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Help:Formatting

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You can format your text by using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, apostrophes, or equal signs which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in italic, you include it in two pairs of apostrophes like ''this''.

Text formatting markup

Description You type You get
Character (inline) formatting – applies anywhere
Italic text 
''italic''

italic

Bold text 
'''bold'''

bold

Bold and italic 
'''''bold & italic'''''

bold & italic

Escape wiki markup 
<nowiki>no [[wiki]] ''markup''</nowiki>

no [[wiki]] ''markup''

Section formatting – only at the beginning of the line
Section Headings of different levels 
== Level 2 ==

=== Level 3 ===

==== Level 4 ====

===== Level 5 =====

====== Level 6 ======
  • Skip Level 1, it is page name level.
  • Do not put any text on the same line after the ending equal signs.
  • An article with 4 or more headings automatically creates a table of contents (unless setting the magic word __NOTOC__).

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5
Level 6
Horizontal rule 
Text before
----
Text after

Text before

Text after

Bullet list 
* Start each line
* with an [[Wikipedia:asterisk|asterisk]] (*).
** More asterisks give deeper
*** and deeper levels.
* Line breaks <br>don't break levels.
*** But jumping levels creates empty space.
Any other start ends the list.

* combine bullet list
** with definition 
::- definition
** creates empty space

* combine bullet list
** with definition 
*:- definition
** without empty spaces

*bullet list
:- definition
:* sublist that doesn't create empty
:* spaces after definition
  • Start each line
  • with an asterisk (*).
    • More asterisks give deeper
      • and deeper levels.
  • Line breaks
    don't break levels.
      • But jumping levels creates empty space.

Any other start ends the list.

  • combine bullet list
    • with definition
- definition
    • creates empty space
  • combine bullet list
    • with definition
    - definition
    • without empty spaces
  • bullet list
- definition
  • sublist that doesn't create empty
  • spaces after definition
Numbered list 
# Start each line
# with a [[Wikipedia:Number_sign|number sign]] (#).
## More number signs give deeper
### and deeper
### levels.
# Line breaks <br>don't break levels.
### But jumping levels creates empty space.
# Blank lines

# end the list and start another.
Any other start also
ends the list.

<nowiki>#</nowiki> use "nowiki" tags to display a literal (#) at the beginning of a line without interpreting it as a numbered list.
  1. Start each line
  2. with a number sign (#).
    1. More number signs give deeper
      1. and deeper
      2. levels.
  3. Line breaks
    don't break levels.
      1. But jumping levels creates empty space.
  4. Blank lines
  1. end the list and start another.

Any other start also ends the list.

# use "nowiki" tags to display a literal (#) at the beginning of a line without interpreting it as a numbered list.

Definition list 
;item 1
: definition 1
;item 2
: definition 2-1
: definition 2-2
At the end of the line, if the line begins with a semicolon (;), any inserted colon (:) will not be displayed. If you want for the colon to be displayed, escape it by writing &#58;.
item 1
definition 1
item 2
definition 2-1
definition 2-2
Indent text 
: Single indent
:: Double indent
::::: Multiple indent
This workaround may harm accessibility.
Single indent
Double indent
Multiple indent
Mixture of different types of list 
# one
# two
#* two point one
#* two point two
# three
#; three item one
#: three def one
# four
#: four def one
#: this looks like a continuation
#: and is often used
#: instead <br> of <nowiki><br></nowiki>
# five
## five sub 1
### five sub 1 sub 1
## five sub 2
The usage of #: and *: for breaking a line within an item may also harm accessibility.
  1. one
  2. two
    • two point one
    • two point two
  3. three
    three item one
    three def one
  4. four
    four def one
    this looks like a continuation
    and is often used
    instead
    of <br>
  5. five
    1. five sub 1
      1. five sub 1 sub 1
    2. five sub 2
Preformatted text 
 Start each line with a space.
 Text is '''preformatted''' and
 ''markups'' '''''can''''' be done.
This way of preformatting only applies to section formatting. Character formatting markups are still effective.
 
Start each line with a space.
Text is preformatted and
markups can be done.
Preformatted text blocks 
 <nowiki>Start with a space in the first column,
(before the <nowiki>).

Then your block format will be
    maintained.

This is good for copying in code blocks:

def function():
    """documentation string"""

    if True:
        print True
    else:
        print False</nowiki>

Start with a space in the first column,
(before the <nowiki>).

Then your block format will be
    maintained.

This is good for copying in code blocks:

def function():
    """documentation string"""

    if True:
        print True
    else:
        print False

Paragraphs

MediaWiki ignores single line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can force a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tag ‎<br />.

HTML tags

Some HTML tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example ‎<code>, ‎<div>, and ‎<span>. These apply anywhere you insert them.

Description You type You get
Inserted
(Displays as underline in most browsers) 
<ins>Inserted</ins>

or

<u>Underline</u>

Inserted

or

Underline

Deleted
(Displays as strike-through in most browsers) 
<s>Strike-through</s>

or

<del>Deleted</del>

Strike-through

or

Deleted

Fixed width text 
<code>Source code</code>
Source code
Blockquotes 
Text before
<blockquote>Blockquote</blockquote>
Text after
If the quote contains multiple paragraphs the tags need to be on separate lines to display properly, i.e.: 
<blockquote>
First paragraph.

