Help:Magic words
From Gospel Translations
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:
- Behavior switches: these are uppercase words surrounded by double underscores (eg __FOO__)
- Variables: these are uppercase words surrounded by double braces (eg <tt>{{FOO}}</tt>). As such, they look a lot like templates
- Parser functions: these take parameters and are either of the form <tt>{{foo:...}}</tt> or <tt>{{#foo:...}}</tt>.
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.
Contents |
Behaviour switches
A behaviour 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Hl3 colspan="3"| 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. | |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="3"| 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+ |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="3"| 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+ |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="3"| 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). | |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="3"| 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). | 1.13+ |
| __NOINDEX__ | Tell search engines not to index the page (ie, do not list in search engines' results). | 1.13+ |
| __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. 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Year | |||
| {{CURRENTYEAR}} | 2024 | Year | |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Month | |||
| {{CURRENTMONTH}} | 11 | Month (zero-padded number) | |
| {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} | November | Month (name) | |
| {{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} | November | Month (genitive form) | |
| {{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}} | Nov | Month (abbreviation) | 1.5+ |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Day | |||
| {{CURRENTDAY}} | 22 | Day of the month (unpadded number) | |
| {{CURRENTDAY2}} | 22 | Day of the month (zero-padded number) | 1.6+ |
| {{CURRENTDOW}} | 5 | Day of the week (unpadded number) | |
| {{CURRENTDAYNAME}} | Friday | Day of the week (name) | |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Time | |||
| {{CURRENTTIME}} | 19:16 | Time (24-hour HH:mm format) | |
| {{CURRENTHOUR}} | 19 | Hour (24-hour zero-padded number) | |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Other | |||
| {{CURRENTWEEK}} | 47 | Week (number) | |
| {{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} | 20241122191603 | ISO 8601 time stamp | 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}}
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Site | |||
| {{SITENAME}} | Gospel Translations | The wiki's site name ($wgSitename). | |
| {{SERVER}} | http://gospeltranslation.org | domain URL ($wgServer) | |
| {{SERVERNAME}} | gospeltranslation.org | domain name ($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}} | /w | relative script path ($wgScriptPath) | |
| {{CURRENTVERSION}} | 1.16alpha(r55419) | The wiki's MediaWiki version. | 1.7+ |
| {{CONTENTLANGUAGE}} | en | The wiki's default interface language ($wgLanguageCode) | 1.7+ |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Latest revision to current page | |||
| {{REVISIONID}} | 16891 | Unique ID | 1.5+ |
| {{REVISIONDAY}} | 31 | Day edit was made (unpadded number) | 1.8+ |
| {{REVISIONDAY2}} | 31 | Day edit was made (zero-padded number) | 1.8+ |
| {{REVISIONMONTH}} | 12 | Month edit was made (unpadded number) | 1.8+ |
| {{REVISIONYEAR}} | 2008 | Year edit was made | 1.8+ |
| {{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}} | 20081231021312 | Timestamp as of time of edit | 1.8+ |
| {{PAGESIZE:page name}} | 22,029 | Returns the byte size of the specified page. | 1.13+ |
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| 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}} | Used on a categorized page, sets a default category sort key. | 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}} → 11,735 and {{NUMBEROFPAGES:R}} → 11735). Use "|R" for magic words that require a parameter like PAGESINCATEGORY (for example {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help}} and {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Help|R}}).
| Variable | Output | Description | Versions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Hl3 colspan="4"| Entire wiki | |||
| {{NUMBEROFPAGES}} | 11,735 | Number of wiki pages. | 1.7+ |
| {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} | 850 | Number of pages in main namespace. | |
| {{NUMBEROFFILES}} | 107 | Number of uploaded files. | 1.5+ |
| {{NUMBEROFEDITS}} | 61,182 | Number of page edits. | 1.10+ |
| {{NUMBEROFUSERS}} | 74,117 | Number of registered users. | 1.7+ |
| {{NUMBEROFADMINS}} | 5 | Number of users in the sysop group. | 1.7+ |
| {{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname}} {{PAGESINCAT:Help}} | 39 39 | Number of pages in the given category (replace "Help" with the relevant category name). | 1.13+ |
| {{NUMBERINGROUP:groupname}} | 4 ({{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" on "Title/foo"). | 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 following are URL-encoded equivalents:
- {{FULLPAGENAMEE}}
- {{PAGENAMEE}}
- {{BASEPAGENAMEE}}
- {{SUBPAGENAMEE}}
- {{SUBJECTPAGENAMEE}}
- {{TALKPAGENAMEE}}
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}}
Parser functions
Parser functions are very similar to variables, but operate on user input instead of the current page.
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.
URL data
| Variable | Output | Description | Versions |
|---|---|---|---|
| {{localurl:page name}} {{localurl:page name|query string}} | /wiki/Page_name /w/index.php?title=Page_name&query string | relative path to title | |
| {{fullurl:page name}} {{fullurl:page name|query_string}} | http://gospeltranslation.org/wiki/Page_name http://gospeltranslation.org/w/index.php?title=Page_name&query_string | absolute path to title | 1.5+ |
| {{filepath:file name}} {{filepath:file name|nowiki}} | | The absolute URL to a media file. | 1.12+ |
| {{urlencode:string}} | x+y+z
| The input encoded for use in URLs. | 1.7+ |
| {{anchorencode:string}} | x_y_z
| 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.
| 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}} | Gospel Translations | {{ns:5}} or {{ns:Project_talk}} | Gospel Translations talk |
| {{ns:6}} or {{ns:Image}} | File | {{ns:7}} 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 | Output | Description | Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| {{lc:string}} | xyz | The lowercase input. | 1.5+ |
| {{lcfirst:string}} | xYZ | The input with the first character lowercase. | 1.5+ |
| {{uc:string}} | XYZ | The uppercase input. | 1.5+ |
| {{ucfirst:string}} | Xyz | The input with the first character uppercase. | 1.5+ |
| {{formatnum:number}} | -987,654,321.654321 | The input with decimal and decimal group separators, and localized digit script, according to the wiki's default locale. | 1.7+ |
| {{padleft:xyz|number}} {{padleft:xyz|number|separator}} | 00xyz __xyz | The input (first parameter) padded on the left side to the specified width (second parameter) using the specified character (third parameter). If a padding character isn't specified, '0' is used by default. bug: multibyte characters are interpreted as two characters, which can skew width. These also cannot be used as padding characters. | 1.8+ |
| {{padright:xyz|number}} {{padright:xyz|number|separator}} | xyz00 xyz__ | Identical to padleft, but adds padding characters to the right side. | |
| {{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}} | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| {{#language:language code}} {{#language:ar}} {{#language:th}} | language code العربية ไทย | The native name for the given language code. | 1.7+ |
| {{#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}}').
| 1.12+ |
| Languages: | English |
