How to Escape Greater than (>) ?

Hi Power Users,

Can anyone help me with escape the greater than symbol at the start of a sentence? Backslash works but also prints itself, which is essentially making the sentence not starting with >.

So if I use \>asdfdsf, I get the following
\>asdfdsf

If I use >asdfdsf, it becomes

asdfdsf

I can't just have >asdfdsf.

Comments

  • >asdfdsf
    
    • Thanks but that's wrapping it with a code block. Can't do it as normal text?

  • ​​​>there's a zero-width space hidden there

    The usual markdown and > tricks don't seem to work here.

    • ​>asdfdsf

      I see, that seems to be laborious. Do you do it use alt ascii? I copy and pasted.

      • How often are you needing to open a line with >?

        • Not that often, more of a curious question because Markdown has been around for a long time, it *should* allow all special characters. I thought there must be some tricks I didn't know about, and you proved that point :) It's really for emoticons/ascii art.

      • You could setup a text replacement thing if you're on an Apple platform. On Windows, a cursory search didn't turn up a global equivalent.

    • Yeah, everything is wrapped in html.

      • Isn't everything?

        (except <html>)

        • As opposed to having an html mode. It doesn't need to have one I suppose.

  • +11

    They have the internet on computers now?

  • I don't think theres a way to escape angled brackets in the markdown syntax without also printing the backslash — something needs to be added to the markdown library for that.

    For now you could use this symbol

    〉 Example using U+232A Right-Pointing Angle Bracket Unicode Character
    or
    ❱ Example U+2771 Heavy Right-Pointing Angle Bracket Ornament

    • Thank you for the official answer. Those tall/thick brackets make emoticons look weird though. I think I can live with alt-8203 if I really have to, or code blocks as the other two users suggested.

    • it works on reddit.

  • +4

    Genuine question in case it comes across as being smart. Why do you need to know this? How are you using/wanting to use this markdown?

    • +1

      I was wondering the same thing, surely it’s not that hard to reword a sentence so the > symbol is not first?

    • +1

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/15823962

      The use and abuse of software is always observed and expected. No point to question the motivation.

      • +3

        Ok. I'm still confused but let's just leave it at that.

        • +1

          That was a use case to answer your question as to why or how it's applicable.

          I don't know about others, but if a symbol is printed on a keyboard, my program should allow it to be displayed however it was intended. That's a very basic requirement. Frequency and utility are irrelevant. You don't train your users to triple-click the left mouse button when they needed to click the right mouse button, until the right mouse button is made obsolete and physically gone from the hardware.

  • Greater than sign is the universal quote symbol in the context of message boards.

    You cold use a code block?

    • Yes, someone has commented above.

      • Kind of sad no one talks code here, never even seen the code block used even though it says you can in the Formatting Help links.

        • Presumably the code block crowd still lives at whirlpool. It would be hilarious if they put on a stackoverflow theme here for April Fools at some stage.

    • +1

      Oh options, I love options!

      ﹥_﹥
      >_>
      ⋗_⋗
      ≫_≫
      ⋙_⋙
      ˃_˃
      vs 'normal' below (code block and zero-width white space)
      >_>
      ​>_>

      The last one (arrow head) wins methinks :)

        • Hahahaha took me a second to get it. Gee I haven't heard anything on that spectrum since my maths tutor back in uni. She was funny and nervous at the same time, I've always wondered how that worked.

        • lol of course! You have to be able to flip the table on any websites.

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