Help:Advanced editing

Note: When you edit this page, you agree to release your contribution under the CC0. See Public Domain Help Pages for more info.

Wikitext markup guide – crafting your page's appearance

See also: Help:Formatting and Help:Categories

Help:Editing covers the basics.

• You can experiment using the Sandbox.
• Details on wikitext's HTML tags .

Use the following Wikitext markup to tailor the appearance of your page.

Arranging your words – lines, lists, paragraphs, and sections

Rendering	Wikitext
Drafting sections and subsections Begin a section with a header line The top-level heading like the page title is indicated by a single equal (=) sign. A section A sub-section Another sub-subsection Avoid using first-level headings (=); rather, begin with a second-level heading (==). Avoid jumping levels; for example, don't go from second to fourth level. If an article has four or more parts, a table of contents will be generated automatically. Sort the subsections in an appropriate order. When listing countries, for instance, sort them alphabetically as opposed to, say, according to their respective populations inside the OECD or in any other haphazardous order. Use HTML heading tags and close headings without slashes, if you wish to keep them out of the TOC. For example: <h4>Subsection with heading too low level to be in the TOC<h4>	== A section == === A sub-section === ==== Another sub-subsection ====
Newline Adding a new line has no effect. This is a line. This is still part of the same paragraph. An empty line starts a new paragraph or ends a list or indented part. The ‎<p> tag can disable a paragraph until ‎</p> or the end of the section. This is a paragraph. This is a continuation of the paragraph. But it appears after an empty line due to the ‎<p> and ‎</p> tags. This is a line. This is another line appearing as a second new paragraph instead of a third paragraph due to the ‎<div> and ‎</div> tags. In a list, a newline is used to separate individual items and subitems, enhancing the visual structure and readability of the list content in MediaWiki syntax. See Help:List for examples.	This is a line. This is still part of the same paragraph. This is a paragraph.<p>This is a continuation of the paragraph. But it appears after an empty line due to the &lt;p> and &lt;/p> tags.</p> This is a line.<div>This is another line appearing as a second new paragraph instead of a third paragraph due to the &lt;div> and &lt;/div> tags.</div>
Lines can be broken without beginning another paragraph. Kindly don't overuse this. Don't begin a link , italics or bold on one line and end it on the next; instead, close markup per line.	Lines can be broken <br/> without beginning another paragraph.
Unordered Lists Start a line with asterisks (*) to create the first item in an unordered list. Use two asterisks for a sub-item. Increase the number of asterisks for deeper levels. Each line break signifies a new item in the list. A line starting without a star marks the end of the list. You can start over with a new list Now you are ready to create well-structured unordered lists.	* Start a line with asterisks (<code>*</code>) to create the first item in an unordered list. ** Use two asterisks for a sub-item. *** Increase the number of asterisks for deeper levels. * Each line break signifies a new item in the list. A line starting without a star marks the end of the list. * You can start over with a new list Now you are ready to create well-structured unordered lists.
Ordered Lists Use a hashtag (#) at the beginning of each line to signify the order. Use two hashtags (##) for a sub-item. Continue numbering to maintain the sequence and logical flow of information. Add a new line between each item for improved readability. A line starting without a hashtag marks the end of the list. An ordered list starts with 1. Then 2, etc.	# Use a hashtag (<code>#</code>) at the beginning of each line to signify the order. ## Use two hashtags (<code>##</code>) for a sub-item. ## Continue numbering to maintain the sequence and logical flow of information. # Add a new line between each item for improved readability. A line starting without a hashtag marks the end of the list. # An ordered list starts with 1. # Then 2, etc.
Mixed Lists This mixed list begins with an unordered list (*). To create a subitem of an ordered list under an unordered list use an asterisk and a hashtag (*#). To create a deeper sub-item of an unordered list within an ordered list, add another asterisk (*#*). You can also break lines in a list.	* This mixed list begins with an unordered list (<code>*</code>). *# To create a subitem of an ordered list under an unordered list use an asterisk and a hashtag (<code>*#</code>). *#* To create a deeper sub-item of an unordered list within an ordered list, add another asterisk (<code>*#*</code>). *#* You can also break <br/> lines in a list.
Definition Lists A definition list consists of a series of term-definition pairs. Use a semicolon (;) to indicate the start of a term. Place the term immediately after the semicolon. Use a colon (:) to introduce the definition associated with the term. Place the definition on the line following the colon. Wiki A wiki (/ˈwɪki/ ⓘ WI-kee) is a form of online hypertext publication that is collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience directly through a web browser. See w:Wiki. Web Browser A web browser is an application for accessing websites. See w:Web browser Signifying one item per line is most suitable, rather than adding a new line before the colon (:).	; Wiki : A wiki (/ˈwɪki/ ⓘ WI-kee) is a form of online hypertext publication that is collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience directly through a web browser. See [[w:Wiki]]. ; Web Browser : A web browser is an application for accessing websites. See [[w:Web browser]]
Indentation A paragraph is indented when a colon (:) is specified at the beginning of a line, as explained in Definition Lists . An indented line. A new line starts a new non-indented paragraph. This is frequently utilized for discussing on talk pages .	: An indented line. A new line starts a new non-indented paragraph.
A blockquote A blockquote style is used to highlight a specific section of text from an external source or to distinguish it from the surrounding content. This is a blockquote. It is used to highlight quoted text or separate specific content.	<blockquote> This is a blockquote. It is used to highlight quoted text or separate specific content. </blockquote>
Horizontal dividing line The horizontal dividing line on a wiki page is represented by four or more consecutive hyphens (----), enhancing visual organization between sections. Text above Text below	Text above ---- Text below

