Wikipedia:Tip of the day/August 2, 2008

Redirect synonymous topic names

Many topics are naturally referred to by different names. For example, baby and infant mean the same thing. But Wikipedia doesn't have a separate article for each synonym (one article defining babies is enough). Therefore, Wikipedia includes a method for linking synonyms so that they lead to the same article. This is done using redirects.

To create a redirect, start a new page for the synonym and in it put only this:

#REDIRECT [[target page]]

...where the target page is the name of the article the synonym should lead to. When a user clicks on a link with the synonym, he or she is automatically sent to the [[target page]].

Here's another example: Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom also appears under the titles Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II, and Elizabeth II of England.

Caveat: do not create redirects when you want to rename a page, because then the history of the page resides at the old title. Use the move tab instead, found at the top of every page, which also moves the history.