# Footnotes, Comments, and Escapes > [!abstract] What this note is > Three small tools that solve three specific problems: citing without cluttering (footnotes), writing notes-to-self that never render (comments), and displaying special characters literally (escapes). ## Footnotes ```markdown Argus is, objectively, the best dog.[^1] [^1]: Source: me. But also everyone who has met him. ``` The marker renders as a superscript number linking to the definition; the definition can live anywhere in the note (bottom is conventional). For quick one-offs, inline footnotes skip the second step: `^[like this]`. ## Comments Text wrapped in `%%` is visible **only in editing view** — it never renders, never publishes: ```markdown %% TODO: expand this section after the MRI results %% ``` Perfect for drafting notes, reminders-to-self, and anything a reader shouldn't see. On a published vault (like the public site), comments are how you annotate without broadcasting. ## Escapes A backslash tells Markdown "this character is literal, not formatting": ```markdown \*not italic\* → *not italic* \[\[not a link\]\] → [[not a link]] \#not-a-tag → #not-a-tag ``` Characters that most often need escaping: `* _ [ ] # | \` (the pipe especially inside [[Tables]]). > [!tip] The other escape hatch > For anything longer than a character or two, a code span or block is easier than backslashes — see [[Code and Code Blocks]]. ## Related - [[Markdown Reference Index]]