Links

For more details, see Help:Links .

General information:

• Place double square brackets around the target name – [[ and ]]
• On a new page, the target name's first letter is automatically capitalized after clicking on it.
• Underscores are used to represent spaces. Avoid using underscores.
• When you hover over a link, it shows a preview of the linked page without you needing to click on it.

Rendering	Wikitext
Basics You are reading the Documentation .	You are reading the {{ll|documentation}}.
Basics + Text formatting Links can be italicized e.g.: MediaWiki	''[[MediaWiki]]''
Interwiki links These link to another wiki that covers related or similar topics. This interwiki link points to w:Documentation on Wikipedia. Its Esperanto word equivalent is eo:Dokumentaro.	This interwiki link points to [[w:Documentation]] on Wikipedia. Its Esperanto word equivalent is [[:eo:Dokumentaro]].
Links to sections You can link to a specific section of an existing page by adding a pound (#) and section title after specifying the page name. Help:Special pages#Editing Special namespace pages If no such section exists then the link points to the beginning of the page. If a page has multiple sections with the same name, specifying the rank of the section with a number at the end. (e.g., if there are three sections titled "Section title" and you want to link to the third, use [[#Section title 3]]). See Help:Editing FAQ .	[[Help:Special pages#Editing Special namespace pages|Help:Special pages]]
Piped links Create a link label using a pipe symbol (|): About links The above produces About links, linked to the article Help:Link.	* [[Help:Link|About links]]
blank link label Using a blank link label will automatically fill in an appropriate link label. I.e. [[Kingdom (biology)|]] will be replaced with [[Kingdom (biology)|Kingdom]] Parentheses: kingdom. Colon: Pipe.	* Parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|]]. * Colon: [[Help:Pipe|]].
Links to pages that don't exist A link to a page which does not exist (like this one) is colored in red. To create the page, you can click on the link. See Help:Starting a new page (and the naming conventions of your project, if there are).	A link to a page which does not exist (like [[Foo|this one]]) is colored in red.
Redirects You can create a redirect by adding the wikitext at the beginning of the page. See Help:Redirect . #REDIRECT [[United States of America]]	#REDIRECT [[United States of America]]
Magic links Magic links enable users to generate links automatically by typing specific keywords. ISBN book links: ISBN 0131103629 (see Help:Magic links ) Request for Comments links: RFC 234 (see rfcurl ) ISBN 0131103629 RFC 234 These are deprecated and generally should not be used.	* ISBN 0131103629 * RFC 234
Media: links Media links are used to reference a page containing media files. They are accessed through the Media namespace. Audio	[[media:Test.ogg|Audio]]
Category links Category links direct users to a specific category page (without categorizing the page into that category). To achieve this, a syntax similar to that of links is used, but with a colon (:) added before the namespace. Category:Documentation	[[:Category:Documentation]]
Special pages Special pages are created by the wiki software. They are accessed through the Special namespace. You can create links to special pages like "What links here" using the following format: Special:Whatlinkshere/Help:Editing See Help:Special pages for other special pages.	[[Special:Whatlinkshere/Help:Editing]]
Links to previous revisions of a page, differences (diffs), and particular history pages To link to an old revision, diff, or particular history pages, avoid using the standard wiki-link syntax like [[page]]. Instead, utilize the external link function or copy and paste the provided URLs directly. Linking to previous revisions of a page To share an old page version of a wiki, copy the URL from the page's history and paste it where you want to share it. https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Cite&oldid=6364084 You can also use Special:PermaLink to do this, i.e Special:PermaLink/6364084 Linking to Diffs: To link to page differences between two revisions, copy and paste the specific URL of the page containing the diff of the compared pages. https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help%3ACite&diff=6364333&oldid=6364084 You can also use Special:Diff to do this, i.e Special:Diff/6364333/6364084 Linking to a Specific Page from Edit History Navigate to the edit history and select the "(older)" or "(earliest)" buttons to reach a particular page history, then copy the URL and paste it where you want to share it. https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Cite&action=history&offset=20170210105218%7C2391706&limit=100	https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Cite&oldid=6364084 https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help%3ACite&diff=6364333&oldid=6364084 https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Cite&action=history&offset=20170210105218%7C2391706&limit=100

