Help:Editing
Wikipedia-specific introduction
Wikipedia is a WikiWiki, meaning that anyone can easily edit any article and have those changes posted immediately. This page is the reference for Wiki markup. You may also want to learn about:
- How to start a page
- Informal tips on contributing to Wikipedia
- Editing tasks in general at the Wikipedia:Editing FAQ
- Preferred layout of your article at Guide to Layout (see also Wikipedia:Boilerplate text)
- Style conventions in the Wikipedia:Manual of Style
- General policies in Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines
- Wikipedia:Naming conventions for how to name articles themselves
- If you are making an article about something that belongs to a group of objects (a city, an astronomical object, a chinese character...) check out if there is a WikiProject on the group and try to follow its directions.
- Finally, for a list of all articles about editing Wikipedia see List of articles in the Wikipedia namespace or same list sorted by topic.
It's very easy to edit a Wiki page. Simply click on the "Edit this page" link at the top or bottom (also on the sidebar) of a Wiki page to change the page itself, or click on "Discuss this page" link and then on "Edit this page" to write on the corresponding talk page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that Wiki page.
Then type away, write a short edit summary on the small field below the edit-box and when finished press "Save"! You can also preview your changes before saving if you like. Depending on your system, pressing Enter while the edit box is not active (there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing Save.
Please use a neutral point of view, and please cite your sources so others can check and extend your work.
It is often more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check there, and then paste back into the browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you authored so that you can make changes offline. Some text editors can be specially adapted to edit Wikipedia articles: see Wikipedia:syntax highlighting.
After making a new page, it's a good idea to
- With your page displayed, use What links here to check that articles already link to it, and make sure that they are all expecting the same meaning that you have supplied;
- Use the Search button to launch a Google search of Wikipedia for your topic title (and possibly variants), to find articles that mention it, and make links from them if appropriate;
- Check for corresponding articles in the Wikipedias of other languages that you can read.
Minor edits
When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely, so any "real" change, even if it is a single word, is a major edit. This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.
The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism could then be marked as a minor edit, in which case it would stay unnoticed longer. This limitation is another reason to log in.
Marking a real change as a minor edit is considered bad behavior, and even more so if it involves the deletion of some text. If one has accidently marked an edit as minor, make another edit, mark it major, and say "the previous edit was major" in the summary. As a trivial edit must be made for this purpose, just opening the edit box and saving (changing nothing) does not work, neither does adding a blank space at the end of a line or a blank line at the end of the page; in these cases the edit is cancelled and the edit summary discarded. However, one can e.g. add an extra space between two words, or a line break (changing the number of line breaks at that point from 0 to 1 or from 2 to 3, not from 1 to 2); these changes are preserved in the wikitext and recorded as a change, although they do not change the rendered page.
The wiki markup
In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.
You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox.
- The rest of this page is deprecated but will be updated periodically.
- Please direct edits to the Meta-Wikimedia version of this page
Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Start your sections with header lines: HeaderNew sectionSubsectionSub-subsection |
= Header = == New section == === Subsection === ==== Sub-subsection ==== |
A single newline has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the diff function. But an empty line starts a new paragraph. |
A single [[newline]] has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the ''diff'' function. But an empty line starts a new paragraph. |
You can break lines without starting a new paragraph. |
You can break lines<br> without starting a new paragraph. |
|
* Lists are easy to do: ** start every line with a star *** more stars means deeper levels |
|
# Numbered lists are also good ## very organized ## easy to follow |
|
* You can even do mixed lists *# and nest them *#* like this |
|
; Definition list : list of definitions ; item : the item's definition |
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
|
: A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph. |
IF a line starts with a space THEN 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 and 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. |
IF a line starts with a space THEN 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 and chemical structures; |
<center>Centered text.</center> |
|
A horizontal dividing line: this is above it
and this is below it. Mainly useful for separating threads on Talk pages. |
A horizontal dividing line: this is above it ---- and this is below it. |
Links, URLs, images
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
London has good public transport.
