# Is depth-agnostic heading syntax possible?

**URL:** <https://talk.commonmark.org/t/is-depth-agnostic-heading-syntax-possible/4797>\
**Category:** Extensions\
**Tags:** release-1.0\
**Created:** [December 7, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/is-depth-agnostic-heading-syntax-possible/4797 "2024-12-07T23:36:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

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**Author:** ![rokejulianlockhart](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/rokejulianlockhart/32/3399_2.png) [@rokejulianlockhart](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/rokejulianlockhart)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/is-depth-agnostic-heading-syntax-possible/4797/7 "2024-12-10T23:44:33Z")

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> [@vas](#):
>
> the syntax you describe for headingless sections goes back to treating Markdown as a source for HTML. I say that because the syntax you propose has the notion of hierarchy, but that won’t be evident to the _human plain text reader_, not unless they internalize your rules. The only natural ways for plain text to represent hierarchy are indentation, borders (e.g. block quote’s left border), or headings with heading levels.

@vas, that’s not true, and I’m quite surprised that you purport it to be. Do you never have nested headings past 6 levels deep? The way that I’ve nested headings is by doing what YAML does - embed lists:

```Markdown
# Title

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

## Heading

1. ## Heading

   Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

1. ## Heading

   1. ## Heading

      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

   1. ## Heading

      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

## Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

## Heading

1. ## Heading

   Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

1. ## Heading

   Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

```

Hopefully the aforementioned demonstrates why including the hierarchical position within the heading is redundant - the nested `<ol>`s do that for me.

> ****
>
> It’s also why I requested the undermentioned:
> 
> > [@Inline HTML breaks when using indentation](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/inline-html-breaks-when-using-indentation/3317/8):
> >
> > @RogerDodger, I have officially requested this for VS Code at the undermentioned, if of use: Some demonstrations of support would be really useful.
> 
> Specifically, pleasantly formatted inline HTML is impossible with indented lists, because the indentation cannot span a line break in the HTML, lest it be considered to be an indented code block (`<pre>`).
> 
> This has been endlessly corroborated:
> 
> > [@Horizontal rules as (hierarchical) section breaks etc](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/horizontal-rules-as-hierarchical-section-breaks-etc/1241/5):
> >
> > We’re all aware that due to legacy code blocks we hardly can use indentation for anything else in CM.

How would you accomplish this? The undermentioned?

```Markdown
# Title

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

## Heading

### Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

### Heading

#### Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

#### Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

```

That’s not particularly readable in plain text format.

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