RST cheat sheet

Headings

For each formatting line (e.g., ===), write as many symbols (=) as there are characters in the header.

The symbols used for the formatting are, in fact, not important. Only the order in which they are written matters, as it determines the size of the decorated heading. This means that you may encounter different heading formatting and in a different order, in which case you should follow the formatting in place in the document. In any other case, use the formatting shown below.

Heading size	Formatting	Min/Max number of occurrences
H1	======= Heading =======	1/1
H2	Heading =======	0/∞
H3	Heading -------	0/∞
H4	Heading ~~~~~~~	0/∞
H5	Heading *******	0/∞
H6	Heading ^^^^^^^	0/∞

Markup

Inline markup

Use the following markups to emphasize your text to your liking:

**Text**	Text
*Text*	Text
``Text``	Text

See also

• Spice up your writing with specialized directives

Bulleted list

- This is a bulleted list.
- It has two items, the second
  item uses two lines.

* This is a bulleted list too.
* The principle stays the same.

Numbered list

#. This is a numbered list.
#. Numbering is automatic.

1. This is a numbered list too.
2. Use this format to specify the numbering.

Nested lists

- This is the first item of a bulleted list.

  1. It has a nested numbered list
  2. with two items.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlink references

Hyperlink references are links to a URL with a custom label. They follow this syntax: `label <URL>`_

Note

The URL can be a relative path to a file within the documentation.

Example

This excerpt of RST: For instance, `this is a hyperlink reference <https://flectrahq.com>`_. is rendered as follows in HTML: “For instance, this is a hyperlink reference.”

External hyperlink targets

External hyperlink targets allow creating shortcuts for hyperlink references.

The definition syntax is as follows: .. _target: URL

There are two ways to reference them, depending on the use case:

1. target_ creates a hyperlink with the target name as label and the URL as reference. Note that the _ moved after the target!

2. `label <target_>`_ does exactly what you expect: the label replaces the name of the target, and the target is replaced by the URL.

Example

RST

.. _proof-of-concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_concept

A proof-of-concept_ is a simplified version, a prototype of what is expected to agree on the main
lines of expected changes. `PoC <proof-of-concept_>`_ is a common abbreviation.

Render

A proof-of-concept is a simplified version, a prototype of what is expected to agree on the main lines of expected changes. PoC is a common abbreviation.

Internal hyperlink targets

Internal hyperlink targets follow the same syntax as external hyperlink targets but without any URL. Indeed, they are internal. They allow referencing a specific part of a document by using the target as an anchor. When the user clicks on the reference, the documentation scrolls to the part of the page containing the target.

Important

Targets can be referenced from other files than the ones in which they are defined.

The definition syntax is: .. _target:

There are two ways to reference them, both using the ref directive:

1. :ref:`target` creates a hyperlink to the anchor with the heading defined below as label.

2. :ref:`label <target>` creates a hyperlink to the anchor with the given label.

See Use relative links for internal URLs to learn how to write proper relative links for internal references.

Note

Notice that there is no _ at the end, as it is done with hyperlink targets.

Example

RST

.. _sales/quotation/start-of-page:

This can easily be done by creating a new product, see :ref:`product` for additional help.

.. _sales/quotation/product:

How to create a product?
=========================

As explained at the :ref:`start of the page <sales/quotation/start-of-page>`, ...

Render

This can easily be done by creating a new product, see How to create a product? for additional help.

How to create a product?

As explained at the start of the page, …

Implicit hyperlink targets

Implicit hyperlink targets are a special kind of internal hyperlink targets: they are automatically generated by section titles, footnotes, etc. Consequently, they don’t have a definition syntax.

They can be referenced the same first way as external hyperlink targets by using the name of the section title as URL.

Example

RST

This can easily be done by creating a new user, see `How to create a new user?`_ for
additional help.  ...

Render

This can easily be done by creating a new user, see How to create a new user? for additional help. …

The doc directive

The doc directive allows referencing a documentation page wherever it is in the file tree through a relative file path.