Thus the link above is to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport, which is the article with the name "Public transport". See also Wikipedia:Canonization. |
London has good [[public transport]]. |
Link to a section on a page, e.g. World_Heritage_Sites#Morocco (links to non-existent sections aren't really broken, they are treated as links to the page, i.e. to the top) | [[World_Heritage_Sites#Morocco]] |
Same target, different name:
answers.
|
Same target, different name: [[wikipedia FAQ|answers]] |
Endings are blended into the link: testing, genes |
Endings are blended into the link: [[test]]ing, [[gene]]s |
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom. Automatically hide namespace: Village Pump. The server fills in the part after the | when you save the page. Next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. A preview interprets the abbreviated form correctly, but does not expand it yet in the edit box. Press Save and again Edit, and you will see the expanded version. The same applies for the following feature. |
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|]].
Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village Pump|]]. |
When adding a comment to a Talk page,
you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: or four for user name plus date/time:
|
When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: : ~~~ or four for user name plus date/time: : ~~~~ |
The weather in London is a page that doesn't
exist yet.
|
[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist yet. |
Redirect one article title to another by putting text like this in its first line. |
#REDIRECT [[United States]] |
Articles can be linked to a page on the same subject in another language using a link like [[language code:Title]]. It does not matter where you put these links while editing as they always show up in the same place when you save the page, but placement at the end of the edit box is recommended. See Wikipedia:Interlanguage links. |
[[fr:Wikipédia:Aide]] |
External link: Nupedia | External link: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia] |
Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com. | Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com. |
A picture:
|
A picture: [[Image:Wiki.png]] or, with alternate text [[Image:Wiki.png|jigsaw globe]]
<div style="float:right;width:135px;margin:0 0 1em 1em"> [[Image:Wiki.png|jigsaw globe]] <small>The Wikipedia logo</small> </div> More at Wikipedia:Image_markup. |
Clicking on an uploaded image displays a description page, which you can also link directly to: Image:Wiki.png |
[[:Image:Wiki.png]] |
To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, or to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link. |
[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]] [[media:Tornado.jpg|Image of a Tornado]] |
To link to books, you can use Wikipedia:ISBN links. ISBN 0123456789X |
ISBN 0123456789X |
"What links here" and "Related changes" can be linked as: Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page and Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page | [[Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] and [[Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] |
Character formatting
What it looks like | What you type |
---|---|
Emphasize, strongly, very strongly.
|
''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''. |
A typewriter font for technical terms.
|
A typewriter font for <tt>technical terms</tt>. |
You can use small text for captions. | You can use <small>small text</small> for captions. |
You can and underline new material. |
You can <strike>strike out deleted material</strike> and <u>underline new material</u>. |
Umlauts and accents: |
è é ê ë ì í 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 |
Punctuation: |
¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • — |
Commercial symbols: |
™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤ |
Subscript: x2 Superscript: x2 or x²
|
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.
|
Greek characters: α β γ δ ε ζ |
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 |
Math characters: |
∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ → × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ |
x2 ≥ 0 true.
|
<i>x</i><sup>2</sup> ≥ 0 true. |
Complicated formulae: |
<math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> |
Suppressing interpretation of markup:
|
<nowiki>Link → (<i>to</i>) the [[Wikipedia FAQ]]</nowiki> |
Commenting page source:
|
<!-- comment here --> |
Tables
Placement of the Table of Contents (TOC)
At the current status of the wiki markup language, at least four headers trigger the TOC in front of the first header (or after introductory sections). Putting __NOTOC__ anywhere forces the TOC to disappear. See also compact TOC for alphabet and year headings.
HTML tables
HTML tables can be quite useful as well. For details on how to use them and discussion about when they are appropriate, see Wikipedia:How to use tables.
Variables
Code | Effect |
---|---|
{{CURRENTMONTH}} | 10 |
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} | October |
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} | October |
{{CURRENTDAY}} | 9 |
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} | Wednesday |
{{CURRENTYEAR}} | 2024 |
{{CURRENTTIME}} | 15:49 |
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} | 6,893,347 |
NUMBEROFARTICLES: number of pages in the main namespace which contain a link and are not a redirect, i.e. number of articles, stubs containing a link, and disambiguation pages).