Help:Magic words

<languages/>

Magic words are strings of text that MediaWiki associates with a return value or function, such as time, site details, or page names. This page explains only the standard magic words; for a technical reference, see Template:Mediawiki.

There are three general types of magic words:

• [[<tvar|bs>#Behavior switches|Behavior switches]]: these are uppercase words surrounded by double underscores, e.g. __FOO__.

• [[<tvar|var>#Variables|Variables]]: these are uppercase words surrounded by double braces, e.g. {{FOO}}. As such, they look a lot like [[<tvar|help-templates>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Templates|templates]].

• [[<tvar|pfunc>#Parser functions|Parser functions]]: these take parameters and are either of the form {{foo:...}} or {{#foo:...}}. See also <tvar|help-ext-parser-functions>Help:Extension:ParserFunctions.

Variables and parser functions can use [[<tvar|manual-subst>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:subst|subst:]], just like templates. Page-dependent magic words will affect or return data about the current page (by default), even if the word is added through a transcluded template or included system message.

Behavior switches

A behavior switch controls the layout or behavior of the page and can often be used to specify desired omissions and inclusions in the content.

Word	Description	Versions
[[<tvar|manual-toc>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Table of contents|Table of contents]]
__NOTOC__	Hides the [[<tvar|manual-toc>Special:MyLanguage/table of contents|table of contents]] (TOC).
__FORCETOC__	Forces the table of contents to appear at its normal position (before the first header, overriding <tvar|notoc>__NOTOC__).
__TOC__	Places a table of contents at the word's current position (overriding <tvar|notoc>__NOTOC__). If this is used multiple times, the table of contents will appear at the first word's position.
Editing
__NOEDITSECTION__	Hides the section edit links beside headings. This is especially useful, where a heading is created from within a template: the normal wiki section-edit would in this case edit the template code, which is normally counterintuitive to the user. Use of this in a template will extend the effect to that template, the pages it's included on, and any other templates included on the same page. For a workaround, see [[<tvar|meta>m:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Editing sections of included templates|here]].
__NEWSECTIONLINK__	Adds a link beside the "edit" tab for adding a new section on a non-talk page (see Template:Mediawiki).	Template:MW version
__NONEWSECTIONLINK__	Removes the link beside the "edit" tab on pages in talk namespaces.	Template:MW version
Categories
__NOGALLERY__	Used on a category page, replaces thumbnails in the category view with normal links.	Template:MW version
__HIDDENCAT__	Used on a category page, hides the category from the lists of categories in its members and parent categories (there is an option in the [[<tvar|help-preferences>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Preferences|user preferences]] to show them).	Template:MW version
Language conversion
__NOCONTENTCONVERT__ __NOCC__	On wikis with language variants, don't perform any content language conversion (character and phase) in article display; for example, only show Chinese (zh) instead of variants like zh_cn, zh_tw, zh_sg, or zh_hk.
__NOTITLECONVERT__ __NOTC__	On wikis with language variants, don't perform language conversion on the title (all other content is converted).
Other
__START__	No effect. Was used to point where database message starts after comment that should not be transcluded. Removed in r1695 and completely removed in r24784	Template:MW version
__END__	Explicitly marks the end of the article, to prevent MediaWiki from removing trailing whitespace. Removed in Template:Mediawiki.	Template:MW version
__INDEX__	Tell search engines to index the page (overrides <tvar|manual-wg-bot-policy>Template:Mediawiki, but not robots.txt). It obeys <tvar|manual-wg-exempt-from-bot>$wgExemptFromUserRobotsControl variable.	Template:MW version
__NOINDEX__	Tell search engines not to index the page (i.e. do not list in search engines' results). It obeys <tvar|manual-wg-exempt-from-bot>$wgExemptFromUserRobotsControl variable.	Template:MW version
__STATICREDIRECT__	On redirect pages, don't allow MediaWiki to automatically update the link when someone moves a page and checks "<tvar|fixDoubleRedirects>Update any redirects that point to the original title" (which requires [[<tvar|var>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:$wgFixDoubleRedirects|$wgFixDoubleRedirects]]).	Template:MW version

Variables

Variables return information about the current page, wiki, or date. Their syntax is similar to [[<tvar|help-templates>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Templates|templates]]. Variables marked as "[expensive]" are tracked by the software, and the number that can be included on a page is limited.

If a template name conflicts with a variable, the variable will be used (so to transclude the template Template:PAGENAME you would need to write <tvar|code>{{Template:PAGENAME<tvar|code-end>}}). In some cases, adding parameters will force the parser to invoke a template; for example, <tvar|tpl-currentdayname-code>{{CURRENTDAYNAME|x}} transcludes <tvar|tpl-currentdayname-result>Template:CURRENTDAYNAME, not the variable.

Date and time

The following variables return the current date and time in UTC.

Due to MediaWiki and browser caching, these variables frequently show when the page was cached rather than the current time.

The date and time magic words are formatted in the wiki content language. Since , they depend on the [[<tvar|manual-pagelang>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Language#page-content-lang|page content language]].

