London has public transport. (Article link)

• A link to another Wiki article.
• Internally, the first letter of the target page is automatically capitalized and spaces are represented as underscores (typing an underscore in the link has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended).
• Thus the link above is to the URL en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport, which is the Wikipedia article with the name "Public transport". See also Canonicalization.
• A red link is a page that doesn't exist yet, they can be created by clicking on the link.
• A link to its own page will appear only as bold text.

London has [[public transport]].

San Francisco also has public transportation. (Renamed link)

• Same target, different name.
• The target ("piped") text must be placed first, then the text to be displayed, second.

San Francisco also has [[public transport|public transportation]].

San Francisco also has public transportation. (Blend link)

Examples include buses, taxicabs, and trams.

• Endings are blended into the link.
  • Exception: a trailing apostrophe (') and any characters following the apostrophe are not blended.
• Preferred style is to use this instead of a piped link, if possible.
• Blending can be suppressed by using <nowiki></nowiki> tags, which may be desirable in some instances. Example: a micro-second.

San Francisco also has [[public transport]]ation.

Examples include [[bus]]es, [[taxicab]]s, and [[tram]]s.

a [[micro-]]<nowiki>second</nowiki>

See the Wikipedia:Manual of Style. (Other page link)

• A link to another namespace.

See the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]].

Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics is a link to a section within another page.

#Links and URLs is a link to another section on the current page.

Italics is a piped link to a section within another page.

• The part after the number sign (#) must match a section heading on the page. Matches must be exact in terms of spelling, case, and punctuation. Links to non-existent sections are not broken; they are treated as links to the top of the page.
• Include "| link title" to create a stylish (piped) link title.
• If sections have the same title, add a number to link to any but the first.#Example section 3 goes to the third section named "Example section".

[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics]] is a link to a section within another page.

[[#Links and URLs]] is a link to another section on the current page.

[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Italics|Italics]] is a piped link to a section within another page.

(Example renamed links)

Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom.

Automatically hide namespace: Village pump.

Or both: Manual of Style

But not: [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]]

• The server fills in the part after the pipe character (|) when you save the page. The next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. When previewing your edits, you will not see the expanded form until you press Save and Edit again. The same applies to links to sections within the same page (see previous entry).
• See Pipe trick for details.

Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|]].

Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village pump|]].

Or both:[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings)|]]

But not:[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]]

(Create page link)

Links to pages that don’t exist yet look red: Wikipedia:Community portal/Opentask/Requested articles

• You can create it by clicking on the link.
• To create a new page:
  1. Create a link to it on some other (related) page.
  2. Save that page.
  3. Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing.
• For more information, see starting an article and check out Wikipedia's naming conventions.
• Please do not create a new article without linking to it from at least one other article.

Links to pages that don’t exist yet look red: [[Wikipedia:Community portal/Opentask/Requested articles]]

(Signing comments)

The character tilde (~) is used when adding a comment to a Talk page. You should sign your comment by appending four tildes (~~~~) to the comment so as to add your user name plus date/time:

User:Patricia Zhang 13:40, Jan 14, 2007 (UTC)

Adding three tildes (~~~) will add just your user name:

User:Patricia Zhang

and adding five tildes (~~~~~) gives the date/time alone:

13:40, Jan 14, 2007 (UTC)

• The first two both provide a link to your user page.

The character '''tilde''' (~) is used when adding a comment to a Talk page. You should sign your comment by appending four tildes (~~~~) to the comment so as to add your user name plus date/time:
:~~~~
Adding three tildes (~~~) will add just your user name:
: ~~~
and adding five tildes (~~~~~) gives the date/time alone:
: ~~~~~

(Redirects)

• Redirect one article title to another by placing a directive like the one shown to the right on the first line of the article (such as at a page titled "USA").
• It is possible to redirect to a section. For example, a redirect to United States#History will redirect to the History section of the United States page, if it exists.

