Help:Magic words

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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 is about usage of standard magic words; for a technical reference, see Manual:Magic words.

There are three general types of magic words:

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 behaviour of the page and can often be used to specify desired omissions and inclusions in the content.

Word Description Versions
Table of contents
__NOTOC__ Hides the table of contents (TOC).
__FORCETOC__ Forces the table of content to appear at its normal position (above the first header).
__TOC__ Places a table of contents at the word's current position (overriding __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.
__NEWSECTIONLINK__ Adds a link ("+" by default) beside the "edit" tab for adding a new section on a non-talk page (see Adding a section to the end). 1.7+
__NONEWSECTIONLINK__ Removes the link beside the "edit" tab on pages in talk namespaces. 1.15+
Categories
__NOGALLERY__ Used on a category page, replaces thumbnails in the category view with normal links. 1.7+
__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 user preferences to show them). 1.13+
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.
__END__ Explicitly marks the end of the article, to prevent MediaWiki from removing trailing whitespace. Removed in 19213. 1.1 - 1.8
__INDEX__ Tell search engines to index the page (overrides $wgArticleRobotPolicies, but not robots.txt). 1.14+
__NOINDEX__ Tell search engines not to index the page (ie, do not list in search engines' results). 1.14+
__STATICREDIRECT__ On redirect pages, don't allow MediaWiki to automatically update the link when someone moves a page and checks "Update any redirects that point to the original title". 1.13+

Variables

Variables return information about the current page, wiki, or date. Their syntax is similar to 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 {{Template:PAGENAME}}). In some cases, adding parameters will force the parser to invoke a template; for example, {{CURRENTDAYNAME|x}} transcludes 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.

Variable Output Description Versions
Year
{{CURRENTYEAR}} 2024 Year
Month
{{CURRENTMONTH}} 12 Month (zero-padded number)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} December Month (name)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} December Month (genitive form)
{{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}} Dec Month (abbreviation) 1.5+
Day
{{CURRENTDAY}} 22 Day of the month (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAY2}} 22 Day of the month (zero-padded number) 1.6+
{{CURRENTDOW}} 0 Day of the week (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} Sunday Day of the week (name)
Time
{{CURRENTTIME}} 12:25 Time (24-hour HH:mm format)
{{CURRENTHOUR}} 12 Hour (24-hour zero-padded number)
Other
{{CURRENTWEEK}} 51 Week (number)
{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} 20241222122503 YYYYMMDDHHmmss timestamp 1.7+

The following variables do the same as the above, but using the site's server config or $wgLocaltimezone.

  • {{LOCALYEAR}}
  • {{LOCALMONTH}}
  • {{LOCALMONTHNAME}}
  • {{LOCALMONTHNAMEGEN}}
  • {{LOCALMONTHABBREV}}
  • {{LOCALDAY}}
  • {{LOCALDAY2}}
  • {{LOCALDOW}}
  • {{LOCALDAYNAME}}
  • {{LOCALTIME}}
  • {{LOCALHOUR}}
  • {{LOCALWEEK}}
  • {{LOCALTIMESTAMP}}
For more thorough time formatting, you may want to install Extension:ParserFunctions to use the #time parser function

Technical metadata

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}} Koha Wiki The wiki's site name ($wgSitename).
{{SERVER}} https://wiki.koha-community.org domain URL ($wgServer)
{{SERVERNAME}} wiki.koha-community.org domain name (No longer dependent on $wgServerName as of version 1.17)
{{DIRMARK}}
{{DIRECTIONMARK}} 		‎
‎ 		Outputs a unicode-directional mark that matches the wiki's default language's direction (‎ on left-to-right wikis, ‏ on right-to-left wikis), useful in text with multi-directional text. 1.7+
{{SCRIPTPATH}} /w relative script path ($wgScriptPath)
{{STYLEPATH}} /w/skins relative style path ($wgStylePath) 1.16+
{{CURRENTVERSION}} 1.35.8 The wiki's MediaWiki version. 1.7+
{{CONTENTLANGUAGE}}
{{CONTENTLANG}} 		en
en 		The wiki's default interface language ($wgLanguageCode) 1.7+
Latest revision to current page
{{REVISIONID}} 4180 Unique revision ID 1.5+
{{REVISIONDAY}} 11 Day edit was made (unpadded number) 1.8+
{{REVISIONDAY2}} 11 Day edit was made (zero-padded number) 1.8+
{{REVISIONMONTH}} 03 Month edit was made (zero-padded number as of 1.17+, unpadded number in prior versions) 1.8+
{{REVISIONYEAR}} 2011 Year edit was made 1.8+
{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}} 20110311143123 Timestamp as of time of edit 1.8+
{{REVISIONUSER}} Gmcharlt The username of the user who made the most recent edit to the page, or the current user when previewing an edit 1.15+
{{PAGESIZE:page name}}
{{PAGESIZE:page name|R}} 		39,478
39478 		[expensive] Returns the byte size of the specified page. Use "|R" to get raw numbers. 1.13+
{{PROTECTIONLEVEL:action}} protection level Outputs the protection level (e.g. 'autoconfirm', 'sysop') for a given action (e.g. 'edit', 'move') on the current page or an empty string if not protected. 1.15+
Affects page content
{{DISPLAYTITLE:title}} Format the current page's title header. The value must be equivalent to the default title: only capitalization changes and replacing spaces with underscores. It can be disabled or enabled by $wgAllowDisplayTitle; disabled by default before 1.10+, enabled by default thereafter. 1.7+
{{DEFAULTSORT:sortkey}}
{{DEFAULTSORTKEY:sortkey}}
{{DEFAULTCATEGORYSORT:sortkey}} 		Used for categorizing pages, sets a default category sort key. For example if you put {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John}} at the end of John Smith, the page would be sorted under "S" by default in categories. 1.10+

