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# 2.2. Paragraphs

## 2.2.1. Introduction

Paragraphs have the following format:

       line1
       ...
       lineN

Leading and trailing whitespace on lines is generally ignored. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines or:

- comment lines - first non-whitespace character is "#"
- macros - first non-whitespace character is "!".

For normal paragraphs, simply specify the text on one or more lines. For example:

       I like products which are simple to use and
       do what I expect. We should encourage engineers
       to design more products with these qualities.

## 2.2.2. Paragraph styles

A paragraph can be given a style using the following syntax:

       style":"line1
       ...
       lineN

Tagged paragraphs do not need to be separated by blank lines. style is a sequence of one or more of the following characters:

- letters
- digits
- underscore character (_).

Whitespace is not permitted before the ":" but is generally ignored immediately after it. The style is optional and defaults to N (for Normal). The text is also optional.

## 2.2.3. Commonly used styles

Commonly used paragraph styles are given below.

Style | Description
N | normal paragraph (the default)
H1 .. H6 | chapter heading at level 1-6
A1 .. A6 | appendix heading at level 1-6
P1 .. P6 | plain heading at level 1-6
Note | a single paragraph note
E | fixed-width (example) text

For example:

       Note: Life is too short to drink bad wine.

The result is:

Note: Life is too short to drink bad wine.

## 2.2.4. Special styles

For certain styles, the following syntax is also supported:

       special_style line1
       ...
       lineN

The special styles available are:

Style | Description
. .. ...... | paragraph or plain list item at level 1-6
* .. ****** | unordered list at level 1-6
- .. ----- | unordered list at level 2-6
^ .. ^^^^^^ | first entry in an ordered list at level 1-6
+ .. ++++++ | next entry in an ordered list at level 1-6

For example:

    * fruits:
      - peach
      - banana
    * vegetables:
      - potato
      - carrots.

The result is:

- fruits:
  - peach
  - banana
- vegetables:
  - potato
  - carrots.