Thematic Break

Section Separators — Divide Your AI Prompts

In Markdown, a section separator is officially called a thematic break, also commonly known as a horizontal rule. You can create one using three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores on a separate line.

Markdown	Meaning	Result
---	Section separator	Horizontal line
***	Section separator	Horizontal line
___	Section separator	Horizontal line

All three produce the same result. There is no difference in their meaning or priority.

Example

# ROLE
Act as my professional Executive Assistant.

---

# OBJECTIVE
Write professional email replies.

---

# SOURCE DOCUMENTS
Use the attached documents for reference.

---

# CRITICAL RULES
- Do not invent information.
- Always follow the writing guidelines.

---

# OUTPUT FORMAT
Provide a ready-to-send email reply.

Why use section separators in AI prompts?

Section separators create clear boundaries between different parts of your prompt. They improve organisation and help AI distinguish instructions, background information, source documents and examples.

Tip: Use --- between major sections of your prompt, with a blank line before and after it. This helps prevent Markdown from interpreting the separator as a heading. Separators improve structure but do not automatically give instructions higher priority.

Official Reference

CommonMark — Thematic Breaks (Official Markdown Specification)