literal-blocks

http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#literal-blocks

sample 1

reST sample

A paragraph containing only two colons 
indicates that the following indented 
or quoted text is a literal block. 

:: 

  Whitespace, newlines, blank lines, and 
  all kinds of markup (like *this* or 
  \this) is preserved by literal blocks. 

  The paragraph containing only '::' 
  will be omitted from the result. 

The ``::`` may be tacked onto the very 
end of any paragraph. The ``::`` will be 
omitted if it is preceded by whitespace. 
The ``::`` will be converted to a single 
colon if preceded by text, like this:: 

  It's very convenient to use this form. 

Literal blocks end when text returns to 
the preceding paragraph's indentation. 
This means that something like this 
is possible:: 

      We start here 
    and continue here 
  and end here. 

Per-line quoting can also be used on 
unindented literal blocks:: 

> Useful for quotes from email and 
> for Haskell literate programming.

output sample

A paragraph containing only two colons indicates that the following indented or quoted text is a literal block.

Whitespace, newlines, blank lines, and
all kinds of markup (like *this* or
\this) is preserved by literal blocks.

The paragraph containing only '::'
will be omitted from the result.

The :: may be tacked onto the very end of any paragraph. The :: will be omitted if it is preceded by whitespace. The :: will be converted to a single colon if preceded by text, like this:

It's very convenient to use this form.

Literal blocks end when text returns to the preceding paragraph’s indentation. This means that something like this is possible:

    We start here
  and continue here
and end here.

Per-line quoting can also be used on unindented literal blocks:

> Useful for quotes from email and
> for Haskell literate programming.