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Help:Editing
Layout
Sections
Section headings
Use headings to split articles into sections. Put a heading on a separate line. A level-two heading is the highest level editors use in an article.
Wiki markup |
---|
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Section headings
Headings organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them. Start with 2 'equals' characters. Subsection
Using more 'equals' characters creates a subsection. A smaller subsection
Don't skip levels, like from two to four 'equals' characters. |
==Section headings== ''Headings'' organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them. Start with 2 'equals' characters. ===Subsection=== Using more 'equals' characters creates a subsection. ====A smaller subsection==== Don't skip levels, like from two to four 'equals' characters. |
Horizontal line
Separating with a horizontal dividing line:
If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry. |
'''Horizontal line''' Separating with a horizontal dividing line: :this is above it... ---- :...and this is below it. If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry. |
Table of contents
When a page has at least four headings, a table of contents (TOC) will appear in front of the first header (after the lead). Putting __TOC__ anywhere forces the TOC to appear at that point (instead of just before the first heading). Putting __NOTOC__ anywhere forces the TOC to disappear. See also Compact TOC for alphabet and year headings.
Line breaks
- You can make the wikitext more readable by putting in newlines, but see Wikipedia:Don't use line breaks for possible problems.
- To break lines use the
<br />
element. The HTML tag<br>
will be converted to the XHTML<br />
tag by HTML Tidy in most instances. The<br>
tag is not converted when used in editnotices or in the MediaWiki namespace— it will render invalid XHTML and will break tools such as Twinkle. - Please use these sparingly.
- Close markup between lines; do not start a link or italics or bold on one line and close it on the next.
- When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part. |
A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part. |
You can break lines |
You can break lines<br /> without starting a new paragraph. |
Indent text
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Left indent | |
|
:A colon at the start of a line ::causes the line to be indented, :::most commonly used on Talk pages. |
Blockquote | |
|
|
Center text
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Centered text
|
<div class="center" style="width:auto; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;">Centered text</div>
|
Template {{center}} uses the same markup.
Lists
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
marks the end of the list.
|
* ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do: ** Start every line with a star. *** More stars indicate a deeper level. *: Previous item continues. ** A new line * in a list marks the end of the list. * Of course you can start again. |
A new line marks the end of the list.
|
# ''Numbered lists'' are: ## Very organized ## Easy to follow #: Previous item continues A new line marks the end of the list. # New numbering starts with 1. |
Retaining newlines and spaces
The MediaWiki software suppresses single newlines and converts lines starting with a space to preformatted text in a dashed box. HTML suppresses multiple spaces. It is often desirable to retain these elements for poems, lyrics, mottoes, oaths and the like. The Poem extension adds HTML-like poem tags to maintain newlines and spaces.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan |
<poem> In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round: And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. </poem> |
Format
Text formatting
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
You can italicize text by putting 2 apostrophes on each side. 3 apostrophes will bold the text. 5 apostrophes will bold and italicize the text. |
You can ''italicize text'' by putting 2 apostrophes on each side. 3 apostrophes will '''bold the text'''. 5 apostrophes will '''bold''' and ''italicize'' '''''the text'''''. |
Syntax highlighting for source code. Computer code has a colored background
and more stringent formatting. Suppose we
want to define #include <iostream>
int main ( int argc, char **argv ) {
std::cout << "Hello World!";
return 0;
} |
Computer code has a colored background and more stringent formatting. Suppose we want to define <code>int main()</code>: <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp">#include <iostream> int main ( int argc, char **argv ) { std::cout << "Hello World!"; return 0; }</syntaxhighlight> |
You can use small text for captions. |
You can use <small>small text</small> for captions. |
Better stay away from big text, unless it's within small text. |
Better stay away from <big>big text</big>, unless <small> it's <big>within</big> small</small> text. |
You can include a non-breaking space (sometimes called non-printing character) where you require two words to always appear together on the same line, such as Mr. Smith or 400 km/h using |
Mary {{pad|4em}} had a little lamb. |
Typewriter font
(does also work beyond the end of a paragraph): italics link New paragraph started here. |
<tt>arrow →</tt> <tt>''italics''</tt> <tt>[[link]] New paragraph </tt>started here. |
Special characters
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
À Á Â Ã Ä Å |
À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô œ õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ |
Punctuation
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
¿ ¡ § ¶ |
¿ ¡ § ¶ † ‡ • – — ‹ › « » ‘ ’ “ ” |
Other Punctuation
The ‹pre› and ‹nowiki› markup tags are also available. (Permits [ { & } ] for example).
