MD026 - Keep headings clean and professional¶

Aliases: no-trailing-punctuation

What this rule does¶

Removes trailing punctuation from the end of headings to maintain a clean, professional appearance. Question marks are allowed by default for FAQ-style headings.

Why this matters¶

Professional appearance: Clean headings look more polished and professional
Better readability: Unnecessary punctuation can distract readers
Consistent style: Maintains a uniform look throughout your document
Navigation clarity: Clean headings work better in tables of contents and outlines

Examples¶

✅ Correct¶

# Introduction

## What is Markdown?

### FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

#### Step 1: Getting Started

##### Chapter 2: Configuration

❌ Incorrect¶

# This is a sentence.

## Random heading;

### This seems wrong,

#### Important!

##### Ending with colon:

🔧 Fixed¶

# This is a sentence

## Random heading

### This seems wrong

#### Important

##### Ending with colon

Configuration¶

[MD026]
punctuation = ".,;:!"  # Characters to remove from heading endings (default: ".,;:!")

To allow exclamation marks in headings, remove ! from the list:

[MD026]
punctuation = ".,;:"

Automatic fixes¶

This rule will:

Remove periods, commas, semicolons, colons, and exclamation marks from heading endings (default: .,;:!)
Preserve question marks for FAQ-style headings ("What is Markdown?")
You can customize the punctuation list if you want to allow certain characters