## What it does
Flags `\_` and `\*` escape sequences in prose that look like a writer trying to escape an
emphasis marker, but where the surrounding context confirms the writer meant the emphasis to
fire, e.g. `\_text\_` (two escapes around a word) reading as a damaged italic.
## Why
`mdformat` and a few other roundtrip tools used to defensively escape `_` and `*` in prose,
even where CommonMark would not have parsed them as emphasis. After enough roundtrips,
documents accumulate `\_word\_` patterns that no longer render as italic; they render as
literal `_word_`. The rule finds these and proposes the unescaped form.
The autofix removes the escapes (`\_text\_` → `_text_`); safe to apply, but review first if
the prose genuinely contains literal underscores (filenames, identifiers).
## Example (bad)
```markdown
This is \_actually italic\_, despite the escapes.
```
## Example (good)
```markdown
This is _actually italic_, despite the escapes.
```
## Configuration
- This rule is off by default. Enable with `[lint] extend-select = ["escaped-emphasis"]`.
- Disable inline: `<!-- mdwright: allow escaped-emphasis -->`.
- Severity: non-advisory. Safe autofix available.
## References
- [CommonMark §6.2: Emphasis and strong emphasis](https://spec.commonmark.org/0.31.2/#emphasis-and-strong-emphasis).