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Wikipedia:How to edit a page

Wikipedia is a WikiWiki, meaning that anyone can easily edit any article and have those changes posted immediately. This page is the reference for Wiki markup. You may also want to learn about:

How to start a page
Informal tips on contributing to Wikipedia
Editing tasks in general at the Wikipedia:Editing FAQ
Style conventions in the Wikipedia:Manual of Style
General policies in Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines
Wikipedia:Naming conventions for how to name articles themselves
... And finally, the full kaboodle of utilities for editors.

It's very easy to edit a Wiki page. Simply click on the "Edit this page" link at the top or bottom (also on the sidebar) of a Wiki page to change the page itself, or click on "Discuss this page" link and then on "Edit this page" to write on the corresponding talk page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that Wiki page.

Then type away, write a short edit summary on the small field below the edit-box and when finished press "Save"! You can also preview your changes before saving if you like. Depending on your system, pressing Enter while the edit box is not active (there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing Save.

Please use a neutral point of view, and please cite your sources so others can check and extend your work.

It is often more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check there, and then paste back into the browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you authored so that you can make changes offline.

Table of contents

1 Minor edits

2 The wiki markup

2.1 Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

3 New section

3.1 Subsection

3.1.1 Sub-subsection

3.2 Links, URLs, images
3.3 Character formatting
3.4 Tables
3.5 See also

Minor edits When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely, so any "real" change, even if it is a single word. This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism may be marked as minor edit, in which case it may longer stay unnoticed. This limitation is another reason to log in.

The wiki markup In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.

You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox.

Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

What it looks like	What you type
Start your sections with header lines: New section Subsection Sub-subsection	== New section == === Subsection === ==== Sub-subsection ====
A single newline has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the diff function. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.	A single [[newline]] has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the ''diff'' function. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
You can break lines without starting a new paragraph.	You can break lines<br> without starting a new paragraph.
Lists are easy to do: start every line with a star more stars means deeper levels	* Lists are easy to do: start every line with a star more stars means deeper levels
Numbered lists are also good Very organized easy to follow	# Numbered lists are also good ## Very organized ## easy to follow
You can even do mixed lists and nest them like this	* You can even do mixed lists # and nest them #* like this
Definition list list of definitions item the item's definition	; Definition list : list of definitions ; item : the item's definition
A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph. This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on Talk pages.	: A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines won't wrap; ENDIF this is useful for: * pasting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * program source code * ascii art; WARNING If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide and hence less readable. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.	IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines won't wrap; ENDIF this is useful for: * pasting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * program source code * ascii art;
Centered text.	<center>Centered text.</center>
A horizontal dividing line: above and below.	A horizontal dividing line: above ---- and below.

Links, URLs, images

What it looks like	What you type
London has good public transport. First letter of target is automatically capitalized. Internally spaces are automatically represented as underscores (typing an underscore has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended). Thus the link above is to /wiki/Public_transport, which is the article with the name "Public transport".	London has good [[public transport]].
Same target, different name ("piped link"): answers.	Same target, different name: [[wikipedia FAQ\|answers]]
Endings are blended into the link: testing, genes	Endings are blended into the link: [[test]]ing, [[gene]]s
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom. Automatically hide namespace: Village Pump. The server fills in the part after the \| when you save the page.	Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)\|]]. Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village Pump\|]].
When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: Montrealais or four for user name plus date/time: Montrealais 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)	When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: : ~~~ or four for user name plus date/time: : ~~~~
The weather in London[?] is a page that doesn't exist yet. You can create it by clicking on the link. To create a new page: Create a link to it on some other page. Save that page. Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing. Have a look at how to start a page guide and Wikipedia's naming conventions. After creating a page, search for its title and make sure that everyone correctly links to it.	[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist yet.
Redirect one article title to another by putting text like this in its first line. Note that there must be no text following this, or the redirect may not work. See Wikipedia:How to use redirect pages for more.	#REDIRECT [[United States]]
For a special way to link to the article on the same subject in another language, see Wikipedia:Interlanguage links.
External link: Nupedia (http://www.nupedia.com)	External link: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia]
Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com. In the URL all symbols must be among: A-Z a-z 0-9 ._\/~%-+&#?!=()@ \x80-\xFF. If a URL contains a different character it should be converted; for example, ^ has to be written %5E (to be looked up in ASCII).	Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com.
A picture: Only images that have been uploaded to Wikipedia can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list. See Wikipedia:Image use policy for many more hints.	A picture: [[Image:Wiki.png]] or, with alternate text (strongly encouraged) [[Image:Wiki.png\|Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia]] Browsers render alternate text when not displaying an image -- for example, when the image isn't loaded, or in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud. See Alternate text for images for help on choosing alternate text.
Clicking on an uploaded image displays a description page, which you can also link directly to: :Image:Wiki.png	[[:Image:Wiki.png]]
To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, or to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link. Sound Image of a Tornado	[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg\|Sound]] [[media:Tornado.jpg\|Image of a Tornado]]
To link to books, you can use Wikipedia:ISBN links. ISBN 0123456789X	ISBN 0123456789X

Character formatting

What it looks like	What you type
Emphasize, strongly, very strongly. These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.	''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
You can also write italic and bold if the desired effect is a specific font style rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulae: F = ma However, the difference between these two methods is not very important for graphical browsers, and many people choose to ignore it.	You can also write <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b> if the desired effect is a specific font style rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulas: :<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>
A typewriter font for `technical terms`.	A typewriter font for <tt>technical terms</tt>.
You can use small text for captions.	You can use <small>small text</small> for captions.
You can ~~strike out deleted material~~ and underline new material.	You can <strike>strike out deleted material</strike> and <u>underline new material</u>.
Umlauts and accents: (See wikipedia:Special characters) À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô œ õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ	À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô &oelig; õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ
Punctuation: ¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • —	¿ ¡ « » § ¶ &dagger; &Dagger; • —
Commercial symbols: ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤	™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤
Subscript: x₂ Superscript: x² or x² The latter method of superscript can't be used in the most general context, but is preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it. ε₀ = 8.85 × 10⁻¹² C² / J m.	Subscript: x<sub>2</sub> Superscript: x<sup>2</sup> or x² ε<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 × 10<sup>−12</sup> C² / J m.
Greek characters: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω	α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ &sigmaf; τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω
Math characters: ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ → × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ (See also WikiProject Mathematics)	∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ &prop; &equiv; ≠ ≤ ≥ → × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ &permil; ° &there4; &alefsym; ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ &sube; &supe; ¬ &and; &or; ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔
x² ≥ 0 true. To space things out, use non-breaking spaces - ` `. ` ` also prevents line breaks in the middle of text, this is useful in formulas.	<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>  ≥  0 true.
Complicated formulae: <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> See Wikipedia:TeX markup	<math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>
Suppressing interpretation of markup: Link → (<i>to</i>) the [[Wikipedia FAQ]] Used to show literal data that would otherwise have special meaning. Escapes all wiki markup, including that which looks like HTML tags. Does not escape HTML character entities.	<nowiki>Link → (<i>to</i>) the [[Wikipedia FAQ]]</nowiki>
Commenting page source: not shown in page Used to leave comments in a page for future editors.	<!-- comment here -->

Tables

HTML tables can be quite useful as well. For details on how to use them and discussion about when they are appropriate, see Wikipedia:How to use tables.