Template:TOC limit/doc

This template inserts a Table of Contents which omits subheadings beyond a certain depth. The table obeys the same layout rules as the __TOC__ magic word. Omitted sections still have section edit links in the article body; the main use for this template is situations where you want section edit links for ease of editing but don't want to clutter the table of contents.

Usage

{{TOC limit}}

The template defaults to including only the first- and second-level headings, i.e. those numbered "1" and "1.1" in the TOC.

You can specify a different limit by adding a header level:

{{TOC limit|4}}

4 allows for third-level headings, i.e. "1.1.1", but omits any subheadings below that from the TOC.

The template works by hiding the lower levels with CSS. See MediaWiki:Common.css.

A suggested alternative is {{TOChidden}}.

TOC levels versus wikitext header levels

The heading levels in the TOC normally correspond to the header levels in the wikitext, so a "== Level-2 header ==" will normally generate the first-level ("1") TOC headings, a "=== Level-3 header ===" will normally generate the second-level ("1.1") TOC headings, and so on. This correspondence does not hold if the page contains "= Level-1 headers =" or skips header levels. For example, wikitext like this:

 == Level-2 heading (A) ==
 === Level-3 heading (B) ===
 == Level-2 heading (C) ==
 ====== Level-6 heading (D) ======
 = Level-1 heading (E) =
 == Level-2 heading (F) ==
 === Level-3 heading (G) ===

will generate a TOC like this:

Using {{TOC limit}} on this page would not hide header D, because even though it is a level-6 heading it is shown at the second level in the TOC. And it would hide header G even though it is a level-3 heading just like header B, because header G is shown at the third level in the TOC while header B is shown at the second level.

Conflicts

This template does not interact well with the {{TOC right}}, {{TOC left}}, {{TOC center}} templates. To achieve the correct effect, use those with a limit parameter. For example, {{TOC right|limit=2}} has the effect that {{TOC right}} and {{TOC limit|2}} would have—if they worked together.