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MD032 - Separate lists with blank lines

Aliases: blanks-around-lists

What this rule does

Ensures lists have blank lines before and after them, making them visually distinct from surrounding content.

Why this matters

  • Reliable parsing: Many Markdown parsers require blank lines to properly recognize lists
  • Visual clarity: Blank lines make lists stand out from paragraphs
  • Better readability: Clear separation helps readers scan documents quickly
  • Consistent rendering: Prevents lists from merging with adjacent content

Examples

✅ Correct

Text before the list.

* Item 1
* Item 2
* Item 3

Text after the list.

❌ Incorrect

Text before the list.
* Item 1
* Item 2
* Item 3
Text after the list.

🔧 Fixed

Text before the list.

* Item 1
* Item 2
* Item 3

Text after the list.

Configuration

Option Type Default Description
allow-lazy-continuation boolean true Whether to allow lazy continuation (unindented text after list items)

Lazy continuation

By default, this rule allows "lazy continuation" - a CommonMark feature where unindented text following a list item becomes part of that list item:

1. List item
Some text that continues the list item.

When allow-lazy-continuation is set to false, the rule requires a blank line between the list item and any following unindented text:

[MD032]
allow-lazy-continuation = false

With this setting, the above example would trigger a warning and be auto-fixed to:

1. List item
   Some text that continues the list item.

The fix adds proper indentation to align with the list item's content column, making the continuation explicit rather than relying on lazy continuation behavior.

Automatic fixes

This rule will:

  • Add a blank line before lists that follow other content
  • Add a blank line after lists that precede other content
  • Handle nested lists correctly (only the outermost list needs surrounding blank lines)
  • When allow-lazy-continuation is false: add proper indentation to lazy continuation lines

HTML comments

A line holding nothing but an HTML comment counts as a blank line, so a comment directly above or below a list satisfies this rule and rumdl fmt leaves the document alone:

Some text.
<!-- prettier-ignore -->
- First item
- Second item

This keeps a directive comment attached to what it applies to: inserting a blank line there would turn the directive off.

The comment has to have the line to itself. Some text. <!-- note --> is a paragraph, so a list written under it is still missing its blank line. A comment spanning several lines counts at both ends, and the convention holds inside a blockquote. MD022, MD031 and MD058 read blank lines the same way.

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