Template:Contains special characters

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This template flags potential font/encoding issues for users when an article contains text which may not be rendered correctly on out-of-the-box installations of current operating systems.

Use this only in articles in which the presence of special characters is likely to confuse readers of affected articles; it is not needed on articles where special characters are ordinarily expected (mathematics articles, for instance).

Usage

Place at the top of affected articles, below any infobox. Each particular language should have a separate template that calls "Contains special characters" with the following parameters (as appropriate for that language).

Typical implementations, with generally useful values:

Code	Renders as
{{Contains special characters | special = uncommon [[Unicode]] characters | fix = Help:Multilingual support | error = [[Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character|question marks, boxes, or other symbols]] | characters = the intended characters | image = Replacement character.svg | link = Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character | alt = <?> | compact = }}
{{Contains special characters | special = uncommon [[Unicode]] characters | fix = Help:Multilingual support | image = Replacement character.svg | link = Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character | alt = <?> | compact = yes }}

|special=

Required. The languages or special content the page includes. This is the text immediately after "This page contains". Free-form, so you can specify as many as you like; for a page of numerous mixed languages, see {{Uncommon Unicode notice}}. Remember to link to the articles for the characters / languages.

|fix=

The "rendering support" link to a page with the solution (installing fonts, etc.). This should just be the title of the fix page, unlinked. This should usually be Help:Multilingual support unless you have something more specific to point to for a particular language or use case (e.g. Help:IPA#Rendering issues, used in the {{IPA notice}} derivative of this template).

|error=

(optiona; must be given a value or omitted entirely) The type of rendering error that will observed without the required support. Free-form wikicode, and will appear between "you may see" and "instead of". Defaults to: [[Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character|question marks, boxes, or other symbols]], though ''[[mojibake]]'' may be good for East Asian languages.

|characters=

The specific type of characters that might be missing (i.e. kanji, kana). This is the final wording of the template, after "instead of". Free-form, remember to use links, if not already linked in |special=. The entire "instead of" clause will not appear if this is blank (i.e., the template will end with the wording of |error= or its default value).

|section=

(optional) By default, this display "article" in an article and "page" on all other pages. You can manually specify a replacement for that word, usually |section=section, but other values might be list or table. Note: The "|section=y" syntax does not work; it will output the letter "y". Support for that option can be added if it is desired.

|image=

(optional) Just the title (no File: or Image: prefix) of an image of the characters, ideally legible at 65x50px and either square or slightly wider than tall. The template defaults to blank, but a reasonable suggestion for many circumstances is Replacement character.svg: , which can be given an | description. (This is the default replacement character on Windows systems.)

|alt=

(optional) The alt text for the image, for visually-impaired readers. See SF:ALT. If the image is merely some text, the alt text should simply repeat that text.

|link=

(optional) Name of the article that the image should link to. This should just be the title of the page, unlinked, usually Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character, but perhaps Mojibake for East Asian languages. By default, the image is considered to be purely decorative and does not link to any article. If this parameter is specified, the alt parameter should also be specified.

|width=

(unusually unused) The default width of the image is 22em. This can be made larger with this parameters, for a very small character, or considerably smaller for a short word.

|compact=y

(optional) If set to any value, it will display a shorter form of the standard text, to save space. I suppresses display of the values of |characters= and |error= (so having an image |link= that goes to the same page as |error= is particularly useful, in case someone later turns on the |compact=y feature.

See also

All "Contains special characters" warning templates are listed here:

