> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://doc.botboom.ru/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://doc.botboom.ru/nyuansy/telegram-markdown.md).

# Telegram markdown

**Formatting options**

The Bot API supports basic formatting for messages. You can use bold, italic, underlined and strikethrough text, as well as inline links and pre-formatted code in your bots' messages. Telegram clients will render them accordingly. You can use either markdown-style or HTML-style formatting.

Note that Telegram clients will display an **alert** to the user before opening an inline link ('Open this link?' together with the full URL).

Message entities can be nested, providing following restrictions are met:\
\- If two entities has common characters then one of them is fully contained inside another.\
\- *bold*, *italic*, *underline* and *strikethrough* entities can contain and to be contained in any other entities, except *pre* and *code*.\
\- All other entities can't contain each other.

Links `tg://user?id=<user_id>` can be used to mention a user by their ID without using a username. Please note:

* These links will work **only** if they are used inside an inline link. For example, they will not work, when used in an inline keyboard button or in a message text.
* These mentions are only guaranteed to work if the user has contacted the bot in the past, has sent a callback query to the bot via inline button or is a member in the group where he was mentioned.

**MarkdownV2 style**

To use this mode, pass *MarkdownV2* in the *parse\_mode* field. Use the following syntax in your message:

````
*bold \*text*
_italic \*text_
__underline__
~strikethrough~
*bold _italic bold ~italic bold strikethrough~ __underline italic bold___ bold*
[inline URL](http://www.example.com/)
[inline mention of a user](tg://user?id=123456789)
`inline fixed-width code`
```
pre-formatted fixed-width code block
```
```python
pre-formatted fixed-width code block written in the Python programming language
```
````

Please note:

* Any character with code between 1 and 126 inclusively can be escaped anywhere with a preceding '\\' character, in which case it is treated as an ordinary character and not a part of the markup.
* Inside `pre` and `code` entities, all '\`' and '\\' characters must be escaped with a preceding '\\' character.
* Inside `(...)` part of inline link definition, all ')' and '\\' must be escaped with a preceding '\\' character.
* In all other places characters '\_', '\*', '\[', ']', '(', ')', '\~', '\`', '>', '#', '+', '-', '=', '|', '{', '}', '.', '!' must be escaped with the preceding character '\\'.
* In case of ambiguity between `italic` and `underline` entities `__` is always greadily treated from left to right as beginning or end of `underline` entity, so instead of `___italic underline___` use `___italic underline_\r__`, where `\r` is a character with code 13, which will be ignored.

**HTML style**

To use this mode, pass *HTML* in the *parse\_mode* field. The following tags are currently supported:

```
<b>bold</b>, <strong>bold</strong>
<i>italic</i>, <em>italic</em>
<u>underline</u>, <ins>underline</ins>
<s>strikethrough</s>, <strike>strikethrough</strike>, <del>strikethrough</del>
<b>bold <i>italic bold <s>italic bold strikethrough</s> <u>underline italic bold</u></i> bold</b>
<a href="http://www.example.com/">inline URL</a>
<a href="tg://user?id=123456789">inline mention of a user</a>
<code>inline fixed-width code</code>
<pre>pre-formatted fixed-width code block</pre>
<pre><code class="language-python">pre-formatted fixed-width code block written in the Python programming language</code></pre>
```

Please note:

* Only the tags mentioned above are currently supported.
* All `<`, `>` and `&` symbols that are not a part of a tag or an HTML entity must be replaced with the corresponding HTML entities (`<` with `&lt;`, `>` with `&gt;` and `&` with `&amp;`).
* All numerical HTML entities are supported.
* The API currently supports only the following named HTML entities: `&lt;`, `&gt;`, `&amp;` and `&quot;`.
* Use nested `pre` and `code` tags, to define programming language for `pre` entity.
* Programming language can't be specified for standalone `code` tags.

**Markdown style**

This is a legacy mode, retained for backward compatibility. To use this mode, pass *Markdown* in the *parse\_mode* field. Use the following syntax in your message:

````
*bold text*
_italic text_
[inline URL](http://www.example.com/)
[inline mention of a user](tg://user?id=123456789)
`inline fixed-width code`
```
pre-formatted fixed-width code block
```
```python
pre-formatted fixed-width code block written in the Python programming language
```
````

Please note:

* Entities must not be nested, use parse mode [MarkdownV2](https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#markdownv2-style) instead.
* There is no way to specify underline and strikethrough entities, use parse mode [MarkdownV2](https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#markdownv2-style) instead.
* To escape characters '\_', '\*', '\`', '\[' outside of an entity, prepend the characters '\\' before them.
* Escaping inside entities is not allowed, so entity must be closed first and reopened again: use `_snake_\__case_` for italic `snake_case` and `*2*\**2=4*` for bold `2*2=4`.