As usual, there are two ways to use the directive:

1. :doc:`path_to_doc_page` creates a hyperlink reference to the documentation page with the title of the page as label.

2. :doc:`label <path_to_doc_page>` creates a hyperlink reference to the documentation page with the given label.

Example

RST

Please refer to :doc:`this documentation <customer_invoices>` and to
:doc:`../sales/sales/invoicing/proforma`.

Render

Please refer to this documentation and to Send a pro-forma invoice.

The download directive

The download directive allows referencing files (that are not necessarily RST documents) within the source tree to be downloaded.

Example

RST

Download this :download:`module structure template <extras/my_module.zip>` to start building your
module in no time.

Render

Download this module structure template to start building your module in no time.

The image directive

The image directive allows inserting images in a document. It comes with a set of optional parameter directives that can individually be omitted if considered redundant.

Example

RST

.. image:: media/create_invoice.png
   :align: center
   :alt: Create an invoice
   :height: 100
   :width: 200
   :scale: 50
   :class: img-thumbnail
   :target: ../invoicing.html#create-an-invoice

Render

Admonitions (alert blocks)

Seealso

RST

.. seealso::
   - :doc:`customer_invoices`
   - `Pro-forma invoices <../sales/sales/invoicing/proforma.html#activate-the-feature>`_

Render

See also

• Customer invoices

• Pro-forma invoices

Note

RST

.. note::
   Use this to get the attention of the reader about additional information.

Render

Note

Use this to get the attention of the reader about additional information.

Tip

RST

.. tip::
   Use this to inform the reader about a useful trick that requires an
   action.

Render

Tip

Use this to inform the reader about a useful trick that requires an action.

Important

RST

.. important::
   Use this to notify the reader about an important information.

Render

Important

Use this to notify the reader about an important information.

Warning

RST

.. warning::
   Use this to require the reader to proceed with caution with what is
   described in the warning.

Render

Warning

Use this to require the reader to proceed with caution with what is described in the warning.

Danger

RST

.. danger::
   Use this to alarm the reader about a serious threat.

Render

Danger

Use this to alarm the reader about a serious threat.

Formatting tips

Break the line but not the paragraph

RST

| First super long line that you break in two…
  here is rendered as a single line.
| Second line that follows a line break.

Render

First super long line that you break in two… here is rendered as a single line.

Second line that follows a line break.

Add comments

If you made a particular choice of writing or formatting that a future writer should be able to understand and take into account, consider writing a comment. Comments are blocks of text that do not count as a part of the documentation and that are used to pass a message to writers of the source code. They consist of a line starting with two dots and a space, followed by the comment.

.. For instance, this line will not be rendered in the documentation.

Use tables

Make use of this convenient table generator to build your tables. Then, copy-paste the generated formatting into your document.

Spice up your writing with specialized directives

Use these additional directives to fine-tune your content:

Directive	Purpose	Example
		RST	HTML
abbr	Self-defining abbreviations	:abbr:`SO (Sales Order)`	SO
command	Highlight a command	:command:`python example.py`	python example.py
dfn	Define a term	:dfn:`a definition for a new term`	a definition for a new term
file	Indicate a file path	:file:`~/flectra/flectra-bin`	~/flectra/flectra-bin
menuselection	Guide a user through a sequence of menus	:menuselection:`Sales --> Configuration --> Settings`	Sales ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings

Escape markup symbols (Advanced)

Markup symbols escaped with backslashes (\) are rendered normally. For instance, this \*\*line of text\*\* with \*markup\* symbols is rendered as “this **line of text** with *markup* symbols”.

When it comes to backticks (`), which are used in many case such as hyperlink references, using backslashes for escaping is no longer an option because the outer backticks interpret enclosed backslashes and thus prevent them from escaping inner backticks. For instance, `\`this formatting\`` produces an [UNKNOWN NODE title_reference] error. Instead, ```this formatting``` should be used to produce the following result: `this formatting`.