User:Netjeff/Cheatsheet about editing

Wikipedia:Manual of Style

For footnotes using inline citation/ref use <ref>...</ref>, with optional <ref name="...">. Then towards end of page use template {{RefList}} once.

See Help:Footnotes for general guidance & recommendations.

The most freeform is "naked" use of <ref name="...">...</ref>

Use a template inside of <ref> to give more structure and automatic formatting.

One of the most generic is template {{Citation}}. This is known as "Citation Style 1" aka "CS1".

There are "children" of {{Citation}}.

• "General use" citations, including {{Cite web}} and {{Cite news}}
• "Specific source" citations, including {{Cite IETF}}
• Templates that "wrap other CS1 templates", including
  • {{Cite tweet}} that wraps {{Cite web}}
  • {{OpenStreetMap maps}} that wraps {{Cite map}}

All the "children" can use all of the params of general {{Citation}}.

Coming soon: Sub-referencing

This is a citation to an entire paper, where the citation does not include any page numbers ^[1].

This is a citation to same paper, where the citation itself contains ref to pages 7 and 8^[2].

This is reusing the citation containing pages 7 and 8^[2]

This is a citation to same paper, but page 14 inside the citation ^[3].

When a single article has multiple refs to same source differing in only page numbers, see templates {{harvp}} & {{sfn}}. Then a typical "References" section at end divided into subsections "Citations" containing {{Reflist}}, and subsection "Sources" with {{refbegin}} & {{refend}} containing bullet list of naked {{Citation}}. The "Citations" {{Reflist}} is populated from the {{harvp}}/{{sfn}} templates, which in turn link into the "Sources". For example pages that use these, see Starship Troopers and Happy Birthday to You. For additional advanced usage, see use of {{harvid}} in conjunction with {{harvp}} in my edits to 2018 Rome escalator accident in Sept 2025.

Template {{Rp}} provides visual-only pages markup, with a cite is to the entire paper.^[1]: 7–8

Use template {{efn}} for "explanatory footnotes" aka "notes".

Use template {{IETF RFC}} like this: {{IETF RFC|7095}} → RFC 7095

Use special syntax [[rfc:3261]] like this, rfc:3261

This is known as "Interwiki linking" with complete list at MetaWiki:Interwiki_map

You can customize the link as usual with [[rfc:3261|RFC 3261]] like this, RFC 3261

You can deep link with [[rfc:3261#section-21.4.18|rfc-3261 §21.4.18]] like this, rfc-3261 §21.4.18

Use template {{Ref RFC}} for an all-in-one <ref>...</ref> plus cite

• {{Ref RFC|3261}} → ^[4]
• See docs for variations on section name, pages, etc

Use template {{Cite IETF}} within a <ref>...</ref>

• shallow^[5]

<ref name="rfc9110_shallow">{{cite ietf |rfc=9110 |title=HTTP Semantics |date=June 2022}}</ref>

• deep^[6]

<ref>{{cite ietf |rfc=9110 |title=HTTP Semantics |section=5.6.5 |date=June 2022}}</ref>

• deep w/sectionname^[7]

<ref>{{cite ietf |rfc=9110 |title=HTTP Semantics |section=5.6.5 |sectionname=Comments |date=June 2022}}</ref>

• shallow with section.^{[5]: §5.6.5} This uses {{Rp}} for visual-only section number, combined with {{cite ietf}} to the entire RFC.

<ref name="rfc9110_shallow"/>{{rp|at=§5.6.5}}

• deep with appendix name^[8]

<ref name="7231_appendixB">{{cite ietf |rfc=7231 |title=Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content |appendix=B |sectionname=Changes from RFC 2616 |date=June 2014}}</ref>

For fine-grained control use generic template {{Cite web}} like this.^[9]

<ref>{{cite web |date=June 2022 |url=https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9110#section-5.6.5 |title=RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics, Section 5.6.5 |publisher=[[IETF]]}}</ref>

Note that template {{Citation}} is the basis of both {{Cite web}} and {{Cite IETF}}. So you can also use all params from {{Citation}}.

When a single article has multiple refs to same rfc differing in only section/page numbers, see discussion about templates {{sfn}} and {{harvp}} above.

