Problems creating a bullet and number list with markdown

Question

I'm struggling to format a bullet list, a number list and then a bullet list.

This question isn't looking right: Frequent error messages when connecting to Windows file shares from a Mac under a VPN connection

Is there a bug in markdown or did I screw something up?

Let me specify: I'm trying to create a 2 item bullet list, some space, then a 3 item number list, some space, a then 2 item bullet list.

Here is my source:

- "The operation cannot be completed because one or more required items cannot be found. (Error code -1401)"
- "The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "home1-final.psd" could not be written. (Error code -36)"

1. This user has been accessing files this way without problems for over a year
2. No configuration changes or installations have occurred on the file server of the client/user Mac since the problem began
3. The user can use the files most of the time, but frequently gets these errors.

- Windows Server 2003
- Mac OS X 10.50.8

But if you look at the link above, it doesn't render that way.

Answer 1

They're being merged because they have the same indentation and nothing but whitespace in between. You could do like Jonathan did, and just change the indentation from list-to-list, but this might not work if you don't intend one list to be a subset of an item in the preceding list. Easiest solution? Just throw a   in between 'em:

1. One
2. Two

 

• Three
• Four

If the excess whitespace annoys you, then consider using a horizontal rule:

1. One
2. Two

---

• Three
• Four

If none of that works for you, then you're left with the option of using straight HTML:

• One
• Two

1. One
2. Two

• Note that ordinary Markdown syntax *doesn't* work within block-level HTML

Answer 2

Like this? Note, when doing nested lists, the preview window is a super big help. Inserted how ever many spaces it takes to pop that list into existence.

• No problems exist
• You made it all up
  1. You probably missing something big
     • That isn't really important though
     • I don't mean to pry
  2. You might have just not indented enough times
     • That seems more likely
• This helps, right?

Source:

- No problems exist
- You made it all up
 1. You probably missing something big
     - That isn't really important though
     - I don't mean to pry
 2. You might have just not indented enough times
     - That seems more likely
- This helps, right?

Answer 3

I think in this specific case what you're doing doesn't lead to a particularly readable post, so I'm inclined to call this "it hurts when I do that, so don't do that."

Beyond that, use   if you need an artificial paragraph break between sections.