External links

External links do not open in a new browser window/tab in MediaWiki's default configuration.

Google, [1]	[http://www.google.com Google], [http://www.google.com]
Example of an email, [2]	[mailto:email@example.com Example of an email], [mailto:email@example.com]
Or just provide http://www.google.com as the URL. Every symbol in the UTF-8 code. For example: ^ → %5e ā (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH MACRON) → %c4%81 You can also turn a blank space into an underscore.	Or just provide http://www.google.com as the URL.

Formatting texts – customizing the way it looks

Rendering	Wikitext
Emphasize (italics), strongly (bold), very strongly (bold italics). (These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.) Note: this can also be applied to links (e.g., Wikipedia).	''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''. ''[[Wikipedia]]''
The use of italic and bold fonts is beneficial in mathematical calculations where specific font styles are needed instead of emphasis. F = ma (Most people disregard the fact that these two approaches differ in a way that is not particularly significant for graphical browsers.) However, it can have a significant impact on those who are blind.	The use of <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b> fonts is beneficial in mathematical calculations where specific font styles are needed instead of emphasis. : <b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>
You can write in small caps	You can write <span style="font-variant:small-caps">in small caps</span>
The typewriter font that is occasionally used for technical terms and computer code.	The typewriter font that is occasionally used for <kbd>technical terms</kbd> and <code>computer code</code>.
For captions, you can use small text.	For captions, you can use <small>small text</small>.
Deleted materials can be striked out and new materials can be underlined. You can also denote deleted material and inserted material with the respective tags, preserving their semantic meaning, rather than relying solely on visual cues like strikethrough and underline. Editing regular articles can be done directly without using special markup to indicate deletions or insertions. Markup can be used to indicate deleted or inserted material when revising previous remarks on talk pages.	Deleted materials can be <s>striked out</s> and new materials can be <u>underlined</u>. You can also denote <del>deleted material</del> and <ins>inserted material</ins> with the respective tags, preserving their semantic meaning, rather than relying solely on visual cues like strikethrough and underline.
Subscript: m2 Superscript: m2 or m² Many browsers find it simpler to format lines containing the HTML entity &sup2; (²) rather than using the 2 HTML tag for representing superscripted text. ε0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m²	Subscript: m<sub>2</sub><br /> Superscript: m<sup>2</sup> or m&sup2; &epsilon;<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 &times; 10<sup>&minus;12</sup> C&sup2; / J m. <br /><br /> 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m&sup2;]]

Reformatting and/or disabling wikitext interpretation

The following provides methods for managing formatting and processing. Please refer to Template:Tc for the code {{tc}} used in the examples (see Help:Template ).

