Help:Wikitext

Wiki markup is the syntax and keywords used by the MediaWiki software to format a page. A short intro is at Help:Cheatsheet. To learn how to see this markup and to save an edit, see: Help:Editing.

Layout

Sections

Section headings

Further information: Help:Section and MOS:HEAD

The = through ====== markup are headings for the sections with which they are associated.

• A single = is styled as the article title and should not be used within an article.
• Headings are styled through CSS and add an [edit] link.
• Four or more headings cause a table of contents to be generated automatically.
• Do not use any markup after the final heading markup – this will either break the heading, or will cause the heading to not be included in an edit summary.

Markup	Renders as
== Section ==	Section
=== Subsection ===	Subsection
==== Sub-subsection ====	Sub-subsection

And so on.

Wiki headings translate to HTML heading elements, <h1> through <h6>, styled as follows by default:

Templates: {{fake heading}} for use in documentation

Horizontal rule

Further information: WP:LINE

The horizontal rule represents a paragraph-level thematic break. Do not use in article content.

Markup	Renders as
----

HTML: <hr />

Table of contents

Further information: WP:TOC

When a page has at least four headings, a table of contents (TOC) will automatically appear after the lead and before the first heading. The TOC can be controlled by magic words or templates:

• __FORCETOC__ forces the TOC to appear at the normal location regardless of the number of headings.
• __TOC__ forces the TOC to appear at the point where the magic word is inserted instead of the normal location.
• __NOTOC__ disables the TOC entirely.
• {{TOC limit}} can be used to control the depth of subsections included in the TOC. This is useful where the TOC is long and unwieldy.
• Category:Wikipedia table of contents templates contains a number of specialized TOC templates.

Line breaks

Further information: Wikipedia:Line-break handling and Wikipedia:Don't use line breaks

Line breaks or newlines are used to add whitespace between lines, such as separating paragraphs.

• A line break that is visible in the content is inserted by pressing Return twice.
• Pressing Return once will place a line break in the markup, but it will not show in the rendered content, except when using list markup.
• Markup such as bold or italics will be terminated at a line break.

Markup	Renders as
A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or an indented part.	A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or an indented part.

HTML: <br> or <br />

Templates:

• {{break}} adds multiple line breaks.
• {{crlf2}} adds a true carriage return and line feed.
• {{-}} adds a break with styling to clear floating elements.
• {{plainlist}} creates an unbulleted list.

Indent text

Further information: WP:INDENT

Indentation is most commonly used on talk pages.

Markup	Renders as
Indentation as used on talk pages: :Each colon at the start of a line ::causes the line to be indented by three more character positions. :::(The indentation persists so long as no carriage return or line break is used.) :::Repeat the indentation at any line break. ::::Use an extra colon for each response. :::::And so forth ... ::::::And so on ...	Indentation as used on talk pages: Each colon at the start of a line causes the line to be indented by three more character positions. (The indentation persists so long as no carriage return or line break is used.) Repeat the indentation at any line break. Use an extra colon for each response. And so forth ... And so on ...

Templates: {{outdent}}, {{outdent2}}

Blockquote

When there is a need for separating a block of text. This is useful for (as the name says) inserting blocks of quoted (and cited) text.

Markup	Renders as
<blockquote> The '''blockquote''' tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does. </blockquote>	The blockquote tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.

Center text

Markup	Renders as
<div class="center" style="width: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">Centered text</div>	Centered text

Template {{center}} uses the same markup. To center a table, see Help:Table#Centering tables.

Align text to right

Markup	Renders as
<div style="text-align: right; direction: ltr; margin-left: 1em;">Text on the right</div>	Text on the right

Lists

Further information: Help:List and MOS:LIST

Do not leave blank lines between items in a list unless there is a reason to do so, since this causes the MediaWiki software to interpret each item as beginning a new list.

Unordered lists

Markup	Renders as
* Item1 * Item2 * Item3 * Item4 ** Sub-item 4 a) *** Sub-item 4 a) 1. **** Sub-item 4 a) 1. i) **** Sub-item 4 a) 1. ii) ** Sub-item 4 b) * Item5	Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 Sub-item 4 a) Sub-item 4 a) 1. Sub-item 4 a) 1. i) Sub-item 4 a) 1. ii) Sub-item 4 b) Item5

Ordered lists

Markup	Renders as
# Item1 # Item2 # Item3 # Item4 ## Sub-item 1 ### Sub-item #### Sub-item ## Sub-item 2 # Item5	Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 Sub-item 1 Sub-item Sub-item Sub-item 2 Item5

Definition lists

To list terms and definitions, start a new line with a semicolon (;) followed by the term. Then, type a colon (:) followed by a definition.

