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Wiki-markup is a set of commands to specify how an article should look. This markup is incorporated into the article; it is invisible to readers, but becomes apparent as soon as you click on the edit this page tag. If you wish to contribute to Wikipedia, it is essential that you learn wiki-markup, at least the basic elements.

The following tables are designed to help you learn wiki-markup. The first two tables present the most basic and commonly used wiki-markup, whereas later tables show wiki-markup of ever greater complexity. All the tables highlight the wiki-markup in red, and show examples of the results. They also describe the customary way these markup commands are used on Wikipedia, with links to the Wikipedia's Manual of Style for more details.

Wiki-markup is a shorthand for HTML markup. It replaces HTML tags with punctuation marks that are very rare in normal text, such as a double square bracket, double equal signs, or double single quotes. If you know HTML tags, learning wiki markup should be relatively easy. The HTMl equivalents are also given in the tables below.

A simpler version of this page can be found at WP:CHEAT ("the cheat sheet").

Article basics

**Article basics**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
Paragraphs		blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Paragraphs	Paragraphs are separated by a exactly one blank line. They are the most common, but most invisible, markup.
Wikilinks	DNA	[[DNA]] (2 square brackets)	<a href="DNA">text</a>	Common
Wikilinks	Wikilinks (also known as "internal links") are the bread-&-butter of Wikipedia, and part of the reason for its success. They can be used in lieu of a detailed explanation — and to reconcile the need to be accurate yet intelligible to lay-people. If readers wish to know more about the topic, they can click on the link.
Headings		==Section heading== (2 equal signs) ===Subsection heading=== (3 equal signs) ====Subsubsection heading==== (4 equal signs)	<h2>text</h2> <h3>text</h3> <h4>text</h4>	Common
Headings	Headings are essential for organizing the articles. However, you should never create an H1 heading with one equal sign, e.g., =Subsection heading=.
References	Assertion.^[1]	Assertion.<ref>Text</ref>	none	Common
References	References are essential for Wikipedia's reliability. They are placed after the assertion and any adjacent punctuation, such as a period or comma. They appear as superscripted numbers that link to a "References" section at the end of the article.
Images	Diagram of DNA replication	[[DNA_replication.svg\|thumb\|left\|120px\|Diagram of DNA replication]] (2 square brackets + parameters)	<img src="DNA_replication.svg" width="120" />	Common
Images	In this example, "thumb" allows for a caption, "left" aligns the image on the left margin, and "120px" sets the width in pixels. The final parameter is the caption.

Talk-page basics

**Talk-page basics**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
Signature	Proteins (talk) 13:16, 11 July 2009 (UTC)	~~~~ (4 tildes)	none	Common
Signature	You should append your signature to every Talk-page message you write, to identify yourself as the speaker. However, signatures should never appear in an article.
Indentation	Previous sentence. Indented text.	Previous sentence. :Indented text (1 colon) ::Doubly indented text (2 colons), etc.	Previous sentence. <dd>Indented text</dd>	Common
Indentation	Wikipedians often indent their messages on Talk pages when they reply to another person's message. The colons must be the first characters on a new line. There is no limit to the number of colons (indentation levels); in practice, however, it is rare to see more than 10 levels, since people "outdent" to have more space.
Bulleted list		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
Bulleted list	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.

Font effects

A complementary introduction to character formatting can be found here.

**Font effects**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
Italics	text	''text'' (2 single quotes)	<em>text</em>	Rare
Italics	Italics are used mainly in references such as Journal of Molecular Biology, in taxonomic names such as Vibrio cholerae. In general, italics should not be used for emphasis. For more details on the customary usage of italics on Wikipedia, please follow this link to our Manual of Style.
Bold	text	'''text''' (3 single quotes)	<b>text</b>	Rare, usually once per article
Bold	Boldface text is generally used only once in an article, to highlight the article topic in the first sentence of the lead. In general, boldface type should not be used for emphasis. For more details on the customary usage of italics on Wikipedia, please follow this link to our Manual of Style.
Superscript Subscript	a^text b_text	a<sup>text</sup> (enclose in sup tags) b<sub>text</sub> (enclose in sub tags)	identical	Rare, except for math
Superscript Subscript	Super- and subscripts are used mainly in mathematical formulae. They are preferable to math mode (see below) because they do not require ALT text.
Strike	~~text~~	<s>text</s> (enclose in s tags)	identical	Rare
Strike	Strikethrough text is almost never used in articles. It is used on Talk pages mainly when reviewing articles on Wikipedia, to show that a criticism has been satisfied.
Small	Normal text small text	<small>text</small> (enclose in small tags)	identical	Rare
Small	Small font is almost never used on articles. It is used on Talk pages mainly to indicate that the text describes a minor detail.