Statistics

Numbers returned by these variables normally contain separators (commas or spaces, depending on the local language), but can return raw numbers with the ":R" flag (for example, {{NUMBEROFPAGES}} → 5,397 and {{NUMBEROFPAGES:R}} → 5397). Use "|R" for magic words that require a parameter like PAGESINCATEGORY (for example {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help}} and {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help|R}}). Also applicable to {{PAGESIZE:page name}} above.

Variable Output Description Versions
Entire wiki
{{NUMBEROFPAGES}} 5,397 Number of wiki pages. 1.7+
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} 1,429 Number of pages in content namespaces.
{{NUMBEROFFILES}} 371 Number of uploaded files. 1.5+
{{NUMBEROFEDITS}} 35,918 Number of page edits. 1.10+
{{NUMBEROFVIEWS}} Template:NUMBEROFVIEWS Number of page views. Usually useless on a wiki using caching. 1.14+
{{NUMBEROFUSERS}} 31,384 Number of registered users. 1.7+
{{NUMBEROFADMINS}} 14 Number of users in the sysop group. 1.7+
{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}} 30 Number of active users, based on the criteria used in Special:Statistics. 1.15+
{{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname}}
{{PAGESINCAT:Help}} 		43
43 		[expensive] Number of pages in the given category. 1.13+
{{NUMBERINGROUP:groupname}}
{{NUMINGROUP:groupname}} 		18
18
({{NUMBERINGROUP:bureaucrat}} used here) 		Number of users in a specific group. 1.14+
{{PAGESINNS:index}}
{{PAGESINNAMESPACE:index}} 		not enabled Number of pages in the given namespace (replace index with the relevant namespace index). For instance, {{PAGESINNAMESPACE:14}} will output the number of category pages. {{PAGESINNS:0}} differs from {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} in that the former includes redirects and disambiguation pages. Disabled by default, enable with $wgAllowSlowParserFunctions. 1.7+

Page names

Variable Output Description Versions
{{FULLPAGENAME}} Help:Magic words Namespace and page title. 1.6+
{{PAGENAME}} Magic words Page title.
{{BASEPAGENAME}} Magic words Page title excluding the current subpage and namespace ("Title/foo" on "Title/foo/bar").

For more complex splitting, use {{#titleparts:}} from ParserFunctions extension.

1.7+
{{SUBPAGENAME}} Magic words The subpage title ("foo" on "Title/foo"). 1.6+
{{SUBJECTPAGENAME}} Help:Magic words The namespace and title of the associated content page. 1.7+
{{TALKPAGENAME}} Help talk:Magic words The namespace and title of the associated talk page. 1.7+

The {{BASEPAGENAME}} and {{SUBPAGENAME}} magic words only work in namespaces that have subpages enabled. See Manual:$wgNamespacesWithSubpages for information on enabling subpages.

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

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

As of 1.15+, these can all take a parameter, allowing specification of the page to be operated on, instead of just the current page:

  • {{PAGENAME:Template:Main Page}} → Main Page
Warning Warning: Page titles containing certain characters, such as single quotes (') or asterisks *, may produce unexpected results when handled with these magic words, e.g. {{PAGESINCATEGORY:{{PAGENAME}}}}. See bugs 14779, 16474.