Definition lists consist of group names corresponding to values. Group names (terms) are in bold. Values (definitions) are indented. Each group must include one or more definitions. For a single or first value, the : can be placed on the same line after ; – but subsequent values must be placed on separate lines.

Do not use a semicolon (;) simply to bold a line without defining a value using a colon (:). This usage renders invalid HTML5.

Markup	Renders as
; Term : Definition1	Term Definition1
; Term : Definition1 : Definition2 : Definition3 : Definition4	Term Definition1 Definition2 Definition3 Definition4

HTML: <dl> <dt>...</dt>, <dd>...</dd> </dl>

Templates: {{defn}}

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>...</poem> tags to maintain newlines and spaces. These tags may be used inside other tags such as <blockquote>...</blockquote>. CSS styles may be applied to this tag, e.g.: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;">.

Markup	Renders as
<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>	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.

Format

Text formatting

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Italics, bold, small capital letters.	To ''italicize text'', just put 2 apostrophes on each side. 3 apostrophes will '''bold the text''' 5 apostrophes for '''''bold italics''''' '''''Italic and bold formatting''''' only works properly within a single line. For text as {{Smallcaps|small caps}}, that uses a [[Help:Template|template]].	To italicize text, just put 2 apostrophes on each side. 3 apostrophes will bold the text 5 apostrophes for bold italics Italic and bold formatting only works properly within a single line. For text as small caps, that uses a template.
Small chunks of source code within a line of normal text. Code is displayed in a monospace font.	function <code>int m2()</code> is nice	function int m2() is nice
Syntax highlighting for source code. Computer code has colored text and more stringent formatting. For example, to define a function: int m2(), with highlights.	<syntaxhighlight lang="cpp"> #include <iostream> int m2 (int ax, char *p_ax) { std::cout <<"Hello World!"; return 0; }</syntaxhighlight>	#include <iostream> int m2 (int ax, char *p_ax) { std::cout <<"Hello World!"; return 0; }
Small text.	Use <small>small text</small> if needed. A span tag can set text font-size as being <span style="font-size: 87%">87% of prior size</span>, to match an image caption.	Use small text if needed. A span tag can set text font-size as being 87% of prior size, to match an image caption.
Big text.	Better not use <big>big text</big>, unless <small> it's <big>within</big> small</small> text.	Better not use big text, unless it's within 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 &nbsp; in place of a regular space between the two "words" that need to behave as a single word (never be separated on different lines).	Mr.&nbsp;Smith or 400&nbsp;km/h.	Mr. Smith or 400 km/h.
Extra spacing within text can best be achieved using the pad template.	Mary {{pad|4em}} had a little lamb.	Mary   had a little lamb.
Typewriter font. (Also works beyond the end of a paragraph.)	<tt>arrow &rarr;</tt> <tt>''italics'', '''bold'''</tt> <tt>[[link]] New paragraph </tt>started here.	arrow → italics, bold link New paragraph started here.

Special characters

Egyptian hieroglyphs

Main page: Help:WikiHiero syntax

WikiHiero is a software extension that renders Egyptian hieroglyphs as PNG images using <hiero> tags.

Example:

Markup	Renders as
<hiero>P2</hiero>

Chess symbols

Main article: Chess symbols in Unicode

Diacritical marks

• See Help:Special characters.

What you type

What it looks like

À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Œ Ù Ú Û Ü Ÿ ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô õ ö ø œ ù ú û ü ÿ

À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Œ Ù Ú Û Ü Ÿ ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô õ ö ø œ ù ú û ü ÿ

Punctuation, special characters

What you type	What it looks like
¿ ¡ § ¶ † ‡ • – — ‹ › « » ‘ ’ “ ” ' "	¿ ¡ § ¶ † ‡ • – — ‹ › « » ‘ ’ “ ” ' "

Other punctuation, escaping special characters

The <pre> and <nowiki> markup tags are also available. (For writing "[", "{", "&", "}", "]", for example.)

