About line continuation

This page illustrates how you can continue lines using \ and \\. The instructions on Text Formatting Rules say:

• Use blank lines as separators
• Use \ (backslash) at the end of a line to join the next line to the current one
• Use \\ (two backslashes) at the end of a line to force a line break

Let us now give a few examples (the text in the left column shows the markup, and the right column shows how it is rendered).

Example of using \

In this example we pretend that you are writing a list item with a lot of text. Here's what you will get if you don't use line continuation:

 * This list item has so
much text that you wrote it
on several lines

This is how it should be done:

 * This list item has so \
much text that you wrote it \
on several lines

Example of using \\

In this example you want to have a newline without leaving the list item. Here's what you will get if you use \:

 * The next sentence should \
be on a line of its own. \
On a line of its own.

This is how it should be done:

 * The next sentence should \
be on a line of its own. \\
On a line of its own.