Help:Formatting
You can format your text by using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, apostrophes or equal signs which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in italic, you include it in two pairs of apostrophes like ''this''
.
Text formatting markup
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Character (inline) formatting – applies anywhere | ||
Italic text | ''italic'' |
italic |
Bold text | '''bold''' |
bold |
Bold and italic | '''''bold & italic''''' |
bold & italic |
Strike text | <strike>strike text</strike> |
|
Escape wiki markup | <nowiki>no ''markup''</nowiki> |
no ''markup'' |
Escape wiki markup once | [[Laboratory]]<nowiki/> equipment |
Laboratory equipment |
Section formatting – only at the beginning of the line | ||
Headings of different levels | ==Level 2== ===Level 3=== ====Level 4==== =====Level 5===== ======Level 6======
|
<xh2>Level 2</xh2> <xh3>Level 3</xh3> <xh4>Level 4</xh4> <xh5>Level 5</xh5> <xh6>Level 6</xh6> |
Horizontal rule | Text before ---- Text after |
Text before
Text after |
Bullet list | * Start each line * with an asterisk (*). ** More asterisks give deeper *** and deeper levels. * Line breaks <br />don't break levels. *** But jumping levels creates empty space. Any other start ends the list. |
Any other start ends the list. |
Numbered list | # Start each line # with a number sign (#). ## More number signs give deeper ### and deeper ### levels. # Line breaks <br />don't break levels. ### But jumping levels creates empty space. # Blank lines # end the list and start another. Any other start also ends the list. |
Any other start also ends the list. |
Definition list | ;item 1 : definition 1 ;item 2 : definition 2-1 : definition 2-2 Begin with a semicolon. One item per line; a new line can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.
|
|
Indent text | : Single indent :: Double indent ::::: Multiple indent This workaround may harm accessibility.
|
|
Mixture of different types of list | # one # two #* two point one #* two point two # three #; three item one #: three def one # four #: four def one #: this looks like a continuation #: and is often used #: instead <br />of <nowiki><br /></nowiki> # five ## five sub 1 ### five sub 1 sub 1 ## five sub 2 The usage of
#: and *: for breaking a line within an item may also harm accessibility. |
|
Preformatted text | Start each line with a space. Text is '''preformatted''' and ''markups'' '''''can''''' be done. This way of preformatting only applies to section formatting. Character formatting markups are still effective.
|
Start each line with a space. Text is preformatted and markups can be done. |
Preformatted text blocks | <nowiki>Start with a space in the first column, (before the <nowiki>). Then your block format will be maintained. This is good for copying in code blocks: def function(): """documentation string""" if True: print True else: print False</nowiki> |
Start with a space in the first column, (before the <nowiki>). Then your block format will be maintained. This is good for copying in code blocks: def function(): """documentation string""" if True: print True else: print False |
Paragraphs and line breaks
MediaWiki ignores single line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line:
You type | You get |
---|---|
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 ''diff'' function (used internally to compare different versions of a page). But an empty line starts a new paragraph. When used in a list, a newline ''does'' affect the layout (see above). |
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 diff function (used internally to compare different versions of a page). But an empty line starts a new paragraph. When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (see above). |
If necessary, you can force a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tag <br />
:
You type | You get |
---|---|
You can break lines<br /> without a new paragraph.<br /> Please use this sparingly. |
You can break lines |
HTML tags
Some HTML tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example <code>
, <div>
, <span>
and <font>
. These apply anywhere you insert them.
