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Help:Wikitext

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Wikipedia help page

For the encyclopedic section on wikitext, see Wiki SS Editing.
"H:WT" redirects here. For the welcoming templates, see Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates.
This help page is a how-to guide.
It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus.
The instructions on this page mainly apply to editing wikitext using the source editor, and may not work with the VisualEditor. For guidance, see the VisualEditor user guide.
Please remove this notice if VisualEditor users are addressed in a way that makes it unnecessary.
Wikitext

Wikitext, also known as wiki markup or wikicode, is the markup language used by the MediaWiki software to format pages.[a]

To learn how to view and edit wikitext, and how to save changes, see Help:Editing. In most cases, markup can be copied and pasted without the need to write new code. A quick reference guide is available at Help:Cheatsheet.

In addition to wikitext, some HTML elements are also permitted for presentation formatting. For more details, see Help:HTML in wikitext.

Layout

Sections

Article sections in a page will follow that page's lead or introduction and, if there are four or more, the table of contents.

Section headings

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. See this section for the relevant CSS.
  • 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
= Heading 1 =
== Heading 2 ==
=== Heading 3 ===
==== Heading 4 ====
===== Heading 5 =====
====== Heading 6 ======
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Heading 4
Heading 5
Heading 6


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

Horizontal rule

Further information: MOS:HR

The horizontal rule represents a paragraph-level thematic break. Do not use in article content, as rules are used only after main sections, and this is automatic.

Markup Renders as
----

The four hyphens must appear at the beginning of a line.

The HTML equivalent is

, which can be indented if required. (---- always starts at the left margin.)

The template {{Hr}} produces a similar rule but allows the thickness to be specified.

Table of contents

Further information: H: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}} template 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

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 | Enter twice.
  • Pressing | Enter 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.
  • Blank lines within indented wikitext should not be added, to avoid creating accessibility issues.
Markup Renders as
A single newline here
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 here has no effect on the layout.

But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or an indented part.

HTML equivalent:
or
can be used to break line layout.

Templates for line breaks:

  • {{break}} can add multiple line breaks.
  • {{-}} and {{clear}} adds a break with styling, to clear floating elements. Often used to prevent text from flowing next to unrelated tables or images.

Unbulleted list:

Indent text

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 ...
{{Outdent|::::::}}The outdent template can give a visual indicator that we're deliberately cancelling the indent (6 levels here)

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 ...
The outdent template can give a visual indicator that we're deliberately cancelling the indent (6 levels here)

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

Normal text

The blockquote tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.

Normal text

This uses an HTML tag; template {{quote}} results in the same render.

Center text

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

Template {{center}} uses the same markup. To center a table, see Help:Table#Centering tables. Please do not use

...
tags, as it is obsolete.

Align text to right

You can align content in a separate container:

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

Or; make the text float around it:

Markup Renders as
<div class="floatright">Text on the rightdiv>
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.
Text on the right
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.
{{stack|Text on the right}}
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.
Text on the right
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.

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-sub-item
#### Sub-sub-sub-item
## Sub-item 2
# Item5

  1. Item1
  2. Item2
  3. Item3
  4. Item4
    1. Sub-item 1
      1. Sub-sub-item
        1. Sub-sub-sub-item
    2. Sub-item 2
  5. Item5

Description 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. The format can also be used for other purposes, such as make and models of vehicles, etc.

Description lists (formerly definition lists, and a.k.a. association 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 and creates issues with screen readers. Also, use of a colon to indent (other than for talk page responses) may also render invalid HTML5 and cause accessibility issues per MOS:INDENTGAP.

Markup Renders as 
; Term: Definition1

Term
Definition1
; Term
: Definition1
: Definition2
: Definition3
: Definition4

Term
Definition1
Definition2
Definition3
Definition4

HTML equivalent:

...
,
...

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 ... tags to maintain newlines and spaces. These tags may be used inside other tags such as

...
; the template {{poemquote}} provides a convenient shorthand. CSS styles may be applied to this tag, e.g.: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;">.

Markup Renders as 

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.

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.

Poems and their translation can be presented side by side, and the language can be indicated with lang="xx". Following the last side-by-side block, {{Clear|left}} must be used to cancel "float:left;" and to re-establish normal flow. Note that this method does not require a table and its columns to achieve the side-by-side presentation.

Markup

<poem lang="fr" style="float:left;">Frere Jacques, frere Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.poem>
<poem style="margin-left:2em; float:left;">Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John,
Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.poem>{{Clear|left}}

Renders as

Frere Jacques, frere Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John,
Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

Format

Text formatting

Description What you type What it looks like

italics, bold, small capital letters

To ''italicize text'', put two consecutive apostrophes on each side of it. Note that these must be "straight" apostrophes; "curly" apostrophes (' and ') will not work.

