Help:Editing

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MediaWiki Handbook: Contents | Handbook guidelines | Editorial policy | Other help

Software help for MediaWiki — Readers, Editors, Moderators, Admins, Hackers +/-

Edit editor toc view this alone

Editing overview

Starting a new page

Page name

Referencing

Formatting

Organizing

Fixing mistakes and vandalism

Saving effort

Communicating

Special characters

Extensions

WikiHiero syntax — warning: lots of images! (for Egyptian hieroglyphs)
EasyTimeline syntax

Frequently Asked Questions

This Editing Overview is meant as a quick reference, with some "getting started" help. It has a lot of wikitext examples. You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference while you edit. Each of the topics covered here is covered somewhere else in more detail. Please look in the box on the right for the topic you are interested in.

Editing Basics

Start editing: To start editing a MediaWiki page, click on the "Edit this page" (or just "edit") link at one of its edges. This will bring you to the edit page: a page with a text box containing the wikitext: the editable source code from which the server produces the webpage. If you just want to experiment, please do so in the sandbox, not here.

Summarize your changes: You should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, as described in the legend.

Preview before saving: When you have finished, press preview to see how your changes will look -- before you make them permanent. Repeat the edit/preview process until you are satisfied, then click "Save" and your changes will be immediately applied to the article.

Wikitext markup -- making your page look the way you want

This is page Help:Wiki markup examples, transcluded in Help:Editing.

If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the IdefixWiki:Sandbox.
More information on HTML tags in wikitext

Organizing your writing -- sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

What it looks like	What you type
Sections and subsections Start sections with header lines Note: Single equal signs give the highest level heading, like the page title; usually projects have the convention not to use them. New section Subsection Sub-subsection	== New section == === Subsection === ==== Sub-subsection ====
Newline A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part. (<p> disables this paragraphing until </p> or the end of the section) (in Cologne Blue two newlines and a div tag give just one newline; in the order newline, div tag, newline, the result is two newlines) You can make the wikitext more readable by putting in newlines. You might find this causes future problems -- see w:Wikipedia:Don't use line breaks for details.	A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
You can break lines without starting a new paragraph. (The HTML tag <br> is sufficient. The system produces the XHTML code <br />.)	You can break lines<br> without starting a new paragraph.
Unordered Lists are easy to do: start every line with a star more stars means deeper levels A newline in a list marks the end of the list. Of course you can start again.	* Unordered Lists are easy to do: start every line with a star * more stars means deeper levels A newline in a list marks the end of the list. Of course you can *start again.
Numbered lists are also good very organized easy to follow A newline in a list marks the end of the list. New numbering starts with 1.	# Numbered lists are also good ## very organized ## easy to follow #A newline #in a list marks the end of the list. #New numbering starts #with 1.
You can even do mixed lists and nest them or break lines in lists	* You can even do mixed lists # and nest them #* or break lines<br>in lists
Definition list word definition of the word longer phrase phrase defined	; word : definition of the word ; longer phrase : phrase defined
indenting A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph. This is often used for discussion on Talk pages.	: A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
Centered text.	<center>Centered text.</center>
A horizontal dividing line: above and below. If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry.	A horizontal dividing line: above ---- and below.

Links, URLs

More information at Help:Link

Internal links

General notes:

Enclose the target name in double square brackets -- "[[" and "]]"
First letter of target name is automatically capitalized
Spaces are represented as underscores (but don't do underscores yourself)
Links to nonexistent pages are shown in red -- Help:Starting a new page tells about creating the page.
When the mouse cursor "hovers" over the link, you see a "hover box" containing...