#REDIRECT [[United States]]

#REDIRECT [[United States#History]] will redirect to the [[United States]] page, to the History section, if it exists

(Wikimedia link)

To connect, via interwiki link, to a page on the same subject in another language, put a link of the form: [[language code:Title]] near the bottom of the article. For example, in article "Plankton", which is available on a lot of other wikis, the interwiki link to the German Wikipedia looks like:

[[:de:Plankton]]

where the "de" is the language-code for "Deutsch" (the German language).

• It is recommended interwiki links be placed at the very end of the article.
• Interwiki links are not visible within the formatted article but, instead, appear as language links on the extreme left-margin column of a Wikipedia page (under menu section "languages").
• Please see Interlanguage links and the Complete list of language wikis available.

[[:de:Plankton]] [[:es:Plancton]] [[:ru:Планктон]] [[:simple:Plankton]]

(Linked and why)

What links here and Related changes pages can be linked as:
Special: Whatlinkshere/Help:Wiki markup and Special: Recentchangeslinked/Help:Wiki markup

'''What links here''' and '''Related changes''' pages can be linked as:
[[Special: WhatLinkshere/Help:Wiki markup]] and
[[Special: RecentChangeslinked/ Help:Wiki markup]]

Dates

Use links for dates, so everyone can set their own display order. Use Special:Preferences to change your own date display setting.
July 20, 1969 20 July 1969 and 1969-07-20

 [[July 20]] [[1969]] [[20 July]] [[1969]] and [[1969]]-[[07-20]] 

Linking to old revisions of pages, diffs, and specific history pages

External link function is used for these as [[page]] will not work.
Open an old revision or diff and copy the url, pasting it where you want it, e.g. previous edit

 [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Wiki_markup&diff=330350877&oldid=330349143 previous edit] 

(User edits)

A user's Contributions page can be linked as: Special:Contributions/UserName or Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0

A user's '''Contributions''' page can be linked as: [[Special:Contributions/UserName]] or [[Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0]]

(Categorize)

• To put an article in a category, place a link like the one to the right anywhere in the article. As with interlanguage links, it does not matter where you put these links while editing as they will always show up in the same place when you save the page, but placement at the end of the edit box is recommended.

[[Category:Character sets]]

(Category page link)

• To link to a category page without putting the article into the category, use a colon prefix (":Category") in the link. The formatted text link will appear as: Category:Character sets.

[[:Category:Character sets]]

(External links)

Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources:

1. Bare URL: http://www.wikipedia.org/ (bad style)
2. Unnamed link: [1] (only used within article body for footnotes)
3. Named link: Wikipedia

See Wikipedia:InterWikimedia links for the list of shortcuts.

• Square brackets indicate an external link. Note the use of a space (not a pipe) to separate the URL from the link text in the "named" version.
• In the URL, all symbols must be among:
  A-Z a-z 0-9 . _ \ / ~ % - + & # ? ! = ( ) @
• If a URL contains a character not in this list, it should be encoded by using a percent sign (%) followed by the hex code of the character, which can be found in the table of ASCII printable characters. For example, the caret character (^) would be encoded in a URL as %5E.
• If the "named" version contains a closing square bracket "]", then you must use the HTML special character syntax, i.e. &#93; otherwise the MediaWiki software will prematurely interpret this as the end of the external link.
• There is a class that can be used to remove the arrow image from the external link. It is used in Template:Ref to stop the URL from expanding during printing. It should never be used in the main body of an article. However, there is an exception: wikilinks in Image markup. An example of the markup is as follows:
  • Markup: <span class="plainlinks neverexpand"> [http://www.sysinternals.com/ ntw2k/freeware/winobj.shtml WinObj]</span>
  • Display: WinObj
• See External links for style issues.

Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources:
# Bare URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/ (bad style)
# Unnamed link: [http://en.wikipedia.org/] (only used within article body for footnotes)
# Named link: [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]

(Wikimedia text link)

Linking to other wikis:

1. InterWiki link: Wiktionary:Hello
2. Interwiki link without prefix: Hello
3. Named interwiki link: Wiktionary definition of 'Hello'

• All of these forms lead to the URL http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hello
• Note that interwiki links use the internal link style.
• See MetaWikiPedia:Interwiki_map for the list of shortcuts; if the site you want to link to is not on the list, use an external link (see above).
• See also Wikimedia sister projects.

