2.3 Wikitext editing

<section begin="training-intro" />

Wikitext is a simplified markup language that is used to format and structure text and other data. <section end="training-intro" /><section end="training-intro" />

While HTML is the most common markup language for web pages, Wikitext is used in wiki systems. Like HTML, it uses tags to mark parts of text or other data.

How do I use Wikitext?

When you edit a page, you can switch between visual editing and source editing using the editor toolbar.

Wikitext can be entered in source editing mode. When you are in visual editing mode, VisualEditor inserts Wikitext "behind the scenes". If VisualEditor doesn't format elements on a page correctly, you can always switch to source editing to correct the issues directly in Wikitext.

Examples of Wikitext

Here are some typical examples of Wikitext: <section begin="training" />

Text formatting

<section begin="training-slide1" />

• This is '''bold'''
• This is ''italic''
• This is <u>underlined</u><section end="training-slide1" />

Structuring

<section begin="training-slide2" />

• This is a ==Heading==
• This is an *unordered list element
• Table:

  {| class="wikitable"
  |-
  !header 1
  !header 2
  |-
  |row 1, cell 1
  |row 1, cell 2
  |-
  |row 2, cell 1
  |row 2, cell 2
  |}
  

  <section end="training-slide2" />

Links / Embedded files

<section begin="training-slide3" />

Link to internal wiki page

[[Wikipage|Label]]
[[Pancake|Best Pancake]]

Link to external website

[url label]
[https://wikipedia.org Wikipedia]

Link with parameters

<span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} Edit this page]</span>

This link opens the referenced page in edit mode in a new tab. <section end="training-slide3" />

Embed image/file

<section begin="training-slide4" />

• [[Datei:image-or-pdf-name.png]] - - - Image/PDF is embedded on page<section end="training-slide4" />
  • the wiki checks, if a preview can be generated (e.g., for "png", "jpeg", "gif", "svg") and embeds the preview
  • otherwise, a link to the file description page is created
    • can be embedded: PDF, Tiff (with extension)
    • cannot be embedded: Microsoft Office- und Libre Office-Dateien; Shell-Skripte, ...<section begin="training-slide4" />
• [[Media:image-or-pdf--name.png]] - - - - Links to image / PDF
• [[:Datei:image-or-pdf--name.png]] - - - Links to file description page

<section end="training-slide4" />

<section end="training" />

Magic words

Type of Wikitext	Example
Special character	ã → ã ç → ç UTF-8 is possible
Comment	<!-- unnoticed -->
No "wiki translation"	<nowiki> and </pre>
Table of contents	__TOC__ and __NOTOC__
Signature	--~~~
Redirect	#REDIRECT [[targetpage]]
Template	{{template name}}

<section end="wikitextTraining" />

Other magic words are available via this link.

HTML tags

Some html tags can be used in wikitext. The paragraph and character formatting tags in particular are useful for formatting templates or pages, but are not usually required for creating and editing a page itself.

Allowed tags

• Paragraph and character formatting: <div>, <span>, <p>, <br>, <hr>
• Table formatting: <table>, <tr>,<td>, <th>
• Headings: <h1>, <h2>

Complete overview: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:HTML_in_wikitext/de

Not allowed tags

• Classic html tags are not allowed, like <a>, <img>, <script>, <form>, <fieldset>, and structural tgas like <head> or <title>.

Help pages for source code editing

As most of the source code editing functions - such as formatting with wikitext - originate directly from MediaWiki, these functions are documented on mediawiki.org. Below you will find a selection of help pages on the subject of source text editing:

Topic	Help page
Wikitext	General information on formatting with Wikitext https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting
Links	Include links https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Links
Bilder	Include images https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Images
Magic words	Magic words are text strings that Mediawiki links to a return value or a function. These are also an example of wikitext. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Magic_words
Parser-Funktionen	Parser functions can be used to insert simple logical queries, e.g. in templates. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Extension:ParserFunctions
Semantic MediaWiki	Parser functions: https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Parser_functions Properties: https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Property_declaration

Related info

• https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikitext_examples
• https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:HTML_in_wikitext
• Magic words
• Wikitext reference