What it looks like	What you type
Basic Sue is reading the official position (or Official positions).	Sue is reading the [[official position]] (or [[Official position]]s).
Interwiki linking A link to the page on another wiki (e.g. the same subject in another language) For more info see m:Help:Interwiki linking. fr:Wikipédia:Aide.	For more info see [[m:Help:Interwiki linking]]. [[:fr:Wikipédia:Aide]].
Section of page List of cities by country#Morocco. List of cities by country#Sealand. If the section doesn't exist, the link goes to the top of the page. If there are multiple sections by the same name, link to specific ones by adding how many times that header has alreay appeared (e.g. if there are 3 sections entitled "Example header," and you wish to link to the third one, then use [[#Example section 3]]. For more info, see Help:Editing FAQ.	[[List of cities by country#Morocco]]. [[List of cities by country#Sealand]].
Piped link Use a pipe "\|" to create a link label: About Links Cities in Morocco	[[Help:Link\|About Links]] [[List of cities by country#Morocco\| Cities in Morocco]]
"blank" pipes hide: Words in parentheses: kingdom. Namespace: Requests for adminship. After you save, the server automatically fills in the link label.	In parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)\|]]. Namespace: [[Meta:Requests for adminship\|]].
Links to nonexistent pages The weather in London is a page that doesn't exist yet. You can create it by clicking on the link. Have a look at how to start a page guide and the naming conventions page for your project.	[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist yet.
Link to yourself You should "sign" your comments on talk pages: Your user name: Karl Wick Or your user name plus date/time: Karl Wick 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC) The server will fill in the link after you save.	You should "sign" your comments on talk pages: : Your user name: ~~~ : Or your user name plus date/time: ~~~~
Redirects one article title to another with this special link.	#REDIRECT [[United States]]
"Magic" links ISBN links to books: ISBN 0123456789X (See Help:ISBN links RFC links to Requests for Comments: RFC 123 (See mediawiki:Rfcurl)	ISBN 0123456789X RFC 123
Media links To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. Sound	[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg\|Sound]]
Links to Categories To include links to a Category page. Category:English documentation	[[:Category:English documentation]]
Dates Use links for dates, so everyone can set their own display order. Use Special:Preferences to change your own date display setting.	[[July 20]], [[1969]] , [[20 July]] [[1969]] and [[1969]]-[[07-20]] will all appear as 20 July-1969 if you set your date display preference to 1 January 2001.
Special pages "What links here" and "Recent changes" can be linked as: Special:Whatlinkshere/Help:Editing and Special:Recentchangeslinked/Help:Editing	[[Special:Whatlinkshere/ Help:Editing]] and [[Special:Recentchangeslinked/ Help:Editing]]

External links

Nupedia, [1]	[http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia], [http://www.nupedia.com]
Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com. In the URL all symbols must be among: A-Z a-z 0-9 ._\/~%- &#?!=()@ \x80-\xFF. If a URL contains a different character it should be converted; for example, ^ has to be written ^ (to be looked up in ASCII). A blank space can also be converted into an underscore.	Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com.

Images, video, and sounds

What it looks like

What you type

In-line picture: Image:Wiki.png

For many projects, only images that have been uploaded to the same project or the Commons can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list

A picture: [[Image:Wiki.png]]

or, with alternative text (strongly encouraged) vbgf

[[Image:Wiki.png|
Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia]]

Web browsers render alternative text when not displaying an image -- for example, when the image isn't loaded, or in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud. See Alternative text for images for help on choosing alternative text. See Extended image syntax for more options. There is more information on resizing and other formatting tricks.

Other ways of linking to pictures

The Image page: Image:Wiki.png
A link to just the picture: Wikipedia

[[:Image:Wiki.png]]
[[media:Wiki.png|Wikipedia]]

Other Media Links -- Video and Sounds

Use a "media" link: Sound
There is More information on other media types.

[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]]

Media:Example.ogg

Text formatting -- controlling how it looks

What it looks like	What you type
Emphasize (italics), strongly (bold), very strongly (bold italics). (These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.)	''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
You can also write italic and bold. This is useful in mathematical formulas where you need specific font styles rather than emphasis. F = ma (The difference between these two methods is not very important for graphical browsers, so most people ignore it). But it may make a big difference for the visually impaired ;-)	You can also write <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b>. This is useful in mathematical formulas where you need specific font styles rather than emphasis. :<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>
You can also write in small caps. If the wiki has the templates, this can be much simpler to write.	You can also write <span style="font-variant:small-caps"> in small caps</span>. If the wiki has the templates, this can {{bsm}}be much simpler to write{{esm}}.
A typewriter font, sometimes used for `technical terms`.	A typewriter font, sometimes used for <tt>technical terms</tt>.
You can use small text for captions.	You can use <small>small text</small> for captions.
You can ~~strike out deleted material~~ and underline new material.	You can <strike>strike out deleted material</strike> and <u>underline new material</u>.
Subscript: x₂ Superscript: x² or x² Most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with ² than with <sup>2</sup> ε₀ = 8.85 × 10⁻¹² C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m²	Subscript: x<sub>2</sub> Superscript: x<sup>2</sup> or x² ε<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 × 10<sup>−12</sup> C² / J m. 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m&sup2]]

