Help:Editing
This "how to" page is a shorter version of the one in the Wikipedia edit help pages (since we use the same software – Mediawiki). There is useful documentation at Mediawiki Help.
How to edit wiki pages
Editing a Wiki page is very easy. Simply click on the edit tab at the top (or the edit link on the right or bottom) of a Wiki page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that page.
Type away, write a short edit summary on the small field below the edit-box. If you've only changed the formatting or spelling of a page, select This is a minor edit.
When you've finished, press Show preview to see how your changes will look. Then press Save page. Depending on your system, pressing Enter while the edit box is not active (when there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing the Save button.
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.
Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines
What it looks like | What you type |
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Start your sections as follows: New sectionSubsectionSub-subsectionSub-sub-subsection
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==New section== ===Subsection=== ====Sub-subsection==== =====Sub-sub-subsection===== |
A single newline generally 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 function diff (used internally to compare different versions of a page). But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
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A single newline generally 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 function ''diff'' (used internally to compare different versions of a page). But an empty line starts a new paragraph. |
You can break lines
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You can break lines<br> without starting a new paragraph. |
marks the end of a list item.
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* Lists are easy to do: ** Start every line with a star. *** More stars means deeper levels. **** A newline in a list marks the end of a list item. * An empty line starts a new list. |
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# Numbered lists are also good ## very organized ## easy to follow ### easier still |
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* You can even do mixed lists *# and nest them *#* like this |
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; Definition list : list of definitions ; item : the item's definition ; another item : the other item's definition |
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
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: 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 The HTML "pre" element also works.
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<nowiki> 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 <pre> The HTML "pre" element also works.</nowiki> |
A horizontal dividing line: this is above it and this is below it.
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A horizontal dividing line: this is above it ---- and this is below it. |
Links and URLs
What it looks like | What you type |
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London has public transport.
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London has [[public transport]]. |
San Francisco also has public transportation.
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San Francisco also has [[public transport|public transportation]]. |
San Francisco also has public transportation. Examples include buses, taxis and streetcars.
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San Francisco also has [[public transport]]ation. Examples include [[bus]]es, [[taxi]]s and [[streetcar]]s. |
Economics#See also is a link to a section within another page. #Links and URLs is a link to a section on the current page. #example is a link to an anchor that was created using an id attribute
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[[Economics#See also]] is a link to a section within another page. [[#Links and URLs]] is a link to a section on the current page. [[#example]] is a link to an anchor that was created using <div id="example">an id attribute</div> |
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom. Automatically hide namespace: Village Pump. Or both: Manual of Style But not: [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]]
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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|]] |
The weather in London is a page that doesn't exist yet.
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[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist yet. |
When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it by adding three tildes to add your user name: or four to add user name plus date/time:
Five tildes gives the date/time alone:
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When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it by adding three tildes to add your user name: : ~~~ or four for user name plus date/time: : ~~~~ Five tildes gives the date/time alone: : ~~~~~ |
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#REDIRECT [[United States]] |
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[[Category:Character sets]] |
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[[:Category:Character sets]] |
Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources:
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Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources: # Bare URL: http://www.cam.ac.uk/ # Unnamed link: [http://www.cam.ac.uk/] # Named link: [http://www.cam.ac.uk University of Cambridge] |
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[[metawikipedia:Help:Interwiki linking| Linking to other wikis]]: # Interwiki link: [[Wiktionary:Hello]] # Named interwiki link: [[Wiktionary:Hello|Hello]] # Interwiki link without prefix: [[Wiktionary:Hello|]] |
ISBN 012345678X ISBN 0-123-45678-X
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ISBN 012345678X ISBN 0-123-45678-X |
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[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]] |
Images
What it looks like | What you type |
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A picture: Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
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A picture: [[Image:Wiki.png]] or, with alternate text (strongly encouraged) [[Image:Wiki.png|Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia]] Web browsers render alternate text when not displaying an image -- for example, when the image isn't loaded, or in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud. For the full image syntax, see Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Extended image syntax |
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 images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link.
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[[media:Wiki.png|Wikipedia logo]] |
Character formatting
What it looks like | What you type |
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Emphasize, strongly, very strongly.
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''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''. |
A typewriter font for monospace text
or for computer code: |
A typewriter font for <tt>monospace text</tt> or for computer code: <code>int main()</code> |
You can use small text for captions. |
You can use <small>small text</small> for captions. |
You can You can also mark
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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 rather than visual markup. |
Subscripts:
Superscripts:
ε0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m² |
x<sub>1</sub> x<sub>2</sub> x<sub>3</sub> x<sup>1</sup> x<sup>2</sup> x<sup>3</sup> or x¹ x² x³ ε<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 × 10<sup>−12</sup> C² / J m. 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m²]] |
Suppressing interpretation of markup:
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<nowiki>Link → (''to'') the [[Wikipedia FAQ]]</nowiki> |
Commenting page source:
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<!-- comment here --> |
Special characters
Characters outside US-ASCII can be written either as HTML entities or by just typing them into the edit box if your Web browser can handle that. See also metawikipedia:Help:Special characters.
Tables
There are two ways to build tables:
- in special Wiki-markup (see metawikipedia:Help:Table)
- with the usual HTML elements: <table>, <tr>, <td> or <th>.
Variables
(See metawikipedia:Help:Variable)
Templates
Some part of a page may correspond in the edit box to just a reference to another page, in the form {{name}}, referring to the page "Template:name" (or if the name starts with a namespace prefix, it refers to the page with that name; if it starts with a colon it refers to the page in the main namespace with that name without the colon). This is called a template. For changing that part of the page, edit that other page. Sometimes a separate edit link is provided for this purpose. A convenient way to put such a link in a template is with a template like m:Template:ed. Note that the change also affects other pages which use the same template.
The most useful templates in Talks.cam Help Pages are listed in Talks.cam Help Pages:Template messages.