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Inserted (Displays as underline in most browsers) |
<ins>Inserted</ins> or <u>Underline</u> |
Inserted or Underline |
Deleted (Displays as strikethrough in most browsers) |
<s>Struck out</s> or <del>Deleted</del> |
or
|
Fixed width text | <code>Source code</code> or <tt>Fixed width text</tt> |
or Fixed width text |
Superscripts and subscripts | X<sup>2</sup>, H<sub>2</sub>O |
X2, H2O |
Line breaks | You can break lines<br /> without a new paragraph.<br /> Please use this sparingly. |
You can break lines |
Blockquotes | Text before <blockquote>Blockquote</blockquote> Text after |
Text before
Text after |
Completely preformatted text | <pre> Text is '''preformatted''' and ''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done</pre> For marking up of preformatted text, check the "Preformatted text" entry at the end of the previous table.
|
Text is '''preformatted''' and ''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done |
Customized preformatted text | <pre style="color: red"> Text is '''preformatted''' with a style and ''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done </pre> A CSS style can be named within the
style property. |
Text is '''preformatted''' with a style and ''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done |
continued:
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Customized preformatted text with text wrap according to available width | <pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: -moz-pre-wrap; white-space: -pre-wrap; white-space: -o-pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"> This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. </pre> |
This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. |
Preformatted text with text wrap according to available width | <code> This long sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. This additional sentence makes the text even longer. </code> |
|
Leading spaces to preserve formatting | Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text from being reformatted. It still interprets [[Help:MediaWiki basics/Introduction to MediaWiki and wikis|wiki]] ''markup'' and special characters: → |
Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text from being reformatted. It still interprets wiki markup and special characters: → |
Links
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Internal links | Here's a link to a page named [[Cell counter]]. You can even say [[cell counter]]s and the link will show up correctly. You can put formatting around a link. Example: ''[[Laboratory informatics]]''. The ''first letter'' of articles is automatically capitalized, so [[laboratory informatics]] goes to the same place as [[Laboratory informatics]]. Capitalization matters after the first letter. You can link to a page section by its title: [[Laboratory information management system#Technology]] You can make the text appearing on an internal link different from the article title: [[Laboratory information management system#Technology|technology of LIMS]] If you wish to link to a category, add a colon in front: [[:Category:LIMSwiki help documentation]] |
Here's a link to a page named Cell counter. You can even say cell counters and the link will show up correctly. You can put formatting around a link. Example: Laboratory informatics. The first letter of articles is automatically capitalized, so laboratory informatics goes to the same place as Laboratory informatics. Capitalization matters after the first letter. You can link to a page section by its title: Laboratory information management system#Technology You can make the text appearing on an internal link different from the article title: technology of LIMS If you wish to link to a category, add a colon in front: Category:LIMSwiki help documentation |
External links | You can make an external link just by typing a URL: http://clinfowiki.org You can give it a title: [http://clinfowiki.org ClinfoWiki.org] Or leave the title blank: [http://clinfowiki.org] Linking to an e-mail address works the same way: mailto:someone@example.com or [mailto:someone@example.com someone] |
You can make an external link just by typing a URL: http://clinfowiki.org You can give it a title: ClinfoWiki.org Or leave the title blank: [1] Linking to an e-mail address works the same way: mailto:someone@example.com or someone |
Other formatting and tools
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Mathematical formulas | <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> |
|
Comment | <!-- This is a comment --> Comments are only visible in the edit zone. |
Comments are only visible in the edit zone. |
Signing talk page comments | You should "sign" your comments on talk pages: <br> - Three tildes gives your signature: ~~~ <br> - Four tildes give your signature plus date/time: ~~~~ <br> - Five tildes gives the date/time alone: ~~~~~ |
You should "sign" your comments
on talk pages: |
Page redirects | #REDIRECT [[Laboratory informatics]] You use redirects most often on pages with incorrect or outdated page titles. You simply copy or remove the existing content, paste this code in, and change the internal link text to the title of the article you wish to automatically redirect users to.
|
#REDIRECT Laboratory informatics |
Inserting media and tables
For more on these topics: Help:MediaWiki basics/Intermediate training
Inserting templates, citations, and category tags
For more on these topics: Help:MediaWiki basics/Advanced training
Inserting symbols
Symbols and other special characters not available on your keyboard can be inserted through a special sequence of characters. Those sequences are called HTML entities. For example, the following sequence (entity) → when inserted will be shown as right arrow HTML symbol → and — when inserted will be shown as an em dash HTML symbol —.