Linking to another language's wiktionary:

1. Wiktionary:fr:bonjour
2. bonjour
3. fr:bonjour

• All of these forms lead to the URL http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonjour

Linking to other wikis:
# [[InterWiki]] link: [[Wiktionary:Hello]]
# Interwiki link without prefix: [[Wiktionary:Hello|]]
# Named interwiki link: [[Wiktionary:Hello|Wiktionary definition of 'Hello']]

Linking to another language's wiktionary:

# [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour]]
# [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour|bonjour]]
# [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour|]]

(Book sources)

ISBN 012345678X

ISBN 0-12-345678-X

Link to a book using alternate text, such as its title.

• Link to books using their ISBN. This is preferred to linking to a specific online bookstore, because it gives the reader a choice of vendors. However, if one bookstore or online service provides additional free information, such as table of contents or excerpts from the text, then a link to that source will aid the user and is recommended. ISBN links do not need any extra markup, provided you use one of the indicated formats.
• To create a link to Book Sources using alternate text (e.g. the book's title), use the internal link style with the appropriate namespace.

ISBN 012345678X

ISBN 0-12-345678-X

[[Special:BookSources/0670037818|alternate text, such as its title]]

(RFC number)

Text mentioning an RFC number anywhere, e.g. RFC 4321.

• Link to Internet Engineering Task Force Request for Comments (RFCs).

Text mentioning an RFC number anywhere, e.g. RFC 4321.

(“As of” tag)

“As of” tags like "As of April 2009" and "as of April 2009" categorize info that will need updating.

“[[WP:As of|As of]]” tags like "{{As of|2009|4|df=us}}" and "{{As of|2009|4|df=us|lc=on}}" categorize info that will need updating.

(Media link)

Sound

• To include links to non image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. For images, see next section.

Some uploaded sounds are listed at Commons:Sound.

[[media:Classical guitar scale.ogg|Sound]]

(Edit links)

Link directly to edit for an existing page, or apply other link attributes.

• use {{fullurl:}}
• or use {{template:edit}} which conceals the edit label for page printing

{{fullurl:page name|action=edit}}

 A picture:  [[Image:wiki.png]] 

 With alternative text: [[Image:wiki.png|alt=Puzzle globe logo]] 

• Alternative text, used when the image is unavailable or when the image is loaded in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud, is strongly encouraged. See Alternative text for images for help on choosing it.

 Floating to the right side of the page  using the ''frame'' attribute and a caption: [[Image:wiki.png|frame|alt=Puzzle globe logo|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]] 

• The frame tag automatically floats the image right.
• The last parameter is the caption that appears below the image.

 Floating to the right side of the page  using the ''thumb'' attribute and a caption: [[Image:wiki.png|thumb|alt=Puzzle globe logo|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]] 

• The thumb tag automatically floats the image right.
• An enlarge icon is placed in the lower right corner.

 Floating to the right side of the page ''without'' a caption: [[Image:wiki.png|right|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]] 

• The picture tutorial explains more options.

 A picture resized to 30 pixels... [[Image:wiki.png|30 px|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]] 

• The picture tutorial explains more options.

Image:wiki.png

 Linking directly to the description page of an image: [[:Image:wiki.png]] 

• Clicking on an image displayed on a page (such as any of the ones above) also leads to the description page.

Image of the jigsaw globe logo

 Linking directly to an image without displaying it: [[Media:wiki.png|Image of the jigsaw globe logo]] 

• To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link.

 Example: <div style="display:inline; width:220px; float:right;"> Place images here </div> 

 Example: {| align=right |- |  Place images here |} 

Headings organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them.

Using more equals signs creates a subsection.

Start with 2 equals signs. Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs.

 =Section headings=  ''Headings'' organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them.  ==Subsection==  Using more equals signs creates a subsection.  ===A smaller subsection=== Start with 2 equals signs. Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs. 

Separating with a horizontal dividing line:

this is above it...

...and this is below it.

If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry.

 A horizontal dividing line:  this is above it... ---- ...and this is below it. 

Newline

A single newline has no effect on the layout.

