Inline markup

reST inline

output	reST
ita*lic	*ita\*lic* or :emphasis:`ita*lic`
bold	**bold** or :strong:`bold`
lit\`eral	``lit\`eral`` or :literal:`lit\`eral`
combined	co\ **mbin**\ ed or co\ :strong:`mbin`\ ed
subscript	sub\ :sub:`script` or sub\ :subscript:`script`
superscript	super\ :sup:`script` or super\ :superscript:`script`
Title reference 1	:title-reference:`Title reference` or :title:`Title reference` or :t:`Title reference`
interpreted text: the meaning depends on the domain	`interpreted text`

Sphinx inline

output	Sphinx
abbr	:abbr:`abbr (abrebiation)`
command -option	:command:`command -option`
path/and/file.ext	:file:`path/and/file.ext`
Menu ‣ Selection	:menuselection:`Menu --> Selection`
Program	:program:`Program`
Literal text with variable	:samp:`Literal text with {variable}`
Control-x Control-f (sequence of keystrokes)	:kbd:`Control-x Control-f`
[^regular](expression)	:regexp:`[^regular](expression)`
MAKE_VARIABLE	:makevar:`MAKE_VARIABLE`

---

1

It is the default interpreted text role. Tipically, they are combined with a Citations, e.g.:

`Design Patterns` [GoF95]_ is an excellent read.