Template:Ref
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 | This template is used on approximately 24,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
 | This is no longer the recommended method of citing sources. If a note list separate from the list of references is desired, {{refn}}, {{efn}} and {{NoteTag}} may be used. For information on how to place and format citations, see Wikipedia:Citing sources. An explanation on how to create 'numbered footnotes' is at Help:Footnotes. |
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This documentation is for the {{ref}}, {{note}}, {{ref label}} and {{note label}} templates. The note templates place notes into an article, and the ref templates place labeled references to the notes, with the labels normally hyperlinks for navigating from a ref to a corresponding note and back from the note to the ref. The label pair of templates are similar to the pair without the label name, but with more features.
The links and backlinks are identified internally by combining the specified parameters. The templates accept a number of unnamed parameters identified by their position. It also accepts a named parameter (named noid) which is deprecated since its introduction.
The first parameter of {{ref}} is a label that has to be used for the parameter of the corresponding {{note}}. The label is used to form the fragment identifier for the footnote link and back link. The second parameter of {{ref}} is the footnote reference marker, shown as a superscript. The easiest choice is to make these two the same, but this is not a requirement. If the second parameter is not supplied, the marker is a superscripted external link of the form [n].
Syntax
The following illustrates the general syntax of each template:
{{ref|id|label|noid=noid}}{{note|id|label|text}}{{ref label|id|label|backlink|noid=noid}}{{note label|id|label|backlink|text}}
Description of each parameter is as follows:
id
Identifier for a note and its back link (mandatory). This is the only mandatory parameter for a {{ref}} and {{note}} couple, which can be used to add simple footnotes.
Important note: Every pair of {{ref}} and {{note}}, as well as every pair of {{ref label}} and {{note label}}, should have unique identifiers. This applies even if multiple references pointing to the same footnote are desired. (Correct method of implementing this feature – using the label parameter – is illustrated further below.) Duplicate identifiers generate invalid code, to which web browsers react differently. Some browsers report errors, while others may randomly keep one id and discard others silently. In all cases, however, navigation between some footnote marks and their body texts does not work as desired. See Help:Markup validation.
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Text that requires a footnote.{{ref|a}}
==Notes==
:1.{{note|a}}Body of the footnote.
|
Text that requires a footnote.[2]
Notes
|
label
Label text displayed where these templates are inserted (mandatory for {{ref label}} and {{note label}}). The following explains template specific behavior:
- In
{{ref}},{{ref label}}and{{note label}}, the label appears in superscript; in{{note}}, the label appears as standard-sized baseline bold text. - In
{{ref}},{{ref label}}and{{note}}, the label is also hyperlinked and helps navigating back and forth between the inline footnote marker (in the prose) and its body text.{{note label}}, however, does not attach a hyperlink to the label but disregards this parameter when the backlink parameter (explained later) is present. - In
{{ref label}}, the label is always enclosed in brackets.
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Text alpha.{{ref|Alpha|α}} Text beta.{{ref label|Beta|β}}
==Notes==
:{{note|Alpha|α}} Information on alpha
:{{note label|Beta|β}} Information on beta
|
Notes
|
This parameter is optional in {{ref}} and {{note}}, therefore:
{{ref}}displays a unique number in square brackets if this parameter is omitted. (See example above.){{note}}appends this label to a back-linked caret (^), so if omitted, only a caret is displayed. (See example above.)
There is no mandate to include this parameter in both ref and note portion at the same time. In fact, there may be the need to do the opposite. This example shows how to use {{ref}} and {{note}} to link multiple footnote markers of the same appearance to the same footnote.
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
... The reunification project started in 1959 and concluded in 1961. The outcome of the project was instrumental in the company's success.{{ref|Lewinsky1|A}} ...
... The consolidation efforts in 1992 had a huge impact on the company's success.{{ref|Lewinsky2|A}} ...
... The final development stage set the cornerstone for company's future activities.{{ref|LewinskyFinal|A}}...