But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part. (<p> disables this paragraphing until </p> or the end of the section)

A semicolon at the start of a line is not displayed, but has the effect of rendering the newline. A colon in such a line is not rendered, but has the effect of starting a new, indented line.

You can make the wikitext more readable by putting in newlines, but see Wikipedia:Don't use line breaks for possible problems.

• When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (See Help:List).

  A single newline has no effect on the layout.  But an empty line starts a new paragraph. 

(The HTML tag <br /> is sufficient. The system produces the XHTML code <br />.)

• Please use this sparingly.
• Close markup between lines; do not start a link or italics or bold on one line and close it on the next.

 You can break lines<br /> without starting a new paragraph. 

When there is a need for separating a block of text

the blockquote command will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.

This is useful for (as the name says) inserting blocks of quoted (and cited) text.

 <blockquote> The '''blockquote''' command will indent  both margins when needed instead of the  left margin only as the colon does. </blockquote> 

 <center>Centered text.</center> 

• Unordered lists are easy to do:
  • Start every line with a star.
    • More stars indicate a deeper level.

  Previous item continues.

  • A new line
• in a list

marks the end of the list.

• Of course you can start again.

 * ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do: ** Start every line with a star. *** More stars indicate a deeper level. *: Previous item continues. ** A new line * in a list marks the end of the list. * Of course you can start again. 

1. Numbered lists are:
   1. Very organized
   2. Easy to follow

   Previous item continues

A new line marks the end of the list.

1. New numbering starts with 1.

 # ''Numbered lists'' are: ## Very organized ## Easy to follow #: Previous item continues A new line marks the end of the list. # New numbering starts with 1. 

apostrophes on each side.

3 apostrophes will bold the text.

5 apostrophes will bold and italicize the text.

 You can ''italicize text'' by putting 2 apostrophes on each side.  3 apostrophes will '''bold the text'''.  5 apostrophes will '''bold''' and ''italicize'' '''''the text'''''. 

Syntax highlighting for source code.

Computer code has a colored background and more stringent formatting. Suppose we want to define int main():

 #include <iostream> int main ( int argc,  char **argv ) {     std::cout << "Hello World!";     return 0; } 

 Computer code has a colored background and more stringent formatting. Suppose we want to define <code>int  main()</code>:  <source lang=cpp>#include <iostream> int main ( int argc,  char **argv ) {     std::cout << "Hello World!";     return 0; }</source> 

You can use small text for captions.

 You can use <small>small text</small> for captions. 

Better stay away from big text, unless it's within small text.

 Better stay away from <big>big text</big>, unless <small> it's <big>within</big> small</small> text. 

You can strike out deleted material and underline new material. (Double underlining is also possible.)

You can also mark deleted material and inserted material using logical markup. For backwards compatibility better combine this potentially ignored new logical with the old physical markup.

• When editing regular Wikipedia articles, just make your changes and do not mark them up in any special way.
• When editing your own previous remarks in talk pages, it is sometimes appropriate to mark up deleted or inserted material.

 You can <s>strike out deleted material</s> and <u>underline new material</u>.  You can also mark <del>deleted material</del> and <ins>inserted material</ins> using logical markup. For backwards compatibility better combine this potentially ignored new <del>logical</del> with the old <s><del>physical</del></s> markup. 

You can include a non-breaking space (sometimes called non-printing character) where you require two words to always appear together on the same line, such as Mr. Smith or 400 km/h using   in place of a regular space between the two "words" that need to behave as a single word (never be separated on different lines).

 Mr. Smith or 400 km/h. 

Extra spacing within text can best be achieved using the pad template:

Mary   had a little lamb.

 Mary {{pad|4em}} had a little lamb. 

Typewriter font (does not work beyond the end of a paragraph):
arrow →

italics link

New paragraph.

 <tt>arrow      &rarr;</tt>  <tt>''italics''</tt> <tt>[[link]]  New paragraph.</tt> 

Diacritical marks:
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

• See Help:Special characters.

