How to combine bold and "code sample" in Markdown? [duplicate]

Question

How can I make a word in a code sample bold? I only see asterisks around the expected bold text.

sample **sample** sample

Answer 1

Use <pre> formatting and HTML tags.

<pre>
sample <b>sample</b> sample
</pre>

Gives:

sample sample sample

---

Since you can use other HTML tags as well, this is nice for including inline documentation for commands or classes, etc.:

<pre>
<i><a href="http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/dapper/man1/prename.1.html">rename</a></i> ’s/\.bak$//’ *.bak
</pre>

Gives:

rename 's/\.bak$//' *.bak

But, with any formatting tricks, please don't overdo it.

Answer 2

Disclaimer: I do not condone this, I'm just pointing out a possibility (for the sake of completion)

Markdown-only hack

The basic idea is to apply bold/italic formatting to backtick-enclosed string (instead of applying within the backticks), then put the code spans side by side so that they render as a single code span.

Formatting (bold and italic) in emulated code block

Huge drawback: no syntax highlighting

1. Bold formatting

   > `sample`**`sample`**`sample`
   

   outputs as:

   samplesamplesample

2. Italics formatting

   > *`rename`*`'s/\.bak$//' *.bak`
   

   outputs as:

   rename's/\.bak$//' *.bak

Formatting in code span

1. Bold formatting

   `one`**`two`**`three`
   

   outputs as

   onetwothree

2. Bold and italics side by side

   `one`**`two`***`three`*
   

   outputs as

   onetwothree

   You need a non-printing character or a zero-width character (e.g. zero width space ​) to separate the markdown for bold and markdown for italics.

Drawback

1. Hackish, clumsy and unsightly (way less readable than its HTML counterpart)
2. The emulated code block cannot be syntax highlighted compared to a real code block

3. When you line up two code spans (with different formatting) side by side, there is always a space in between.

   So it's not possible to apply say bold formatting to a string within double quotes like print "Hello world"; without a space between the string and quotes.

   `print "`**`Hello world`**`";`
   

   would render as

   print "Hello world";

4. Others (left as exercise to the reader)

Answer 3

Make it an actual quote instead of a code fragment, by prefixing the text with > instead of four spaces.

The following markdown:

> sample **sample** sample

Gives:

sample sample sample