Three apostrophes each side will '''bold the text'''.

Five consecutive apostrophes on each side (two for italics plus three for bold) produces '''''bold italics'''''.

'''''Italic and bold formatting''''' works correctly only within a single line.

For text as {{smallcaps|small caps}}, use the template {{tl|smallcaps}}.

To italicize text, put two consecutive apostrophes on each side of it.

Three apostrophes each side will bold the text.

Five consecutive apostrophes on each side (two for italics plus three for bold) produces bold italics.

Italic and bold formatting works correctly only within a single line.

To reverse this effect where it has been automatically applied, use {{nobold}} and {{noitalic}}.

For text as small caps, use the template {{smallcaps}}.

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, in C++.

See here for a full list of supported languages that can be put in lang="????"


#include
int m2 (int ax, char *p_ax) {
std::cout <<"Hello World!";
return 0;
}
#include
int m2 (int ax, char *p_ax) {
std::cout <<"Hello World!";
return 0;
}

Small text

Use <small>small textsmall> only
when necessary.

Use small text only when necessary.

a span

To match, for example, the font-size used in an [[Help:Visual file markup#Caption|image caption]], the "small" tag can also be used to
<small style="font-size:87%;">reduce a text's font-size to 87%small>.

To match, for example, the font-size used in an image caption, the "small" tag can also be used to reduce a text's font-size to 87%.

Big text

Better not use <big>big textbig>, unless <small>it's <big>withinbig> smallsmall> text.

Better not use big text, unless it's within small text.

To prevent two words from becoming separated by a linewrap (e.g. Mr. Smith or 400 km/h) a non-breaking space, sometimes also called a "non-printing character", may be used between them. (For three or more words, the template {{nowrap}} is probably more suitable.)

Mr. Smith or 400 km/h

Mr. Smith or 400 km/h

Extra spacing within text is usually best achieved using the {{pad}} template.

Mary {{pad|4.0em}} had a little lamb.

Mary had a little lamb.

Special characters

Special characters can often be displayed using numeric character references or character entity references. See Character encodings in HTML for more information. For example, À and À both render A (A-grave). Percent-encoding can't be used, as it works only in URLs.

Diacritical marks

Diacritic marks, using character entity references.

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

A A A A A A AE

C E E E E

I I I I N

O O O O O O OE

U U U U Y ss

a a a a a a ae c

e e e e

i i i i n

o o o o o o oe

u u u u y

Punctuation special characters

Using character entity references.

What you type What it looks like
¿ ¡ § ¶ ? ! SS P
† ‡ • – — + ++ * - --
‹ › « » < > << >>
‘ ’ “ ” ' ' " "
' " ' "

Escaping punctuation characters

The 

, , and  markup tags are also available, for writing "[", "{", "&", "}", "]" for example. These tags prevent these characters from being recognised as wiki markup, which is a possibility in some circumstances.



Commercial symbols


Using character entity references.






What you type

What it looks like




™ © ® 

(tm) (c) (r)




¢ € ¥ £ ¤

C/ EUR Y= PS $?



Greek characters


Using character entity references.






What you type

What it looks like




α β γ δ ε ζ 

a b g d e z




Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ

A B G D E Z




η θ ι κ λ μ ν

e th i k l m n




Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν 

E Th I K L M N




ξ ο π ρ σ ς

x o p r s s




Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ 

Ks O P R S




τ υ φ χ ψ ω

t u ph kh ps o




Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω 

T U Ph Kh Ps O



Egyptian hieroglyphs



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

Example:








Markup
Renders as 





P2





 
 
 






Subscripts and superscripts


  • The Manual of Style prefers the  and  formats, for example x1. So this should be used under most circumstances.
    • 

  • The latter methods of sub/superscripting cannot be used in the most general context, as they rely on Unicode support that may not be present on all users' machines.





Description

What you type

What it looks like






Subscripts





x<sub>1sub> x<sub>2sub> x<sub>3sub> or

x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄

x₅ x₆ x₇ x₈ x₉




x1 x2 x3 or

x0 x1 x2 x3 x4

x5 x6 x7 x8 x9








Superscripts





x<sup>1sup> x<sup>2sup> x<sup>3sup> or

x⁰ x¹ x² x³ x⁴

x⁵ x⁶ x⁷ x⁸ x⁹




x1 x2 x3 or

x0 x1 x2 x3 x4

x5 x6 x7 x8 x9








Combined





ε<sub>0sub> = 8.85 × 10<sup>−12sup> C² / J m

1 [[hectare]] = 1 E+4 m²




e0 = 8.85 x 10-12 C2 / J m

1 hectare = 1 E+4 m2





Characters in the Private Use Area, and invisible formatting characters



Invisible and PUA (Private Use Areas) characters should be avoided where possible. When needed, they should both be replaced with their (hexa)decimal code values (as "&#(x)...;"). This renders invisible characters visible, for manual editing, and allows AWB to process pages with PUA characters. The latter should also be tagged with the {{PUA}} template for tracking and future maintenance.