Commercial symbols
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
™ © ® ¢ € ¥ |
™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤ |
Subscripts and superscripts
- The Manual of Style prefers the x<sub>1</sub> format.
- The latter methods of sub/superscripting cannot be used in the most general context, as they rely on Unicode support which may not be present on all users' machines. For the 1-2-3 superscripts, it is nevertheless preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Subscripts |
x1 x2 x3 or
|
x<sub>1</sub> x<sub>2</sub> x<sub>3</sub> or x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ x₆ x₇ x₈ x₉ |
Superscripts |
x1 x2 x3 or
|
x<sup>1</sup> x<sup>2</sup> x<sup>3</sup> or x⁰ x¹ x² x³ x⁴ x⁵ x⁶ x⁷ x⁸ x⁹ |
Combined |
ε0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C² / J m.
|
ε<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 × 10<sup>−12</sup> C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m² |
Greek characters
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
α β γ δ ε ζ |
α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ ΟΠ Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω |
Mathematical characters
- See also WikiProject Mathematics.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ |
∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔ → ↓ ↑ ← ↔ |
Links and URLs
Free links
In Wikipedia and some other Wikis, free links are used in Wikitext markup to produce internal links between pages, as opposed to the concept of CamelCase for the same purpose, which was used in the early days of Wikipedia, see CamelCase and Wikipedia.
In Wikipedia's markup language, you create free links by putting double square brackets around text designating the title of the page you want to link to. Thus, [[Texas]]
will be rendered as Texas. Optionally, you can use a vertical bar (|) to customize the link title. For example, typing [[Texas|Lone Star state]]
will produce Lone Star state, a link that is displayed as "Lone Star state" but in fact links to Texas.
Link to another Wiki article
- Internally, the first letter of the target page is automatically capitalized and spaces are represented as underscores (typing an underscore in the link has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended).
- Thus the link below is to the URL en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport, which is the Wikipedia article with the name "Public transport".
- A red link is a page that doesn't exist yet; it can be created by clicking on the link.
- A link to its own page will appear only as bold text.
What it looks like | What you type |
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I like rape. |
|
Renamed link
- Same target, different name.
- The target ("piped") text must be placed first, then the text to be displayed second.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Your mother is a highly respected woman. |
|
Automatically rename links
- Simply typing the pipe character (|) after a link will automatically rename the link in certain circumstances. The next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. When previewing your edits, you will not see the expanded form until you press Save and Edit again. The same applies to links to sections within the same page.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses. |
| |
Automatically hide namespace. |
| |
Or both. |
| |
This doesn't work for section links. |
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]] |
|
Blend link
- Endings are blended into the link.
- Exception: a trailing apostrophe (') and any characters following the apostrophe are not blended.
- Preferred style is to use this instead of a piped link, if possible.
- Blending can be suppressed by using <nowiki></nowiki> tags, which may be desirable in some instances.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Blending active. |
Furries are sick fucks. Examples include babyfurs and plushies. |
|
Link to a section of a page
- The part after the number sign (#) must match a section heading on the page. Matches must be exact in terms of spelling, case, and punctuation. Links to non-existent sections are not broken; they are treated as links to the top of the page.
- Include "| link title" to create a stylish (piped) link title.
