---
layout: default
title: Overview
---

<img class="banner" src="/images/commonmark-banner.png" alt="CommonMark for PHP" />

# Overview

[![Author](https://img.shields.io/badge/author-@colinodell-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](https://twitter.com/colinodell)
[![Latest Version](https://img.shields.io/packagist/v/league/commonmark.svg?style=flat-square)](https://packagist.org/packages/league/commonmark)
[![Total Downloads](https://img.shields.io/packagist/dt/league/commonmark.svg?style=flat-square)](https://packagist.org/packages/league/commonmark)
[![Software License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSD--3-brightgreen.svg?style=flat-square)](LICENSE)
[![Build Status](https://img.shields.io/travis/thephpleague/commonmark/1.6.svg?style=flat-square)](https://travis-ci.org/thephpleague/commonmark)
[![Coverage Status](https://img.shields.io/scrutinizer/coverage/g/thephpleague/commonmark.svg?style=flat-square)](https://scrutinizer-ci.com/g/thephpleague/commonmark/code-structure)
[![Quality Score](https://img.shields.io/scrutinizer/g/thephpleague/commonmark.svg?style=flat-square)](https://scrutinizer-ci.com/g/thephpleague/commonmark)

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## Installation

This library can be installed via Composer:

```bash
composer require league/commonmark
```

See the [installation](/1.6/installation/) section for more details.

## Basic Usage

Simply instantiate the converter and start converting some Markdown to HTML!

```php
use League\CommonMark\CommonMarkConverter;

$converter = new CommonMarkConverter();
echo $converter->convertToHtml('# Hello World!');

// <h1>Hello World!</h1>
```

<i class="fa fa-exclamation-triangle"></i>
**Important:** See the [basic usage](/1.6/basic-usage/) and [security](/1.6/security/) sections for important details.