Help:Formatting
You can format your text by using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes 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 single quotes 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 | [[API]]<nowiki/>extension |
APIextension |
section formatting – only at the beginning of the line | ||
Headings of different levels | == Level 2 == === Level 3 === ==== Level 4 ==== ===== Level 5 ===== ====== Level 6 ====== |
Level 2Level 3Level 4Level 5Level 6 |
Horizontal rule | Text above ---- Text below |
Text above Text below |
Bullet list |
* Start each line * with an [[Wikipedia:asterisk|asterisk]] (*). ** More asterisks gives 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 [[Wikipedia:Number_sign|number sign]] (#). ## More number signs gives 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 |
|
Indent text | : Single indent :: Double indent ::::: Multiple indent |
|
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 |
|
Preformatted text | Start each line with a space. Text is '''preformatted''' and ''markups'' '''''can''''' be done. |
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
MediaWiki ignores single line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can force a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tag <br/>
.
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 <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Underline</span> |
Inserted or Underline |
Deleted (Displays as strikethrough in most browsers.) |
<del>Deleted</del> or <span style="text-decoration:line-through;">Deleted</span> |
or Deleted |
Fixed width text | <code>Source code</code> or <tt>Fixed width text</tt> |
or Fixed width text |
Blockquotes | text above text above <blockquote>blockquote</blockquote> text below text below |
text above text above
text below text below |
Comment | <!-- This is a comment --> Comments are only visible in the edit window. |
Comments are only visible in the edit window. |
Completely preformatted text | <pre> Text is '''preformatted''' and ''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done</pre> |
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> |
Text is '''preformatted''' with a style and ''markups'' '''''cannot''''' be done |
Customized preformatted text with text wrap according to screen width | <pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: -moz-pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word"> This longer sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. </pre> |
This longer sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. |
Preformatted text with text wrap according to screen width | <code> This longer sentence is used to demonstrate text wrapping. </code> |
|
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 | 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 HTML entities. 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>
Other formatting
Beyond the text formatting markup shown above, here are some other formatting references:
You can find more references at Help:Contents.