HTML symbol entities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Á | á | Â | â | ´ | Æ | æ | À | à | ℵ | Α | α | & | ∧ | ∠ | Å | å | ≈ | Ã | ã | Ä | ä | „ | Β | β | ¦ | • | ∩ | Ç | ç | ¸ | ¢ |
Χ | χ | ˆ | ♣ | ≅ | © | ↵ | ∪ | ¤ | † | ‡ | ↓ | ⇓ | ° | Δ | δ | ♦ | ÷ | É | é | Ê | ê | È | è | ∅ | Ε | ε | ≡ | Η | η | ||
Ð | ð | Ë | ë | € | ∃ | ƒ | ∀ | ½ | ¼ | ¾ | ⁄ | Γ | γ | ≥ | > | ↔ | ⇔ | ♥ | … | Í | í | Î | î | ¡ | Ì | ì | ℑ | ∞ | ∫ | Ι | ι |
¿ | ∈ | Ï | ï | Κ | κ | Λ | λ | ⟨ | « | ← | ⇐ | ⌈ | “ | ≤ | ⌊ | ∗ | ◊ | | ‹ | ‘ | < | ¯ | — | µ | · | − | Μ | μ | ∇ | – | |
≠ | ∋ | ¬ | ∉ | ⊄ | Ñ | ñ | Ν | ν | Ó | ó | Ô | ô | Œ | œ | Ò | ò | ‾ | Ω | ω | Ο | ο | ⊕ | ∨ | ª | º | Ø | ø | Õ | õ | ⊗ | Ö |
ö | ¶ | ∂ | ‰ | ⊥ | Φ | φ | Π | π | ϖ | ± | £ | ′ | ″ | ∏ | ∝ | Ψ | ψ | " | √ | ⟩ | » | → | ⇒ | ⌉ | ” | ℜ | ® | ⌋ | Ρ | ρ | |
› | ’ | ‚ | Š | š | ⋅ | § | | Σ | σ | ς | ∼ | ♠ | ⊂ | ⊆ | ∑ | ⊃ | ¹ | ² | ³ | ⊇ | ß | Τ | τ | ∴ | Θ | θ | ϑ | Þ | þ | ˜ | |
× | ™ | Ú | ú | ↑ | ⇑ | Û | û | Ù | ù | ¨ | ϒ | Υ | υ | Ü | ü | ℘ | Ξ | ξ | Ý | ý | ¥ | ÿ | Ÿ | Ζ | ζ | | |
Description | You type | You get |
---|---|---|
Copyright symbol | © |
|
Greek delta letter symbol | δ |
|
Euro currency symbol | € |
|
See the list of all HTML entities on the Wikipedia article List of XML and HTML character entity references. Additionally, MediaWiki supports two non-standard entity reference sequences: &רלמ;
and &رلم;
which are both considered equivalent to ‏
which is a right-to-left mark. (Used when combining right-to-left languages with left-to-right languages in the same page.)
HTML tags and symbol entities displayed themselves (with and without interpreting them)
- &euro; → €
- <span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;">Typo to be corrected</span> → Typo to be corrected
- <span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;">Typo to be corrected</span> → <span style="color: red; text-decoration: line-through;">Typo to be corrected</span>
Nowiki for HTML
<nowiki /> can prohibit (HTML) tags:
- <<nowiki />pre> → <pre>
But not & symbol escapes:
- &<nowiki />amp; → &
To print & symbol escapes as text, use "&" to replace the "&" character (eg. type "&nbsp;", which results in " ").
Formatting help
Beyond the text formatting markup shown on this page, here are some other formatting references:
- Help:MediaWiki basics
- Category:LIMSwiki training
- References - see Extension:Cite/Cite.php
You can find more help documentation at Category:LIMSwiki help documentation.