==Notes==
:A.{{note|Lewinsky1}}{{note|Lewinsky2}}{{note|LewinskyFinal}}See Brown, Lewinsky and Hart, 2009.
|
... The reunification project started in 1959 and concluded in 1961. The outcome of the project was instrumental in the company's success.A ...
... The consolidation efforts in 1992 had a huge impact on the company's success.A ... ... The final development stage set the cornerstone for company's future activities.A... Notes
|
... The reunification project started in 1959 and concluded in 1961. The outcome of the project was instrumental in the company's success.{{ref label|Brown1|B}} ...
... The consolidation efforts in 1992 had a huge impact on the company's success.{{ref label|Brown2|B}} ...
... The final development stage set the cornerstone for company's future activities.{{ref label|BrownLast|B}}...
==Notes==
:B.{{note label|Brown1|^}}{{note label|Brown2|^}}{{note label|BrownLast|^}}See Brown, Lewinsky and Hart, 2009.
|
... The reunification project started in 1959 and concluded in 1961. The outcome of the project was instrumental in the company's success.[B] ...
... The consolidation efforts in 1992 had a huge impact on the company's success.[B] ... ... The final development stage set the cornerstone for company's future activities.[B].. Notes
|
backlink
As explained above, {{note label}} does not generate a back link from label parameter. A unique parameter of {{ref label}} – {{note label}}, backlink is a complementary parameter that is part id and part label:
- "Complementary parameter" means a
{{ref label}}–{{note label}}pair may either forgo this parameter or must both have it. - "Part id" means in a
{{ref label}}–{{note label}}pair, both ends must have the same backlink value. In addition, in any{{ref label}}–{{note label}}pair, the combination of id and backlink must be unique. - "Part label" means in
{{note label}}, this parameter completely overrides label parameter.
A {{ref label}} with a backlink cannot connect to a {{note}}. Likewise, a {{note label}} with a backlink cannot connect to a {{ref}}.
Example:
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Some text.{{ref label|id5|5|1}}
Some other text.{{ref label|id5|5|2}}
-----
...
:5.{{note label|id5||1}}{{note label|id5||2}} Some important comment!
|
Some text.[5] Some other text.[5] ... |
This parameter (backlink) also accepts the special value "none" (without quotation marks), which causes a caret to appear where {{note label}} is placed.
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Body text.{{ref label|id4|Label 4|none}}
:{{note label|id4||none}}Footnote text
|
Body text.[Label 4]
|
text
In all previous examples, the body text of a piece of footnote was inserted outside {{note}} or {{note label}} template. However, it is possible to insert the body text inside the template, in place of text parameter. Everything put inside text parameter glows when the user clicks on the footnote mark. In the example below, try clicking on S and T and see the difference.
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Some text.{{ref|noteS|S}}
Some other text.{{ref|noteT|T}}
==Notes==
:S.{{note|noteS}}Some footnote text
:T.{{note|noteT||Some other footnote text}}
|
Some text.S
Some other text.T notes
|
Since the footnote body text starts without a delimiter after this string, there is a caveat: If the footnote body text starts with a lowercase letter, the first word may be attached to the back link. (For more info, see Help:Wikilinks.)
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
:{{ref label|id ref2a|Label 2a|Back}}
:{{ref label|id ref2b|Label 2b|Back}}
:{{note label|id ref2a|Label 2a|Back|Capitalized footnote}}
:{{note label|id ref2b|Label 2b|Back|lower case footnote}}
|
noid=noid
Deprecated parameter – Suppresses back linking from note component to ref. In case of {{note}}, an active hyperlink still appears, although it is broken.
This parameter was originally meant to alleviate the problem of connecting many ref tags with the same ID to one note tag with that ID. However, it only replaces one form of broken code with another. Consider using {{note label}} instead, which does not generate any back link unless configured to do so. There must always be one and only one note template for every ref template with the same id.
Additional examples
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Article text{{ref label|reference_name_A|a|1}} more text{{ref label|reference_name_G|g|}} more text{{ref label|reference_name_B|b|2}} more text{{ref label|reference_name_C|c|3}} more text{{ref label|reference name_D|d|4}} more text{{ref label|reference name_E|e|none}} more text{{ref label|reference name_F|f|}} more text.{{ref label|reference_name_H|h|8}}
*
* intervening text
*
* {{note label|reference_name_A|a|1}}Text of note for ref a.