PAGENAME encoding

The PAGENAME variable encoding states are not simple. For simplicity in this section, ignore wide characters. Note that unauthorized in page names in order to protect templates, etc. are # < > [ ] { } | and will not be further mentioned. We will present the ASCII 7-bit values for characters as percent-hex-hex for clarity and utility since this is the same notation one would manually encode them in a URL. The term alphanumerics means only ASCII 7-bit values.

PAGENAME:

Some characters returned by PAGENAME are encoded more for HTML display and to be embedded in a URL:

  • " (double quote %22) is converted to &quot;
  • ' (single quote %27) is converted to &#39; (39 is the decimal ASCII value for single quote)
  • & (ambersand %3B) is converted to &amp;
PAGENAMEE:

PAGENAMEE converts spaces to underscore and a few other characters.

  • It converts & ' to %26 %27 and " = ^ to %22 %3D %5E %60
  • It does note convert alphanumerics and the characters ! $ ( ) * , - . / : ; @ ~
Web server HTTP interface:

As an aside, the URL you cut/paste in your web browser URL is not the same as PAGENAMEE .

  • For the input URL, the two characters that must be encoded are: % ? as %25 %3F
  • For the URL you see in your browser, the situation is not simple. Where some conversions are hidden in a brower-dependent manner because many web browersrs do, in effect, an incomplete urldecode action on the real URL to hide some of the encoding. This decoding is essential for usability so that, for examples, uses of non-English languages such as Asian languages can type in wide characters into a brower's URL address, such as for a CGI paramter, and have the characters properly encoded.
  • Converted by web server URL rewriting and the browser decoding: + & to %2B %3F in a user-visible manner. In some cases, such as being adjacent to a space, = is converted to %3D , and it other cases (which are complex) it does not appear to be converted. Typically, it depends on whether the character is adjacent to a space and this is related to the fact that spaces are converted to underscores. Essentially, this is a complex interaction between the web server URL rewriting and the web browser urldecode action. If you cut/paste the URL from the web browser into a plain text editor and examine that string, you will see that the actual URL will convert these characters as well: " = ^ ` as %22 %3D %5E %60
urlencode:

The urlencode converts almost all characters except alphanumerics and three of the RFC1738 URL/CGI "safe" characters: - . _ (dash, period, underscore). While the technique of embedding {{uuencode:{{{userparam|{{PAGENAME}}})))) into off-wiki URLs as a CGI-style parameter can be useful in templates, see notes about PAGENAME above. Specially, some search engines can recognize an urlencoding of an HTML-style encoding and others cannot.

Namespaces

Variable Output Description Versions
{{NAMESPACE}} Help Name of the page's namespace
{{SUBJECTSPACE}}
{{ARTICLESPACE}} 		Help
Help 		Name of the associated content namespace 1.7+
{{TALKSPACE}} Help talk Name of the associated talk namespace 1.7+

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

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

As of 1.15+, these can take a page name parameter and will return the namespace of the page name parameter, instead of the current page's:

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

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 ParserFunctions extension. For those see Help:Extension:ParserFunctions.

URL data

Parser function Input → Output Description Versions
{{localurl:page name}}
{{localurl:page name|query_string}} 		{{localurl:MediaWiki}} → /wiki/MediaWiki
{{localurl:MediaWiki|printable=yes}} → /w/index.php?title=MediaWiki&printable=yes 		The relative path to the title.
{{fullurl:page name}}
{{fullurl:page name|query_string}}
{{fullurl:interwiki:remote page name|query_string}} 		{{fullurl:Category:Top level}} → https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Category:Top_level

{{fullurl:Category:Top level|action=edit}} → https://wiki.koha-community.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Top_level&action=edit

The absolute path to the title. This will also resolve Interwiki prefixes. 1.5+
{{filepath:file name}}
{{filepath:file name|nowiki}} 		{{filepath:Wiki.png}} →

{{filepath:Wiki.png|nowiki}} →
{{filepath:Example.svg|300}} → http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Example.svg/300px-Example.svg.png

 The absolute URL to the full size or thumbnail (1.18+) of a media file. 1.12+
1.18+
{{urlencode:string}} (or {{urlencode:string|QUERY}})
{{urlencode:string|WIKI}}
{{urlencode:string|PATH}} 		{{urlencode:x y z á é}} (or {{urlencode:x y z á é|QUERY}}) → x+y+z+%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%20y%20z%20%C3%A1%20%C3%A9