Variable	Output	Description	Versions
Year
{{CURRENTYEAR}}	2025	Year
Month
{{CURRENTMONTH}}	04	Month (zero-padded number)
{{CURRENTMONTH1}}	4	Month (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}	April	Month (name)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}}	April	Month (genitive form)
{{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}}	Apr	Month (abbreviation)	Template:MW version
Day
{{CURRENTDAY}}	22	Day of the month (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAY2}}	22	Day of the month (zero-padded number)	Template:MW version
{{CURRENTDOW}}	2	Day of the week (unpadded number), 0 (for Sunday) through 6 (for Saturday)
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}}	Tuesday	Day of the week (name)
Time
{{CURRENTTIME}}	00:04	Time (24-hour HH:mm format)
{{CURRENTHOUR}}	00	Hour (24-hour zero-padded number)
Other
{{CURRENTWEEK}}	17	Week (number)
{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}}	20250422000420	YYYYMMDDHHmmss timestamp	Template:MW version

The following variables do the same as the preceding ones, but using the site's server config or <tvar|manual-wg-localtimezone>$wgLocaltimezone.

• {{LOCALYEAR}}
• {{LOCALMONTH}}
• {{LOCALMONTH1}}
• {{LOCALMONTHNAME}}
• {{LOCALMONTHNAMEGEN}}
• {{LOCALMONTHABBREV}}
• {{LOCALDAY}}
• {{LOCALDAY2}}
• {{LOCALDOW}}
• {{LOCALDAYNAME}}
• {{LOCALTIME}}
• {{LOCALHOUR}}
• {{LOCALWEEK}}
• {{LOCALTIMESTAMP}}

For more thorough time formatting, you may want to install <tvar|ext-parserfunctions>Extension:ParserFunctions to use the [[<tvar|ext-parserfunct-t>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:ParserFunctions#.23time|#time parser function]].

Technical metadata

Note: Revision variables return data about the latest edit to the current page, even if viewing an older version of the page.

Variable	Output	Description	Versions
Site
{{SITENAME}}	MattWiki	The wiki's site name (<tvar|manual-wg-sitename>Template:Mediawiki).
{{SERVER}}	https://wiki.mattrude.com	Domain URL (<tvar|manual-wg-server>Template:Mediawiki).
{{SERVERNAME}}	wiki.mattrude.com	Subdomain and domain name (no longer dependent on <tvar|manual-wg-servername>Template:Mediawiki as of version 1.17).
{{DIRMARK}} {{DIRECTIONMARK}}	‎ ‎	Outputs a Unicode directional mark that matches the wiki's default language's direction (&lrm; on left-to-right wikis, &rlm; on right-to-left wikis), useful in text with multi-directional text. Since , it depends on the [[<tvar|manual-pagelang>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Language#page-content-lang|page content language]].	Template:MW version
{{SCRIPTPATH}}		Relative script path (<tvar|manual-wg-scriptpath>Template:Mediawiki).
{{STYLEPATH}}	/skins	Relative style path (<tvar|manual-wg-stylepath>Template:Mediawiki).	Template:MW version
{{CURRENTVERSION}}	1.43.0	The wiki's MediaWiki version.	Template:MW version
{{CONTENTLANGUAGE}} {{CONTENTLANG}}	en en	The wiki's default interface language (<tvar|manual-wg-langcode>Template:Mediawiki).	Template:MW version
Page
{{PAGEID}}	11753	Returns the page identifier.	Template:MW version
{{PROTECTIONLEVEL: action}}		Outputs the protection level (e.g. "autoconfirmed", "sysop") for a given action (e.g. "edit", "move") on the current page. Returns an empty string if not protected.	Template:MW version
{{PROTECTIONEXPIRY: action}}		Outputs the protection expiry (e.g. "20160418155030", "infinity") for a given action (e.g. "edit", "move") on the current page. Returns "infinity" if not protected.	Template:MW version
{{CASCADINGSOURCES}}		[ Expensive] Returns the sources of any cascading protection acting on the current page. Pages will not return their own title unless they transclude themselves.	Template:MW version
Latest revision to current page
{{REVISIONID}}	17156	Unique revision ID.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONDAY}}	19	Day edit was made (unpadded number).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONDAY2}}	19	Day edit was made (zero-padded number).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONMONTH}}	06	Month edit was made (zero-padded number as of Template:Mediawiki, unpadded number in prior versions).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONMONTH1}}	6	Month edit was made (unpadded number).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONYEAR}}	2016	Year edit was made.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}}	20160619202201	Timestamp as of time of edit.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONUSER}}	PyWikiBot	The username of the user who made the most recent edit to the page, or the current user when previewing an edit.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONSIZE}}	71094	The size (bytes of wikitext) of the current revision of this page	Template:MW version
Affects page content
{{DISPLAYTITLE: title}}		Format the current page's title header. The value must be equivalent to the default title: only capitalization changes to certain parts of the title (not all) and replacing spaces with underscores are allowed (this can be changed with <tvar|manual-wg-restrict-disp-title>Template:Mediawiki). It can be disabled or enabled by <tvar|manual-wg-allow-disp-title>Template:Mediawiki; disabled by default before 1.10+, enabled by default thereafter. It can take a second argument of noerror or noreplace to suppress error messages when multiple displaytitles are used on one page or to make this displaytitle do nothing if a displaytitle was already specified earlier in the page.	Template:MW version Template:MW version ( for noerror and noreplace)
{{DEFAULTSORT: sortkey<tvar|code1>}} {{DEFAULTSORTKEY:sortkey<tvar|code2>}} {{DEFAULTCATEGORYSORT:sortkey<tvar|code3>}} {{DEFAULTSORT:sortkey<tvar|code4>|noerror}} {{DEFAULTSORT:sortkey|noreplace}}		Used for categorizing pages, sets a default [[<tvar|help-categories>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Categories|category sort key]]. For example if you put <tvar|sort>{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith , John<tvar|sort-end>}} at the end of John Smith, the page would be sorted under "S" by default in categories. It can take a second argument of noerror or noreplace to suppress error messages when multiple defaultsortkeys are used on one page or to make this <tvar|sort2>defaultsort do nothing if a <tvar|sort3>defaultsort was already specified earlier in the page.	Template:MW version Template:MW version ( for noerror and noreplace)

