Python-Markdown

3.10.2 · active · verified Sat Mar 28

Python-Markdown is a full Python implementation of John Gruber's Markdown, providing a highly customizable parser for converting Markdown text to HTML. It is currently at version 3.10.2 and maintains an active release cadence, frequently addressing bug fixes, performance improvements, and Python version compatibility.

Warnings

breaking Python 3.9 support was officially dropped in Python-Markdown 3.10.0. Users on Python 3.9 or older must use a version prior to 3.10.0.
Fix: Upgrade to Python 3.10+ or pin `markdown<3.10.0` if unable to upgrade Python.
gotcha The default footnote ordering behavior changed in 3.9.0 (to order by reference appearance) but was reverted to definition order (`USE_DEFINITION_ORDER=True`) in 3.10.0 due to inconsistencies. If you upgraded from <3.9 to 3.9.x and relied on the new default, then upgraded to 3.10.x, your footnote order may have unexpectedly reverted.
Fix: Explicitly set the `USE_DEFINITION_ORDER` option in the footnotes extension (e.g., `extensions=['footnotes(USE_DEFINITION_ORDER=False)']`) to ensure consistent behavior across versions.
deprecated The `AbbrInlineProcessor` class and the `AbbrPreprocessor` class (renamed from `AbbrBlockprocessor`) were deprecated in version 3.7 as part of a refactor of the abbreviation extension. Custom code subclassing these will break.
Fix: Update custom abbreviation extension code to use the new `AbbrTreeprocessor` and `AbbrBlockprocessor` (which `AbbrPreprocessor` was renamed to) as described in the release notes or documentation.
gotcha Several patch releases (e.g., 3.8.1, 3.8.2, 3.10.1, 3.10.2) have fixed critical infinite loop vulnerabilities and parsing crashes when processing malformed HTML comments or incomplete tags, especially in newer Python versions like 3.14. Untrusted input could lead to denial-of-service.
Fix: Always ensure you are using the latest patch release (e.g., `3.10.2`) to benefit from critical parsing and security fixes, especially when processing user-provided Markdown.

Install

pip install markdown Install latest version

Imports

markdown
```
import markdown
```
The primary interface is the 'markdown' module itself, often used via the `markdown.markdown()` function or by instantiating `markdown.Markdown`.

Quickstart

Initialize the Markdown parser with optional extensions and convert a Markdown string to HTML. Extensions like 'fenced_code' for code blocks and 'tables' for table support are commonly used.

import markdown

markdown_text = """
# My Title

This is **bold** and *italic* text.

- Item 1
- Item 2
"""

html_output = markdown.markdown(markdown_text, extensions=['fenced_code', 'tables'])
print(html_output)

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