Help:Formatting - MediaWiki
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Note:
When you edit this page, you agree to release your contribution under the
CC0
. See
Public Domain Help Pages
for more info.
See also:
Help:Advanced editing
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.
Start each line
with a
number sign
(#).
More number signs give deeper
and deeper
levels.
Line breaks
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.
# use "nowiki" tags to display a literal (#) at the beginning of a line without interpreting it as a numbered list.
Description 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
:
item 1
definition 1
item 2
definition 2-1
definition 2-2
Description details without description terms
Description details
::
Nested description details
:::::
Deeply nested description details
This is often used as a workaround for indenting the line, but it will harm accessibility and produce invalid HTML output. Using CSS for visual indentation is a far more preferable approach (e.g. {{
Indent
}}).
Description details
Nested description details
Deeply nested description details
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
<
br
>
five
##
five sub 1
###
five sub 1 sub 1
##
five sub 2
The usage of
#:
and
*:
for breaking a line is as problematic as the usage of single
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
of

five
five sub 1
five sub 1 sub 1
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 ).

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 ).

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
Underline
Inserted
or
Underline
Deleted
(Displays as strike-through in most browsers)
Strike-through
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
This is a quotation
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.
This is a quotation
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
→
sequence
an
em dash
) can be displayed using
—
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
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
Typo to be corrected
Nowiki for HTML
‎<
nowiki
/>
can prohibit (HTML) tags:
<pre>  → 


But
not
& symbol escapes:
&amp;  → &
To print & symbol escapes as text, use "
&
" to replace the "&" character (eg. type "
&
nbsp;
", which results in "
 
").
Other formatting
Beyond the text formatting markup shown hereinbefore, here are some other formatting references:
Help:Links
Help:Lists
Help:Images
Language converter markup – see
Writing systems/Syntax
References – see
Extension:Cite
Tables
Manual:Collapsible elements
You can find more references at
Help:Contents
References
HTML Living Standard—The <
> element
Retrieved from "
Category
Help
Help
Formatting
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