Mathematical characters and formulae


Mathematical characters






What you type

What it looks like




∫ ∑ ∏ √
 




− ± ∞
- +- 




≈ ∝ ≡ ≠
 




≤ ≥
<= >=




× · ÷ ∂
x * / 




′ ″
' ''




∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ
 %0 deg 




ø
o




∈ ∉ ∩ ∪
 




⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇
 




¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀
! 




⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔
= = | | =




→ ← ↓ ↑ ↔
- - | | -



Mathematical formulae



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


  • The  tag typesets using LaTeX markup,[b] which may render as an image or as HTML, depending on environmental settings. The  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. As all templates are sensitive to the = sign, remember to either replace = with {{=}} in template input or start the input with 1=. Use wiki markup '' 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 





2x \times 4y \div 6z + 8 - \frac {y}{z^2} = 0

{{math|2''x'' × 4''y'' ÷ 6''z'' + 8 − {{sfrac|''y''|''z''<sup>2sup>}} {{=}} 0}}

\sin 2\pi x + \ln e
{{math|sin 2&pi;''x'' + ln ''e''}}






 
 
 
 2
 x
 x
 4
 y
 /
 6
 z
 +
 8
 -
 
 
 y
 
 z
 
 2
 
 
 
 
 =
 0
 
 
 {\displaystyle 2x\times 4y\div 6z+8-{\frac {y}{z^{2}}}=0}
 




2x x 4y / 6z + 8 - y/z2 = 0


 
 
 
 sin
 
 2
 p
 x
 +
 ln
 
 e
 
 
 {\displaystyle \sin 2\pi x+\ln e}
 


sin 2px + 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 
     if you need an explicit line break inside a formula.







Markup
Renders as 





It follows that {{math|''x''<sup>2sup> ≥ 0}} for real {{mvar|x}}.





It follows that x2 >= 0 for real x.







Complicated formulae








Markup
Renders as 





\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}








 
 
 
 
 
 
 n
 =
 0
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 x
 
 n
 
 
 
 n
 !
 
 
 
 
 
 {\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {x^{n}}{n!}}}
 








Indenting by using the colon (:) character (i.e. using :<math>math> instead of <math display=block>math>) is discouraged for accessibility reasons.





Main page: Help:Link




Wikilinks are used in wikitext markup to produce internal links between pages. You create wikilinks 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 page: "[[Help:Wikitext]]" will appear only as bold text.





Link to this page: "Help:Wikitext" will appear only as bold text.









  • 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.







  • 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|]]







  • 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  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.




A [[micro-]]second

A micro-second






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.








{{Section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics}}, does the same, but nicer.





Wikipedia:Manual of Style SS Italics using a template, does the same, but nicer.








[[#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 a new page


  • To create a new page:

    1. Edit any page.
      2. 

    2. Enter a redlink wikilink: [[page name]].
      3. 

    3. Preview or save.
      4. 

    4. Activate 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 link to your new article 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.





Create an alias for a page


Main page: Help:Redirect


  • Create an alias for any page by creating a Redirect from one  page name to another.
    • 

  • First create a new page whose page name is the name of the alias. That is the redirect.
    • 

  • On the first line of the new redirect page, use the syntax shown in the table below. For example, US is a redirect.
    • 

  • 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.





Description

What you type






Redirect to an article





#REDIRECT [[United States]]








Redirect to a section





#REDIRECT [[United States#History]]







  • The full page name should be included in double square brackets.





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)



After the launch of Wikidata, interlanguage links are now added through it. Links in articles should exist only in special cases, for example when an article in one language has two articles in another language.


  • 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".






Description

What you type






Link from English article "Plankton" to the Spanish article "Plancton".

"es" is the language code for "espanol" (the Spanish language).





[[es:Plancton]]







Other examples: French (fr for francais), German (de for Deutsch), Russian (ru), and simple English (simple).





