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I am having trouble when trying to display the # symbol on the start of a quote1, as if I do it appears as a header instead, like:

> #this

this

The only way I could think to partially get it right was to backtick the hash symbol:

> `#`Some

#Some

Is there any way I can include a # symbol at the start of a quote besides using backticks? The mixing of colors seems strange when using so, and a bit irruptive to the reader. I already checked Editing Help as well as this other formatting page, but couldn't find a way.

1In case you were wondering, this happened to me as I needed to quote some text, that included a Python comment in one of its lines.

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  • Interestingly, now that I am on the App, the backtick bypass looks the same here as the solutions in the answers... I guess because they both have a gray background, while on web the quotes are pale yellow (on Meta SE at least)
    – DarkCygnus
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 7:06

3 Answers 3

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You just need to escape the # with a backslash, like this:

> \#test

which parses as:

#test

BTW, note that you can also have a code block inside a quote:

>     #like this

which parses as:

#like this
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  • Good, this manages to display the number symbol as desired :) thanks
    – DarkCygnus
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 4:37
  • hehe, found another way to display it. I wonder which is preferred over the other?
    – DarkCygnus
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 4:41
  • Whichever you find easiest to type, I'd say.
    – Ilmari Karonen
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 4:43
  • In that case, I think that "\" is faster to type than the Entity :-) but, what I meant is that if there are preference to, say, not use Entities on posts when possible or something like that... but surely the slash is more accessible.
    – DarkCygnus
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 4:44
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Well, further testing out and playing with the quotes I managed to obtain an alternative solution to the answer already provided, by using HTML Entities:

> #test

Which parses as:

#test

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2

The other options are better, but because # has ASCII character code 35 (in hexadecimal: 23), the following options work as well:

> #test

> #test

#test

#test

There's a slight irony here in the fact that you're using a # again, but in a different way.

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  • Interesting variation of the Entities use, and yes, quite ironic to see the number symbol there :) thanks
    – DarkCygnus
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 7:04

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