Statistics

Numbers returned by these variables normally contain separators (commas, dots or spaces, depending on the local language), but can return raw numbers with the ":R" flag (for example, <tvar|nop-code>{{NUMBEROFPAGES}} → <tvar|nop-result>8,194 and <tvar|nop-r-code>{{NUMBEROFPAGES:R}} → <tvar|nop-r-result>8194).

Use "|R" for magic words that require a parameter like PAGESINCATEGORY (for example <tvar|pic>{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help}} and <tvar|pic-r>{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help|R}}, or <tvar|pic-subcats>{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help|subcats}} and <tvar|pic-subcats-r>{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help|subcats|R}}). Also applicable to <tvar|pagesize>{{PAGESIZE:page name<tvar|pagesize-end>}} hereinbefore.

The number magic words are formatted in the wiki content language. Since , it depends on the [[<tvar|manual-pagelang>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Language#page-content-lang|page content language]].

Variable	Output	Description	Versions
{{NUMBEROFPAGES}}	8,194	Number of wiki pages.	Template:MW version
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}	307	Number of pages in Template:Mediawiki.
{{NUMBEROFFILES}}	862	Number of uploaded files.	Template:MW version
{{NUMBEROFEDITS}}	13,725	Number of wiki edits.	Template:MW version
{{NUMBEROFVIEWS}}		Number of page views. Usually useless on a wiki using [[<tvar|manual-cache>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Cache|caching]]. Removed in <tvar|gerrit>Template:Gerrit.	Template:MW version
{{NUMBEROFUSERS}}	7	Number of registered users.	Template:MW version
{{NUMBEROFADMINS}}	1	Number of users in the sysop Template:Mediawiki.	Template:MW version
{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}}	1	Number of active users, based on the criteria used in Special:Statistics.	Template:MW version
{{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname}} {{PAGESINCAT:categoryname}}	77 77	[ Expensive] Number of pages (including subcategories and files) in the given [[<tvar|help-categories>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Categories|category]]. (Category:Help used for demonstration)	Template:MW version
{{PAGESINCATEGORY: categoryname<tvar|code1>|all}} {{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname<tvar|code2>|pages}} {{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname<tvar|code3>|subcats}} {{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname|files}}	77 77 0 0	[ Expensive] Respectively, the number of all pages ordinary pages (excluding subcategories and files) subcategories or files in the given [[<tvar|help-categories>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Categories|category]]. (Category:Help used for demonstration)	Template:MW version
{{NUMBERINGROUP: groupname<tvar|code1>}} {{NUMINGROUP:groupname}}	1 1 ({{NUMBERINGROUP:bureaucrat}} used here)	Number of users in a specific Template:Mediawiki.	Template:MW version
{{PAGESINNS: index<tvar|code1>}} {{PAGESINNAMESPACE:index}}	Not enabled	[ Expensive] Number of pages in the given [[<tvar|help-ns>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Namespaces|namespace]] (replace index with the relevant [[<tvar|manual-ns>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Namespace|namespace index]]). For instance, <tvar|pins14>{{PAGESINNAMESPACE:14}} will output the number of category pages. <tvar|pins0>{{PAGESINNS:0}} differs from <tvar|noa>{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} in that the former includes redirects and disambiguation pages. Disabled by default, enable with <tvar|manual-wg-allow-slow-parser-funct>Template:Mediawiki.	Template:MW version

Page names

Variable	Output	Description	Versions
{{FULLPAGENAME}}	Help:Magic words	Namespace and full page title (including all subpage levels).	Template:MW version
{{PAGENAME}}	Magic words	Full page title (including all subpage levels) without the namespace.
{{BASEPAGENAME}}	Magic words	Page title of the page in the immediately superior [[<tvar|help-subpages>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Subpages|subpage]] level without the namespace ("Title/foo" on "Help:Title/foo/bar"). For more complex splitting, use <tvar|help-ext-pf-titleparts>{{#titleparts:}} from the [[<tvar|help-ext-pf>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:ParserFunctions|ParserFunctions extension]].	Template:MW version
{{SUBPAGENAME}}	Magic words	The [[<tvar|help-subpages>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Subpages|subpage]] title ("bar" on "Help:Title/foo/bar").	Template:MW version
{{SUBJECTPAGENAME}} {{ARTICLEPAGENAME}}	Help:Magic words Help:Magic words	Full page name of the associated subject (e.g. article or file). Useful on talk pages.	Template:MW version
{{TALKPAGENAME}}	Help talk:Magic words	Full page name of the associated talk page.	Template:MW version
{{ROOTPAGENAME}}	Magic words	Name of the root of the current page. Would return <tvar|foo>Title on page <tvar|baz>Help:Title/Foo/Bar	Template:MW version

