Markdown Ordered Lists to HTML ol/li Tags

Ordered Lists in Markdown

Markdown ordered lists use numbers followed by a period and a space. They convert to HTML <ol> and <li> elements.

Basic Ordered List

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

Converts to:

<ol>
  <li>First item</li>
  <li>Second item</li>
  <li>Third item</li>
</ol>

Automatic Numbering

In standard Markdown, the actual numbers you use do not matter — the parser auto-numbers sequentially. This means the following also produces a correctly numbered list:

1. First item
1. Second item
1. Third item

This produces the same <ol> with items numbered 1, 2, 3 in the browser. Some authors prefer this style because it makes reordering items easier — you never need to renumber.

Starting at a Different Number

Some Markdown parsers (including CommonMark) honor the first item's number using the start attribute:

3. Third item
4. Fourth item
5. Fifth item

Converts to:

<ol start="3">
  <li>Third item</li>
  <li>Fourth item</li>
  <li>Fifth item</li>
</ol>

Multi-Paragraph List Items

Like unordered lists, indent continuation content with four spaces:

1. First item

   Additional paragraph under first item.

2. Second item

Mixing Ordered and Unordered

You can nest unordered lists inside ordered lists and vice versa — see the nested lists example for details.