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.

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

Word Description
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. It is possible to suppress the auto-generated section numbers, if the proper class exists locally at MediaWiki:Common.css, defined as .tocnumber { display: none; }.
Editing
__NOEDITSECTION__ Hides the section edit links beside headings.
__NEWSECTIONLINK__ Adds a link "+" beside the "edit" tab for adding a new section on a non-talk page (see Adding a section to the end (meta.wikimedia.org)).
__NONEWSECTIONLINK__ Removes the link beside the "edit" tab on pages in talk namespaces.
Categories
__NOGALLERY__ Used on a category page, replaces thumbnails in the category view with normal links.
__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).
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.
__INDEX__ Tell search engines to index the page (overrides $wgArticleRobotPolicies, but not robots.txt).
__NOINDEX__ Tell search engines not to index the page (i.e., do not list in search engines' results).
__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".

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. This can be avoided by specifying the namespace explicitly. For example, if the variable PAGENAME exists, {{Template:PAGENAME}}) should be used to transclude the template at 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. The date and time magic words are formatted in the English language.

Variable Output Description
Year
{{CURRENTYEAR}} 2024 Year
Month
{{CURRENTMONTH}} 10 Month (zero-padded number)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} October Month (name)
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} October Month (genitive form)
{{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}} Oct Month (abbreviation)
Day
{{CURRENTDAY}} 14 Day of the month (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAY2}} 14 Day of the month (zero-padded number)
{{CURRENTDOW}} 1 Day of the week (unpadded number)
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} Monday Day of the week (name)
Time
{{CURRENTTIME}} 14:43 Time (24-hour HH:mm format)
{{CURRENTHOUR}} 14 Hour (24-hour zero-padded number)
Other
{{CURRENTWEEK}} 42 Week (number)
{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} 20241014144305 YYYYMMDDHHmmss timestamp

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}}
See also
The #time parser function can be used if more granularity is needed.

Technical metadata

Note
Revision variables return data about the latest edit to the current page, even if viewing an older version of the page.
Variable Output Description
Site
{{SITENAME}} Gentoo Wiki The wiki's site name ($wgSitename).
{{SERVER}} https://wiki.gentoo.org domain URL ($wgServer)
{{SERVERNAME}} wiki.gentoo.org domain name
{{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.
{{SCRIPTPATH}} relative script path ($wgScriptPath)
{{STYLEPATH}} /skins relative style path ($wgStylePath)
{{CURRENTVERSION}} 1.35.9 The wiki's MediaWiki version.
{{CONTENTLANGUAGE}}
{{CONTENTLANG}}
en
en
The wiki's default interface language ($wgLanguageCode)
Latest revision to current page
{{REVISIONID}} 1292318 Unique revision ID
{{REVISIONDAY}} 14 Day edit was made (unpadded number)
{{REVISIONDAY2}} 14 Day edit was made (zero-padded number)
{{REVISIONMONTH}} 04 Month edit was made (zero-padded number)
{{REVISIONMONTH1}} 4 Month edit was made (unpadded number)
{{REVISIONYEAR}} 2024 Year edit was made
{{REVISIONTIMESTAMP}} 20240414081350 Timestamp as of time of edit
{{REVISIONUSER}} Waldo Lemmer The username of the user who made the most recent edit to the page, or the current user when previewing an edit
{{PAGESIZE:page name}}
{{PAGESIZE:page name|R}}
36,183
36183
[expensive] Returns the byte size of the specified page. Use "|R" to get raw numbers.
{{PROTECTIONLEVEL:action}} protection level Outputs the protection level (e.g. 'autoconfirmed', 'sysop') for a given action (e.g. 'edit', 'move') on the current page or an empty string if not protected.
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 are allowed.
{{DEFAULTSORT:sortkey}}
{{DEFAULTSORTKEY:sortkey}}
{{DEFAULTCATEGORYSORT:sortkey}}
Used for categorizing pages. Sets a default category sort key. For example, {{DEFAULTSORT:Update, BIOS}} at the end of BIOS Update would cause it to be sorted under "U" by default in categories.

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}} → 172,564 and {{NUMBEROFPAGES:R}} → 172564). 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.

The number magic words are formatted in the English language.

