Markdown Footnotes

Footnotes are used to add notes, citations, references, or additional information to your document without disrupting the flow of your main text. A number is inserted into the text, linking to a footnote at the bottom of the page. They're particularly useful in documentation, tutorials, and academic writing.

Basic footnote syntax

Footnotes in Markdown are made from two parts:

1. A marker in the text, displayed as a number. These numbers appear in sequence.
2. The footnote content which appears at the bottom of the document.

Syntax:

This is a sentence with a footnote reference[^1].

[^1]: This is the footnote content.

Result:

This is a sentence with a footnote reference¹.

Named footnotes

A word or phrase can be used instead of numbers for footnote identifiers, making the footnote more descriptive and easier to manage:

Syntax:

A sentence with a named footnote[^note].

[^note]: This is a named footnote.

Result:

A sentence with a named footnote².

Footnote placement

Footnotes will display at the bottom of the document in the order they are referenced in the text. You can create them right after referencing them, or add them later:

Syntax:

First footnote reference[^first].

Second footnote reference[^second].

[^first]: First footnote content.

[^second]: Second footnote content.

Result:

First footnote reference³.

Second footnote reference⁴.

Multi-paragraph footnotes

Footnotes can contain multiple paragraphs. To add extra paragraphs to a footnote, indent them with a tab of four spaces:

Syntax:

Text with a longer footnote[^complex].

[^complex]: First paragraph of the multi-paragraph footnote.

    Second paragraph of the  footnote.

    Third paragraph with code:

        {
          "firstName": "John",
          "lastName": "Smith"
        }

Result:

Text with a longer footnote⁵.

Reusing footnotes

In some Markdown flavors, you can reference the same footnote multiple times, and it will be displayed as a single footnote:

Syntax:

Here's a footnote reference[^repeat].

Same footnote used again[^repeat].

[^repeat]: Reusable Footnote content.

Result:

Here's a footnote reference⁶.

Same footnote used again⁶.

Inline footnotes

Some Markdown processors support inline footnotes, which allow you to define the footnote directly within the reference:

Syntax:

Sentence with an inline footnote^[The footnote content is defined right here].

Always check if your platform/Markdown processor supports footnotes before using them.