The <tvar|basepagename>{{BASEPAGENAME}} and <tvar|subpagename>{{SUBPAGENAME}} magic words only work in namespaces that have subpages enabled. See <tvar|manual-wg-ns-with-subpages>Template:Mediawiki for information on enabling subpages.

As of Template:Mediawiki, these can all take a parameter, allowing specification of the page to be operated on, instead of just the current page:

• <tvar|code>{{PAGENAME:Template:Main Page}} → <tvar|result>Main Page

Page titles containing certain characters, such as apostrophes ' or asterisks *, may produce unexpected results when handled with these magic words, e.g. <tvar|pic>{{PAGESINCATEGORY:{{PAGENAME}}}}. See bugs Template:Mediawiki, Template:Mediawiki, Template:Mediawiki, and Template:Mediawiki. One simple way to fix this is wrapping the pagename in <tvar|titleparts>{{#titleparts:}} from the [[<tvar|help-ext-pf>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:ParserFunctions|ParserFunctions extension]].

For example, if page name is "<tvar|pagename>L'Aquila", the following code will produce the string "<tvar|result>Numeric char encoding":

{{#switch:{{PAGENAME}}
| L'Aquila = No translation
| L = Not OK
| L'Aquila = Entity escaping
| L'Aquila = Numeric char encoding
}}

URL encoded page names

The following are equivalents encoded for use in MediaWiki URLs (i.e. spaces replaced with underscores and some characters HTML escaped using numeric character encoding):

• {{FULLPAGENAMEE}}
• {{PAGENAMEE}}
• {{BASEPAGENAMEE}}
• {{SUBPAGENAMEE}}
• {{SUBJECTPAGENAMEE}}
• {{ARTICLEPAGENAMEE}}
• {{TALKPAGENAMEE}}
• {{ROOTPAGENAMEE}}

Note that <tvar|pagename>{{PAGENAME:...}}, <tvar|pagenamee>{{PAGENAMEE:...}} and <tvar|uec>{{urlencode:...}} have distinct implementations. See [[<tvar|manual-pagename-encoding>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:PAGENAMEE encoding|Manual:PAGENAMEE encoding]] for details.

Namespaces

Variable	Output	Description	Versions
{{NAMESPACE}}	Help	Name of the page's namespace
{{NAMESPACENUMBER}}	12	[[<tvar|manual-ns-id>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Namespace#Built-in_namespaces|ID]] of the page's namespace	Template:MW version
{{SUBJECTSPACE}} {{ARTICLESPACE}}	Help Help	Name of the associated content namespace	Template:MW version
{{TALKSPACE}}	Help talk	Name of the associated talk namespace	Template:MW version

The following are equivalents encoded for use in MediaWiki URLs (spaces replaced with underscores and some characters percent-encoded):

• {{NAMESPACEE}}
• {{SUBJECTSPACEE}}
• {{ARTICLESPACEE}}
• {{TALKSPACEE}}

As of Template:Mediawiki, these can take a full-page-name parameter and will return the requested namespace associated with that page, instead of with the current page:

• {{NAMESPACE:Template:Main Page}} → Template
• {{SUBJECTSPACE:Template:Main Page}} → Template
• {{TALKSPACE:Template:Main Page}} → Template talk

Parameter must not be a namespace name:

• {{SUBJECTSPACE:Help talk}} →   (Empty)

Other

Variable	Output	Description	Versions
{{!}}	|	Used to include a pipe character as part of a template argument or table cell contents. Before this was added as a magic word, many wikis implemented this by creating Template:! with | as the content.	Template:MW version

Parser functions

Parser functions are very similar to variables, but take one or more parameters (technically, any magic word that takes a parameter is a parser function), and the name is sometimes prefixed with a hash to distinguish them from templates.

This page only describes parser functions that are integral to the MediaWiki software. Other parser functions may be added by MediaWiki extensions such as the <tvar|ext-pf>Extension:ParserFunctions. For those see <tvar|help-ext-pf>Help:Extension:ParserFunctions.