Commercial symbols

What you type	What it looks like
™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤	™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤

Subscripts and superscripts

• The Manual of Style prefers the x₁ 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 you type	What it looks like
Subscripts	x<sub>1</sub> x<sub>2</sub> x<sub>3</sub> or x&#8320; x&#8321; x&#8322; x&#8323; x&#8324; x&#8325; x&#8326; x&#8327; x&#8328; x&#8329;	x1 x2 x3 or x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄ x₅ x₆ x₇ x₈ x₉
Superscripts	x<sup>1</sup> x<sup>2</sup> x<sup>3</sup> or x&#8304; x&sup1; x&sup2; x&sup3; x&#8308; x&#8309; x&#8310; x&#8311; x&#8312; x&#8313;	x1 x2 x3 or x⁰ x¹ x² x³ x⁴ x⁵ x⁶ x⁷ x⁸ x⁹
Combined	&epsilon;<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 &times; 10<sup>&minus;12</sup> C&sup2; / J m 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E+4 m&sup2;]]	ε0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C² / J m 1 hectare = 1 E+4 m²

Greek characters

What you type	What it looks like
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 Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω	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 Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω

Mathematical characters

• See also WikiProject Mathematics and TeX.

What you type	What it looks like
∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔ → ↓ ↑ ← ↔	∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔ → ↓ ↑ ← ↔

Mathematical formulae

Main page: Help:Displaying a formula

• Formulae that include mathematical letters, like x, and operators like × should not use the plain letter x. See math font formatting. For a comprehensive set of symbols, and comparison between <math> tags and the {{math}} template see section TeX vs HTML.

• The <math> tag typesets using LaTeX markup, which may render as an image or as HTML, depending on environmental settings. The <math> tag is best for the complex formula on its own line in an image format. If you use this tag to put a formula in the line with text, put it in the {{nowrap}} template.

• The {{math}} template uses HTML, and will size-match a serif font, and will also prevent line-wrap. All templates are sensitive to the = sign, so remember to replace = with {{=}} in template input. Use wikimarkup '' and ''' inside the {{math}} template, as well as other HTML entities. The {{math}} template is best for typeset formulas in line with the text.

Markup	Renders as
<math>2x \times 4y \div 6z + 8 - \frac {y}{z^2} = 0</math> {{crlf|}} {{math|2x &times; 4y &divide; 6z + 8 &minus; {{Fraction |y|z<sup>2</sup>}} {{=}} 0}} <math>\sin 2\pi x + \ln e\,\!</math> <math>\sin 2\pi x + \ln e</math> {{math|sin 2&pi;''x'' + ln ''e''}}	$2x\times 4y\div 6z+8-{\frac {y}{z^{2}}}=0$ 2x × 4y ÷ 6z + 8 − y⁄z2 = 0 $\sin 2\pi x+\ln e\,\!$ $\sin 2\pi x+\ln e$ sin 2πx + ln e

Spacing in simple math formulae

• Using   to prevent line break is not needed; the {{math}} template will prevent line breaks anyway; you can use <br /> if you need an explicit line break inside a formula.

Markup	Renders as
It follows that {{math |''x''<sup>2</sup> &ge; 0}} is true when {{mvar|x}} is a real number.	It follows that x2 ≥ 0 is true when x is a real number.

Complicated formulae

• See Help:Displaying a formula for how to use <math>.
• A formula displayed on a line by itself should probably be indented by using the colon (:) character.

Markup	Renders as
: <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>	$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {x^{n}}{n!}}$

Links and URLs

Main page: Help:Link

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 hereafter is to the Web address en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport, which is the Wikipedia article with the name "Public transport". See also Canonicalization.
• 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.

Markup	Renders as
London has [[public transport]].	London has public transport.
Link to this article: "[[Help:Wiki markup]]" will appear only as bold text.	Link to this article: "Help:Wiki markup" will appear only as bold text.

Renamed link

• Same target, different name.
• The target ("piped") text must be placed first, then the text to be displayed second.

What you type	What it looks like
New York also has [[public transport|public transportation]].	New York also has public transportation.

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.
• See Pipe trick for details.