- If sections have the same title, add a number to link to any but the first. #Example section 3 goes to the third section named "Example section". You can use the pipe and retype the section title to display the text without the # symbol.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics is a link to a section within another page. |
|
#Links and URLs is a link to another section on the current page. Links and URLs is a link to the same section without showing the # symbol. |
|
Italics is a piped link to a section within another page. |
|
Create page link
- To create a new page:
- Create a link to it on some other (related) page.
- Save that page.
- Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing.
- For more information, see starting an article and check out Wikipedia's naming conventions.
- Please do not create a new article without linking to it from at least one other article.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Links to pages that don’t exist yet look red. |
|
Redirects
- Redirect one article title to another by placing a directive like the one shown to the right on the first line of the article (such as at a page titled "USA").
- It is possible to redirect to a section. For example, a redirect to United States#History will redirect to the History section of the United States page, if it exists.
Description | What you type |
---|---|
Redirect to an article. |
|
Redirect to a section. |
|
Link to another namespace
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
See the Wikipedia:Manual of Style. |
|
InterWiki link
- Link to any page on other Wikimedia wikis.
- Note that interwiki links use the internal link style.
- See MetaWikiPedia:Interwiki_map for the list of shortcuts; if the site you want to link to is not on the list, use an external link (see below)
- See also Wikimedia sister projects.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Linking to a page on another wiki in English. | ||
Simple link. Without prefix. Named link. |
| |
Linking to a page on another wiki in another language. | ||
Simple link. Without prefix. Named link. |
|
Categories
- To put an article in a category, place a link like the one to the right anywhere in the article. As with interlanguage links, placing these links at the end of the edit box is recommended.
- To link to a category page without putting the article into the category, use a colon prefix (":Category") in the link.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Categorize an article. |
| |
Link to a category. |
|
External links
- Square brackets indicate an external link. Note the use of a space (not a pipe) to separate the URL from the link text in the "named" link. Square brackets may be used as normal when not linking to anything - [like this].
- In the URL, all symbols must be among:
A-Z a-z 0-9 . _ \ / ~ % - + & # ? ! = ( ) @ - If a URL contains a character not in this list, it should be encoded by using a percent sign (%) followed by the hexadecimal code of the character, which can be found in the table of ASCII printable characters. For example, the caret character (^) would be encoded in a URL as %5E, and square brackets as %5B and %5D.
- If the "named" version contains a closing square bracket "]", then you must use the HTML special character syntax, i.e. ] otherwise the MediaWiki software will prematurely interpret this as the end of the external link.
- See External links for style issues.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Named link. |
| |
Unnamed link |
| |
Bare URL |
| |
Image markup only. |
|
Miscellaneous
Media link
- To include links to non image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. For images, see next section.
- Some uploaded sounds are listed at Commons:Sound.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
|
Links directly into edit mode
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Full URL. |
http://edramatica.com/index.php?title=Help:Wiki_markup&action=edit |
|
Images
Only images that have been uploaded to the wiki can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
A picture: | A picture: [[File:wiki.png]] |
With alternative text: | With alternative text: [[File:wiki.png|alt=Puzzle globe logo]]
|
Floating to the right side of the page using the frame attribute and a caption:
|
Floating to the right side of the page using the ''frame'' attribute and a caption: [[File:wiki.png|frame|alt=Puzzle globe logo|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]]
|
Floating to the right side of the page using the thumb attribute and a caption:
|
Floating to the right side of the page using the ''thumb'' attribute and a caption: [[File:wiki.png|thumb|alt=Puzzle globe logo|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]]
|
Floating to the right side of the page without a caption: | Floating to the right side of the page ''without'' a caption: [[File:wiki.png|right|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]] |
A picture resized to 30 pixels... | A picture resized to 30 pixels... [[File:wiki.png|30 px|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]] |
Linking directly to the description page of an image: | Linking directly to the description page of an image: [[:File:wiki.png]]
|
Linking directly to an image without displaying it: | Linking directly to an image without displaying it: [[Media:wiki.png|Image of the jigsaw globe logo]]
|
Using the span and div tag to separate images from text (note that this may allow images to cover text): | Example: <div style="display:inline; width:220px; float:right;"> Place images here </div> |
Using wiki markup to make a table in which to place a vertical column of images (this helps edit links match headers, especially in Firefox browsers): | Example: {| align=right |- | Place images here |} |
See the Wikipedia's image use policy as a guideline used on Wikipedia.