Technical metadata of another page

Parser function	Output (for page MediaWiki)	Description	Versions
{{PAGEID: page name }}	1590	[ Expensive] Returns the page identifier of the specified page*.	Template:MW version
{{PAGESIZE: page name<tvar|code1> }} {{PAGESIZE: page name |R}}	4,783 4783	[ Expensive] Returns the byte size of the specified page. Use "<tvar|r>|R" to get raw (unformatted) numbers.	Template:MW version
{{PROTECTIONLEVEL: action | page name}}		[ Expensive] Outputs the protection level (e.g. "autoconfirmed", "sysop") for a given action (e.g. "edit", "move") on the specified page. Returns an empty string if not protected.	Template:MW version
{{PROTECTIONEXPIRY: action | page name}}		[Expensive] Outputs the protection expiry (e.g. "20160418155030", "infinity") for a given action (e.g. "edit", "move") on the specified page. Returns "infinity" if not protected.	Template:MW version
{{CASCADINGSOURCES: page name}}		[ Expensive] Returns the sources of any cascading protection acting on the specified page. Pages will not return their own title unless they transclude themselves.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONID: page name }}	17712	[ Expensive] Unique revision ID of the last revision on the specified page*.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONDAY: page name }}	1	[ Expensive] Day of edit from the last revision of the specified page* (unpadded number).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONDAY2: page name }}	01	[ Expensive] Day of edit from the last revision of the specified page* (zero-padded number).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONMONTH: page name }}	01	[ Expensive] Month of edit from the last revision of the specified page* (zero-padded number as of Template:Mediawiki, unpadded number in prior versions).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONMONTH1: page name }}	1	[ Expensive] Month of edit from the last revision of the specified page* (unpadded number).	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONYEAR: page name }}	2017	[ Expensive] Year of edit from the last revision of the specified page*.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP: page name }}	20170101225120	[ Expensive] Timestamp as of time of edit on the specified page*.	Template:MW version
{{REVISIONUSER: page name }}	PyWikiBot	[ Expensive] The username from the last revision on the specified page*.	Template:MW version
When the given param is equal to the current title of the parser, the parser function will yield the previous versions on preview and on substitution, that includes empty strings when used on page creation, but using the values from the current version for page view, including viewing old revisions. In this case it is a non-expensive parser function.

URL data

Parser function	Input → Output	Description	Versions
{{localurl: page name<tvar|code1>}} {{localurl:page name <tvar|code2>|query_string}}	{{localurl:MediaWiki}} → /MediaWiki {{localurl:MediaWiki|printable=yes}} → /index.php?title=MediaWiki&printable=yes	The relative path to the title.
{{fullurl: page name<tvar|code1>}} {{fullurl:page name<tvar|code2> |query_string<tvar|code3>}} {{fullurl:interwiki:remote page name<tvar|code4> |query_string}}	{{fullurl:Category:Top level}} → https://wiki.mattrude.com/Category:Top_level {{fullurl:Category:Top level|action=edit}} → https://wiki.mattrude.com/index.php?title=Category:Top_level&action=edit https:{{fullurl:s:Electra|action=edit}} → https:https://wiki.mattrude.com/index.php?title=S:Electra&action=edit https:{{fullurl:s:es:Electra|action=edit}} → https:https://wiki.mattrude.com/index.php?title=S:es:Electra&action=edit	A protocol-relative path to the title. This will also resolve [[<tvar|manual-interwiki>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Interwiki|interwiki]] prefixes. Note: Unbracketed (plain) protocol-relative links are not automagically linked.	Template:MW version
{{canonicalurl: page name<tvar|code1>}} {{canonicalurl:page name<tvar|code2> |query_string<tvar|code3>}} {{canonicalurl:interwiki:remote page name<tvar|code4> |query_string}}	{{canonicalurl:Category:Top level}} → https://wiki.mattrude.com/Category:Top_level {{canonicalurl:Category:Top level|action=edit}} → https://wiki.mattrude.com/index.php?title=Category:Top_level&action=edit	The absolute path to the title, using the canonical URL. This will also resolve [[<tvar|manual-interwiki>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Interwiki|interwiki]] prefixes.	Template:MW version
{{filepath: file name<tvar|code1>}} {{filepath:file name<tvar|code2>|nowiki}} {{filepath:file name<tvar|code3>|thumbnail_size}}	{{filepath:Wiki.png}} → {{filepath:Wiki.png|nowiki}} → {{filepath:Example.svg|300}} → https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Example.svg/330px-Example.svg.png	A protocol-relative path to the full size or thumbnail (Template:Mediawiki) of a media file.	Template:MW version Template:MW version
{{urlencode: string<tvar|code1>}} or <tvar|code2>{{urlencode:string<tvar|code3>|QUERY}} <tvar|code4> {{urlencode:string<tvar|code5>|WIKI}} {{urlencode:string|PATH}}	{{urlencode:x:y/z á é}} or {{urlencode:x:y/z á é|QUERY}} → x%3Ay%2Fz+%C3%A1+%C3%A9 {{urlencode:x:y/z á é|WIKI}} → x:y/z_%C3%A1_%C3%A9 {{urlencode:x:y/z á é|PATH}} → x%3Ay%2Fz%20%C3%A1%20%C3%A9 Note that the default changed from <tvar|wiki>|WIKI to <tvar|query>|QUERY in 1.17; this may break templates that rely on this function.	The input encoded for use in URLs. Note that there is no urldecode function like there is in the obsolete <tvar|ext-stringfunctions>Extension:StringFunctions. Encoding code space  none  +  QUERY  +   WIKI  _   PATH %20	Template:MW version (or Template:MW version Template:MW version Template:MW version)
{{anchorencode: string}}	{{anchorencode:x y z á é}} → x_y_z_á_é	The input encoded for use in URL section anchors (after the “#” symbol in a URL).	Template:MW version

Namespaces

{{ns:}} returns the current localized name for the [[<tvar|help-ns>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Namespace|namespace]] with that index, canonical name, or local alias. Thus <tvar|ns6>{{ns:6}}, <tvar|ns-file>{{ns:File}}, and <tvar|ns-img>{{ns:Image}} (an old name for the File namespace) all return "File". On a wiki where the content language is French, <tvar|ns-file-de>{{ns:Fichier}} is also valid, but <tvar|ns-file-incorrect>{{ns:Datei}} (the localisation of "File" in German) is not.

