Help:Formatting

You can format your text using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes or equation marks which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in italic, you include it in two single quotes like ''this''

Text formatting markup

Description	You type	You get
character (inline) formatting – applies anywhere
Italic text	''italic''	italic
Bold text	'''bold'''	bold
Bold and italic	'''''bold & italic'''''	bold & italic
Escape wiki markup	<nowiki>no ''markup''</nowiki>	no ''markup''
section formatting – only at the beginning of the line
Headings of different levels	=level 1= ==level 2== ===level 3=== ====level 4==== =====level 5===== ======level 6====== An article with 4 or more headings automatically creates a table of contents.	Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
Horizontal rule	----
Bullet list	* one * two * three ** three point one ** three point two Inserting a blank line will end the first list and start another.	one two three three point one three point two
Numbered list	# one # two<br />spanning more lines<br />doesn't break numbering # three ## three point one ## three point two	one two spanning more lines doesn't break numbering three three point one three point two
Definition list	;item 1 : definition 1 ;item 2 : definition 2-1 : definition 2-2	item 1 definition 1 item 2 definition 2-1 definition 2-2
Adopting definition list to indent text	: Single indent :: Double indent ::::: Multiple indent This workaround may be controversial from the viewpoint of accessibility.	Single indent Double indent Multiple indent
Mixture of different types of list	# one # two #* two point one #* two point two # three #; three item one #: three def one # four #: four def one #: this rather looks like the continuation of # four #: and thus often used instead of <br /> # five ## five sub 1 ### five sub 1 sub 1 ## five sub 2 ;item 1 :* definition 1-1 :* definition 1-2 : ;item 2 :# definition 2-1 :# definition 2-2 The usage of #: and *: for breaking a line within an item may also be controversial.	one two two point one two point two three three item one three def one four four def one this rather looks like the continuation of # four often used instead of <br /> five five sub 1 five sub 1 sub 1 five sub 2 item 1 definition 1-1 definition 1-2 item 2 definition 2-1 definition 2-2
Preformatted text	preformatted text is done with a '''space''' at the ''beginning'' of the line This way of preformatting only applies to section formatting, and character formatting markups are still effective.	preformatted text is done with a space at the beginning of the line

Paragraphs

MediaWiki ignores normal line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can force a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tags <br />.

HTML

Some HTML tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example <code>, <div>, <span> and <font>. These apply anywhere you insert them.

Description	You type	You get
Strikethrough	<del>Strikethrough</del> or <s>Strikethrough</s>	Strikethrough
Fixed width text	<tt>Fixed width text</tt> or <code>source code</code>	Fixed width text
Blockquotes	text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text <blockquote> quote quote quote quote quote quote </blockquote> text text text text text text text text text text text text	text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text quote quote quote quote quote quote text text text text text text text text text text text text
Comment	<!-- This is a comment --> Text can only be viewed in the edit window.
Completely preformatted text	<pre>this way, all markups are '''ignored'''</pre>	this way, all markups are '''ignored'''

Table of contents (TOC)

For each page with more than three headings, a table of contents (TOC) is automatically generated from the section headings, unless:

• (for a user) preferences are set to turn it off
• (for an article) the magic word __NOTOC__ (with two underscores on either side of the word) is added in the edit box

When either __FORCETOC__ or __TOC__ (with two underscores on either side of the word) is placed in the wikitext, a TOC is added even if the page has fewer than four headings.

With __FORCETOC__, the TOC is placed before the first section heading. With __TOC__, it is placed at the same position where this code is placed. This allows any positioning, e.g. on the right or in a table cell. In old versions of MediaWiki, it also allows multiple occurrence, e.g. in every section (However, this seems only useful if the sections are long, so that the TOCs take up only a small part of the total space.).

There may be some introductory text before the TOC, known as the "lead". Although usually a heading after the TOC is preferable, __TOC__ can be used to avoid being forced to insert a meaningless heading just to position the TOC correctly, i.e., not too low.

Using __NOTOC__ it is possible to disable the normal table of contents. Section links, as explained below, allow creating compact ToCs, e.g. alphabetical [[#A|A]] [[#B|B]] etc.

Summary: 

Word	Explanation
<nowiki><nowiki>	Hides the ToC (table of contents) on the current page.
<nowiki><nowiki>	Forces the ToC to appear.
<nowiki> <nowiki>	Places a ToC here (overriding any ). Multiple ToCs are no longer supported. If is used multiple times, only the first occurence causes a ToC to appear.

The Table of contents can be forced onto a floating table on the right hand of the screen with the code below:

  {| align="right"
  | __TOC__
  |}

Other formatting

Beyond the text formatting markup shown above, here are some other formatting references:

• Links
• Images
• Tables