Tables
There are two ways to build tables:
- in special Wiki-markup
- Using HTML elements: <table>, <tr>, <td> or <th>.
For the latter, and a discussion on when tables are appropriate, see When to use tables.
References and citing sources
Making a reference citing a printed or online source can be accomplished by using the ref tag. Inside the reference tag details about the reference are added. You can add additional attributes to add detail about the source and reference, a pipe (|) precedes each reference, each attribute goes inside the cite portion of the tag.
What it's for | What you type |
---|---|
For creating the reference | <ref name="name for reference">Use a closing tag</ref> |
When you cite a book | {{cite book}} |
To cite a web source | {{cite web}} |
Book ISBN | |isbn=0-8018-6646-4 (ISBN of the book) |
Web URL | |url=http://wikipedia.com |
Title | |title=title of source |
Author | |author=authors, use commas for multiple |
First Name | |first=first name |
Last Name | |last=last name |
Location | |location=location of occurrence |
Publisher | |publisher=who published the source |
Date | |date=2007-03-04 (date of source) |
Year | |year=year of source |
Accessed Date | |accessdate=2008-12-07 |
a complete reference tag | <ref name="WikiMarkup">{{cite web |url=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Wiki_markup |title=Help:Wiki Markup |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation, Inc}}</ref> |
referencing this again | <ref name="WikiMarkup"/> |
Citation Needed | {{citation needed}} |
Templates and transcluding pages
Moar info: Wikipedia:Transclusion.
Examples for templates: {{pad|...}}, {{math|...}}, {{as of|...}}, {{edit}}
Templates are segments of Wiki markup that are meant to be copied automatically ("transcluded") into a page. You add them by putting the template's name in {{double braces}}. It is also possible to transclude other pages by using {{:colon and double braces}}.
There are three pairs of tags that can be used in wikitext to control how transclusion affects parts of a template or article. They determine whether or not wikitext renders, either in its own article, which we will call "here", or in another article where it is transcluded, which we will call "there".
- <noinclude>: the content will not be rendered there. These tags have no effect here.
- <includeonly>: the content will render only there, and will not render here (like invisible ink made visible by means of transclusion).
- <onlyinclude>: the content will render here and will render there, but it will only render there what is between these tags.
There can be several such section "elements". Also, they can be nested. All possible renderings are achievable. For example, to render there one or more sections of the page here use <onlyinclude> tags. To append text there, wrap the addition in <includeonly> tags above, within, or below the section. To omit portions of the section, nest <noinclude> tags within it.
If a page is transcluded without transclusion markup, it may cause an unintentional categorization. Any page transcluding it will contain the same category as the original page. Wrap the category markup with <noinclude> tags to prevent incorrect categorization.
Some templates take parameters, as well, which you separate with the pipe character.
What it looks like | What you type | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
You are now embedding the Gay porn template |
{{gayporn}} You are now embedding the [[Template:Gayporn|Gay porn template]] | ||||||||||||||
This template takes two parameters, and creates underlined text with a hover box for many modern browsers supporting CSS: Hover your mouse over this text |
This template takes two parameters, and creates underlined text with a hover box for many modern browsers supporting CSS: {{Hover|Hover your mouse over this text|This is the hover text}} |
Talk and project pages
Signing comments
- The character tilde (~) is used when adding a comment to a Talk page.
- Your username provides a link to your user page.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
You should sign your comments by appending four tildes to the comment, which adds your user name plus date/time. |
| |
Adding three tildes will add just your user name. |
| |
Adding five tildes gives the date/time alone. |
10:34, 22 December 2024 (UTC) |
|
What links here and Related changes
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
[[Special:WhatLinksHere/Help:Wiki markup]] | |
[[Special:RecentChangesLinked/Help:Wiki markup]] |
Linking to old revisions of pages, diffs, and specific history pages
- External link function is used for these.
