How do I add links into comments?

Question

I was trying to direct a person to the tour when I realized that I did not know how to put links in comments. How do I do it?

Answer 1

[link text](http://example.com) is how you do it. It works in posts too.

If you go to post a comment, there is a link to a 'help' page. That page¹ says:

Comments support only bold, italic, code and links; in addition, a few shorthand links are available.

_italic_ and **bold** text, inline code in backticks, and [basic links](http://example.com). Supported shorthand links:

[meta] – link to the current site's Meta; link text is the site name (e.g. "Super User Meta"). Does nothing if the site doesn't have (or already is) a Meta site.

[main] – like [meta], just the other way around.

[edit] – link to the edit page for the post the comment is on, i.e. /posts/{id}/edit. Link text is "edit" (capitalization is respected).

[tag:tagname] and [meta-tag:tagname] – link to the given tag's page. Link text is the name of the tag.meta-tag only works on meta sites.

[help], [help/on-topic], [help/dont-ask], [help/behavior] and [meta-help] – link to frequently visited pages of the help center. Link text is "help center" (capitalization is respected). All links point to the main site.

[tour] – link to the Tour page. Link text is "tour" (capitalization is respected).

[so], [pt.so], [su], [sf], [metase], [a51], [se] – link to the given site. Link text is the site name.

[chat] – link to the current site's chat site, the link text being "{site name} Chat".

[ask], [answer] – link to the How to Ask or How to Answer page.

[something.se] – link to something.stackexchange.com, if that site exists. Link text is the site name. Use [ubuntu.se] for Ask Ubuntu.

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_{¹I used [that page](https://literature.meta.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting) here...}

Answer 2

From main meta:

• [meta] – link to the current site's Meta; link text is the site name, "Literature Meta". Does nothing in comments on Meta itself.

• [main] – like [meta], just the other way around.

• [edit] – link to the edit page for the post the comment is on, i.e. /posts/{id}/edit. Link text is "edit" (capitalisation is respected).

• [help] should be obvious. [meta-help] links to "What is meta?" (/help/whats-meta), [help/on-topic] links to "What topics can I ask about here?" (/help/on-topic), [help/dont-ask] links to "What types of questions should I avoid asking?" (/help/dont-ask), [help/behavior] links to "What kind of behavior is expected of users?" (/help/behavior). Link text for all of these is "help center" .

• [tour] and [meta-tour] – equivalent to the FAQ version, but links to the site's Tour page (resp. the meta site's Tour page). Link text is "tour" (capitalization is respected). Legacy names [about] and [meta-about] are still supported.

• [ask], [answer] – link to the "How to Ask" / "How to Answer" page.

• [so], [su], [sf], [metase]/[meta.se], [a51], [se] – link to the given site (Stack Overflow, Super User, Server Fault, Meta Stack Exchange, Area 51, the Stack Exchange portal). Link text is the site name.

• [something.se] – link to something.stackexchange.com, if that site exists. Link text is the site name. Use [ubuntu.se] for Ask Ubuntu. [meta.something.se] links to the meta site.

• [chat] – link to the current site's chat site, http://chat.stackexchange.com/, showing a list of active rooms from the referring site), the link text being "Literature Chat".

Except for [chat] and [edit], and with the addition of [chat-faq], these also work in chat.

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See also this page from the help centre.