 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:
™ © ® ¢ € ¥
£ ¤

 ™ © ® ¢ € ¥  £ ¤ 

Subscripts:
x₁ x₂ x₃ or
x₀ x₁ x₂ x₃ x₄
x₅ x₆ x₇ x₈ x₉

Superscripts:
x¹ x² x³ or
x⁰ x¹ x² x³ x⁴
x⁵ x⁶ x⁷ x⁸ x⁹

Combined:
ε₀ = 8.85 × 10⁻¹² C² / J m.
1 hectare = 1 E4 m²

• The Manual of Style prefers the x₁ format.
• The latter methods of sub/superscripting cannot be used in the most general context, as they rely on Unicode support which may not be present on all users' machines. For the 1-2-3 superscripts, it is nevertheless preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it.

 x<sub>1</sub> x<sub>2</sub> x<sub>3</sub> or x&#8320; x&#8321; x&#8322; x&#8323; x&#8324; x&#8325; x&#8326; x&#8327; x&#8328; x&#8329; 

 x<sup>1</sup> x<sup>2</sup> x<sup>3</sup> or x&#8304; x&sup1; x&sup2; x&sup3; x&#8308; x&#8309; x&#8310; x&#8311; x&#8312; x&#8313; 

 &epsilon;<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 &times; 10<sup>&minus;12</sup> C&sup2; / J m.  1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m&sup2;]] 

Greek characters:
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

 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 

Mathematical characters:
∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞
≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥
× · ÷ ∂ ′ ″
∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø
∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇
¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀
⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔
→ ↓ ↑ ← ↔

• See also WikiProject Mathematics and TeX.

 ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀  ⇒ ⇐ ⇓ ⇑ ⇔ → ↓ ↑ ← ↔ 

Mathematical formulae:

sin x + ln y

x = 0

• Complex formulae should use <math> markup.
• Simple formulae may use either <math> markup or HTML/wiki markup using the {{math}} template with <i> and <b> or '' and ''' for formatting. Make sure to replace = with {{=}}.
• Ordinary text should use wiki markup for emphasis. However, mathematical formulae often use italics, and sometimes use bold, for reasons unrelated to emphasis. Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (mathematics), wiki markup ('' and ''') is preferred over HTML markup (<i> and <b>), but both are allowed.

 <math>\,\! \sin x + \ln y</math><br> {{math|sin ''x'' + ln ''y''}}  <math>\mathbf{x} = \mathbf{0}</math><br> {{math|<b>x</b> {{=}} <b>0</b>}} 

Spacing in simple math formulae:
Obviously, x² ≥ 0 is true when x is a real number.

• Using   to prevent linebreak is not needed; the {{math}} template will prevent line breaks anyway; you can use <br> if you need an explicit line break inside a formula.

 Obviously, {{math|''x<''<sup>2</sup> ≥ 0}} is true when {{math|<VAR >x</VAR >}} is a real number. 

Complicated formulae:

• See Help:Displaying a formula for how to use <math>.
• A formula displayed on a line by itself should probably be indented by using the colon (:) character.

 : <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> 

The nowiki tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets special characters: →

 <nowiki> The nowiki tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines  and multiple spaces. It still interprets special characters: &rarr; </nowiki> 

 The pre tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It also doesn't     reformat text. It still interprets special characters: → 

 <pre> The pre tag ignores [[Wiki]] ''markup''. It also doesn't     reformat text. It still interprets special characters:  &rarr; </pre> 

Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting.

 Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text   from being reformatted.  It still interprets Wiki markup and special characters: → 

 Leading spaces are another way  to preserve formatting.  Putting a space at the beginning of each line  stops the text   from being reformatted.   It still interprets [[Wiki]] ''markup'' and  special characters: → 

 {{Transclusion demo}} 

This transclusion demo is a little bit of text from the page Help:Transclusion Demo to be included into any file.

 {{Help:Transclusion Demo}} 

This template takes two parameters, and creates underlined text with a hover box for many modern browsers supporting CSS:

Hover your mouse over this text

Go to this page to see the H:title template itself: {{H:title}}

 This template takes two parameters, and creates underlined text with a hover box for many modern browsers supporting CSS:  {{H:title|This is the hover text| Hover your mouse over this text}}  Go to this page to see the H:title template itself: {{tl|H:title}}