[[fr:Plancton]]
[[de:Plankton]]
[[ru:Plankton]]
[[simple:Plankton]]










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 https://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 https://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







  • Single-square brackets indicate an external link. Note the use of a space (not a pipe |) to separate the URL from the link text in a named link. Square brackets may be used as normal punctuation when not linking to anything - [like this].
    • 

  • A URL must begin with a supported URI scheme: https:// (preferably) and http:// 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 percent 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
%27
%2c
%3b
%3c
%3e
%3f
%5b
%5d



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






Description

What you type

What it looks like






Named link with an external link icon





[https://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]





Wikipedia








Unnamed link

This should not be used in articles except in certain lists.





[https://www.wikipedia.org]





[1]








Bare URL

(Bad style)

use  to keep this bad style from showing





https://www.wikipedia.org





https://www.wikipedia.org








Link without arrow

(Not often used)





<span class="plainlinks">[https://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]span>





 Wikipedia





Miscellaneous




  • 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







  • These create links that directly go to the edit or view source tab. For example, to create links to the edit tab for this page, either of the following works:





Description

What you type

What it looks like






Using the {{fullurl}} template





[{{fullurl:Help:Wiki markup|action=edit}} edit]





edit








Using the {{Edit}} template





{{edit}}





edit







  • Linking to a page with a title containing words that are usually italicized, such as the Hindenburg disaster article.





What you type

What it looks like






[[Hindenburg disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster]]





Hindenburg disaster





Musical notation


Main page: Help:Score


Musical notation is added by using the <score>... extension HTML-like 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 or Wikimedia Commons can be used. To upload images, use the Commons upload wizard for photos you have taken, and the Wikipedia upload page if there may be copyright issues. You can find the uploaded image on the image list.

See the Wikipedia's image use policy for the policy used on Wikipedia.

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







What you type

What it looks like

Notes





The image name, the word thumb, and then the caption:
[[File:wiki.png|thumb|Wikipedia logo]]


The image name, the word thumb, and then the caption:

Wikipedia logo
 




  • The thumb tag automatically allows the image to be enlarged and positions it (floats) automatically to the right of the page.
    • 

  • An enlarge icon is placed in the lower right corner.
    • 

  • See note below about adding an alt tag
    • 

  • This is the basic markup for most images






A picture: [[File:wiki.png]]


A picture: 



  • The picture name alone places the image in the text, or on the next line if there is insufficient space.
    • 

  • Embedding the image in the text is only possible for very small images.
    • 

  • Embedding the image will affect the vertical formatting of text.






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 the Wikipedia page, Wikipedia, instead of the image file page.






Forced to the centre of the page
using the ''frame'' tag (attribute), a ''centre'' tag and a caption:
[[File:wiki.png|frame|centre|alt=Puzzle globe|Wikipedia logo]]


Forced to the centre of the page using the frame tag (attribute), a centre tag and a caption:

Wikipedia logo
 




  • The frame tag automatically floats the image right.
    • 

  • The frame tag is only of use with very small images or ones using the px tag
    • 

  • The attributes left, center or centre override this, and places the image to the left or the centre of the page.
    • 

  • The last parameter is the caption that appears below the image.






Forced to the left side of the page
using the ''thumb'' attribute, the ''left'' attribute and a caption:
[[File:wiki.png|thumb|left|alt=Puzzle globe|Wikipedia logo]]


Forced to the left side of the page using the thumb attribute, the left attribute and a caption:

Wikipedia logo
 




  • The thumb tag automatically floats the image right.
    • 

  • An enlarge icon is placed in the lower right corner.
    • 

  • The attributes left, center or centre override this, and places the image to the left or the centre of the page.






Forced to the right side of the page
''without'' a caption:
[[File:wiki.png|right|Wikipedia encyclopedia]]


Forced to the right side of the page without a caption:

Wikipedia encyclopedia




  • Captions are only displayed when the thumb or frame attributes are present
    • 

  • The picture tutorial explains more options.






A picture resized to 50 pixels...
[[File:wiki.png|50 px|Wikipedia encyclopedia]]


A picture resized to 50 pixels width...







  • The picture tutorial explains more options.
    • 

  • Sizing in pixels is deprecated and should be used very sparingly.
    • 

  • There is an upright parameter that should be used instead. These tags are optimised for both laptop and mobile phone screens.






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;">
[[File:wiki.png|50 px|Wikipedia encyclopedia]][[File:wiki.png|50 px]] div>




Example:




 




  • Using the span or div elements to separate images from text (note that this may allow images to cover text).







Example:

{| style="text-align: right;"
|-
|
[[File:wiki.png|50 px]]
|-
|
[[File:wiki.png|50 px]]
|-
|
[[File:wiki.png|50 px]]
|}




Example:



































  • 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).




Tables


Main page: Help:Table



There are two ways to build tables: