Wikipedia:Edit summary legend

This is a list of commonly used edit summary abbreviations. This page does not lay down any official guidelines on how to fill out an article's edit summary. Wikipedians are encouraged to write accurate and detailed summaries. For more information, see Help:Edit summary.

A more concise list is available in the quick reference. You can find other Wikipedia terms in the glossary. See also Wikipedia abbreviations.

Addition of category

cat, +cat

Meaning: I added a category to the page

[[Category:Whatever]] will put a link to the appropriate category page into the edit summary

Addition of comment

cm, cmt or re followed by either the comment itself or the topic. Also +com.

Meaning: I added a comment to this page

Examples:

cm rattlesnake

re : rattlesnake

Addition of different language version link

Language Abbreviation: each language has its own abbreviation.

Meaning: I have added a link connecting this English language Wikipedia article to the version of this article in another language. A full list of available abbreviations can be found on the List of Wikipedias, but if you're adding a language link you probably already know what the abbreviation is.

Example: eo: = link to Esperanto

Addition of external links

EL, xl, ext lk, ext lks, ext lnk, ext lnks, ext link, ext links, URL, http

Meaning: I have added an external link to the article.

If there is possibility for confusion, name the link specifically.

Example: ext lk: filipino strategy guide

Addition of links

lk, lks, link, links, lnk, ln, wikilink, wl, wf, wfy.

Meaning: I have created a link from this Wikipedia article to another one.

In the summary, put the link between single apostrophes ('), or copy it from the edit box so that it appears in double brackets[[ ]]

This is especially useful when the link is to a new article: people watchlisting the current page are likely to be interested in the new page.

Examples:

link: 'Train'

[[train]]

lks: 'snow', 'hail'

+wl

See also: Addition of external links (this page).

Addition or rephrasing of a short text

ft followed by the full text that has been added (perhaps with a little context), or the new version of what was changed.

Thus the edit summary fully informs about the edit; there's no need to open the article unless you want to read the text in the context of the article.

Addition of text

+, add, addition

Meaning: I have added text to the article, and here's a summary.

Example:

+Future expeditions or add:Future Expeditions

May also be used to indicate that the user has added his support/opposition on consensus building; it is then usually preceded by the section name

Example:

→ Support: +

or

→ Oppose: +me

Alphabetization

alpha, abc

Meaning: I have put this list in alphabetical order.

Capitalization

cap, caps, capital, cpt, lc, lcase, uc, ucase

Wikipedia's article titles are case-sensitive, except for the first letter of the article, which always appears as a capital. Also, according to Wikipedia:Manual of Style, only the first letter of the first word in section headings should be capitalized. The above abbreviations indicate fixing of capitalization mistakes, or lowercasing or uppercasing specific words. cap, capital, cpt indicate general fixing of capitalization. caps is for those instances when every letter of a word is capitalized, when the word is to be made ALL CAPS. lc and lcase mean lowercasing the first letter of some word, and uc and ucase mean uppercasing the first letter of some word.

Cleanup

cl, cleanup

Meaning: "I have made some general "tidying-up edits." These may include reformatting, spelling and grammar fixes, markup fixes, and other such minor edits. Useful if you make many different kinds of small changes in a single edit.

Copy edit

copyedit, cpyed, ced, c/e, ce

Miscellaneous copy editing.

It is encouraged that you specify the changes.

Examples:

copyedit: major reorganization, left original text

cpyed: from 'Tell Joe and I to ...' to 'Tell Joe and me to ...'

'It took 4 years to build...' -> 'It took four years to build...'

Creation of a new article

creation, new

Meaning: I have created a new article.

If there are remarks you wish to make, add them after two single dashes (-).

No other abbreviations need to be used since the article is new.

Examples:

creation

new

creation – NPOV check please

new – NPOV check please

Disambiguation

See Removal of ambiguity (this page)

Edit that is explained on the article's Talk Page

see Talk, see talk

Meaning: I have discussed / explained this edit on the article's talk page.

If possible, combine with other text, e.g rephrased, see Talk.

Formatting

fm, fmt, frmt, formatting, MoS, mos, MOS

Meaning: "I have applied formatting to this article". For example, to adhere to Wikipedia's Manual of Style, or to make the article look consistent, etc.

There is no need to specify the formatted text.

Grammar

gm, gr, grmr

Meaning: I have fixed the grammar of a sentence or sentences.

Headers

head, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6

Meaning: I have fixed header markup or changed header wording. Often seen when a page has been incorrectly laid out with level 3 headers at the top level (=== text ===) instead of level 2 headers (== text ==).

Interwiki

iwk, iw

Meaning: I added one or more interwiki links to this page.

Merge

mrg, mrgd, merged in

Meaning: I have merged some other article(s) into this article.

All the articles merged should be specified.

Example (for United States of America): mrgd: USA & United States of America

Miscellaneous

misc

Miscellaneous edits

Use only when a more specific and more useful edit summary is not practical.

Manual of Style

MOS

Meaning: I have made minor edits in conformance with WP:MOS, the English Wikipedia Manual of Style.

Compare with: Formatting

Move

mv

Meaning: I have moved the article or part of it to another location. (The new location should be specified.)

Or: I have added some material which comes from another article.

(Where it comes from should be specified)

Examples:

mv to 'United States' (mrgd)

mv from 'America'

Null edit

null, nx, ø

The edit window has been opened and the page re-saved with no change of text (occasionally necessitated by non-automated changes, like those to templates included in the page).

Original research

OR, NOR

Meaning: I believe something to be in conflict with the no original research policy.

Point of view

POV, NPOV

Meaning: I believe something to be in conflict with the neutral point of view policy.

Punctuation

punc, punct, pct

Meaning: I have made edits to rectify punctuation. (Elaborate as needed).

Re-categorization

re-cat, recat

Meaning: I have made changes to a pre-existing category link or links.

If the change is specified, put the category link(s) between single apostrophes (') or double brackets (e.g., [[Category:Category name]]).

Examples:

re-cat

recat 'Old category' to 'New category'

recat [[Category:Old category]] to [[Category:New category]]

Redirect

REDIRECT 'Article Name', rd 'Article name', redir 'Article name'

Meaning: I have made the page redirect to another place.

The page that the article redirects to should be specified.

Reference

ref, refs

Meaning: adding or fixing source citation(s)

Examples:

+refs

fixd ref

Removal of ambiguity

disambiguation, disambig, disamb, disam, dab, byp disambig

Changing a wiki link to a disambiguation page to point to the appropriate page.

There is no need to specify any disambiguation changes.

Removal of text

-, rm, remove, del

Meaning: I have removed some text from the article.

Examples:

-some crazy folk

remove: some crazy folk

Reply

r, re

Meaning: I have replied to another editor's comment.

Note that r is also listed in Revert to a previous edit.

Revert to a previous edit

revert, rv, r

Reverted to a previous edit.

This short summary is insufficient on its own—you should always briefly explain the reason for reverting.

Examples:

rv: accident

rv: vandalism

revert blanking

rv unexpl del—revert unexplained deletion

rv changes by User:Second user to last version by User:First user; see talk

rvv or rv/v = revert vandalism

rvs or rv/s = revert spam

Note that r is also listed in Reply, so rv is preferred.

Note that rvv in some fonts reads as rw, so rv/v is preferred.

Sandbox

sandbox, Sandbox

Edit to the Sandbox.

This is especially useful for Wikipedians checking the Recent changes as it lets them know that they should ignore it.

Snap double redirect

snap dbl rdr, fix redir

Turned a double redirect into a single redirect

Spelling

sp, spelling

Meaning: Correcting spelling mistakes.

It is not usually necessary to specify the spelling change but if you must, format it like this:

desparate -> desperate

Tweaks

A wide range of minor changes (rather than a specific one) including:

making article conform to the Manual of style and to consensus

removing stub messages

adjusting categories

fixing typos

rationalising, adding and fixing links

adjusting article layout

using {{reflist|2}} if appropriate

Typo

typo, typos, tpyo, tpyos, tyop, tyops

Fixed typos.

There is no need to specify the corrected typos.

User experienced edit conflict

(ec) or e/c or (e/c)