Linking
Hyperlinks allow users to move between pages. There are three general types of hyperlinks recognized by MediaWiki, each with associated CSS formatting to distinguish them.
Wikilinks
A wikilink or internal link links a page to another page within the same project. These links are in the form [[page name|link name]], where the link name is optional. For example, [[Main Page]] becomes Main Page, and [[Main Page|index]] becomes index. Links with parameters (the link name) are said to be "piped" because of the pipe symbol used ('|').
MediaWiki automatically checks if the target of a wikilink exists. If the page doesn't exist, the link leads to the editing screen, and it is assigned the class "new". Such wikilinks are nicknamed "red links" because they are coloured red in the default stylesheet on a default installation of MediaWiki. Red links are useful in determining the current status of the page (created or not created), create incoming links to a future page, facilitates and incites page creation.
Note that the image, category, and interlanguage syntax are the same as the wikilink syntax. Attempting to link normally will place the image on the page, add the page to the category and create an interlanguage link at the edge of the page. This can be prevented by prefixing a colon, which escapes the specific syntax.
Interwiki links
An interwiki link links a page to a page on another website. Unlike the name suggests, the target site need not be a wiki, but it has to be on the interwiki map specified for the source wiki. These links have the associated CSS class "extiw". These are in the same form as wikilinks above, but take a prefix which specifies the target site.
Interwiki links to the same project
Although interwiki links can be used to point to a wiki from itself, this is not generally recommended. MediaWiki does not detect whether or not the target page of an interwiki list exists, so there is no special formatting and the link is always to the view page. Further, MediaWiki does not check if the page is linking to itself. A self wikilink is bolded (like Linking), whereas a self interwiki link is normal (m::Linking).
Pros:
- A copy of the wikitext on a sister project may still point to the same page. Sometimes two prefixes are needed for that purpose.
External links
External links use absolute URLs to link directly to any webpage. These links have the associated CSS class "external". External links are in the form [http://www.example.org link name] (resulting in link name), with the link name separated from the URL by a space. Links without link names will be numbered: [http://www.example.org] becomes [1]. Links with no square brackets will be displayed in their entirety: http://www.example.org .
External links to the same project
External links are often used to use special URL parameters in links. This allows links directly to the edit history of a page, to a page in edit view, a diff of two versions, et cetera.
However, the use of external links to link to a normal page on the same project is not recommended. These links benefit from none of the features of a wikilink, and may break the web of links when the content is exported to another domain.
Section linking
Links in the form [[#anchor_name]] will link to any anchor named "anchor_name" on the page. This may be either a heading named "anchor_name", or an arbitrary position. [[#top]] is a reserved name that links to the top of a page. It is possible to create an arbitrary anchor name using the HTML code <span id="anchor_name"></span>.
Anchor links can also be appended to any type of link; for more information, see Help:Section#Section_linking.
Problems with page name conversion
Note that if the page name is automatically converted (for example, from "/wiki/main Page" to "/wiki/Main Page"), the section link will still work but will disappear from the address bar. As a consequence, this will make it more difficult to bookmark the section itself. This is not applicable for wikilinks, because the conversions have already taken place on Preview or Save of the referring page.
Anchors that go nowhere
By adding [[{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}#|False anchor]] to the page, you can create a dummy link that just refreshes the page.
Redirects with section links
A redirect to a page section does not go to the section. However, one can add the section anyway as a clarification, and it will work if the redirect is manually clicked from the redirect page. However, links with a section to a redirect will lead to the section on the redirect's page.
Subpage feature
MediaWiki has a subpage feature, although activation depends on project and namespace. A parent page is separated from subpages with a forward slash: [[Parent/subpage]]. Subpages can have their own subpages. If the page is in a namespace where subpages are not activated, it is considered as a single page titled "Page/subpage".
At the top of the subpage body links to parent pages are shown automatically, without any corresponding wikitext. The link shows up even if the page "Subpage" does not exist, provided that the page "Parent" exists. Like most letters of a page name, the first letter after the slash is case-sensitive; "/subpage" and /"Subpage" are different pages.
Syntax
Inside a subpage hierarchy the following links can be used:
- [[../]] links to the parent of the current subpage (ex: [[Page/Subpage]] to [[Page]]).
- [[../Sibling]] links to a sibling of the current subpage. (ex: [[Page/Subpage]] to [[Page/Sibling]]).
- [[/Subpage]] links to a subpage (ex: [[Parent]] to [[Parent/Subpage]]).
User space
Subpages of a user page ([[User:Username/Subpage]]) are considered to be in that user's "user space". Rules are often relaxed in a user's own subpages, whereas they are typically tightened for a user editing another user's subpages.
"Hover box" on links
On some browsers, holding the cursor over link will show a hover box containing the text of the link's HTML title attribute. MediaWiki sets this to the target page name (without the possible section indication) if it's a wikilink, the page name with prefix if it's an interwiki link, and the URL if it's an external link.
This can be switched off in the user preferences. The browser may also show similar info, but with the possible section indication, in the address bar.
For these effects a piped link is useful even if it not followed; for example, for displaying the meaning of an acronym (e.g. NPOV) or any other remark. It is possible to produce a hover box without a link.
Disallowed characters
In internal and interwiki link style, a plus sign in a page name is not allowed, the HTML and hence the rendered page just shows the wikitext, e.g. a+b. In external link style a plus sign in the URL is retained. It is often equivalent with a space. See also below.
In accordance with the rules explained in Page name, conversions are automatically made to non-literal characters in wiki and interwiki links. For example, "[[Help:Page%20name]]" becomes "Help:Page name". However, the opposite is true for external links; literal characters and converted into non-literal characters. For example, most browsers will convert ".../wiki/!" to ".../wiki/%21".
A code like %70 in a redirect disables it, although the link works from the redirect page. For a redirect that works, the redirect page shows the canonical form of the target, unlike its preview page, which renders the link in the usual way.
Special pipe syntax
Using an empty pipe syntax on wiki and interwiki links will hide interwiki prefixes and parentheses. This pipe syntax should only be used where the unqualified reference is not ambiguous, such as in an article about the solar system.
All information on this page is attributed to Wikipedia and its contributors.