Variable Output Description
Entire wiki
{{NUMBEROFPAGES}} 172,564 Number of wiki pages.
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} 8,771 Number of pages in content namespaces.
{{NUMBEROFFILES}} 661 Number of uploaded files.
{{NUMBEROFEDITS}} 662,701 Number of page edits.
{{NUMBEROFUSERS}} 8,301 Number of registered users.
{{NUMBEROFADMINS}} 6 Number of users in the sysop group.
{{NUMBEROFACTIVEUSERS}} 98 Number of active users, based on the criteria used in Special:Statistics.
{{PAGESINCATEGORY:categoryname}}
{{PAGESINCAT:categoryname}}
176
176
[expensive] Number of pages in the given category.
{{NUMBERINGROUP:groupname}}
{{NUMINGROUP:groupname}}
4
4
Number of users in a specific group.

Page names

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

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

{{SUBPAGENAME}} Magic words The subpage title ("Foo" on "Title/Foo").
{{SUBJECTPAGENAME}} Help:Magic words The namespace and title of the associated subject page.
{{TALKPAGENAME}} Help talk:Magic words The namespace and title of the associated talk page.

The {{BASEPAGENAME}} and {{SUBPAGENAME}} magic words only work in namespaces that have subpages enabled.

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}}

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
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.

Note that {{PAGENAME}}, {{PAGENAMEE}} and {{urlencode:}} have distinct implementations. See Manual:PAGENAMEE encoding for details.

Namespaces

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

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

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

These can take a full-page-name parameter and will return the requested namespace associated with that page, instead of with the current page:

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

Parameter must not be a namespace name:

  • {{SUBJECTSPACE:Help 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 are added by the ParserFunctions extension — see Help:Extension:ParserFunctions.

URL data

Parser function Input → Output Description
{{localurl:page name}}
{{localurl:page name|query_string}}
{{localurl:MediaWiki}} → /wiki/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://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Category:Top_level

{{fullurl:Category:Top level|action=edit}}https://wiki.gentoo.org/index.php?title=Category:Top_level&action=edit

The absolute path to the title. This will also resolve Interwiki prefixes.
{{filepath:file name}}
{{filepath:file name|nowiki}}
{{filepath:Wiki.png}}https://wiki.gentoo.org/images/b/bc/Wiki.png

{{filepath:Wiki.png|nowiki}} → https://wiki.gentoo.org/images/b/bc/Wiki.png
{{filepath:Example.svg|300}}

The absolute URL to the full size of a media file.
{{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.
{{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).

Namespaces

{{ns:}} returns the current localized name for the namespace with that index, canonical name, or local alias. Thus, {{ns:6}}, {{ns:File}}, and {{ns:Image}} (an old name for the File namespace) all return "File". On a wiki where the content language was French, {{ns:Fichier}} would also be valid, but {{ns:Datei}} (the localisation of "File" into German) would not.

{{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}} Gentoo Wiki {{ns:5}} or {{ns:Project talk}} Gentoo 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
{{lc:string}} {{lc:DATA CENTER}} → data center The lowercase input.
{{lcfirst:string}} {{lcfirst:DATA center}} → dATA center The input with the very first character lowercase.
{{uc:string}} {{uc:text transform}} → TEXT TRANSFORM The uppercase input.
{{ucfirst:string}} {{ucfirst:text TRANSFORM}} → Text TRANSFORM The input with the very first character uppercase.
{{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
Leading zeroes are not removed. {{#expr:00001}} can be used instead.

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

{{#dateformat:25 deC 2009|ymd}}
2009 December 25 (the reader's pref), 2009 DeC 25 (default)
{{#formatdate:dec 25,2009|dmy}}
25 December 2009 (the reader's pref), 25 Dec 2009 (default)
{{#dateformat:2009-12-25|mdy}}
December 25, 2009 (the reader's pref), December 25, 2009 (default)
{{#formatdate:2009 dec 25|ISO 8601}}
2009-12-25 (the reader's pref), 2009-12-25 (default)
{{#dateformat:25 decEmber|mdy}}
December 25 (the reader's pref), DecEmber 25 (default)


Note: In the example above, "the reader's pref" refers to the reader's 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 similar templates), it is rendered unchanged, and no (additional) metadata is generated.
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).
{{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.
{{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
(for Polish):
{{plural:2|milion|miliony|milionów}} → miliony
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". This should not be expected to handle fractions (like 44.5) — see bug 28128.
{{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 $wgGrammarForms.

Miscellaneous