View source for Wikipedia:How to edit a page (concise)

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This page is intended to provide a '''concise and printable guide''' for users hoping to use English-only Wikipedia in a controlled manner.  As such, it focuses only on the '''common editing functions''' used in Wikipedia and cuts many of the more arcane details such as math functions, foreign language characters, etc.  For a more detailed guide, see [[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]. Basically anyone can edit Wikipedia. It's a simple and easy way to share your knowledge!

==General==
To edit a [[MediaWiki]] page, click on the "'''Edit this page'''" (or just "'''edit'''") link at one of its edges. This will bring you to the '''edit page''': a page with a text box containing the ''[[wikitext]]'': the editable source code from which the server produces the webpage. Depending on the preferences that have been set, a version of the edit page called '''preview page''' appears: in this case the rendered page is also shown; if not you get it by pressing "Show preview", see below.

The edit link of a page showing an old version leads to an edit page with the old wikitext. This allows [[Help:Reverting|restoring the old version]]. However, the edit link of a [[diff]] page gives the current wikitext, even if the diff page shows an old version below the table of differences.

After adding to or changing the wikitext it is useful to press "Show preview", which produces the corresponding webpage in your browser but does not make it publicly available yet (not until you press "Publish changes"). Errors in formatting, links, tables, etc., are often much easier to discover from the rendered page than from the raw wikitext.

'''If you are not satisfied you can make more changes and preview the page as many times as necessary. Then write a short [[Help:Edit summary|edit summary]] in the small text field below the edit-box and when finished press "Publish changes". Depending on your system, pressing the "Enter" key while the edit box is not active (i.e., there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing "Publish changes".'''

You may find it more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite [[en:text editor|text editor]], edit and spell check it there, and then paste it back into your [[en:web browser|web browser]] to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you have edited. It also allows you to make changes offline, but before you submit your changes, ''please make sure nobody else has edited the page'' since you saved your local copy (by checking the [[Help:page history|page history]]), otherwise you may accidentally revert someone else's edits. If someone ''has'' edited it since you copied the page, you'll have to merge their edits into your new version (you can find their specific edits by using the "[[Help:diff|diff]]" feature of the page history). These issues are handled automatically by the MediaWiki software if you edit the page in your web browser.

== Minor edits ==
When editing a page, a [[Help:Logging in|logged-in]] user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". This feature is important, because users can choose to ''hide'' minor edits in their view of the [[Help:Recent changes|recent changes page]], to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

== 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.

=== Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines ===
<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>What it looks like</th>
<th>What you type</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Start your sections with header lines:

Note: Single equal signs work for formatting headings, however as a convention for this wiki, do not use them.

<!-- This is the original
= DO NOT USE THIS =
== New section ==
=== Subsection ===
==== Sub-subsection ====
 -->

<!-- next set
<h1> DO NOT USE THIS </h1>
<h2> New section </h2>
<h3> Subsection </h3>
<h4> Sub-subsection </h4>
 -->

<!-- This code prevents confusion in the section editing feature-->
<b><span style="font-size:120%"> New section </span></b>

<b><span style="font-size:110%"> Subsection</span></b>

<b><span style="font-size:100%"> Sub-subsection</span></b>

</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>

== New section ==

=== Subsection ===

==== Sub-subsection ====
</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
A line break (i.e. pushing the enter key) needs to be done twice to create a new paragraph.

A single
newline
has no
effect on the
layout.

But an empty line

starts a new paragraph.


</td>
<td>
<pre><nowiki>

A single
newline
has no
effect on the
layout.

But an empty line

starts a new paragraph.</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
* [[Help:List|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 the list.
*Of course
*you can
*start again.

</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>* 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 the list.
*Of course
*you can
*start again.

</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
#A newline
#in a list
marks the end of the list.
#New numbering starts
#with 1.

</td>
<td><pre><nowiki># Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
#A newline
#in a list
marks the end of the list.
#New numbering starts
#with 1.
</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this<br />or have newlines<br />inside lists
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this<br />or have newlines<br />inside lists</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
* You can also
**break lines<br />inside lists<br />like this
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>* You can also
**break lines<br />inside lists<br />like this</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
:A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
* This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on [[Help:Talk page|Talk page]]s.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>: A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>
<pre><nowiki>IF a line of plain text 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;
  * chemical structures;</nowiki></pre>

WARNING If you make it wide,
you [[en:page widening|force the whole page to be wide]] and
hence less readable. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.<br />
{{center|(see also below)}}
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki> IF a line of plain text 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;
   * chemical structures;</nowiki></pre></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>{{center|Centered text.}}</center>
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>{{center|Centered text.}}</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A ''horizontal dividing line'': above
----
and below.

(However, in most cases a section header is more useful. The horizontal dividing line should only be used if what follows is logically part of the same section; otherwise that part would be hidden in the TOC.)</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>A ''horizontal dividing line'': above
----
and below. </nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

=== Links, URLs ===
<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>What it looks like</th>
<th>What you type</th>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>Sue is reading the [[meta:video policy|video policy]].
*First letter of target is automatically capitalized.
*Internally spaces are automatically represented as underscores (typing an underscore has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended).
Thus the [[Hyperlink|link]] above is to <nowiki>http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_policy</nowiki>, which is the page with the name "Video policy".
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>Sue is reading the [[meta:video policy|]].</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>
Link to a section on a page, e.g.
[[List of cities by country#Morocco]]; when section linking does not work the link is treated as link to the page, i.e. to the top; this applies for:
*links to non-existent sections
*links in redirects
</td><td>
<pre><nowiki>[[List of cities by country#Morocco]].</nowiki></pre></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>Link target and link label are different: [[User:Larry Sanger|answers]].

