Code block guidelines (language, command prompts)

You can create code blocks by:

• Using triple-acute characters as a “fence” around the code block. (Recommended)
• Indenting lines by four spaces or one tab.

To define the syntax highlighting language used for the code block, enter a language name after the first fence. Refer to the List of languages used in Cloudflare developer documentation for a list of supported languages.

Use the txt language when there is no appropriate syntax highlighting (for example, a fragment of an Apache configuration file).

​​ JSON example

```json
{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "age": 25
}
```

The rendered output looks like this:

{
  "firstName": "John",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "age": 25
}

​​ Displaying terminal commands

• Use the sh language for one-line commands executed in the Linux/macOS terminal (each command must be in a single line).

  Each line containing a command that the user should enter must start with a $ sign. The reader will be able to select these prefixed lines with commands, but no other lines in the code block (which should be command output).

• Use the bash language for other Linux/macOS/generic commands. For example:

  • Commands that span multiple lines (usually each line ends with a \) and may include one or more lines of JSON content.
  • Commands for specific shells (for example, a command specifically for the zsh shell, where the prompt is usually #).

• Use the powershell language for Windows PowerShell commands.

• Use the txt language for Windows console commands.

​​ Terminal prompts

​​ For “sh” blocks

Use “$ “(dollar sign, space) or “FOLDER_NAME $ " (folder name, space, dollar sign, space).

Examples:

• $ command-to-run
• ~/my-folder $ command-to-run (where ~ means the home folder of the current user).

​​ For “bash” blocks

Blocks containing Linux/macOS/generic commands:

• Use the same prefixes as for sh, even if they are not mandatory — “$ " (dollar sign, space) or “FOLDER_NAME $ " (folder name, space, dollar sign, space).

Blocks containing zsh commands:

• Use “# " (hash sign, space) or “FOLDER_NAME # " (folder name, space, hash sign, space). Very similar to sh blocks but with a hash sign instead of a dollar sign.

  Examples:

  • # command
  • ~/my-folder # command (where ~ means the home folder of the current user).

​​ For “powershell” blocks

Use “PS FOLDER_NAME> " (the > is part of the prompt, and there is a space after it).

Examples:

• PS C:\> command-to-run.exe
• PS C:\Users\JohnDoe> command-to-run.exe

​​ For Windows console (“txt”) blocks

Use “FOLDER_NAME>” (folder name, bigger than symbol, no space after).

Alternatively, do not include any prompt and start the line with the command the user must enter (knowing that it will be harder to understand what must be entered and what is example output).

Examples:

• C:\>command-to-run.exe
• C:\Program Files>command-to-run.exe
• C:\Users\JohnDoe>command-to-run.exe

​​ For JSON code blocks

Use the json language for JSON code blocks or JSON fragments.

Multi-line curl commands with a JSON body should use bash syntax highlighting, as stated in Displaying terminal commands.

​​ List of languages used in Cloudflare developer documentation

• bash (alias: curl)
• c
• diff
• go
• graphql
• hcl (alias: tf)
• html
• ini
• java
• js (alias: javascript)
• json
• kotlin
• php
• powershell
• python (alias: py)
• ruby (alias: rb)
• rust (alias: rs)
• sh (alias: shell)
• sql
• swift
• toml
• ts (alias: typescript)
• txt (aliases: text, plaintext)
• xml
• yaml (alias: yml)

Different capitalizations of these languages are also supported (but not recommended). For example, JavaScript will use the javascript language, and HTML will use the html language.