<tvar|nse>{{nse:}} is the equivalent encoded for MediaWiki URLs. It does the same, but it replaces spaces with underscores, making it usable in external links.

Content namespaces			Talk namespaces
Usage	Output		Usage	Output
{{ns:-2}} / {{ns:Media}}	Media		{{ns:-1}} / {{ns:Special}}	Special (no talk page)
{{ns:0}} / {{ns:}}			{{ns:1}} / {{ns:Talk}}	Talk
{{ns:2}} / {{ns:User}}	User		{{ns:3}} / {{ns:User talk}}	User talk
{{ns:4}} / {{ns:Project}}	Project Varies between wikis		{{ns:5}} / {{ns:Project talk}}	Project talk
{{ns:6}} / {{ns:File}} or {{ns:Image}}	File		{{ns:7}} / {{ns:File talk}} or {{ns:Image talk}}	File talk
{{ns:8}} / {{ns:MediaWiki}}	MediaWiki		{{ns:9}} / {{ns:MediaWiki talk}}	MediaWiki talk
{{ns:10}} / {{ns:Template}}	Template		{{ns:11}} / {{ns:Template talk}}	Template talk
{{ns:12}} / {{ns:Help}}	Help		{{ns:13}} / {{ns:Help talk}}	Help talk
{{ns:14}} / {{ns:Category}}	Category		{{ns:15}} / {{ns:Category talk}}	Category talk

Don't confuse localised namespaces with [[<tvar|manual-custom-ns>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Using custom namespaces|custom namespaces]].

Formatting

Usage	Input → Output	Description	Version
{{formatnum:unformatted number}} {{formatnum:formatnum-formatted number|R}} {{formatnum:unformatted number|NOSEP}}	Simple: {{formatnum:987654321.654321}} → 987,654,321.654321 {{formatnum:987,654,321.654321|R}} → 987654321.654321 Advanced: {{formatnum:{{formatnum:987654321.654321}}|R}} → 987654321.654321 (on any locale) {{formatnum:00001}} → 00,001 {{formatnum:987654321.654321 |NOSEP}} → 987654321.654321 Examples with বাংলা locale: {{formatnum:987654321.654321}} → ৯৮,৭৬,৫৪,৩২১.৬৫৪৩২১ {{formatnum:987654321.654321 |NOSEP}} → ৯৮৭৬৫৪৩২১.৬৫৪৩২১ {{formatnum:৯৮,৭৬,৫৪,৩২১.৬৫৪৩২১ |R}} → 987654321.654321 Unsupported: {{formatnum:{{formatnum:987.654.321}}}} → 987 654 321 (e.g. with Italian locale) Examples of wrong input (unreliable output), with or without |R: {{formatnum:987,654.321|R}} (the least broken) {{formatnum:987.654,321|R}} {{formatnum:987 654,321|R}} {{formatnum:987&nbsp;654,321|R}}	Takes an unformatted number (arab, no group separators and . as decimal separator) and outputs it in the localized digit script and formatted with decimal and decimal group separators, according to the wiki's default locale. The |R parameter can be used to reverse the behavior, for use in mathematical situations: it's reliable and should be used only to deformat numbers which are known to be formatted exactly as formatnum formats them with the wiki's locale. The NOSEP ("no separators") parameter means that no group / decimal separators are changed; formatnum will only transform the digits themselves in languages which don't use the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. NOSEP can also prevent non-standard digit groupings you wouldn't expect. Leading zeroes are not removed, you can use {{#expr:00001}} instead if you have <tvar|ext-pf>Extension:ParserFunctions installed. If you don't input numbers in the exact format required, don't expect any reliable output, especially on non-English wikis. If you really need to format (according the wiki's locale) a number in unknown input format, you could try and use formatnum two times (but not if it can have a decimal group, or its separator will be eaten or the number won't be formatted). Be aware that this is more a hack than a regular way to proceed, thus the output may be not reliable.	Template:MW version Template:MW version
{{#dateformat:date}} {{#formatdate:date}} {{#dateformat:date|format}} {{#formatdate:date|format}}	{{#dateformat:25 dec 2009|ymd}} → 2009 December 25 (your pref), 2009 Dec 25 (default) {{#formatdate:dec 25,2009|dmy}} → 25 December 2009 (your pref), 25 Dec 2009 (default) {{#dateformat:2009-12-25|mdy}} → December 25, 2009 (your pref), December 25, 2009 (default) {{#formatdate:2009 dec 25|ISO 8601}} → 2009-12-25 (your pref), 2009-12-25 (default) {{#dateformat:25 decEmber|mdy}} → December 25 (your pref), DecEmber 25 (default) Note: In the example hereinbefore, "your pref" refers to your date preference on the current MediaWiki wiki only.	Formats an unlinked date based on user "date format" preference, and adds metadata tagging it as a formatted date. For logged-out users and those who have not set a date format in their preferences, dates can be given a default: mdy, dmy, ymd, ISO 8601 (all case sensitive). If only the month and day are given, only mdy and dmy are valid. If a format is not specified or is invalid, the input format is used as a default. If the supplied date is not recognized as a valid date (specifically, if it contains any metadata such as from a nested use of these or similar templates), it is rendered unchanged, and no (additional) metadata is generated. Although the ISO 8601 standard requires that dates be in the Gregorian calendar, the ISO parameter in this function will still format dates that fall outside the usual Gregorian range (e.g. dates prior to 1583). Also, the magic word cannot properly convert between negative years (used with ISO 8601) and years BC or years BCE (used in general writing).	Template:MW version
{{lc:string}}	{{lc:DATA CENTER}} → data center	The lowercase input.	Template:MW version
{{lcfirst:string}}	{{lcfirst:DATA center}} → dATA center	The input with the very first character lowercase.	Template:MW version
{{uc:string}}	{{uc:text transform}} → TEXT TRANSFORM	The uppercase input.	Template:MW version
{{ucfirst:string}}	{{ucfirst:text TRANSFORM}} → Text TRANSFORM	The input with the very first character uppercase.	Template:MW version
{{padleft:xyz|stringlength}} {{padleft:xyz|strlen|char}} {{padleft:xyz|strlen|string}}	{{padleft:xyz|5}} → 00xyz {{padleft:xyz|5|_}} → __xyz {{padleft:xyz|5|abc}} → abxyz {{padleft:xyz|2}} → xyz {{padleft:|1|xyz}} → x (first character of the string)	Inserts a string of padding characters (character chosen in third parameter; default "0") of a specified length (second parameter) next to a chosen base character or variable (first parameter). The final digits or characters in the base replace the final characters in the padding; i.e. {{padleft:44|3|0}} produces 044. The padding string may be truncated if its length does not evenly divide the required number of characters. Only the first character of the third parameter is used in versions up to 1.12, but by version 1.15 all the characters are used. Template:Mediawiki (fixed in Template:Mediawiki): multibyte characters are interpreted as two characters, which can skew width. These also cannot be used as padding characters.	Template:MW version
{{padright:xyz|stringlength}} {{padright:xyz|strlen|char}} {{padright:xyz|strlen|string}}	{{padright:xyz|5}} → xyz00 {{padright:xyz|5|_}} → xyz__ {{padright:xyz|5|abc}} → xyzab {{padright:xyz|2}} → xyz {{padright:|1|xyz}} → x	Identical to padleft, but adds padding characters to the right side.	Template:MW version