Note that the default changed from |WIKI to |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 Extension:StringFunctions. 1.7+ (or 1.17+)
1.17+
1.17+
{{anchorencode:string}} {{anchorencode:x y z á é}} → x_y_z_.C3.A1_.C3.A9 The input encoded for use in URL section anchors (after the '#' symbol in a URL). 1.8+

Namespaces

{{ns:}} returns the localized name for the namespace with that index. {{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}} or {{ns:Media}} Media
{{ns:-1}} or {{ns:Special}} Special
{{ns:0}} or {{ns:}} {{ns:1}} or {{ns:Talk}} Talk
{{ns:2}} or {{ns:User}} User {{ns:3}} or {{ns:User talk}} User talk
{{ns:4}} or {{ns:Project}} Koha Wiki {{ns:5}} or {{ns:Project talk}} Koha Wiki talk
{{ns:6}} or {{ns:File}} or {{ns:Image}} File {{ns:7}} or {{ns:File talk}} or {{ns:Image talk}} File talk
{{ns:8}} or {{ns:MediaWiki}} MediaWiki {{ns:9}} or {{ns:MediaWiki talk}} MediaWiki talk
{{ns:10}} or {{ns:Template}} Template {{ns:11}} or {{ns:Template talk}} Template talk
{{ns:12}} or {{ns:Help}} Help {{ns:13}} or {{ns:Help talk}} Help talk
{{ns:14}} or {{ns:Category}} Category {{ns:15}} or {{ns:Category talk}} Category talk

Formatting

Usage Input → Output Description Version
{{lc:string}} {{lc:DATA CENTER}} → data center The lowercase input. 1.5+
{{lcfirst:string}} {{lcfirst:DATA center}} → dATA center The input with the very first character lowercase. 1.5+
{{uc:string}} {{uc:text transform}} → TEXT TRANSFORM The uppercase input. 1.5+
{{ucfirst:string}} {{ucfirst:text TRANSFORM}} → Text TRANSFORM The input with the very first character uppercase. 1.5+
{{formatnum:unformatted num}}
{{formatnum:formatted num|R}} 		{{formatnum:987654321.654321}}
→ 987,654,321.654321
{{formatnum:987,654,321.654321|R}}
→ 987654321.654321
{{formatnum:00001}}
→ 00,001 		The input with decimal and decimal group separators, and localized digit script, according to the wiki's default locale. The |R parameter can be used to unformat a number, for use in mathematical situations.
Warning Warning: Leading zeroes are not removed, you can use {{#expr:00001}} instead if you have Extension:ParserFunctions installed 		1.7+
1.13+

{{#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 above, "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 a similar template), it is rendered unchanged, and no (additional) metadata is generated.
Warning Warning: 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). 		1.15+
{{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.
bug (fixed in r45734): multibyte characters are interpreted as two characters, which can skew width. These also cannot be used as padding characters. 		1.8+
{{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.
{{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 		Outputs the singular form (second parameter) if the first parameter is an expression equalling one; the plural form (third parameter) otherwise. Plural transformations are used for languages like Russian based on "count mod 10".
{{grammar:N|noun}} Outputs the correct inflected form of the given word described by the inflection code after the colon (language-dependent). Grammar transformations are used for inflected languages like Polish. See also Manual:$wgGrammarForms. 1.7+

Miscellaneous

Usage Output Description 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. Note that this can damage/confuse cache consistency, see bug 14404.
{{#language:language code}}
{{#language:ar}}
{{#language:th}} 		language code
العربية
ไทย 		The native name for the given language code, in accordance with ISO 639. 1.7+
{{#special:special page name}}
{{#special:userlogin}} 		Special:Special page name
Special:UserLogin 		The localized name for the given canonical Special: page. 1.9+
{{#tag:tagname
|content
|parameter1=value1
|parameter2=value2
}} 		(depends on parser tag) Alias for XML-style parser or extension tags, but parsing wiki code. Inner content can be passed as first parameter, and attributes as subsequent ones:

<tagname attribute1="value1" attribute2="value2"> content </tagname > → {{#tag:tagname|content|attribute1=value1|attribute2=value2}}

Warning : You must write {{#tag:tagname||attribute1=value1|attribute2=value2}} to pass an empty content.

1.12+
{{gender:username
|return text if user is male
|return text if user is female
|return text if user hasn't defined their gender}} 		(depends on the named user's gender) A switch for the gender set in Special:Preferences

Note: If 3rd parameter is omitted and user hasn't defined his/her gender, then text if user is male is returned.

1.15+
Language: English
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