Lists and links

**Lists and links**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
Bulleted list		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
Bulleted list	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.
Numbered list		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
Numbered list	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.
Definition list		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
Definition list	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.
External links		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
External links	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.
Section links		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
Section links	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.
Redirect		#REDIRECT [[Article to which the reader should be redirected]]	none	Rare
Redirect	This markup sends the reader directly to another article, or to a specific section of another article. This is useful for synonyms and common misspellings of the main article name, or when the topic has been covered within another article of larger scope.

Multimedia

**Multimedia**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
Galleries		blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Galleries	Paragraphs are separated by a exactly one blank line. They are the most common, but most invisible, markup.
Audio		blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Audio	Paragraphs are separated by a exactly one blank line. They are the most common, but most invisible, markup.
Video		blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Video	Paragraphs are separated by a exactly one blank line. They are the most common, but most invisible, markup.
Imagemaps	Click on image	blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Imagemaps	Paragraphs are separated by a exactly one blank line. They are the most common, but most invisible, markup.
Timelines		blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Timelines	Paragraphs are separated by a exactly one blank line. They are the most common, but most invisible, markup.

Templates and tables

Complex wiki-markup

Description

Example

Wiki

HTML tag

Usage

Templates

{{page being transcluded}} (2 curly braces)

none

Common

Templates are used to include the same material in multiple pages; this is called transcluding. The advantage is that this material is stored only once, but appears on many pages. Thus, a change to the master copy appears immediately on all of the transcluding pages. Templates are often used to establish a common format across many articles.

Tables

Table caption
Heading 1	Heading 2	etc.
Row 1, column 1	Row 1, column 2	etc.
Row 2, column 1	Row 2, column 2	etc.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Table caption
! Heading 1 !! Heading 2 !! etc.
|-
| Row 1, column 1 || Row 1, column 2 || etc.
|+
| Row 2, column 1 || Row 2, column 2 || etc.
|}

none

Common

Tables are probably the most difficult wiki-markup to learn.

Miscellany

**Miscellaneous wiki-markup**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
No wiki		<nowiki>text with wiki-markup such as [[DNA]]</nowiki>	none	Rare
No wiki	To turn off the interpretation of wiki-markup, enclose the text in <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags.
Hidden comment		<!-- Hidden comment -->	identical	Rare
Hidden comment	Hidden comments are visible to editors but not to readers of the article. They're used mainly to explain why certain editorial choice were made. They are also used to dissuade new editors from making common mistakes.
Math mode	$\sin \theta ={\frac {a}{\sqrt {a^{2}+b^{2}}}}$	<math>\sin\theta = \frac{a}{\sqrt{a^{2} + b^{2}}}</math>	none	Rare
Math mode	Beautifully formatted mathematical formulae can be obtained by enclosing LaTeX commands in <math> tags. To make these formulae accessible to visually impaired readers, the math tag should have ALT text enclosed in double quotes, e.g., <math alt="The sine of theta equals a divided by the square root of a squared plus b squared.">\sin\theta = \frac{a}{\sqrt{a^{2} + b^{2}}}</math>.
Footnotes	Assertion.^{[note 1]}	Assertion.<ref group=note>Explanatory text.</ref>	none	Common
Footnotes	Footnotes are not citations to the scholarly literature, but rather explanatory notes that would otherwise interrupt the flow of the writing. Similar to references, they are placed after the assertion being clarified and any adjacent punctuation, such as a period or comma. They appear as superscripted numbers that link to a "Footnotes" section at the end of the article.

Special text formatting

**Special text formatting**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
Blockquotes		blank line	<p>text</p>	Common
Blockquotes	Blockquotes are used for long quotations
Preformatted		initial space on line, or enclose in pre HTML tags	<pre>text</pre>	Common
Preformatted	Preformatted text is sometimes used for computer program listings, and the like.
Poem		initial space on line, or enclose in pre HTML tags	<poem>text</poem>	Common
Poem	Tags used for poetry.

Deprecated

Although wiki-markup allows for them, these HTML elements should not be used on Wikipedia.