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses	[[kingdom (biology)|]]	kingdom
Automatically hide the comma and following text	[[Seattle, Washington|]]	Seattle
Automatically hide namespace	[[Wikipedia:Village pump|]]	Village pump
Or both	[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings)|]]	Manual of Style
But this doesn't work for section links	[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#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 the <nowiki /> tag, which may be desirable in some instances.

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Blending active.	San Francisco also has [[public transport]]ation. Examples include [[bus]]es, [[taxicab]]s, and [[tram]]s.	San Francisco also has public transportation. Examples include buses, taxicabs, and trams.
Blending suppressed.	A [[micro-]]<nowiki />second.	A micro-second.

Link to a section of a page

• The part after the hash 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 beginning 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 you type	What it looks like
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics]] is a link to a section within another page.	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|Links and URLs]] is a link to the same section without showing the # symbol.	#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.
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics|Italics]] is a piped link to a section within another page.	Italics is a piped link to a section within another page.

Create page link

• To create a new page:
  1. Create a link to it on some other (related) page.
  2. Save that page.
  3. 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 you type	What it looks like
Links to pages that don’t exist yet look red.	The article about [[cardboard sandwiches]] doesn't exist yet.	The article about cardboard sandwiches doesn't exist yet.

Redirects

Main page: Help:Redirect

1. REDIRECT Slim Shady

• 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 [[United States]]
Redirect to a section	#REDIRECT [[United States#History]]

Link to another namespace

What you type	What it looks like
See the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]].	See the Wikipedia:Manual of Style.

Link to the same article in another language (interlanguage links)

Main pages: Help:Interlanguage links and Wikipedia:Complete list of language wikis available

• To link to a corresponding page in another language, use the form: [[language code:Foreign title]].
• It is recommended interlanguage links be placed at the very end of the article.
• Interlanguage links are not visible within the formatted article, but instead appear as language links on the sidebar (to the left) under the menu section "languages".

• NOTE: To create an inline link (a clickable link within the text) to any foreign language article, see Help:Interlanguage links#Inline interlanguage links and consider the usage notes.

Description	What you type
Link from English article "Plankton" to the Spanish article "Plancton". "es" is the language code for "español" (the Spanish language).	[[es:Plancton]]
Other examples: French (fr for français), German (de for Deutsch), Russian (ru), and simple English (simple).	[[fr:Plancton]] [[de:Plankton]] [[ru:Планктон]] [[simple:Plankton]]

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 hereafter).
• See also Wikimedia sister projects.

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Linking to a page on another wiki in English. All of these forms lead to the URL http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hello.
Simple link. Without prefix. Named link.	[[Wiktionary:Hello]] [[Wiktionary:Hello|]] [[Wiktionary:Hello|Wiktionary definition of "Hello"]]	Wiktionary:Hello Hello Wiktionary definition of "Hello"
Linking to a page on another wiki in another language. All of these forms lead to the URL http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonjour.
Simple link. Without prefix. Named link.	[[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour]] [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour|]] [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour|bonjour]]	Wiktionary:fr:bonjour fr:bonjour bonjour

Categories

• To put an article in a category, place a link like [[Category:Example]] into the article. As with interlanguage links, placing these links at the end of the article 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 you type	What it looks like
Categorize an article.	[[Category:Character sets]]
Link to a category.	[[:Category:Character sets]]	Category:Character sets
Without prefix.	[[:Category:Character sets|]]	Character sets

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].
• A URL must begin with a supported URI scheme: http:// and https:// will be supported by all browsers; irc://, ircs://, ftp://, news://, mailto: and gopher:// will require a plugin or an external application. IPv6 addresses in URLs are currently not supported.
• A URL containing certain characters will display and link incorrectly unless those characters are encoded. For example, a space must be replaced by %20. Encoding can be achieved by:

• Use the link button on the enhanced editing toolbar to encode the link; this tool will add the bracket markup and the linked text, which may not always be desirable.
• Or manually encode the URL by replacing these characters:

space	"	,	'	;	<	>	?	[	]
%20	%22	%2c	%3a	%3b	%3c	%3e	%3f	%5b	%5d

• Or use the {{urlencode:}} magic word. See Help:Magic words in the MediaWiki documentation for more details.

• See External links for style issues, and External link file type templates for indicating the file type of an external link with an icon.

