Help:Reftags
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This page,Help:Reftags,explains the use of the reftag element,<ref>...</ref>for defining referencefootnotes,as displayed by using a<references/>tag or a{{Reflist}}template to list the footnotes. A reftag can also be defined by using wikitext function{{#tag:ref|...}}to generate the text<ref>...</ref>and allow direct use ofsubst'ing of templates to embed equivalent markup inside a footnote, or to nest a<ref>...</ref>inside a{{#tag:ref|...}}.
Defining a reftag element[edit]
The general format is<ref>text</ref>for a simple reftag footnote. However reftags can have aname= "xx"to define a footnote to be reused on a page by named ref,<ref name= "xx" />,as when citing the same webpage at several spots in the article text.
There can be more than 3,000 reftag footnotes defined on a page, but usually there are less than a hundred.[fn 1]
Citing different pages in a single source[edit]
 | This section is retained only forhistoricalreference. Reason:The {{R}}templatehas been deprecated by community RfC since 2010(its use "suspended" unless three conditions were met, which were not met).For a modern solutionto citing different pages in a single source, see {{sfnp}}. |
When citing different pages in a single source, a named ref[1]can be followed by a{{R}}template. Given a ref like "<ref name= "author1990" >book</ref>",the ref"author1990"can be reused, now using a different page number, say 53. This subsequent ref{{R|author1990|p=53}}will show the same superscript number, with a suffix of a colon and, in this case 53, the page number.[1]: 53 This format allows the reader to click to the reference section, and then click on other references from the same source.
Named groupings[edit]
Rather than define hundreds of footnotes in a single list, various reftags could split to some named groupings, such as using "<ref group= "gg" >...</ref> ""to collect those footnotes into group name"gg"as displayed by<references group= "gg" />.[fn 2]For example, a common tactic is to define footnote group "fn" which shows each link as"[fn 9]"for the 9th footnote in thegroup= "fn".A group name can be multiple words in straight double quotation marks (group="set xx yy"), but a single-word name with no punctuation or other special characters, just ASCII letters and numerals, can omit the quotation marks (as:group=fn). Hence, many group names are typically one-word labels, to avoid excessive quotation marks.[fn 3]
Defining a reftag function[edit]
Rather than using an element<ref>text</ref>,an alternate method is to use the wikitext functiontag:ref,as{{#tag:ref|...text...}}to define the contents of a footnote.
Examples:
- Using
{{#tag:ref|Example of tag:ref function}}will show a superscript number:[2]and list footnote "Example of tag:ref function" under the References. - Using named
{{#tag:ref|Named reftag function xx1|name= "xx1" }}will show a superscript number:[3]and list footnote "Named reftag function xx1" under the References below. The footnote name"xx1"then can be reused by putting<ref name= "xx1" />at various points in the text.[3]
Footnotes (fn)[edit]
References[edit]
See also[edit]
- Wikipedia:Advanced footnote formatting– special layouts
- Wikipedia:Citing sources(WP:CITE) – how to format footnotes or bibliography
- Wikipedia:Reliable sources(WP:RS) – about reputable references
- Wikipedia:Find sources– how to hunt for quality source documents
- {{Cite web}}– most common citationtemplate,for sources with a URL
- {{Cite book}}– to cite a book/chapter or volume as a source reference
- {{Cite journal}}– to cite an article in a periodical as a source reference
- mw:Help:Cite– original documentation of the
<ref>citation feature provided byMediaWiki