit:

    Syntax highlighting (Pygments) is separate from GFM, in that, GFM employs syntax highlighting, however the presence of syntax highlighting does not entail GFM, hence why GitHub Pages will use standard Markdown line-breaks: it uses Pygments, but not GFM.