## Smart punctuation Open quotes are matched with closed quotes. The same method is used for matching openers and closers as is used in emphasis parsing: . "Hello," said the spider. "'Shelob' is my name." .

“Hello,” said the spider. “‘Shelob’ is my name.”

. . 'A', 'B', and 'C' are letters. .

‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ are letters.

. . 'Oak,' 'elm,' and 'beech' are names of trees. So is 'pine.' .

‘Oak,’ ‘elm,’ and ‘beech’ are names of trees. So is ‘pine.’

. . 'He said, "I want to go."' .

‘He said, “I want to go.”’

. A single quote that isn't an open quote matched with a close quote will be treated as an apostrophe: . Were you alive in the 70's? .

Were you alive in the 70’s?

. . Here is some quoted '`code`' and a "[quoted link](url)". .

Here is some quoted ‘code’ and a “quoted link”.

. Here the first `'` is treated as an apostrophe, not an open quote, because the final single quote is matched by the single quote before `jolly`: . 'tis the season to be 'jolly' .

’tis the season to be ‘jolly’

. An unmatched double quote will be interpreted as a left double quote, to facilitate this style: . "A paragraph with no closing quote. "Second paragraph by same speaker, in fiction." .

“A paragraph with no closing quote.

“Second paragraph by same speaker, in fiction.”

. Quotes that are escaped come out as literal straight quotes: . \"This is not smart.\" This isn\'t either. 5\'8\" .

"This is not smart." This isn't either. 5'8"

. Two hyphens form an en-dash, three an em-dash. . Some dashes: em---em en--en em --- em en -- en 2--3 .

Some dashes: em—em en–en em — em en – en 2–3

. A sequence of more than three hyphens is parsed as a sequence of em and/or en dashes, with no hyphens. If possible, a homogeneous sequence of dashes is used (so, 10 hyphens = 5 en dashes, and 9 hyphens = 3 em dashes). When a heterogeneous sequence must be used, the em dashes come first, followed by the en dashes, and as few en dashes as possible are used (so, 7 hyphens = 2 em dashes an 1 en dash). . one- two-- three--- four---- five----- six------ seven------- eight-------- nine--------- thirteen-------------. .

one- two– three— four–– five—– six—— seven—–– eight–––– nine——— thirteen———––.

. Hyphens can be escaped: . Escaped hyphens: \-- \-\-\-. .

Escaped hyphens: -- ---.

. Three periods form an ellipsis: . Ellipses...and...and.... .

Ellipses…and…and….

. Periods can be escaped if ellipsis-formation is not wanted: . No ellipses\.\.\. .

No ellipses...

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