* {{note label|reference_name_B|b|2}}Text of note for ref b.
* {{note label|reference_name_C|c|3|ABCDE}}Text of note for ref c.
* {{note label|reference_name_D|d|4|FGHIJ}}Text of note for ref d.
* {{note label|reference_name_E|e|none}}Text of note for ref e.
* {{note label|reference_name_F|f}}Text of note for ref f.
* {{note label|reference_name_G|g||{{note label|reference_name_H|h|8|Text of note for refs g and h (with extended highlighting).}}}}
|
Article text[a] more text[g] more text[b] more text[c] more text[d] more text[e] more text[f] more text.[h] |
Unique ID issue
As explained earlier, the id parameter for every {{ref}} – {{note}} pair should be unique. The following example shows what happens when two refs use the same id. Try navigating from bulleted text to footnotes and back.
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Article text{{ref|reference_name_A|a}} more text{{ref|reference_name_B|b}} more text{{ref|reference_name_C|c}}.
* Bulleted text{{ref|reference_name_B|b}}
* Bulleted text{{ref|reference_name_C|c}}.
*
* intervening text
*
* {{note|reference_name_A|a}}Text for note a.
* {{note|reference_name_B|b}}Text for note b.
* {{note|reference_name_C|c|Text for note c (with extended highlighting).}}
|
Table footnotes
One common application for ref and note templates is in placing footnotes below tables, as in the following example taken from the Kent#Economy article [section]:
| Year | Regional GVA[A] | Agriculture | Industry[B] | Services[C] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County of Kent (excluding Medway) | |||||||
| 1995 | 12,369 | 379 | 3.1% | 3,886 | 31.4% | 8,104 | 65.5% |
| 2000 | 15,259 | 259 | 1.7% | 4,601 | 30.2% | 10,399 | 68.1% |
| 2003 | 18,126 | 287 | 1.6% | 5,057 | 27.9% | 12,783 | 70.5% |
| Medway | |||||||
| 1995 | 1,823 | 21 | 3.1% | 560 | 31.4% | 1,243 | 68.2% |
| 2000 | 2,348 | 8 | 1.7% | 745 | 30.2% | 1,595 | 67.9% |
| 2003 | 2,671 | 10 | 1.6% | 802 | 27.9% | 1,859 | 69.6% |
- ↑Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
- ↑Includes energy and construction
- ↑Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Alternative referencing style
The Reference Tooltips gadget does not work with these templates. Using ref/note tags is not the only way to create footnotes. Cite.php (with which Reference Tooltips does work) is currently the preferred method of creating footnotes, especially when the number of footnotes increases and the size of the article (or the area in which footnotes are used) grows. Ref converter can convert ref/note tags to the newer Cite.php style.
The following examples compares two method and also shows how they can be combined:
| Code | Result |
|---|---|
Yammer yammer yammer.<ref name=smith2000>Smith wrote the definitive book on yammering.{{ref|Smith2000|Smith 2000}}</ref> Yammer yammer yammer.<ref name=smith2000/>
...
==References==
{{reflist}}
...
==Bibliography==
*{{note|Smith2000}} Smith (2000). "A book about yammering".
|
Yammer yammer yammer.[1] Yammer yammer yammer.[1] ... References
... Bibliography
|
Also see examples and explanation in Wikipedia:Footnote3.
See also
- Wikipedia:Footnote3, an essay on this method of creating footnotes
- Help:Footnotes
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
- Category:Citation templates, including those not part of the ref–note label system
- {{Rp}}
- Template:Ref/examples
| Policies and guidelines | |
| General advice | |
| Citing sources | |
| Inline citations | |
| Help for beginners | |
| Advanced help | |
| Footnote templates | |
| Find references | |
| Citation tools (External links) |
- Template:Ref invokes Module:Navbox using Lua.