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Named link with an external link icon	[http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]	Wikipedia
Unnamed link (Only used within article body for footnotes)	[http://www.wikipedia.org]	[1]
Bare URL (Bad style)	http://www.wikipedia.org	http://www.wikipedia.org
Link without arrow (Not often used)	<span class="plainlinks">[http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]</span>	Wikipedia

Miscellaneous

"As of" tag

• "As of" tags generate phrases like "As of April 2009" or "as of April 2009", and categorize info that will need updating. For an explanation of the parameters see template documentation.

What you type	What it looks like
{{As of|2009|4|df=us}}	As of April 2009
{{As of|2009|4|df=us|lc=y}}	as of April 2009

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 you type	What it looks like
[[media:Classical guitar scale.ogg|Sound]]	Sound

Links directly into edit mode

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Full URL	{{fullurl:Help:Wiki markup|action=edit}}	//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Wiki_markup&action=edit
"Edit" label	{{edit}}

Automatic links

Main page: Help:Magic links

Book sources

• Link to books using their ISBN, which creates a link to Special:BookSources. This is preferred to linking to a specific online bookstore, because it gives the reader a choice of vendors. However, if one bookstore or online service provides additional free information, such as table of contents or excerpts from the text, then a link to that source will aid the user and is recommended. ISBN links do not need any extra markup, provided you use one of the indicated formats.
• To create a link to Special:BookSources using alternative text (e.g. the book's title), use the internal link style with the appropriate namespace.

What you type	What it looks like
ISBN 012345678X	ISBN 012345678X
ISBN 0-12-345678-X	ISBN 0-12-345678-X
Link to a book using [[Special:BookSources/0670037818|alternative text, such as its title]]	Link to a book using alternative text, such as its title

RFC number

• Link to an Internet Engineering Task Force Request for Comments (RFC).

What you type	What it looks like
Text mentioning an RFC number anywhere, e.g. RFC 4321.	Text mentioning an RFC number anywhere, e.g. RFC 4321.

Links partially italicized

• Link to a page with words usually italicized, such as Hindenburg disaster.

What you type	What it looks like
[[Hindenburg disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster]]	Hindenburg disaster

Pronunciation aids

It is often desirable to provide an aid to pronunciation for a word. The IPAc-en and Respell templates can be of assistance.

What you type	What it looks like
'''Konjac''' {{IPAc-en|lang|pron|ˈ|k|oʊ|n|j|æ|k}}	Konjac English: /ˈkoʊnjæk/
'''Konjac''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|pron|ˈ|k|oʊ|n|j|æ|k}} {{respell|KOHN|yak}})	Konjac (English: /ˈkoʊnjæk/ KOHN-yak)
''Konjac'' is pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|oʊ|n|j|æ|k}} in English.	Konjac is pronounced /ˈkoʊnjæk/ in English.

Refer to Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation) for more information.

Musical notation

Main page: Help:Score

Musical notation is added by using the <score>...</score> extension tag. For example:

Markup	Renders as
<score>\relative c' { fis d fis a d f e d c cis d e a g f ees }</score>

Images

Only images that have been uploaded to Wikipedia can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list.

What you type	What it looks like	Notes
A picture: [[File:wiki.png]]	A picture:
With alternative text: [[File:wiki.png|alt=Puzzle globe logo]]	With alternative text:	Alternative text, used when the image is unavailable or when the image is loaded in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud, is strongly encouraged. See Alternative text for images for help on choosing it.
With link: [[File:wiki.png|link=Wikipedia]]	With link:	The link directs to a page, Wikipedia, instead of the file.
Floating to the right side of the page using the ''frame'' attribute and a caption: [[File:wiki.png|frame|alt=Puzzle globe|Wikipedia logo]]	Floating to the right side of the page using the frame attribute and a caption: Wikipedia logo	The frame tag automatically floats the image right. The last parameter is the caption that appears below the image.
Floating to the right side of the page using the ''thumb'' attribute and a caption: [[File:wiki.png|thumb|alt=Puzzle globe|Wikipedia logo]]	Floating to the right side of the page using the thumb attribute and a caption: Wikipedia logo	The thumb tag automatically floats the image right. An enlarge icon is placed in the lower right corner.
Floating to the right side of the page ''without'' a caption: [[File:wiki.png|right|Wikipedia encyclopedia]]	Floating to the right side of the page without a caption: Wikipedia encyclopedia	The picture tutorial explains more options.
A picture resized to 30 pixels... [[File:wiki.png|30 px|Wikipedia encyclopedia]]	A picture resized to 30 pixels...	The picture tutorial explains more options.
Linking directly to the description page of an image: [[:File:wiki.png]]	Linking directly to the description page of an image: File:wiki.png	Clicking on an image displayed normally on a page also leads to the description page.
Linking directly to an image without displaying it: [[Media:wiki.png|Image of jigsaw globe]]	Linking directly to an image without displaying it: Image of jigsaw globe	To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link.
Example: <div style="display: inline; width: 220px; float: right;"> Place images here </div>	Example: Place images here	Using the span or div elements to separate images from text (note that this may allow images to cover text).
Example: {| align=right |- | Place images here |}	Example: Place images here	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).

