How to escape backslash bracket (\[) in Markdown?

Github Flavored-Markdown

Github Flavored-Markdown Problem Overview


How does one escape the "backslash square brackets" \[ \] sequence in Markdown for GitHub? The sequence produces a <pre><code>...</code></pre> section.

This is only a problem with Markdown for GitHub. I can write it here without the problem:

\[something \]

This code in GitHub will however produce


something

Github Flavored-Markdown Solutions


Solution 1 - Github Flavored-Markdown

This has been fixed on github.com. I'm not sure when, but you can now escape square brackets with a single backlash. EG

\[Hello\]

is rendered as

[Hello]

Solution 2 - Github Flavored-Markdown

I have resorted to surrounding my bracketed string with backticks: `[[320,50],[300,250]]`

Which turns it into: [[320,50],[300,250]] So now my array doesn't turn into a link.

Solution 3 - Github Flavored-Markdown

This is now fixed on GitHub. So there is no need to escape square brackets anymore. To type [some text], you could just type:

// your markdown
[some text]

This is good for two reasons:

  1. square brackets are no longer parsed separately from figure and hyper-links.
  2. This means that we could use \] and \[ for display latex math, which is the correct way to write LaTeX. ($$ is not a LaTeX command and should never be used.)

You can check this by editing the README.md of a GitHub project.

Solution 4 - Github Flavored-Markdown

just write:

This is a __backslash with a square bracket__: \\\[.  

It works on github for me.


Edit

Now that the question has been updated, here is an updated answer.
Just escape all characters, at the beginning and at the end:

foo \\\[something\\\] bar will produce => foo \[something\] bar

Works normally on github: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=oh2xyp&s=6


Edit 2

Just tried on a wiki... you're right, it doesn't work there. I guess it's because of the special meaning that constructs like [[foobar]] have in the wiki syntax.
I'd say your best shot is this: __\__ __[__ __something__ __\__ __]__ (without code backsticks).
Weirdly it doesn't work here, but it works on github wikis.

Still, if you think it's a bug, you should report it as they say here.

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Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionBernardView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Github Flavored-Markdownkev_walshView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Github Flavored-MarkdownfrandroidView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Github Flavored-MarkdownepisodeyangView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Github Flavored-MarkdowntompaveView Answer on Stackoverflow