Spacing things out -- spaces and tables

Using non-breaking spaces

x² ≥ 0 true.

<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ge;
&nbsp;&nbsp;0 true.

Using Wikitext piped tables

x²		≥0	true.
a		b

See templates Template:hs1, Template:hs, and Template:vs for more examples

{||-
|<i>x</i><sup>2</sup> 
| width=20px | || width=20px | ≥0 || true.
|-
| a || || b
|}

See Help:Table for more information

Just show what I typed

<nowiki> and <pre> tags can tell the server and the browser to display things as you typed them.

leading space

interpret special characters
interpret special wiki markup
don't reformat text

arrow → italicslink </pre> </td> <td valign="bottom">

 arrow      &rarr;

 ''italics''
 [[link]]

</td> </tr>

preformatted text

IF a line of plain text starts with a space
 it will be formatted exactly
   as typed
 in a fixed-width font
 lines won't wrap
ENDIF
this is useful for:
 * pasting preformatted text;
 * algorithm descriptions;
 * program source code
 * ASCII art;
 * chemical structures;

WARNING If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide and hence less readable. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.

(see also below)

</td>

<td>

 IF a line of plain text starts with a space
  it will be formatted exactly
    as typed
  in a fixed-width font
  lines won't wrap
 ENDIF
 this is useful for:
  * pasting preformatted text;
  * algorithm descriptions;
  * program source code
  * ASCII art;
  * chemical structures;

</td>

</tr>

typewriter font

arrow →

italics link

</td> <td valign="bottom">

<tt>arrow      &rarr;</tt>

<tt>''italics''</tt>
<tt>[[link]]</tt>

</td> </tr>

Show special character codes

→ </td> <td valign="bottom">

&amp;rarr;

</td> </tr>

Comments

The text between here and here won't be displayed </td> <td>

The text between '''here'''
<!-- comment here -->
'''and here''' won't be displayed

</td> </tr> </table>

Complicated mathematical formulae

Example

arrow →

italics link

arrow      &rarr;

''italics''
[[link]]

<nowiki>

interpret special characters
don't interpret special wiki markup
reformat text (removing newlines and multiple spaces)

arrow → ''italics'' [[link]]

<nowiki>
arrow      &rarr;

''italics''
[[link]]
</nowiki>

<pre>

interpret special characters
don't interpret special wiki markup
don't reformat text

arrow      →

''italics''
[[link]]

<nowiki><pre>arrow      &rarr;

''italics''
[[link]]

</nowiki></pre>

<math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>

See Formula or TeX markup
A useful resource for understanding TeX can be found at the TeX User's Group.

<math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>

Special characters

Umlauts and accents: (See Help:Special characters) 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 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	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 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 &oelig; õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ
Punctuation: ¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • - – — ¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • - – —	¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • - – — ¿ ¡ « » § ¶ &dagger; &Dagger; • - – —
Commercial symbols: ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤ ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤	™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤ ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤
Greek characters: 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 Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ 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 Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ 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 Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ &sigmaf; τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω
Math characters: ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ø ∈ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ ↑ ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ø ∈ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ ↑ Problem symbols: ℵ ∉ ℵ ∉	∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ø ∈ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ ↑ ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ &prop; &equiv; ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ &permil; ° &there4; ø ∈ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ &sube; &supe; ¬ &and; &or; ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ ↑ Problem symbols: ℵ ∉ ∉ &alefsym;

Including another page -- transclusion and templates

Changing a transcluded file will change every file that transcludes it.

transclusion: Including the contents of another page into the current page.