See the Wikipedia's image use policy as a guideline used on Wikipedia.

For further help on images, including some more versatile abilities, see the picture tutorial.

Tables

There are two ways to build tables:

• In special wiki-markup (see Help:Table).
• Using HTML elements: <table>, <tr>, <td> or <th>.

See also When tables are appropriate.

References and citing sources

Main pages: Wikipedia:Citing sources and Help:Footnotes

See also: APA style, Chicago style, Harvard style, and MLA style

Making a reference citing a printed or online source can be accomplished by using the <ref>...</ref> tags. Inside these tags details about the reference are added.

Details about the citation can be provided using a structure provided by various templates; the table below lists some typical citation components.

What it's for	What you type
To create the reference	<ref name="name for reference">Use a closing tag</ref>
To cite a book	{{cite book}}
To cite a web source	{{cite web}}
Book ISBN	|isbn=0-4397-0818-4 (ISBN of the book)
Web URL	|url=http://www.wikipedia.org
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 publisher
Publisher	|publisher=who published the source
Date	|date=2007-09-21 (date of source)
Year	|year=year of source
Accessed date	|accessdate=2008-12-25
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}}</ref>
Referencing this again	<ref name="WikiMarkup" />
Citation needed	{{citation needed}}

Templates and transcluding pages

Main page: Wikipedia:Transclusion

See also: Help:Template § Noinclude, includeonly, and onlyinclude

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 before, within, or after 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 you type	What it looks like
{{Transclusion demo}}	This text comes from the page named Template:Transclusion demo. It has been transcluded into this page.
{{Help:Transclusion demo}}	This transclusion demo is a little bit of text from the page Help:Transclusion demo to be included into any file.
This template takes two parameters, and creates underlined text with a hover box for many modern browsers supporting CSS: {{H:title|This is the hover text| Hover your mouse over this text}} Go to this page to see the H:title template itself: {{tl|H:title}}	This template takes two parameters, and creates underlined text with a hover box for many modern browsers supporting CSS: This is the hover text Go to this page to see the H:title template itself: {{H:title}}

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 you type	What it looks like
You should sign your comments by appending four tildes to the comment, which adds your user name plus date/time.	~~~~	Username (talk) 19:44, 19 November 2024 (UTC)
Adding three tildes will add just your user name.	~~~	Username (talk)
Adding five tildes gives the date/time alone.	~~~~~	19:44, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

What links here and related changes

What you type	What it looks like
[[Special:WhatLinksHere/aaa]]	Special:WhatLinksHere/aaa
[[Special:RecentChangesLinked/aaa]]	Special:RecentChangesLinked/aaa

Linking to old revisions of pages, diffs, and specific history pages

• External link function is mainly used for these.
• Open an old revision or diff and copy the URL from the address bar, pasting it where you want it.

What you type	What it looks like
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Wiki_markup&diff=330350877&oldid=330349143 Diff between revisions 330349143 and 330350877]	Diff between revisions 330349143 and 330350877

• For an old revision, you can also use a permalink. Though here only the main text is guaranteed to be retained (images and templates will be shown as they are today, not as they were at the time).

What you type	What it looks like
[[Special:Permalink/330350877|Revision 330350877]]	Revision 330350877

User edits

• Link to a user's Contributions page.

Description	What you type	What it looks like
Username (registered users).	[[Special:Contributions/UserName]]	Special:Contributions/UserName
IPv4 address (unregistered users).	[[Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0]]	Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0
IPv6 address (unregistered users).	[[Special:Contributions/2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:ff00:0042:8329]]	Special:Contributions/2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:ff00:0042:8329

Coloring text

What you type	What it looks like
I will change the color in {{color|blue|the middle part of}} this sentence.	I will change the color in the middle part of this sentence.

Highlighting text

What you type	What it looks like
This is how to {{Font color||yellow|highlight}} part of a sentence.	This is how to highlight part of a sentence.

Show deleted or inserted text

Further information: Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines

• 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 content.
  • To indicate deleted content use <del>...</del>.
  • To indicate inserted content use <ins>...</ins>.

Markup	Renders as
You can <del>strike out deleted content</del> and <ins>underline new content</ins>.	You can strike out deleted content and underline new content.

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 you type	What it looks like
'''&lt;nowiki&gt; tag:''' <nowiki> The nowiki tag ignores [[wiki]] ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets characters specified by &name;: &rarr; </nowiki>	<nowiki> tag: The nowiki tag ignores [[wiki]] ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets characters specified by &name;: &rarr;
'''&lt;pre&gt; tag:''' <pre>The <pre> tag ignores [[wiki]] ''markup'' as does the <nowiki> tag. Additionally, <pre> displays in a mono-spaced font, and does not reformat text spaces. It still interprets special characters: &rarr; </pre>	<pre> tag: The <pre> tag ignores [[wiki]] ''markup'' as does the <nowiki> tag. Additionally, <pre> displays in a mono-spaced font, and does not reformat text spaces. It still interprets special characters: →
'''[Text without a URL]:''' Single square brackets holding [text without a HTTP URL] are preserved, but single square brackets containing a URL are treated as being an external [http://example.com/ Web link].	[Text without a URL]: Single square brackets holding [text without a HTTP URL] are preserved, but single square brackets containing a URL are treated as being an external Web link.
'''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: &rarr;	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: →

Nowiki

<nowiki>...</nowiki> and <nowiki /> tags stop parsing of wiki markup, except HTML character entity references (e.g. for special characters). Unlike <pre>, "nowiki" doesn't change formatting.

An example of <nowiki>...</nowiki>:

Markup	Renders as
<nowiki>{{cite book}}</nowiki>	{{cite book}}

(However in this particular case probably you prefer {{tl|cite book}} to create a link as {{cite book}}, or {{tlf|cite book}} prints {{cite book}}.)

A singular <nowiki /> can be used to break wikimarkup.

• Markup such as *, #, ; and : only and always take effect at the beginning of a line. A <nowiki /> before the markup will cause the characters to not parse as markup.
• An internal link immediately followed by characters are blended to form a single link. Where this is not desired, add a <nowiki /> after the link.
• HTML(-like) tags can be stopped parsing by inserting <nowiki /> after the opening angle bracket..

<nowiki /> examples

Markup	Renders as
* Unordered list	Unordered list
<nowiki />* Unordered list	* Unordered list
A [[micro-]]second.	A micro-second.
A [[micro-]]<nowiki />second.	A micro-second.
'<nowiki />'We don't want italics.'<nowiki />'	''We don't want italics.''
[[<nowiki />Example]]	[[Example]]
[<nowiki />[[Example]]]	[Example]
No <<nowiki />br />line break. But for tag pairs, you need nowiki for the closing tag, too. <<nowiki />pre>The following /pre is gone!</pre>	No <br />line break. But for tag pairs, you need nowiki for the closing tag, too. <pre>The following /pre is gone!

If you want to write tags, {{tag}} template is handy. E.g. {{tag|nowiki}} prints <nowiki>...</nowiki>.

HTML entities

<nowiki> and <pre> parse HTML entities. If you want to escape this, replace & with &.

Markup	Renders as
<nowiki>&amp;</nowiki>	&
<nowiki>&lt;</nowiki>	<
<nowiki>&amp;amp;</nowiki>	&amp;
<nowiki>&amp;lt;</nowiki>	&lt;

Use in templates

When used in a template, <nowiki> simply does not work as you may expect.

• Including <nowiki> immediately acts upon the enclosed markup. Attempting to escape or transclude the brackets causes <nowiki /> to not work at all.
• Using #tag:nowiki works, but has major limitations:
  • Templates, parameters, parser functions, and parser magic such as signatures are parsed, not nowikied.
  • Included <ref> tags will expose the strip markers.

