# MD037 - Spaces inside emphasis markers Tags: whitespace, emphasis Aliases: no-space-in-emphasis This rule is triggered when emphasis markers (bold, italic) are used, but they have spaces between the markers and the text: Here is some ** bold ** text. Here is some * italic * text. Here is some more __ bold __ text. Here is some more _ italic _ text. To fix this, remove the spaces around the emphasis markers: Here is some **bold** text. Here is some *italic* text. Here is some more __bold__ text. Here is some more _italic_ text. Rationale: Emphasis is only parsed as such when the asterisks/underscores aren't completely surrounded by spaces. This rule attempts to detect where they were surrounded by spaces, but it appears that emphasized text was intended by the author.