**Deprecated wiki-markup**
Description	Example	Wiki	HTML tag	Usage
H1 headings		=H1 heading= (1 equal sign)	<h1>text</h1>	NEVER
H1 headings	H1 headings should never be used on Wikipedia because the article name at the top of the page is the H1 heading.
Horizontal rule		---- (4 hyphens)	<hr>	NEVER
Horizontal rule	Horizontal rules should never be used on Wikipedia.

Footnotes

^ Explanatory text.

References

^ Text

[2] Explanatory text.

[1] Text

[1]

[note 1]

@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 | colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Italics are used mainly in references such as ''Journal of Molecular Biology'', in taxonomic names such as ''Vibrio cholerae''.  In general, italics should not be used for emphasis.   For more details on the customary usage of italics on Wikipedia, please follow [[Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(text_formatting)#Italic_face|this link]] to our [[Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(text_formatting)|Manual of Style]].
 |-
-| rowspan=2 | <span id="boldface"></span>'''Bold'''<br />[[Image:Button_bold.png|25px]] || '''text''' || <font color="red"><nowiki>'''</nowiki></font>text<font color="red"><nowiki>'''</nowiki></font> (''3 single quotes'')|| <font color="red">&lt;b&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/b&gt;</font> || <font color="blue">'''Rare'''</font>
+| rowspan=2 | <span id="boldface"></span>'''Bold'''<br />[[Image:Button_bold.png|25px]] || '''text''' || <font color="red"><nowiki>'''</nowiki></font>text<font color="red"><nowiki>'''</nowiki></font> (''3 single quotes'')|| <font color="red">&lt;b&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/b&gt;</font> || <font color="blue">'''Rare'''</font>, usually once per article
 |-
 | colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Boldface text is generally used only once in an article, to highlight the article topic in the first sentence of the lead.  In general, boldface type should not be used for emphasis.  For more details on the customary usage of italics on Wikipedia, please follow [[Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(text_formatting)#Boldface|this link]] to our [[Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(text_formatting)|Manual of Style]].
 |-
-| rowspan=2 | <span id="superscript"></span>'''Superscript'''<br /><span id="subscript"></span>'''Subscript'''<br />[[Image:Button_sup_letter.png|25px]][[Image:Button_sub_letter.png|25px]] || a<sup>text</sup><br />b<sub>text</sub> || a<font color="red">&lt;sup&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/sup&gt;</font> (''enclose in sup tags'')<br />b<font color="red">&lt;sub&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/sub&gt;</font> (''enclose in sub tags'') || ''identical'' || <font color="blue">'''Rare'''</font>
+| rowspan=2 | <span id="superscript"></span>'''Superscript'''<br /><span id="subscript"></span>'''Subscript'''<br />[[Image:Button_sup_letter.png|25px]][[Image:Button_sub_letter.png|25px]] || a<sup>text</sup><br />b<sub>text</sub> || a<font color="red">&lt;sup&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/sup&gt;</font> (''enclose in sup tags'')<br />b<font color="red">&lt;sub&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/sub&gt;</font> (''enclose in sub tags'') || ''identical'' || <font color="blue">'''Rare'''</font>, except for math
 |-
 | colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Super- and subscripts are used mainly in mathematical formulae.  They are preferable to math mode (see [[#math_mode|below]]) because they do not require [[WP:ALT|ALT text]].
@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 | rowspan=2 | <span id="strike"></span>'''Strike'''<br />[[Image:Button_strike.png|25px]] || <s>text</s> || <font color="red">&lt;s&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/s&gt;</font> (''enclose in s tags'') || ''identical'' || <font color="blue">'''Rare'''</font>
 |-
-| colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Strikethrough text is used mainly when reviewing articles on Wikipedia, to show that a criticism has been satisfied.
+| colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Strikethrough text is almost never used in articles.  It is used on Talk pages mainly when reviewing articles on Wikipedia, to show that a criticism has been satisfied.
 |-
 | rowspan=2 | <span id="small"></span>'''Small'''<br />[[Image:Button_small_text.png|25px]] || Normal text <small>small text</small> || <font color="red">&lt;small&gt;</font>text<font color="red">&lt;/small&gt;</font> (''enclose in small tags'') || ''identical'' || <font color="blue">'''Rare'''</font>
 |-
-| colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Small font is used mainly to indicate that the text describes a minor detail.
+| colspan=4 style="background-color:lightblue;" | Small font is almost never used on articles.  It is used on Talk pages mainly to indicate that the text describes a minor detail.
 |}