Markup	Renders as
<nowiki>{{tl|cite book}}</nowiki>	{{tl|cite book}}
{{#tag:nowiki|{{tl|cite book}}}}	<span class="nowrap">{{</span>[[Template:cite book|cite book]]<span class="nowrap">}}</span>
{{#tag:nowiki|<ref>Text</ref>}} {{reflist}}

Pre

<pre> is a parser tag that emulates the HTML <pre> tag. It defines preformatted text that is displayed in a fixed-width font and is enclosed in a dashed box. HTML and wiki markups are escaped and spaces and line breaks are preserved, but HTML entities are parsed.

<pre> examples

Markup	Renders as
<pre><!--Comment--> [[wiki]] markup &amp;</pre>	<!--Comment--> [[wiki]] markup &

<pre> formatted text does not wrap, thus text may extend past the browser window:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

To resolve this, <pre> may use CSS styling to add wrapping or a horizontal scrollbar:

• Wrapping: <pre style="white-space:-moz-pre-wrap; white-space:-pre-wrap; white-space:-o-pre-wrap; white-space:pre-wrap; word-wrap:break-word;">
• Scroll bar: <pre style="overflow:auto; width:auto;">

Alternatively, consider using {{pre2}} template or <syntaxhighlight enclose="div" lang="text">...</syntaxhighlight>.

Invisible text (comments)

See also: Help:Hidden text

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. -->

Another way to include a comment in the wiki markup uses the {{Void}} template, which can be abbreviated as {{^}}. This template "expands" to the empty string, generating no HTML output; it is visible only to people editing the wiki source. Thus Template:J operates similarly to the comment Template:J. The main difference is that the template version can be nested, while attempting to nest HTML comments produces odd results.

Variables

See also: Help:Magic_words § Variables

Wikipedia data structure

Namespaces
Subject namespaces		Talk namespaces
0	(Main/Article)	Talk	1
2	User	User talk	3
4	Wikipedia	Wikipedia talk	5
6	File	File talk	7
8	MediaWiki	MediaWiki talk	9
10	Template	Template talk	11
12	Help	Help talk	13
14	Category	Category talk	15
100	Portal	Portal talk	101
118	Draft	Draft talk	119
126	MOS	MOS talk	127
710	TimedText	TimedText talk	711
828	Module	Module talk	829
Former namespaces
108	Book	Book talk	109
442	Course	Course talk	443
444	Institution	Institution talk	445
446	Education Program	Education Program talk	447
2300	Gadget	Gadget talk	2301
2302	Gadget definition	Gadget definition talk	2303
2600	Topic		2601
Virtual namespaces
-1	Special
-2	Media
Current list

Code	Effect	Notes
{{CURRENTWEEK}}	47
{{CURRENTDOW}}	2	Monday = 1, Tuesday = 2, etc., but Sunday = 0
{{CURRENTMONTH}}	11
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}	November
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}}	November
{{CURRENTDAY}}	19
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}}	Tuesday
{{CURRENTYEAR}}	2024
{{CURRENTTIME}}	19:44
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}	6,913,062
{{NUMBEROFPAGES}}	61,869,990
{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}	48,288,814
{{PAGENAME}}	Wikitext
{{NAMESPACE}}	Help
{{REVISIONID}}	-
{{REVISIONUSER}}	ZexyZek
{{localurl:pagename}}	/wiki/Pagename
{{localurl:Wikipedia:Sandbox|action=edit}}	/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Sandbox&action=edit
{{fullurl:pagename}}	//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagename
{{fullurl:pagename|query_string}}	//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pagename&query_string
{{SERVER}}	//en.wikipedia.org
{{ns:1}}	Talk	{{ns:index}} e.g. {{ns:1}} → full name of namespace
{{SITENAME}}	Wikipedia

{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} is the number of pages in the main namespace which contain a link and are not a redirect. This includes full articles, stubs containing a link, and disambiguation pages.

{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} is the genitive (possessive) grammatical form of the month name, as used in some languages but not in English; {{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

Main page: Help:HTML in wikitext

Many HTML tags can be used in wiki markup. You can check your HTML by using markup validation.