See Wikipedia:Citation needed for guidelines on when to (not) use the {{Citation needed}} template

See Template:Inline cleanup tags for an exhaustive list of related templates

When citation is present but questionable,

• {{Specify}} : Used to tag statements that seem to be sourced but lack sufficient specificity as to what exactly is being drawn from the source. This situation most often arises when sources are over-summarized to an excessive level, without sufficient care for whether the result has a clear enough meaning to be properly verifiable.

• {{Verify source}} : Used to request that someone verify that the cited source supports the material in the passage, only after you have made a good faith attempt to verify the information yourself, and you still have good reason to question whether the source is correct

{{US$}}:

• The movie cost $82,604,699 in 1979.^[10]

{{US$}} with |1979 based on CPI and |round=-7, plus {{Inflation/fn|US}} for cite about inflation calculation:

• The movie cost $82,604,699 in 1979 (equivalent to about $370,000,000 in 2025)^[11].^[10]

{{Inflation|US}} used manually based on CPI with |r=-7:

• The movie cost $82,604,699 in 1979^[10] (equivalent to $370,000,000 in 2025^[11]).

{{Inflation|US-GDP}} used manually based on GDP with |r=-7:

• The movie cost $82,604,699 in 1979^[10] (equivalent to $290,000,000 in 2024^[11]).

{{Format price}} with manual {{Inflation|US-GDP}} with |r=-7:

• The movie cost $82.6 million in 1979^[10] ($287 million in 2024^[12]).

{{val}}: Formatting, layout (no wrap, etc), sortability, and unit wikilinking.

• {{val|fmt=commas|123456.78901}} → 123,456.78901
• {{val|e=5}} → 10⁵
• {{val|1.234|e=5}} → 1.234×10⁵
• {{val|1.234e5}} → 1.234×10⁵
• {{val|1.234|u=m2}} → 1.234 m²
• {{val|1.234|ul=m2}} → 1.234 m² (with units wikilinked, when available)
• {{val|1.234e5|ul=m2}} → 1.234×10⁵ m²
• {{val|2|and|5|ul=m2}} → 2 and 5 m² (in gui editor, 'and' is 'Uncertainty", '5' is 'Asymmetric uncertainty'
• {{val|p=Δ|12.34}} → Δ12.34
• {{val|p=Δ |12.34}} → Δ 12.34
• {{val|p=≅|12.34|u=%}} → ≅12.34%
• {{val|12.34|0.25|s=%}} → 12.34±0.25%
• {{val|1.234|e=7|u=W|up=m2}} → 1.234×10⁷ W/m² (for |up=, read the 'p' as in "per" as in "per unit")
• {{val|1.234|e=7|ul=au|upl=M_Earth}} → 1.234×10⁷ au/M_🜨
• {{val|1.234|e=7|u=AU<sup>1.5</sup>|up=''M''<sub>E</sub><sup>2</sup>}} → 1.234×10⁷ (AU^1.5)/(M_E²)
• etc etc etc

{{convert}} to show the same numeric value in different units

• {{convert|20|C|F}} → 20 °C (68 °F)
• {{convert|300|K|C F|lk=on}} → 300 K (27 °C; 80 °F)
• {{convert|2|and|5|km|mi}} → 2 and 5 kilometres (1.2 and 3.1 mi)
• {{convert|3|-|6|ft}} → 3–6 feet (0.91–1.83 m)
• {{convert|{{sigfig|1,573.7|2}}|GL|sigfig=2}} → 1,600 gigalitres (5.7×10¹⁰ cu ft)

{{10^}}: Focuses on formatting just the part ×10⁴². Note {{e}} is an alias.

{{scinote|12345}} → 1.2345×10^⁴

See Category:Mathematical_function_templates for things like

• {{round}}
• {{sigfig}}

Use one of these techniques

• {{section link|Pioneer anomaly|Description}} → Pioneer anomaly § Description
  • (shortened template name is {{slink}})
• [[Pioneer anomaly#Description|"Description" on Pioneer anomaly]] → "Description" on Pioneer anomaly

{{tl}} (and related) refer to templates without running the template

• {{tl|math}} → {{math}}
• {{tl2|math}} → {{math}}

{{demo-inline|<nowiki>{{val|1.234|ul=m2}}</nowiki>}} produces: {{val|1.234|ul=m2}} → 1.234 m²