Help:Formatting

You can format your text by using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes or equal signs which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in italic, you include it in two pairs of single quotes like.

Paragraphs
MediaWiki ignores single line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can force a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tag.

Text formatting markup
{| class="va-table" ! Description ! width=40% | You type ! width=40% | You get

! colspan="3" | character (inline) formatting – applies anywhere
 * - class="va-table-highlight"


 * Italic text
 * italic
 * italic
 * italic


 * Bold text
 * bold
 * bold
 * bold


 * Bold and italic
 * bold & italic
 * bold & italic
 * bold & italic


 * Escape wiki markup
 * &lt;nowiki>no markupLevel 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
 * Skip Level 1, it is page name level.
 * An article with 4 or more headings automatically creates a table of contents.

Text above
 * Horizontal rule
 * Horizontal rule

Text below Text above

Text below

don't break levels. Any other start ends the list. don't break levels. Any other start ends the list.
 * Bullet list
 * Start each line
 * with an asterisk (*).
 * More asterisks gives deeper
 * and deeper levels.
 * Line breaks
 * and deeper levels.
 * Line breaks
 * But jumping levels creates empty space.
 * Start each line
 * with an asterisk (*).
 * More asterisks gives deeper
 * and deeper levels.
 * Line breaks
 * Line breaks
 * But jumping levels creates empty space.

don't break levels.
 * Numbered list
 * 1) Start each line
 * 2) with a number sign (#).
 * 3) More number signs gives deeper
 * 4) and deeper
 * 5) levels.
 * 6) Line breaks
 * 1) levels.
 * 2) Line breaks
 * 1) But jumping levels creates empty space.
 * 2) Blank lines

Any other start also ends the list. don't break levels.
 * 1) end the list and start another.
 * 1) Start each line
 * 2) with a number sign (#).
 * 3) More number signs gives deeper
 * 4) and deeper
 * 5) levels.
 * 6) Line breaks
 * 1) Line breaks
 * 1) But jumping levels creates empty space.
 * 2) Blank lines

Any other start also ends the list.
 * 1) end the list and start another.


 * Definition list
 * item 1
 * definition 1
 * item 1
 * definition 1


 * item 2
 * definition 2-1
 * definition 2-2


 * item 1
 * definition 1
 * definition 1


 * item 2
 * definition 2-1
 * definition 2-2


 * Indent text
 * Single indent
 * Double indent
 * Multiple indent
 * Double indent
 * Multiple indent

Note: This workaround may be controversial from the viewpoint of accessibility.
 * Single indent
 * Double indent
 * Multiple indent
 * Multiple indent

of &lt;nowiki> &lt;/nowiki> Note: The usage of  and   for breaking a line within an item may also be controversial. of
 * Mixture of different types of list
 * Mixture of different types of list
 * 1) one
 * 2) two
 * 3) * two point one
 * 4) * two point two
 * 5) three
 * 6) ; three item one
 * three def one
 * 1) four
 * four def one
 * this looks like a continuation
 * and is often used
 * instead
 * 1) five
 * 2) five sub 1
 * 3) five sub 1 sub 1
 * 4) five sub 2
 * 1) one
 * 2) two
 * 3) * two point one
 * 4) * two point two
 * 5) three
 * 6) ; three item one
 * three def one
 * 1) four
 * four def one
 * this looks like a continuation
 * and is often used
 * instead
 * instead


 * 1) five
 * 2) five sub 1
 * 3) five sub 1 sub 1
 * 4) five sub 2

Start each line with a space. Text is preformatted and markups can be done Note: This way of preformatting only applies to section formatting. Character formatting markups are still effective. Start each line with a space. Text is preformatted and markups can be done
 * Preformatted text
 * Preformatted text

(before the ).
 * Preformatted text blocks
 * Start with a space in the first column,
 * Start with a space in the first column,

Then your block format will be   maintained.

This is good for copying in code blocks:

def function: """documentation string"""

if True: print True else: print False Start with a space in the first column. (before the ).

Then your block format will be   maintained.

This is good for copying in code blocks:

def function: """documentation string"""

if True: print True else: print False
 * }

HTML tags
Some HTML tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example,  ,   and. These apply anywhere you insert them.

Inserting symbols
Symbols and other special characters not available on your keyboard can be inserted through a special sequence of characters. Those sequences are called HTML Entities. For example, the following sequence (entity)  when inserted will be shown as right arrow HTML symbol → and   when inserted will be shown as an em dash HTML symbol &mdash;


 * Note: some symbols not available in the current font will appear as empty squares.

See the list of all XML and HTML entities on the Wikipedia article list of XML and HTML character entity references. Additionally, MediaWiki supports two non-standard entity reference sequences:  and   which are both considered equivalent to   which is a right-to-left mark (Used when combining right to left languages with left or right languages in the same page)

Other formatting
Beyond the text formatting markup shown above, here are some other formatting references:
 * Links
 * Images
 * Tables