New Line in Markdown
How to create line breaks and new paragraphs in Markdown.
Quick Answer
New paragraph: leave a blank line between blocks
Line break within a paragraph: two trailing spaces + Enter or <br>
Markdown handles whitespace differently from word processors. A single newline in your source file is not a line break in the output — it is treated as a space. You need to be explicit about the type of break you want.
All methods
Blank line (new paragraph)
All Markdown flavours
Syntax
First paragraph. Second paragraph.
Output
Two separate paragraphs with a gap between them.
This is the most common and universally supported method. Use it whenever you want to start a new paragraph.
Two trailing spaces
CommonMark, GitHub, most parsers
Syntax
First line. Second line.
Output
A line break within the same paragraph — no gap.
Add two or more spaces at the end of a line, then press Enter. Invisible in most editors, which makes it error-prone.
HTML <br> tag
Most parsers (HTML must be enabled)
Syntax
First line.<br> Second line.
Output
A hard line break, identical to the trailing space method.
More explicit and visible than trailing spaces. Works wherever raw HTML is permitted inside Markdown.
Backslash at end of line
CommonMark, GFM
Syntax
First line.\ Second line.
Output
A hard line break within the same paragraph.
Supported in CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown. Not supported in older Markdown variants.
Which method should you use?
For new paragraphs: always use a blank line. This is the standard, universally supported approach and produces the clearest source code.
For line breaks within a paragraph (poetry, addresses, code comments): use the backslash method if you're writing CommonMark or GitHub Markdown. Use <br> if you need broad compatibility. Avoid trailing spaces — they're invisible and easy to accidentally remove.
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