Editing the wiki
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''
.
Links
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Internal link | [[Main Page]] [[Help:Contents]] [[Extension:DynamicPageList (Wikimedia)]] |
|
Piped link | [[Help:Editing pages|editing help]] [[Help:Editing pages#Preview|previewing]] See also [[<tvar|meta>meta:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Piped link</>|meta:Help:Piped link]]. The second example links to a section (or anchor) within the target page. |
|
Pipe trick | [[Manual:Extensions|]] [[User:John Doe|]] [[Extension:DynamicPageList (Wikimedia)|]] [[Extension:DynamicPageList (third-party)|]] The pipe trick involves less typing for editors, but is potentially confusing to readers, as seen in these DynamicPageList examples. |
|
Word-ending links | [[Help]]s [[Help]]ing [[Help]]ers [[Help]]almostanylettersyoulikehere [[Help]]BUTnotalways Follows so-called "linktrail rules" Template:Ll per Template:Ll. |
Helpalmostanylettersyoulikehere HelpBUTnotalways |
Avoiding word-ending links | [[Help]]<nowiki />ful advice [[wikipedia:GNU General Public License|GPL]]<nowiki />v3 |
Helpful advice GPLv3 |
Redirect | #REDIRECT [[Main Page]] Should be the first and only line on the page. See [[<tvar|redirects>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Redirects</>|Help:Redirects]]. |
File:Redirect arrow without text (cropped).svg Main Page |
Link to an anchor on the same page | [[#See also]] Anchors are provided automatically on [[<tvar|formatting>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Formatting</>|section headings]] and to the top of the page. |
#See also |
Piped link to an anchor on the same page | [[#See also|different text]] |
different text |
Setting an anchor for incoming links | <div id="Unique anchor name 1">optional text</div> <span id="Unique anchor name 2">optional text</span> Rendered block-level and inline, respectively.
Doing this would allow for |
optional text
optional text |
Setting an anchor in a section heading | ==<span id="Alternate Section Title"></span>Section heading== Note the placement. This must be a "span" tag, not a "div". (Such anchors allow sections to be retitled without breaking incoming links.) |
|
Link to an anchor at another page | [[Help:Images#Supported media types for images]] |
Help:Images#Supported media types for images |
Link to the current page's talk page | [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|Discussion]] See also [[<tvar|page-names>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Magic_words#Page_names</>|Help:Magic words#Page names]] |
Discussion |
Link to a subpage | [[/example]] Shortcut for
See also [[<tvar|subpages>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Subpages</>|Help:Subpages]]. |
/example |
Link to a subpage without the leading slash | [[/example/]] Shortcut for |
example |
Visible link to a category page | [[:Category:Help]] Without the leading colon the link would not be visible and the page would instead be placed into the category; this is a very common mistake. See also [[<tvar|cat>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Categories</>|Help:Categories]]. |
Category:Help |
Visible link to an image or media file | [[:File:example.jpg]] [[:File:example.jpg|this example]] [[media:example.jpg]] Without the leading colon on the "File:" examples, the images would actually be displayed. See also Help:Images. Note that using the "media:" prefix links directly to the uploaded file. |
|
Link to a page specific to each reader (user page, etc.) | [[Special:MyPage]] [[Special:MyTalk]] [[Special:Preferences]] |
|
Internal link to a specific revision | [[Special:PermanentLink/2393992]] Revision numbers can be found in each page's Template:Ll. (It is very common to see links to specific revisions implemented as external links because it's easy to cut-and-paste an entire URL to form an external link.) |
Special:PermanentLink/2393992 |
Internal link to a "diff" | [[Special:Diff/2393992]] [[Special:Diff/2390639/2393992]] The default (in the first example above) is to show the changes from the previous revision. See also the comments in the previous item. |
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 ''markup''</nowiki> |
no ''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 ====== |
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 |
Any other start ends the list.
|
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. |
Any other start also ends the list. |
Definition list | ;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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
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>
, <span>
and <font>
. 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 strikethrough in most browsers) |
<s> Struck out</s> or <del> Deleted</del> |
or
|
Fixed width text | <code> Source code</code> or <code> Fixed width text</code> |
or
|
Blockquotes | Text before <blockquote> Blockquote</blockquote> Text after |
Text before
Text after |
Comment | <!-- This is a comment --> 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. |
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 you 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 entities. For example, the following sequence (entity) → when inserted will be shown as right arrow HTML symbol → and — when inserted will be shown as an em dash HTML symbol —.
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 | © |
|
Greek delta letter symbol | δ |
|
Euro currency symbol | € |
|
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 ‏
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)
&euro;
→ €
<span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;"> Typo to be corrected</span>
→ Typo to be corrected
<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 "&
" to replace the "&" character (eg. type "&nbsp;
", which results in "
").