(This is called a [[WP:piped link|piped link]]).
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>Same target, different name:
[[User:Larry Sanger|answers]]</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>Endings are blended into the link: [[official position]]s, [[gene]]s</td>
<td>
<pre><nowiki>Endings are blended
into the link: [[official position]]s, [[gene]]s</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td>
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|kingdom]].
<p>Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village pump|Village pump]].</p>
<p>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.</p>
</td>
<td>
<pre><nowiki>Automatically hide stuff in parentheses:
[[kingdom (biology)|]]. </nowiki></pre>
<pre><nowiki>Automatically hide namespace:
[[Wikipedia:Village pump|]].</nowiki></pre>
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>When adding a comment to a Talk page,
you should sign it. You can do this by
adding three tildes for your user name:
: [[User:Example|Example]]
or four for user name plus date/time:
: [[User:Example|Example]] 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)
or five for just the date/time:
: 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>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:
: ~~~~
or five for date/time:
: ~~~~~</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>A red link (like [[red link example]]) points to a page that doesn't exist yet.
*You could create it by clicking on the link (but please do not create this particular page).
*To create a new page:
*#Create a link to it on some other page.
*#Save that page.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>The weather [[in and for a few miles around]] London is a page
that doesn't exist yet.</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>
[[Help:Redirect|Redirect]] one article title to another by putting text like this in its first line.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[United States]]</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>"What links here" and "Related changes" can be linked as:<br/>
[[Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] and
[[Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>
[[Special:Whatlinkshere/
Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] and
[[Special:Recentchangeslinked/
Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>External links: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia], [http://www.nupedia.com]
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>External links:
[http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia],
[http://www.nupedia.com]</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com.
*In the [[en:URL|URL]] all symbols must be among: A-Z a-z 0-9 ._\/~%-+&amp;#?!=()@ \x80-\xFF. If a URL contains a different character it should be converted; for example, ^ has to be written %5E (to be looked up in [[en:ASCII|ASCII]]). A blank space can also be converted into an underscore.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>Or just give the URL:
http://www.nupedia.com.</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link.
<br/>[[media:Classical guitar scale.ogg|Sound]]
</td>
<td>
<pre>
<nowiki>
[[media:Classical guitar scale.ogg|Sound]]
</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>Use links for dates, so everyone can set their own display order. Use [[Special:Preferences]] to change your own date display setting.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>[[July 20]], [[1969]] , [[20 July]] [[1969]]
and [[1969]]-[[07-20]]
</nowiki></pre>will all appear as [[20 July]] [[1969]] if you set your date display preference to 1 January 2001.
</td>
</tr>
</table>

=== Images ===

<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>What it looks like</th>
<th>What you type</th>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>A picture: [[File:Wiki.png|Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia]]
* For many projects, only images that have been uploaded to the same project or [[commons:|the Commons]] can be used. To upload images, use the [[Special:Upload|upload page]]. You can find the uploaded image on the [[Special:Imagelist|image list]]
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>
A picture: [[File:Wiki.png]]</nowiki></pre>
or, with alternative text (''strongly'' encouraged) <!-- actually required in HTML4 -->
<pre><nowiki>[[File:Wiki.png|Wikipedia
- The Free Encyclopedia]] </nowiki>
</pre>
[[en:Web browser|Web browser]]s render alternative text when not displaying an image -- for example, when the image isn't loaded, or in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud. See [[en:Wikipedia:Alternative text for images|Alternative text for images]] for help on choosing alternative text.  See [[en:Wikipedia:Extended_image_syntax|Extended image syntax]] for more options.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Clicking on an uploaded image (file) displays a description page, which you can also link directly to: [[:File:Wiki.png]]
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>
[[:File:Wiki.png]]
</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link.
<br/>[[media:Tornado aircraft.jpg|Image of a Tornado]]
</td>
<td>
<pre>
<nowiki>
[[media:Tornado aircraft.jpg|Image of a Tornado]]
</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>

</table>

=== Character formatting ===
<table class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th>What it looks like</th>
<th>What you type</th>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>
''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
*These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.
</td>
<td>
<pre><nowiki>''Emphasize'', '''strongly''',
'''''very strongly'''''.</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>
You can also write <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b>
if the desired effect is a specific font style
rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulas:
:<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>
*However, the difference between these two methods is not very important for graphical browsers, and many people choose to ignore it.
</td>
<td>
<pre><nowiki>You can also write <i>italic</i>
and <b>bold</b> if the desired effect is a
specific font style rather than emphasis, as
in mathematical formulas:
:<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b></nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td>You can use <small>small text</small> for captions.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>You can use <small>small text</small>
for captions.</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top"><td>You can <del>strike out deleted material</del>
and <ins>underline new (inserted) material</ins>.
</td>
<td><pre><nowiki>You can <del>strike out deleted material</del>
and <ins>underline new (inserted) material</ins>.</nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
'''Commenting page source:'''<br/>
''not shown in page''
* Used to leave comments in a page for future editors.
</td>
<td>
<pre><nowiki><!-- comment here --></nowiki></pre>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

==Templates==
Some part of a page may correspond in the edit box to just a reference to another page, in the form <nowiki>{{</nowiki>''name''<nowiki>}}</nowiki>, 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 [[help:template|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.

==Separating edits==
When moving or copying a piece of text within a page or from another page, and also making other edits, it is useful to separate these edits. This way the [[Help:Diff|diff function]] can be usefully applied for checking these other edits.

[[Category:Wikipedia article elements help]]