# Eliminate blank lines in doc output

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** documentation, markdown\
**Created:** [September 22, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719 "2024-09-22T20:24:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Sagan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/david_sagan/32/33792_2.png) [@David\_Sagan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/David_Sagan)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719/1 "2024-09-22T20:24:59Z")

</div>

OK I know this is a relatively minor thing but it does irritate me. When I define documentation that has a list, there is a blank line between list items. This can take up a bit of space especially for long lists. Example:

```julia
julia> @doc """
       - 1st line
       - 2nd line
       - 3rd line
       """ z = 7

help?> z
search: z zip zero zeros set_zero_subnormals get_zero_subnormals LOST_Z count_zeros leading_zeros trailing_zeros size sizeof iszero sizehint! LazyString Csize_t

    • 1st line

    • 2nd line

    • 3rd line

```

Is there a way to format the output to eliminate the blank lines? That is, have the list look like:

```julia
    • 1st line
    • 2nd line
    • 3rd line

```

It should be noted that the blank lines are being inserted when the docstring is outputted. the docstring itself does not have any blank lines:

```julia
julia> print(@doc z)
  * 1st line
  * 2nd line
  * 3rd line

```

Note: I know I can use triple backticks to get an output without blank lines but that outputs everything in blue which does not look great for a list.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Sagan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/david_sagan/32/33792_2.png) [@David\_Sagan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/David_Sagan)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719/2 "2024-09-24T22:32:26Z")

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The blank lines can be eliminated by defining a markdown extension via string interpolation.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Sagan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/david_sagan/32/33792_2.png) [@David\_Sagan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/David_Sagan)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 12:35am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719/3 "2024-09-29T00:35:53Z")

</div>

Unfortunately interpolation is not the answer since the interpolated string still gets parsed by the Markdown parser and blank lines are inserted.

---

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**Author:** ![rafael.guerra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rafael.guerra/32/216610_2.png) [@rafael.guerra](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rafael.guerra)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719/4 "2024-09-29T19:00:31Z")

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Could you instead use `\endash<tab>` to replace the minus sign in lists:

```Julia
@doc """
       – 1st line\\\n
       – 2nd line\\\n
       – 3rd line
       """ z = 7

```

Result in the REPL:

```julia
help?> z
search: z zip zero zeros ZeroPivotException set_zero_subnormals get_zero_subnormals count_zeros    

  – 1st line
  – 2nd line
  – 3rd line

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![David\_Sagan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/david_sagan/32/33792_2.png) [@David\_Sagan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/David_Sagan)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/eliminate-blank-lines-in-doc-output/119719/5 "2024-10-14T01:28:07Z")

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Thanks for the info. It was the “\” I was missing.