 | This help page is ahow-to guide. It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels ofconsensus. |
 | This is a very technical how-to mainly of interest to editors who work with the footnotes system and related templates |
The Wikipediafootnotes system uses theCite.php software extension to generate references. MediaWiki messages are then used to format the display of the inline links and the references.
<ref>...</ref>; shown in superscript and enclosed in brackets; coded in the MediaWiki message as $2<ref>...</ref> that shows in the reference list; coded as $3| MediaWiki interface page | Use | Current |
|---|---|---|
| Cite reference link | format inline link | <supid="$1"class="reference">[[#$2|<spanclass="cite-bracket">[</span>$3<spanclass="cite-bracket">]</span>]]</sup>
|
| Cite references link many | format reference with multiple backlinks | <liid="$1"><spanclass="mw-cite-backlink">^ $2</span> $3</li>
|
| Cite references link many and | | |
| Cite references link many format | [[#$1|<sup>'''''$3'''''</sup>]]
| |
| Cite references link many format backlink labels | backlink labels used in the reference list | currently from a to azz |
| Cite references link many sep | | |
| Cite references link one | format reference with single backlink | <liid="$1"$4><spanclass="mw-cite-backlink">'''[[#$2|^]]'''</span> $3</li>
|
| Cite references prefix | prefix for<references /> | [[:MediaWiki:Cite references prefix]] |
| Cite references suffix | suffix for<references /> | [[:MediaWiki:Cite references suffix]] |
| Cite reference link key with num | [[:MediaWiki:Cite reference link key with num]]
| |
| Cite reference link prefix | inline link prefix | [[:MediaWiki:Cite reference link prefix]] |
| Cite reference link suffix | inline link suffix | [[:MediaWiki:Cite reference link suffix]] |
| Cite references link prefix | reference list link prefix | [[:MediaWiki:Cite references link prefix]] |
| Cite references link suffix | reference list link suffix | [[:MediaWiki:Cite references link suffix]] |
| Cite references no link | [[:MediaWiki:Cite references no link]] | |
| Cite references link many accessibility label | accessibility label for screen readers | Jump up to: |
Class .reference formats the inline link; defined inCommon.css
/* Ensure refs in table headers and the like aren't bold or italic */sup.reference{font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;}/* Prevent line breaks in silly places: 3) Ref tags with group names <ref group="Note"> --> "[Note 1]"*/sup.referencea{white-space:nowrap;}
Class .references formats the reference list; defined inCommon.css When the inline cite link is clicked, the focus jumps to the proper cite in the reference list. The following rules highlight the cite in light blue. This is supported byGecko (FireFox) andWebkit (Safari, Chrome) browsers; it is not supported by current versions ofTrident, but does work in the Internet Explore 9 platform preview.
/* Highlight clicked reference in blue to help navigation */div.referencesli:target,sup.reference:target,span.citation:target{background-color:#DEF;}
Although not specific to references,Common.css does have this line height rule to keep line spacing from breaking on subscript and superscript, as used in the inline link. Internet Explorer 7 has problems withline-height when printing, so it is disabled for IE7 throughCommon.js.
/* Reduce line-height for <sup> and <sub> */sup,sub{line-height:1em;}
Cite errors are classed with:
<strong>
The extension uses somemodules for CSS:
The inline reference links are defined inMediaWiki:Cite reference link. The default is:
<supid="$1"class="reference">[[#$2|<nowiki>[</nowiki>$3<nowiki>]</nowiki>]]</sup>
Where:
The English Wikipedia customizes this to:
<supid="$1"class="reference">[[#$2|<spanclass="cite-bracket">[</span>$3<spanclass="cite-bracket">]</span>]]</sup>
Where the brackets that show enclosing the reference count are enclosed in<span> tags so they can be styled.
The backlink label type is defined inMediaWiki:Cite references link many format. This interface page defaults to:
[[#$1|<sup>'''''$2'''''</sup>]]
Where:
The English Wikipedia interface page is set to:
[[#$1|<sup>'''''$3'''''</sup>]]
Changing$2 to$3 changes the backlinks from numeric to alpha. This was modified in 2006 to match the output of{{ref}} which was the predominant method of inserting footnotes at the time.
This is the markup for some simple references
Unnamed<ref>This is an unnamed reference</ref>Named<refname="named">This is a named reference</ref>Named reference used again<refname="named"/><references/>
Which shows as
Unnamed[1]
Named[2]
Named reference used again[2]
Which renders as
The MediaWiki messages are combined to form the HTML output
<p>Unnamed<supid="cite_ref-0"class="reference"><ahref="#cite_note-0"title=""><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup></p><p>Named<supid="cite_ref-named_1-0"class="reference"><ahref="#cite_note-named-1"title=""><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup></p><p>Named reference used again<supid="cite_ref-named_1-1"class="reference"><ahref="#cite_note-named-1"title=""><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup></p><divclass="references"><ol><liid="cite_note-0"><b><ahref="#cite_ref-0"title="">^</a></b> This is an unnamed reference</li><liid="cite_note-named-1">^<ahref="#cite_ref-named_1-0"title=""><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a><ahref="#cite_ref-named_1-1"title=""><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> This is a named reference</li></ol></div>
Ifcitation templates are used, they will inject other classes and ids into the HTML output.