See also: <tvar|ext-stringfunctions>Extension:StringFunctions.

Localization

Here are the magic words which are used as main localisation tools. Other magic words will often depend on the wiki's locale and configuration or on the chosen language: see in particular [[<tvar|date>#Date and time|#Date and time]], [[<tvar|formatting>#Formatting|#Formatting]], [[<tvar|misc>#Miscellaneous|#Miscellaneous]]. More magic words are added by the <tvar|ext-translate>Extension:Translate.

The usage of these magic words can be very complex, and the documentation is currently incomplete; there's some more info on PLURAL, GRAMMAR, GENDER.

Usage	Input → Output	Description	Version
{{plural:2|is|are}}	{{plural:0|is|are}} → are {{plural:1*1|is|are}} → is {{plural:21 mod 10|is|are}} → are {{plural:{{#expr:21 mod 10}}|is|are}} → is {{plural:1|is|are}} → is {{plural:2|is|are}} → are (For Russian) {{PLURAL:5|1=Категория|Категории}}  → Категории {{PLURAL:3|страница|страницы|страниц}} → страницы {{PLURAL:5|страница|страницы|страниц}} → страниц	Outputs the singular form (second parameter) if the first parameter is an expression equalling one; the plural form (third parameter) otherwise. Its functioning is [[<tvar|meta-help-magicwords>m:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Magic_words#Language-dependent_word_conversions|language-dependent]]. Some language codes (ab, av, ba, bxr, ce, crh_cyrl, cv, inh, koi, krc, kv, lbe, lez, mhr, mrj, myv, ru, tt_cyrl, tyv, udm, xal) used 3 plural forms (updated 01.2014): Form 1: 1, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 101, 1001, … Form 2: 0, 5, 6, 7, 8, …, 18, 19, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, … Form 3: 2, 3, 4, 22, 23, 24, 32, 33, 34, 42, 43, 44, 52, 53, 54, 62, 102, 1002, …
{{grammar:N|noun}}		Outputs the correct inflected form of the given word described by the inflection code after the colon ([[<tvar|meta-help-magicwords>m:Special:MyLanguage/Help:Magic_words#Language-dependent_word_conversions|language-dependent]]). Grammar transformations are used for inflected languages like Polish. See also <tvar|manual-wg-grammarform>Template:Mediawiki.	Template:MW version
{{gender:username|text for every gender}} {{gender:Username|male text|female text|text for unspecified}} {{gender:|male text|female text|text for unspecified}} {{gender:.|male text|female text|text for unspecified}}	(Depends on the named user's gender)	A switch for the gender set in Special:Preferences. Note: The first example is basically a no-op Note: If 3rd parameter is omitted and user hasn't defined his/her gender, then text if user is male is returned. A blank username field (<tvar|gender>{{gender:|) means the current user, but can be used only in interface messages (MediaWiki namespace). A dot username (.) means the default user gender on this wiki.	Template:MW version
{{int: message name}}	{{int:edit}} → Edit (Depends on user language; try: fr • ja)	Internationalizes (translates) the given interface (MediaWiki namespace) message into the user language. For msgnw and other transclusion magic words, see the [[<tvar|sec>#Transclusion modifiers|Transclusion modifiers]] section. Note that this can damage / confuse cache consistency in MediaWiki 1.17 and earlier, see bug 14404.
{{int:editsectionhint|MediaWiki}}	{{int:editsectionhint|MediaWiki}} → Edit section: MediaWiki	You may also use parameters with translations. Parameters are designated in messages with: $1, $2, $3, etc. For example, here is the message for editsectionhint: Edit section: $1 In this example, MediaWiki replaces $1.