Usage
This template can be used to make a standard navigation box. It is intended for use within another template that standardises the title and contents of the box (see Template:ShipNavbox). This template SHOULD NOT be used directly within articles, as it creates a maintenance burden to do so whenever the contents of the box have to be updated.
The purpose of this template is to standardise the attributes of all navigation boxes, for example, their colours and other CSS attributes. The template is fairly simple, and could be extended to add other features in the future. Using this template allows changes to be implemented much quicker and easier than editing each template separately.
Syntax
{{navbox
|state = uncollapsed, collapsed, plain, autocollapse (default)
|name = mandatory - name of the template
|style = optional - style for the whole table
|title = mandatory - navbox header
|gtitleN = optional - title of N-th group of items
|styleN = optional - style for groupN; i.e. text-align
|groupN = mandatory - list of groups of items
|fstyle = optional - style for footer ; i.e. text-align
|footer = optional - navbox footer
}}
- Groups: Currently there is no technical limit to the maximum number of groups.
- Groups of items can be added as parameters: group1, group2, group3, ... up to groupN.
- Group title: Each group has its own title parameter: gtitle1, gtitle2, gtitle3, ... up to gtitleN. Note that the default width for the first column is 15%.
- Group style: Style may also be customised to each group in: style1, style2, style3, ... up to styleN.
- Note that neither the title nor the items have any wiki-links built into the template. As a result, users of the template are free to use wiki-links as they wish.
- Line breaks: Line-breaks (
<br />) are unnecessary, as text wrapping is done automatically by the template. This also includes links and text in gtitleN and groupN. - Bullets: Create unordered lists with lines beginning with *.
- Pipe links: Because of the nature of template syntax, it may be necessary to use Template:! (
{{!}}).
States
- Autocollapse: By default, the state of a navbox is "autocollapsed". This means that if the number of navboxes in a page exceeds the maximum allocation of the collapsible navboxes, then the remaining navboxes are collapsed automatically. For more information (or to change the setting), see MediaWiki:Common.js.
- Currently, the autocollapse allocation is 2 (see MediaWiki:Common.js). This means that if there are 3 navboxes in a page, the third and subsequent navboxes will be collapsed automatically.
- Uncollapsed: Forces the navbox to be displayed.
- All of the navboxes in this documentation are in the uncollapsed state.
- Collapsed: The reverse of uncollapsed. Forces the navbox to be hidden instead.
- Navboxes with a height of more than 300 pixels will also be collapsed automatically. For more information (or to change the setting), see MediaWiki:Common.js.
- Plain: Removes the "show/hide" link.
Sub-groups
- For larger navboxes, it may be necessary to include sub-groups within a particular group of items. It is also possible to collapsible navboxes within the parent navbox, see Collapsible sub-groups.
- To create sub-groups within
{{navbox}}, certain parameters are to be included:- The parent navbox group (i.e. group2 in the example below) requires the type parameter (gtype2 = Subgroup).
- The nested navbox (sub-group) requires the inclusion of the sub-group parameter (subgroup = yes). This enables the template to differentiate between the sub-group and the parent navbox.
{{navbox
|name =
|title =
|gtitle1 =
|group1 =
|gtitle2 =
|gtype2 = Subgroup (mandatory)
|group2 =
{{navbox
|subgroup = yes (mandatory)
|gtitle1 =
|group1 =
|gtitle2 =
|group2 =
}}
}}
Collapsible sub-groups
- For extremely long navboxes, it is recommended to use collapsible navboxes within the parent navbox. Further sub-groups can then be added to these collapsible navboxes.
- To create collapsible sub-groups within
{{navbox}}, these parameters need to be included:- The parent navbox is almost always uncollapsed (state=uncollapsed).
- The parent navbox group (i.e. group1 in the example below) requires the type parameter (gtype1 = Subgroup).
- The nested collapsible navbox requires the inclusion of the collapsible parameter (collapsible = yes). This enables the template to differentiate between the collapsible navbox and the parent navbox.
- The nested collapsible navbox is forcefully collapsed (state=collapsed).
