Is it possible to have custom numbers in ordered lists in markdown?

Question

Say, I need a list (for indentation purposes) of the following format:

(1a) Bla

(1b) Bla

(2a) Bla

(2b) Bla

Is there a way to do this in markdown?

Answer 1

It depends on the spec and parser obviously, but according to the CommonMark spec:

ordered list marker is a sequence of one of more digits (0-9), followed by either a . character or a ) character".

http://spec.commonmark.org/0.18/#ordered-list-marker

So I'd avoid any other style as it's unlikely to be compatible with any parser.

If you want sub-lists however, you can indent them. This for example should work:

1. One
    1. sub 1
    2. sub 2
2. Two
3. Three