Transclusion modifiers

{{Page name|optional params}} usually transcludes another page, by default from the Template:namespace.

These magic words modify that behavior.

Usage	Output	Description	Version
{{:xyz}}		A bare colon is not a template modifier, it's the prefix for the main namespace. Since transclusion defaults to the Template namespace, you would use for example, <tvar|code1>{{:UTC}} (vs. <tvar|code2>{{UTC}}) to include the text of the main namespace article UTC rather than Template:UTC.
{{int:xyz}}		Same as <tvar|mw>{{MediaWiki:xyz}}, except standard message translation is applied depending on subpages and content/user/uselang language. Another difference is: this doesn't appear under "<tvar|translatesused>Templates used on this page:". Rendered as <tvar|int>⧼xyz⧽ if <tvar|mw>MediaWiki:xyz doesn't exist. See also Help:System messageHelp:System message.
{{msg:xyz}}		Even if there is a magic word named "xyz", use template:xyz unless the template doesn't exist (equivalent to <tvar|code>{{template:xyz}}). Normally, magic words have priority when there is a conflict.
{{msgnw:xyz}}		The unexpanded wikitext is rendered (more or less, for details see <tvar|msgnw>msgnw).
{{raw:xyz}}		Equivalent to <tvar|msg>{{msg:xyz}} above.
{{subst:xyz}}		In the wikitext, the tag is substituted by the content (single-level evaluation only), see [[<tvar|usage>Special:MyLanguage/Help:template#Usage|Template usage]].

Miscellaneous

Usage	Output	Description	Version
<tvar|code1>{{#language:language code<tvar|code2>}} {{#language:ar}} {{#language:language code<tvar|code3>| target language code<tvar|code5>}} {{#language:ar|en}}	language code العربية language code Arabic	The full name of the language for the given [[<tvar|manual-langcode>Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Language#lang-code|language code]]: native name (language autonym) by default, name translated in target language if a target language code is specified. <tvar|ext-cldr>Extension:CLDR must be installed for the translation to work.	Template:MW version Template:MW version (translation)
{{#special: special page name}} {{#special:userlogin}}	Special:Special page name Special:UserLogin	The localized name for the given canonical Special: page.	Template:MW version
{{#speciale: special page name}} {{#speciale:userlogin}}	Special:Special_page_name Special:UserLogin	The localized and URL-encoded name for the given canonical Special: page.	Template:MW version
{{#tag: tagname <tvar|code1> |content <tvar|code2> |attribute1=value1 <tvar|code3> |attribute2=value2 }}	(Depends on parser tag)	Alias for XML-style MediaWiki parser tags or extension tags. It allows execution of wiki code and <tvar|ext-pf>Extension:ParserFunctions within tags before the tag is processed. It also prevents parsing of tags in conditional paths that aren't executed (like in #if statements). Content between tags is passed as the first parameter, and any attributes for the tags can be passed as subsequent parameters. This example: <tvar|code1><tagname attribute1="value1" attribute2="value2"<tvar|code2>>Your content goes here<tvar|code3></tagname<tvar|code4>> …can be rewritten like this: <tvar|code1>{{#tag:tagname<tvar|code2>|Your content goes here<tvar|code3>|attribute1=value1<tvar|code4>|attribute2=value2<tvar|code5>}} Example for the [[<tvar|ext-cite>Special:MyLanguage/Extension:Cite|Cite extension]]'s <ref> tags: {{#tag:ref|Citation text goes here, and you can include parser functions like {{#expr: ... }} and magic words like {{PAGENAME}}.|name="multiple"}} You must write <tvar|code1>{{#tag:tagname<tvar|code2>||attribute1=value1<tvar|code3>|attribute2=value2<tvar|code4>}} to pass an empty content. No space is permitted in the area reserved for content between the pipe characters <tvar|code5>|| before attribute1.	Template:MW version

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