{{navbox
|state = uncollapsed
|name =
|gtype1 = Subgroup
|group1 =
{{navbox
|collapsible = yes
|state = collapsed
|title =
|gtitle1 =
|group1 =
|gtitle2 =
|group2 =
}}
}}
Use of images
- The use of images in navboxes is permitted, but please resize the images to keep them small. Inventory-sized images (25-30 pixels) are recommended.
- Please use {{t|plink}} to create links with images. Use {{t|plink}} for any case where text is not desired after the link. It functions the same as {{t|plink}}, but it does not produce a wikilink in text. Use {{t|chatl}} to link chatheads. These templates create links for both the image and text (except for {{t|plink}}) using far less wikicode than the standard syntax.
Link and file share the same name
{{plink|Item}}
File name differs from the link
{{plink|Item|File}}
Link and file share the same name, but different text is desired to display
{{plink|Item|alt=Text}}
File name differs from the link and different text is desired to display
{{plink|Item|File|alt=Text}}
Categorising
Navboxes are very useful for transcluding categories onto a large number of pages that share both a trait and the navigation box. For example: Template:ShipNavbox transcludes Category:Ships onto every page that uses it.
There are 2 methods of categorising pages with navboxes:
The first way is with {{t|Ctg}}. This is the preferred method, and can be used in most cases. The rules and operations for the Category handler template are very simple; however, they are enough to produce the desired results on most pages.
Categorisation should only be used on a template for large-scale addition. It is unhelpful, for example, to use a rule that only applies to 1 page.
Examples
To see the following navboxes in action, see Template:Navbox.
Single line navbox with centered list
{{navbox
|name =
|title =
|style1 = text-align:center
|group1 =
}}
Navbox with standard footer
{{navbox
|name =
|title =
|gtitle1 =
|group1 =
|footer = Centered footer
}}
Navbox with styled footer
{{navbox
|name =
|title =
|gtitle1 =
|group1 =
|fstyle = text-align:right
|footer = Right-aligned footer
}}
Multiple line navbox
{{navbox
|name =
|title =
|gtitle1 = Group title 1
|group1 =
|gtitle2 = Group title 2
|group2 =
|gtitle3 = Group title 3
|group3 =
}}
Collapsed navbox
{{navbox
|state = collapsed
|name =
|title =
|style1 = text-align:center
|group1 =
}}
Plain navbox with Tnavbar
{{navbox
|state = plain
|name =
|title =
|style1 = text-align:center
|group1 =
}}
Plain navbox without Tnavbar
{{navbox
|state = plain
|title =
|style1 = text-align:center
|group1 =
}}
Complicated navbox
{{navbox
|state = uncollapsed
|name =
|title =
|gtitle1 = Level 1 Title 1
|group1 =
|gtitle2 = Level 1 Title 2
|group2 =
|gtitle3 = Level 1 Title 3
|group3 =
|gtitle4 = Level 1 Title 4
|group4 =
|gtitle5 = Level 1 Title 5
|gtype5 = Subgroup
|group5 =
{{navbox
|subgroup = Yes
|gtitle1 = Level 2 Title 1
|group1 =
|gtitle2 = Level 2 Title 2
|group2 =
|gtitle3 = Level 2 Title 3
|gtype3 = Subgroup
|group3 =
{{navbox
|subgroup = Yes
|gtitle1 = Level 3 Title 1
|group1 =
|gtitle2 = Level 3 Title 2
|group2 =
}}
|gtitle4 = Level 2 Title 4
|group4 =
}}
|gtitle6 = Level 1 Title 6
|group6 =
|gtitle7 = Level 1 Title 7
|group7 =
|fstyle =
|footer =
}}
Preventing unwanted documentation
The Navbox template's documentation is automatically transcluded under the navbox on any Template namespace page. It is not transcluded when used as a sub-group or collapsible sub-group template (subgroup= yes or collapsible=yes).
Should the documentation appear when it is unwanted, it can be hidden by setting the doc parameter doc=no on the template. In most cases, the doc parameter is NOT used and the parameter is removed completely.