Definition Lists

Summary

The Definition List Extension adds the ability to create definition list in Markdown documents.

This extension is included in the standard Markdown library.

Syntax

Definition lists are defined using the syntax established in PHP Markdown Extra.

Thus, the following text (taken from the above referenced PHP documentation):

Apple
:   Pomaceous fruit of plants of the genus Malus in 
    the family Rosaceae.

Orange
:   The fruit of an evergreen tree of the genus Citrus.

will be rendered like so:

<dl>
<dt>Apple</dt>
<dd>Pomaceous fruit of plants of the genus Malus in 
the family Rosaceae.</dd>

<dt>Orange</dt>
<dd>The fruit of an evergreen tree of the genus Citrus.</dd>
</dl>

Usage

From the Python interpreter:

>>> html = markdown.markdown(text, ['def_list'])

To use with other extensions, just add them to the list, like this:

>>> html = markdown.markdown(text, ['def_list', 'footnotes'])

The extension can also be called from the command line using Markdown's -x parameter:

markdown.py -x def_list source.txt > output.html