Thistemplate is used to cite online sources in Wikipedia articles. {{Cite news}} can also be used when citing a news source; for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles, seeWikipedia:Cite sources. A general discussion of the use of templates for adding citations to Wikipedia articles is available atWikipedia:Citation templates.
Note: None of the parameters should be capitalised, in order to avoid the article being tagged as having a broken citation. For example, use "url", "title", etc. - not "URL", "Title", etc.
Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best. The following examples are for citations where one or more authors are listed in a single|author=authors parameter, using any format. Also shown below are three separate date formats that are commonly used in Wikipedia:
- Day Month Year
{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=19 Oṣù Ọ̀wàrà 2025}}
- Month Day, Year
{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=Oṣù Ọ̀wàrà 19, 2025}}
- YYYY-MM-DD
{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=2025-10-19}}
The examples below will suffice for up to two authors each with first and last names; for more, just create more parameters in a similar style:
- Day Month Year
{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=19 Oṣù Ọ̀wàrà 2025}}
- Month Day, Year
{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=Oṣù Ọ̀wàrà 19, 2025}}
- YYYY-MM-DD
{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=2025-10-19}}
When copying all parameters in either the vertical or horizontal layouts, delete those which are not needed.
- All parameters, horizontal layout
{{cite web |url= |title= |first= |last= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |month= |year= |work= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |trans_title= |format= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |accessdate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript= }}
- All parameters, vertical layout
{{cite web| url =| title =| first =| last =| author =| authorlink =| coauthors =| date =| month =| year =| work =| publisher =| location =| page =| pages =| at =| language =| trans_title =| format =| doi =| archiveurl =| archivedate =| accessdate =| quote =| ref =| separator =| postscript =}}- url: URL of online item. Start the url with the communications protocol, e.g. http://.
- title: Title of online item. This title will appear as the citation itself, hyperlinked to the URL.
- author parameters
- author
- last works withfirst to produce
last, first - authorlink works either withauthor or withlast &first to link to the appropriate wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
- last1,first1, ...,last9,first9 and optionallyauthorlink1, ...,authorlink9 for specifying more authors (note:last1,first1 andauthorlink1 are synonyms forlast,first andauthorlink, so useeitherlast1 orlast, not both)
- coauthors: alternate way of specifying additional authors
- a date parameter
- eitherdate: Full date of publication. Should not be wikilinked.
- oryear: Year of publication, andmonth: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, usedate instead. Should not be wikilinked.
- format: Format, e.g. PDF. HTML implied if not specified.
- work: If this item is part of a larger "work", such as a book, periodical or website, write the name of that work. Do not italicize; the software will do so automatically.
- publisher: Publisher, if any—for example if the website is hosted by a government service, educational institution, or company. (Thepublisher is not usually the name of the website, that is usually thework).
- location: Geographical place of publication.
- a page parameter
- eitherpage: Page number if a multi-page web article and referencing a single page. "page=5" producesp. 5.
- orpages: Page numbers if a multi-page web article and referencing more than one page. "pages=5–7" producespp. 5–7. This is for listing the pages relevant to the citation, not a total number of pages.
- orat: When the page prefix is unwanted. "at=Table 5" producesTable 5.
- language: language of publication (don't specify "English" as this is the default).
- trans_title: A translated title of the article, in case the original title is in a foreign language. Would normally be used in conjunction with the 'language' parameter.
- doi: Adigital object identifier for the document, such as10.1038/news070508-7
- Doilabel: If the doi contains some characters that must beescaped, use "doilabel" for the unescaped version. See {{doi}}: "id" is equivalent to "doi" and "label" is "doilabel"
- archive parameters(if used, must be used both of them together)
- archiveurl: The URL of anarchived copy of the page, if (or in case) the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services likeWebCite andArchive.org.
- archivedate: Date when the item was archived. Should not be wikilinked.
- accessdate: Full date when item was accessed. Should not be wikilinked. This should be given if the publication date is unknown; seeCitation styles.
- quote: Relevant quote from online item.
- ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value
|ref=ID generates an anchor with the givenID; such a linkable reference can be made the target ofwikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations likeshortened notes andparenthetical referencing. The special value|ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template; seeanchors for Harvard referencing templates. - separator /postscript: The punctuation to use between fields / at the end of the citation
By default, {{cite web}} separates some fields with periods, so don't encode those fields ending with a period or a duplicate period will be added. Example: "publisher=Camelot, Inc" will correctly show asCamelot, Inc. but "publisher=Camelot, Inc." will incorrectly show asCamelot, Inc..
