How do I type a literal asterisk * as the first character in the normal text portion of org mode? reddit / emacs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 05:04 I'm very new to emacs and org mode, and I'm simply going through tutorials and trying simple stuff out. Using macport. I want this: * Key Bindings Examples (This is a heading) (The following is plain text.) M-s o regex buffer to new window (M-x occur) * Type an asterisk to start a heading ** Type two asterisks for 2nd level heading, etc. However, if I try to do that, then the last two lines become actual headings. This stack exchange answer might effectively contain a good answer, but I wanted to double-check here. https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/16688/how-can-i-escape-the- in-org-mode-to-prevent-bold-fontification ---------------------------------------------------------------------- modifiedenby · 2022-02-14 05:12 If you want the first character to be an asterisk when exporting, try writing a space before it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 05:30 I'm new and don't even understand exporting yet. What I want is simply this: * Key Bindings Examples (This is a heading) (The following is plain text.) M-s o regex buffer to new window (M-x occur) * Type an asterisk to start a heading ** Type two asterisks for 2nd level heading, etc. However, if I try to do that, then the last two lines become actual headings. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- danderzei · 2022-02-14 06:51 Use something like this: #+begin_src org ,* Heading 1 ,** Heading 2 ,*** Heading 3 #+end_src ---------------------------------------------------------------------- citrusmunch · 2022-02-14 07:00 one of the SO comments mentions this, but [pretty entities](https://orgmode.org/manual/Special-Symbols.html) is prob the way to go. asterisk doesn't seem included so you'll have to add it yourself ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 07:15 When I write that, it literally looks exactly like that, and not like what I want. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- danderzei · 2022-02-14 07:24 This method is the only way to escape asterisks etc. The commas and SRC markers are not visible in exports. Emacs is not a WYSIWYG word processor, so you cannot hide everything you don't want to see. There would be simply no way for Emacs to understand the difference between a heading or a non-heading without additional characters. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 07:27 Asterisk is included! \ast Then use C-c C-x = (org-toggle-pretty-entities) The other option is a zero width SPC character. There's pros/cons to each. The org style police seem to prefer the former. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 07:33 Evidently, I can get what I want from pretty entities, "\ast", and (org-toggle-pretty-entities). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- danderzei · 2022-02-14 07:39 Nice workaround. This is what I love about Emacs - there is always a way. You can add `#+startup: entitiespretty` so that the buffer starts with this variable set (only the buffer). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dcreno · 2022-02-14 12:31 It seems semantically correct to use a code block for your use-case. Even in this question, you put it in a code block. You are trying to demonstrate how to code using the Org language. Therefore, I would prefer the code block over pretty entities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nnomae · 2022-02-14 13:30 There are a whole bunch of different asterisk variants in unicode. https://unicode-search.net/unicode-namesearch.pl?term=ASTERISK Maybe you could use one of those instead? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 13:55 Now that's a creative option, thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 14:03 Ahh I figured I was misunderstanding something here. This perfectly helps me understand my missing mental context for /u/danderzei's code block answer, thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Status-Detective-783 · 2022-02-14 14:49 Oh! Actually on second thought, this is a perfect solution since it also works BEFORE exporting. I'm just writing free-form text, like note taking, so I can just put a space before everything on that line. This is clearly the most simple solution for this specific use-case. The following works just fine. * Key Bindings Examples (This is a heading) <- one space here M-s o regex buffer to new window (M-x occur) * Type an asterisk to start a heading ** Type two asterisks for 2nd level heading, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- modifiedenby · 2022-02-14 15:23 I disagree – that isn't code but a table. A star in a table also wouldn't trigger a heading. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2022-02-14 17:43 [deleted]