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, 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.
__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 treat a variable as a template; for example, {{CURRENTDAYNAME|x}} transcludes Template:CURRENTDAYNAME.

Tools.svg Tip for wiki admins: You can configure the number of expensive parser functions allowed on a page using the $wgExpensiveParserFunctionLimit configuration setting.

Date & time

The following variables return the current date and time according to the user's timezone preferences, defaulting to the UTC timezone.

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}} 11 Month (zero-padded number)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} November Month (name)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} November Month (genitive form)
{{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}} Nov Month (abbreviation) 1.5+
Day
{{CURRENTDAY}} 12 Day of the month (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAY2}} 12 Day of the month (zero-padded number) 1.6+
{{CURRENTDOW}} 2 Day of the week (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} Tuesday Day of the week (name)
Time
{{CURRENTTIME}} 20:49 Time (24-hour HH:mm format)
{{CURRENTHOUR}} 20 Hour (24-hour zero-padded number)
Other
{{CURRENTWEEK}} 46 Week (number)
{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} 20241112204911 YYYYMMDDHHmmss timestamp 1.7+

The following variables do the same as the above, but using the site's local timezone instead of user preferences and UTC:

  • {{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}} NESG Wiki The wiki's site name ($wgSitename).
{{SERVER}} https://nesgwiki.chem.buffalo.edu domain URL ($wgServer)
{{SERVERNAME}} nesgwiki.chem.buffalo.edu domain name ($wgServerName)
{{DIRMARK}}
{{DIRECTIONMARK}} 		‎
‎ 		Outputs a unicode-directional mark that matches the wiki's default language's direction (‎ on left-to-right wikis, ‏ on right-to-left wikis), useful in text with multi-directional text. 1.7+
{{SCRIPTPATH}} relative script path ($wgScriptPath)
{{STYLEPATH}} /skins relative style path ($wgStylePath) 1.16+
{{CURRENTVERSION}} 1.38.2 The wiki's MediaWiki version. 1.7+
{{CONTENTLANGUAGE}}
{{CONTENTLANG}} 		en
en 		The wiki's default interface language ($wgLanguageCode) 1.7+
Latest revision to current page
{{REVISIONID}} 1542 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}} 11 Month edit was made (unpadded number) 1.8+
{{REVISIONYEAR}} 2009 Year edit was made 1.8+
{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}} 20091111162039 Timestamp as of time of edit 1.8+
{{REVISIONUSER}} Admin The username of the user who made the most recent edit to the page 1.15+
{{PAGESIZE:page name}} 31,845 [expensive] Returns the byte size of the specified page. 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}} → 965 and {{NUMBEROFPAGES:R}} → 965). Use "|R" for magic words that require a parameter like PAGESINCATEGORY (for example {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help}} and {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help|R}}).

Variable Output Description Versions
Entire wiki
{{NUMBEROFPAGES}} 965 Number of wiki pages. 1.7+
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} 147 Number of pages in main namespace without Main Page.
{{NUMBEROFFILES}} 471 Number of uploaded files. 1.5+
{{NUMBEROFEDITS}} 4,117 Number of page edits. 1.10+
{{NUMBEROFVIEWS}} Template:NUMBEROFVIEWS Number of page views. Usually useless on a wiki using caching. 1.14+
{{NUMBEROFUSERS}} 161 Number of registered users. 1.7+
{{NUMBEROFADMINS}} 2 Number of users in the sysop group. 1.7+
{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}} 14 Number of active users, based on the criteria used in Special:Statistics. 1.15+
{{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname}}
{{PAGESINCAT:Help}} 		38
38 		[expensive] Number of pages in the given category (replace "Help" with the relevant category name). 1.13+
{{NUMBERINGROUP:groupname}}
{{NUMINGROUP:groupname}} 		1
1
({{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 2 with the relevant namespace index). E.g. {{PAGESINNAMESPACE:14}} equals the number of categories. 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 URL-encoded equivalents:

  • {{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

Namespaces

Variable Output Description Versions
{{NAMESPACE}} Help Namespace (name)
{{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 URL-encoded equivalents:

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

As of 1.15+, these can all take a parameter, specifying the property should be returned for a given title instead of the current page:

  • {{NAMESPACE:Template:Main Page}} → Template

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}} → /index.php/MediaWiki
{{localurl:MediaWiki|printable=yes}} → /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://nesgwiki.chem.buffalo.edu/index.php/Category:Top_level

{{fullurl:Category:Top level|action=edit}} → https://nesgwiki.chem.buffalo.edu/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}} → 		The absolute URL to a media file. 1.12+
{{urlencode:string}} {{urlencode:x y z á é}} → x+y+z+%C3%A1+%C3%A9 The input encoded for use in URLs. 1.7+
{{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). 1.8+

Namespaces

{{ns:}} returns the localized name for the namespace with that index. {{nse:}} is the URL-encoded equivalent. 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}} {{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}} NESG Wiki {{ns:5}} or {{ns:Project talk}} NESG 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 		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. 1.7+
1.13+

{{#dateformat:date}} {{#formatdate:date}} {{#dateformat:date|format}} {{#formatdate:date|format}}

{{#dateformat:11 seP 2001|ymd}}
→ 2001 September 11 (your pref), 2001 SeP 11 (default)
{{#formatdate:sep 11,2001|dmy}}
→ 11 September 2001 (your pref), 11 Sep 2001 (default)
{{#dateformat:1941-12-07|mdy}}
→ December 7, 1941 (your pref), December 7, 1941 (default)
{{#formatdate:2001 sep 11|ISO 8601}}
→ 2001-09-11 (your pref), 2001-09-11 (default)
{{#dateformat:11 septEmber|mdy}}
→ September 11 (your pref), SeptEmber 11 (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|5}} → 00xyz
{{padleft:xyz|5|_}} → __xyz 		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.
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|5}} → xyz00
{{padright:xyz|5|_}} → xyz__ 		Identical to padleft, but adds padding characters to the right side.
{{plural:2|is|are}} {{plural:1|is|are}} → is
{{plural:2|is|are}} → are 		Outputs the correct given pluralization form (parameters except first) depending on the count (first parameter). 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}}
{{#tag:tagname
|tag content
|parameter=value
|parameter2=value
}} 		(depends on parser tag) Alias for XML-style parser or extension tags, but parsing wiki code. Attribute values can be passed as parameter values ('<tagname attribute="value">' → '{{#tag:tagname|attribute=value}}'), and inner content as an unnamed parameter ('<tagname>content</tagname>' → '{{#tag:tagname|content}}').

Warning : '{{#tag:tagname|attribute1=value1|attribute2=value2}}' will be interpreted like '<tagname attribute2="value2">attribute1=value1</tagname>'. 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 1.15+
{{groupconvert:groupname}} (only works on wikis with language variants) Allow to enable group conversion rules which defined on [[MediaWiki:Groupconversiontable-groupname/variantcode]]. 1.15+
Languages Language: 

English

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