default	Interpret HTML entities Interpret wiki markup like bolding, or italicizing text, etc. Format text (Delete single newlines, multiple spaces, and wrap text automatically) Create new paragraphs with double newlines arrow → in italics link	arrow → {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]]
The poem tag is used to preserve single newlines.	Interpret HTML entities Interpret wiki markup like bolding, or italicizing text, etc. Reformat text partially (Don't remove newlines, but remove multiple spaces, and wrap text automatically) arrow → in italics link	<poem>arrow &rarr; {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]]</poem>
<nowiki>	Interpret HTML entities. Don't process special wiki markup like bolding, or italicizing text, etc. Reformat text Ignore double newlines to avoid creating a new paragraph; hence, each paragraph must have its application. can be applied in-line: arrow → {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]] normal again	''can be applied in-line:'' <nowiki> arrow &rarr; {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]] </nowiki>''[[normal]] again''
<pre>	Process HTML entities Avoid interpreting or processing any special wiki markup like bolding, or italicizing text, etc. No text wrapping As instructed by the browser's settings, use a fixed-width font. arrow → {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]]	<pre>arrow &rarr; {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]] </pre>
A leading space	Process HTML entities Interpret wiki markup like bolding, or italicizing text, etc. No text wrapping Creates a ‎<pre> HTML element The pre element ends with a blank line, and if there are more lines with leading spaces, a new pre element begins. arrow → {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]] IF a line of plain text begins with a space it will be displayed exactly as entered in a fixed-width font inside a grey dotted-outline box with no line breaks END This is handy for: * inserting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * showcasing code snippets; * displaying ASCII art; * presenting chemical diagrams; * formatting poetry Warning: When you make it wide, you make the entire page wide and hence less readable. Don't begin ordinary lines with spaces. (see also hereafter)	arrow &rarr; {{tc}} ''italics'' [[help:Link|link]] If a line of plain text starts with a space it will be displayed exactly as entered in a fixed-width font inside a grey dotted-outline box with no line breaks END This feature is handy for: * inserting preformatted text; * explaining algorithms; * showcasing code snippets; * displaying ASCII art; * presenting chemical diagrams; * formatting poetry
Literal character references	&rarr;	&amp;rarr;

When using expandable wikitext like {{t1demo|p ''q'' r}}, using <nowiki>{{t1demo|p ''q'' r}}</nowiki> will display the wikitext as it is. However, when using the #tag magic word, {{#tag:nowiki|{{t1demo|p ''q'' r}}}} will show the expanded wikitext startp ''q'' rend.

Miscellaneous

Signatures Don't forget to "sign" your comments on talk pages using tildes (~). Three tildes adds your username: Example Four tildes adds your username and a timestamp: Example 09:20, Mar 14 2024 (UTC) Five tildes adds a timestamp: 09:20, Mar 14 2024 (UTC) The server will add the link when you save.	: Three tildes adds your username: ~~~ : Four tildes adds your username and timestamp: ~~~~ : Five tildes adds only a timestamp: ~~~~~
Comments	Text between here and here won't be rendered.	Text between '''here''' <!-- comment here --> '''and here''' won't be rendered.

Adding another page – transclusion and templates

Modifying a transcluded page will modify every file that transcludes it.

Template A unique type of page designed for transclusion. They are found in the Template: namespace . These templates can take parameters. All the templates that are used on a page are listed after the edit box when you update it. In this example, Quote is a template page designed to display a quote.	{{Template:Quote}}
Transclusion Combining another page's contents into the current page. The below example uses a Quote template page to perform transclusion. This is a parameter for a transcluded quote.	{{Quote|quote=This is a parameter for a transcluded quote.}}

Database records related to edits

Both the revision table and the recentchanges table of the database contain records of edits.

The revision table stores page histories and user contribution lists, while the recentchanges table manages recent changes, watchlists, and new page creation lists.

If older edits are removed from the recentchanges table while nothing is deleted from the revision table, older edits remain visible in page histories and user contribution lists but not in recent changes, related changes watchlists, or the list of new pages.

When importing page revisions, the changes are recorded in the revision table but not in the recentchanges table. This means that while the revisions will show up in the page histories and user contribution lists, they won't appear in recent changes, watchlists, or lists of new pages.