Second paragraph.
</blockquote>
Tracked in Phabricator
Task T309778

Text before

Blockquote

Text after

Quotes 
<q>This is a quotation</q>
The q element must not be used in place of quotation marks that do not represent quotes; for example, it is inappropriate to use the q element for marking up sarcastic statements.[1]
 This is a quotation
Comment 
<!-- This is a comment -->
Comments are visible only 
in the edit zone.

Comments are visible only in the edit zone.

Completely preformatted text 
<pre>
Text is '''preformatted''' and 
''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done
</pre>
For marking up of preformatted text, check the "Preformatted text" entry at the end of the previous table.
 
Text is '''preformatted''' and 
''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done
Customized preformatted text 
<pre style="color: red">
Text is '''preformatted''' 
with a style and 
''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done
</pre>
A CSS style can be named within the style attribute.
 
Text is '''preformatted''' 
with a style and 
''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done

continued:

Description You type You get
Default preformatted text has a CSS attribute (white-space: pre-wrap;) to wrap the text according to available width 
<pre>
This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. This additional sentence makes the text even longer.
</pre>

This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. This additional sentence makes the text even longer.
Customized preformatted text with disabled text wrapping 
<pre style="white-space: pre;">
This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. This additional sentence makes the text even longer.
</pre>

This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. This additional sentence makes the text even longer.

The full list of recognized tags is given on Help:HTML in wikitext .

Inserting symbols

Symbols and other special characters not available on your keyboard can be inserted in a multitude of ways. Many operating systems and browsers allow to insert special characters through a menu option or operating system panel. Additionally, you can use the WikiEditor or VisualEditor to insert them into the edit screen.

As a last resort, you can use a special sequence of characters. Those sequences are called HTML character references. For example:

  • the rightwards arrow symbol (→) can be displayed using the &rarr; sequence
  • an em dash (—) can be displayed using &mdash;.
Hover over any symbol to reveal the entity that produces it. Some symbols not available in the current font will appear as empty squares.
HTML symbol entities
Á á Â â ´ Æ æ À à ℵ Α α & ∧ ∠ Å å ≈ Ã ã Ä ä „ Β β ¦ • ∩ Ç ç ¸ ¢
Χ χ ˆ ♣ ≅ © ↵ ∪ ¤ † ‡ ↓ ⇓ ° Δ δ ♦ ÷ É é Ê ê È è ∅     Ε ε ≡ Η η
Ð ð Ë ë € ∃ ƒ ∀ ½ ¼ ¾ ⁄ Γ γ ≥ > ↔ ⇔ ♥ … Í í Î î ¡ Ì ì ℑ ∞ ∫ Ι ι
¿ ∈ Ï ï Κ κ Λ λ ⟨ « ← ⇐ ⌈ “ ≤ ⌊ ∗ ◊ ‎ ‹ ‘ < ¯ — µ · − Μ μ ∇   –
≠ ∋ ¬ ∉ ⊄ Ñ ñ Ν ν Ó ó Ô ô Œ œ Ò ò ‾ Ω ω Ο ο ⊕ ∨ ª º Ø ø Õ õ ⊗ Ö
ö ∂ ‰ ⊥ Φ φ Π π ϖ ± £ ′ ″ ∏ ∝ Ψ ψ " √ ⟩ » → ⇒ ⌉ ” ℜ ® ⌋ Ρ ρ ‏
› ’ ‚ Š š ⋅ § ­ Σ σ ς ∼ ♠ ⊂ ⊆ ∑ ⊃ ¹ ² ³ ⊇ ß Τ τ ∴ Θ θ ϑ   Þ þ ˜
× ™ Ú ú ↑ ⇑ Û û Ù ù ¨ ϒ Υ υ Ü ü ℘ Ξ ξ Ý ý ¥ ÿ Ÿ Ζ ζ ‍ ‌
Description You type You get
Copyright symbol &copy;
©
Greek delta letter symbol &delta;
δ
Euro currency symbol &euro;
€

See the list of all HTML entities on the Wikipedia article List of HTML entities. Additionally, MediaWiki supports two non-standard entity reference sequences: &רלמ; and &رلم; which are both considered equivalent to &rlm; which is a right-to-left mark. (Used when combining right to left languages with left to right languages in the same page.)

HTML tags and symbol entities displayed themselves (with and without interpreting them)

&amp;euro;  → &euro;
<span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;">Typo to be corrected</span>  → Typo to be corrected
&lt;span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;">Typo to be corrected</span>  → <span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;">Typo to be corrected</span>

Nowiki for HTML

‎<nowiki /> can prohibit (HTML) tags:

  • <<nowiki/>pre>  → <pre>

But not & symbol escapes:

  • &<nowiki/>amp;  → &

To print & symbol escapes as text, use "&amp;" to replace the "&" character (eg. type "&amp;nbsp;", which results in "&nbsp;").

Other formatting

Beyond the text formatting markup shown hereinbefore, here are some other formatting references:

You can find more references at Help:Contents .

References

  1. ↑ HTML Living Standard—The <q> element
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