- Some standard use cases
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=My Favorite Things, Part II|author=Doe, John|publisher=Open Publishing|date=30 April 2005|work=Encyclopedia of Things|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→Doe, John (30 April 2005)."My Favorite Things, Part II".Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=My Favorite Things, Part II|author=Doe, John|date=30 April 2005|work=Encyclopedia of things|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→Doe, John (30 April 2005)."My Favorite Things, Part II".Encyclopedia of Things. Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=My Favorite Things, Part II|author=Doe, John|date=30 April 2005|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→Doe, John (30 April 2005)."My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web||url=http://www.example.org/|title=My Favorite Things, Part IIauthor=Doe, John|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→Doe, John."My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=My Favorite Things, Part II|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→"My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules|title=Digest of Rules|publisher=National Football League|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→"Digest of Rules". National Football League. Retrieved6 July 2005.
- Using format
{{cite web|url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf|title=List of psychotropic substances under international control|publisher=International Narcotics Control Board|format=PDF|accessdate=July 6, 2005}}
→"List of psychotropic substances under international control"(PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. RetrievedJuly 6, 2005.
- Foreign language and translated title
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=Honni soit qui mal y pense|author=Joliet, François|date=30 April 2005|accessdate=6 July 2005|language=French|trans_title=Shame on those who think evil}}
→Joliet, François (30 April 2005)."Honni soit qui mal y pense" [Shame on those who think evil] (in French). Retrieved6 July 2005. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- coauthors
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=Our Favorite Things|first=John|last=Doe|coauthors=Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim|publisher=Open Publishing|date=30 April 2005|work=Encyclopedia of Things|accessdate=16 May 2006}}
→Doe, John (30 April 2005)."Our Favorite Things".Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved16 May 2006. Unknown parameter|coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=Our Favorite Things|first=John|last=Doe|coauthors=Peter Smith; Jim Smythe|publisher=Open Publishing|date=30 April 2005|work=Encyclopedia of Things|accessdate=16 May 2006}}
→Doe, John (30 April 2005)."Our Favorite Things".Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved16 May 2006. Unknown parameter|coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
- No author
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=Index of Sharp Things|publisher=Open Publishing|date=30 April 2005|work=Encyclopedia of Things|accessdate=16 May 2006}}
→"Index of Sharp Things".Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. 30 April 2005. Retrieved16 May 2006.
- No author, no publisher
This abbreviated format should only be used when the editor cannot determine the publisher and author.
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=Index of Sharp Things|date=30 April 2005|work=Encyclopedia of Things|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→"Index of Sharp Things".Encyclopedia of Things. 30 April 2005. Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://www.example.org/|title=Index of Sharp Things|date=30 April 2005|accessdate=6 July 2005}}
→"Index of Sharp Things". 30 April 2005. Retrieved6 July 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf|title=List of psychotropic substances under international control|date=30 April 2005|format=PDF|accessdate=July 6, 2005|language=Greek}}
→"List of psychotropic substances under international control"(PDF) (in Greek). 30 April 2005. RetrievedJuly 6, 2005. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- Using "archiveurl" and "archivedate" for webpages that have been archived
{{cite web|url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf|title=List of psychotropic substances under international control|date=30 April 2005|format=PDF|accessdate=July 6, 2005|archiveurl=http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf|archivedate=2005-09-11}}
→"List of psychotropic substances under international control"(PDF). 30 April 2005. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2005-09-11. RetrievedJuly 6, 2005.
{{cite web|url=http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm|title=Interview with Maggie Downs|date=2006-03-31|publisher=The Desert Sun|archiveurl=http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:JAxf4v-pQmgJ:joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi%3Farchive%3Dcurrnews%26story%3D20060405-01shore.htm|archivedate=2006-04-26}}
→"Interview with Maggie Downs". The Desert Sun. 2006-03-31. Archived fromthe original on 2006-04-26.
- Using "quote"
{{cite web|url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html|title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea|work=WebExhibits|date=2008|accessdate=2009-09-27|quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'}}
→"Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea".WebExhibits. 2008. Retrieved2009-09-27.... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'