- Open an old revision or diff and copy the url from the address bar, pasting it where you want it.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
|
User edits
- Link to a user's Contributions page.
Description | What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|---|
Username (registered users). |
| |
IP address (unregistered users). |
|
Show deleted or inserted text
- When editing regular Wikipedia articles, just make your changes and do not mark them up in any special way.
- When editing your own previous remarks in talk pages, it is sometimes appropriate to mark up deleted or inserted material.
- For striking out material, the <s></s> markup is an alternative to <del></del>.
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
You can |
|
- Notes
- The <s> tags are listed as deprecated in HTML 4 but are used in HTML 5.
Limiting formatting/escaping wiki markup
A few different kinds of formatting will tell the Wiki to display things as you typed them — what you see, is what you get!
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
<nowiki> tag: The nowiki tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets special characters: → |
<nowiki> The nowiki tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets special characters: → </nowiki> |
<pre> tag:The pre tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It also doesn't reformat text. It still interprets special characters: → |
<pre> The pre tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It also doesn't reformat text. It still interprets special characters: → </pre> |
[text without a URL]: Single square brackets containing [text without a URL] are preserved, but single square brackets containing a URL first are treated as external links |
Single square brackets containing [text without a URL] are preserved, but single square brackets containing a URL first are treated as external [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink links] |
Leading space: Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting.
Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text from being reformatted. It still interprets Wiki markup and special characters: → |
Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting. Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text from being reformatted. It still interprets [[Wiki]] ''markup'' and special characters: → |
Invisible text (comments)
It's uncommon, but on occasion acceptable for notes to other editors, to add a hidden comment within the text of an article. These comments are only visible when editing or viewing the source of a page. Most comments should go on the appropriate Talk page. The format is to surround the hidden text with '<!--' and '-->' and may cover several lines, e.g.:
<!-- An example of hidden comments This won't be visible except in "edit" mode. -->
Variables
Code | Effect |
---|---|
{{CURRENTWEEK}} | 51 |
{{CURRENTDOW}} | 0* |
{{CURRENTMONTH}} | 12 |
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} | December |
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} | December |
{{CURRENTDAY}} | 22 |
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} | Sunday |
{{CURRENTYEAR}} | 2024 |
{{CURRENTTIME}} | 10:34 |
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} | 16,130 |
{{NUMBEROFPAGES}} | 511,564 |
{{NUMBEROFUSERS}} | 4,914 |
{{PAGENAME}} | Editing |
{{NAMESPACE}} | Help |
{{REVISIONID}} | 1546623 |
{{REVISIONUSER}} | imported>Boudica |
{{localurl:pagename}} | /Pagename |
{{localurl:Encyclopedia Dramatica:Sandbox|action=edit}} | /index.php?title=Encyclopedia_Dramatica:Sandbox&action=edit |
{{fullurl:pagename}} | http://edramatica.com/Pagename |
{{fullurl:pagename|query_string}} | http://edramatica.com/index.php?title=Pagename&query_string |
{{SERVER}} | http://edramatica.com |
{{ns:index}} e.g. '{{ns:1}}' | fullname of namespace e.g 'Talk' |
{{SITENAME}} | Encyclopedia Dramatica |
*Monday=1, Tuesday=2, etc.
NUMBEROFARTICLES is the number of pages in the main namespace which contain a link and are not a redirect, in other words number of articles, stubs containing a link, and disambiguation pages.
CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN is the genitive (possessive) grammatical form of the month name, as used in some languages; CURRENTMONTHNAME is the nominative (subject) form, as usually seen in English.
In languages where it makes a difference, you can use constructs like {{grammar:case|word}} to convert a word from the nominative case to some other case. For example, {{grammar:genitive|{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}}} means the same as {{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}}.
HTML
Many HTML tags can be used in Wiki markup. You can check your HTML by using markup validation.