Transclusion Demo

{{:Transclusion Demo}}

template

A special kind of page designed for transclusion. These pages are found in the Template: namespace Templates can even take parameters. When you edit a page, all the templates used on the page are listed below the edit box.

This is underlined

{{Title|hovertext|This is underlined}}

Tips and tricks

Hover box

When you point your cursor at a link or Image:MusicBrainz Album Icon.png you will see a hover box containing some text about it.

A hover box without a link is possible: inch gives inch. With Template:Title containing "{{{2}}}" one can use {{title|2.54 cm|inch}}.

Combined with a link, with an independent hover box text: inch *

Since it depends on the browser whether the hover box appears, it should only be used for non-essential information, for example information one can also find by following the link.

Some browsers show the hover box only a number of seconds. Even though it reappears when the cursor is moved away and back, this makes the hover box unsuitable for long or complicated text. Example: this is too long.

Details of what the browser shows may vary, e.g. "Title:" in front, indentation, code like "" being shown, with or without newline, etc.

Page protection

In a few cases the link labeled "Edit this page" is replaced by the text "View source" (or equivalents in the language of the project). In that case the page cannot be edited. Protection of an image page is automatically also protection of the image itself.

Separating edits

When moving or copying a piece of text within a page or from another page, and also making other edits, it is useful to separate these edits. This way the diff function can be usefully applied for checking these other edits.

Error message

If, due to server problems, a save command results in an error message, either the saving has failed, or just the confirmation. Check e.g. My Contributions to find out.

Checking spelling and editing in your favorite editor

You may find it more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check it there, and then paste it back into your web browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you have edited. It also allows you to make changes offline, but before you submit your changes, please make sure nobody else has edited the page since you saved your local copy (by checking the page history), otherwise you may accidently revert someone else's edits. If someone has edited it since you copied the page, you'll have to merge their edits into your new version (you can find their specific edits by using the "diff" feature of the page history). These issues are handled automatically by the MediaWiki software if you edit the page in your web browser.

Additionally, if you use Mozilla or Firefox, you may install the Spellbound extension which uses its built-in spellchecker to check spelling on your mediawiki Edit text box.

Differences

For a redirect page the preview and the rendered page may show the contents differently: the latter shows the canonical form of the target, while the preview renders the link in the usual way, compare [2] with the preview of [3].

Composition of the edit page

edit toolbar (optional)
edit box
edit summary box
save/preview/cancel links
list of templates used
preview (optionally either on every edit page or just after pressing "Show preview"; optionally the first item)

Position-independent wikitext

No matter where you put these things on the wikitext page, the resulting display page comes out the same:

Interlanguage links (see also above) - the mutual order is preserved, but otherwise the positions within the page are immaterial
Category specification - ditto
__NOTOC__, __FORCETOC__, see Help:Section

Minor edits, dummy edits and Null edits

minor edit: A logged-in user can mark an edit as "minor". Minor edits generally mean spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearrangement of text. Users may choose to hide minor edits when viewing Recent Changes. Marking a significant change as a minor edit is considered bad Wikiquette behavior. If one has accidentally marked an edit as minor, one should create a dummy edit, verify that the "[ ]This is a minor edit" check-box is unchecked, and state in the edit summary that the previous change was not minor or other brief explanation.

External links

Special characters in HTML

Help contents - all pages in the Help namespace: Meta b: c: n: w: q: wikisource wiktionary

Edit this footer for English help pages

Languages: Template:H-langs:Editing

Help:Editing

From IdefixWiki

Contents

Editing Basics

Wikitext markup -- making your page look the way you want

Organizing your writing -- sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

Links, URLs

Internal links

External links

Images, video, and sounds

Text formatting -- controlling how it looks

Spacing things out -- spaces and tables

Just show what I typed

Complicated mathematical formulae

Special characters

Including another page -- transclusion and templates

Tips and tricks

Hover box

Page protection

Separating edits

Error message

Checking spelling and editing in your favorite editor

Differences

Composition of the edit page

Position-independent wikitext

Minor edits, dummy edits and Null edits

See also

External links

Views

Personal tools

Navigation

Search

Toolbox