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Help:A quick guide to templates

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This is a quick overview of templates. Full details can be found in Help:Template and Help:Template names, variable names and parameters depending on a variable or parameter.

Templates are pages in the template namespace. This means any page beginning with "Template:", such as [[Template:Templatename]]. The content of a template can be added to a page by typing {{templatename}}.

Templates are used to add recurring messages to pages in a consistent way, to add boilerplate messages, to create navigational boxes and to provide cross-language portability of texts.

Creating, editing and using templates

You start a new template in the same way you would start a normal page. The only difference is that its title must start with Template:.

Once you have made the template, you can add {{templatename}} to the pages you want to use it on. Every page using this template will get the same boilerplate text, each time a user visits it. When the template is updated, all pages containing the template tag will automatically be updated.

Alternatively, you can add {{subst:templatename}} to the pages you want to use the boilerplate text on. The system will fetch a one-time copy of the template text and substitute it into the page, in place of the template tag. If anyone edits the template afterwards, pages that used the subst: keyword will not be updated. Sometimes that's what you want.

If the template you want to edit looks like {{foo}}, you would go to Template:foo to edit it. To get there, type in the URL to your address bar, search for it, or make a link in the sandbox and click on it.

Once you are there, just click "edit" or "edit this page" and edit it in the same way you would any other page. You can add anything you would add to a normal page, including text, images and other templates. Please be aware that your edit might affect many pages, so be cautious.

FAQ

Can I use a template in more than one project?
No, if you want to use it on two different language Wikipedias, for example, you would need to create it twice.
Are templates case sensitive?
Yes, except usually the first letter.
Can I add parameters?
Yes, see Help:Template for instructions.
How many templates can I use in a page?
As many as you like (in older versions you could not use the same one more than 5 times).
I edited the template, so why didn't the page it is used on change?
There are some caching bugs. Refreshing by pressing Ctrl and F5 often helps.
Can I move a template to a new name?
Yes, this works in exactly the same way as normal page moves. When a page called for inclusion is a redirect page, the redirect target is included instead.
Can I use a template within a template?
You can use a template tag within template content, but not within a template tag: in the latter case the parser will prematurely end the original template tag when it reaches the first pair of curly closing braces.

Examples

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