Generic

Template code	Template rendering
{{Contains special characters}}

Specific

Template code	Template rendering	Examples of characters in question
{{AA}}	Template:AA	＿＿＿_∧∧ ～'　＿＿__(,,ﾟДﾟ) 　 ＵU 　 　Ｕ U
{{APLcode}}	Template:APLcode	⍟⍋⌹⋆⍕⍀←⌽⍳⍝
{{Contains Armenian text}}	Template:Contains Armenian text	հայերէն
{{Contains Balinese script}}	Template:Contains Balinese script	ᬅᬓ᭄ᬱᬭᬩᬮᬶ
{{Contains Baluchi text}}	Template:Contains Baluchi text	بلوچی
{{Contains Baybayin text}}	Template:Contains Baybayin text	ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔ᜊᜇ᜔ᜎᜒᜆ᜔
{{Contains Braille characters}}	Template:Contains Braille characters	⠁⠧⠮⡀⢅⢑⢷⣪⣿
{{Contains Burmese text}}	Template:Contains Burmese text	မြန်မာအက္ခရာ
{{Contains Canadian text}}	Template:Contains Canadian text	ᐇᑹᑹᓓᓔᔔᕧᗶᙥᙶᙽ
{{Contains Cherokee text}}	Template:Contains Cherokee text	ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
{{Contains Coptic text}}	Template:Contains Coptic text	ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲧⲙⲛ̄ⲧⲣⲙ̄ⲛ̄ⲕⲏⲙⲉ
{{Contains cuneiform text}}	Template:Contains cuneiform text	𒅇𒀉𒆤𒈿𒅅𒄠𒅈𒅕𒄑𒌦
{{Contains Deseret text}}	Template:Contains Deseret text	𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻 𐐔𐐯𐑆𐐲𐑉𐐯𐐻
{{Contains emoticon}}	Template:Contains emoticon	⏰❤️🍉😂😩🛶☃✌❽🥇🏝️👧🏾
{{Contains Ethiopic text}}	Template:Contains Ethiopic text	ሀለበተኀነ𐩠𐩡ዘየደገጠ𐩴𐩮𐩰
{{Contains Georgian text}}	Template:Contains Georgian text	ქართული
{{Contains Glagolitic text}}	Template:Contains Glagolitic text	Ⰳⰾⰰⰳⱁⰾⰻⱌⰰ
{{Contains Gothic text}}	Template:Contains Gothic text	𐌰𐌱𐌲𐌳𐌴𐌵𐌶𐌷𐌸𐌹𐌺𐌻𐌼𐌽𐌾𐌿𐍀𐍁𐍂𐍃𐍄𐍅𐍆𐍇𐍈𐍉𐍊
{{Contains Hebrew text}}	Template:Contains Hebrew text	אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי
{{Contains Hindko text}}	Template:Contains Hindko text	بثجچشظعقگلمھے
{{Contains Hokkien text}}	Template:Contains Hokkien text	福建话閩南語Pe̍hōejīTâilô
{{Contains Indic text}}	Template:Contains Indic text	𑀕𑀖𑀗𑀘𑀙𑀚𑀝𑀞𑀟𑀢𑀣𑀤𑀧𑀨𑀩𑀪𑀭𑀮𑀴𑀱
{{Contains Javanese script}}	Template:Contains Javanese script	ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ
{{Contains Karen text}}	Template:Contains Karen text	ကညီလံာ်ခီၣ်ထံး
{{Contains Khmer text}}	Template:Contains Khmer text	ភាសាខ្មែរ
{{Contains Khoekhoe text}}	Template:Contains Khoekhoe text	ǀǁǃǂǀʰǁʰǃʰǂʰᵑǀᵑǁᵑǃᵑǂᵑ̊ǀʰᵑ̊ǁʰᵑ̊ǃʰᵑ̊ǂʰᵑ̊ǁˀᵑ̊ǃˀᵑ̊ǂˀ
{{Contains Lao text}}	Template:Contains Lao text	ພາສາລາວ
{{Contains Lontara script}}	Template:Contains Lontara script	ᨒᨚᨈᨑ
{{Contains Manchu text}}	Template:Contains Manchu text	Template:ManchuSibeUnicode
{{Contains Mongolian text}}	Template:Contains Mongolian text	Template:MongolUnicode Template:MongolUnicode
{{Contains Nom text}}	Template:Contains Nom text	𡨸喃
{{Contains Ogham text}}	Template:Contains Ogham text	ᚁᚂᚃᚄᚅᚆᚇᚈᚉᚊᚋᚌᚍᚎᚏᚐᚑᚒᚓᚔᚕᚖᚗᚘᚙᚚ᚛᚜
{{Contains Old Hungarian text}}	Template:Contains Old Hungarian text	𐲀𐲄𐲅𐲆𐲇𐲍𐲎𐲜𐲝𐲞𐲟𐲠𐳄𐳅𐳥𐳦𐳧𐳨𐳱𐳲𐳺𐳾𐳿
{{Contains Old Persian text}}	Template:Contains Old Persian text	𐎠𐎣𐎤𐎫𐎬𐎭𐎮𐎳𐎴𐎵𐏊𐏋𐏏𐏐𐏑𐏕
{{Contains Ottoman Turkish text}}	Template:Contains Ottoman Turkish text	ا‎ـا‎ء‎بـ‎ـ‎پـ‎ت‎ـت‎ـضـ‎ظ‎ـظ‎ـغـ‎ف‎ـقـ‎قـ‎ـ‎گـ‎ل‎ـم‎ـمـنـ‎نـ‎ـه‎ـهـ‎ـی‎ـیـ‎
{{Contains Pashto text}}	Template:Contains Pashto text	ﺍپﺕﺙﺝچﺩﺭﺱښﻁﻕکﻡﻥيئ
{{Contains Perso-Arabic text}}	Template:Contains Perso-Arabic text	ابپجچسضطعغگلوهی
{{Contains PIE words}}	Template:Contains PIE words	ʷḱ₃ō₁n̥m̥
{{Contains Ruby annotation}}	Template:Contains Ruby annotation	東京( とうきょう) 北(ㄅㄟˇ) 京(ㄐ丨ㄥ) 振(ふ) り 仮(が) 名(な)
{{Contains Runic text}}	Template:Contains Runic text	ᚱᚢᚾᛟᚠᚥᛊᛋᛌᛍᛓᛔᛤᛥᛨᛩᛪ᛫᛭ᛮᛯᛰᛴᛵᛸ
{{Contains Saraiki text}}	Template:Contains Saraiki text	ابٹخدڊڈزژسصضعغقکمنھے
{{Contains Shavian text}}	Template:Contains Shavian text	𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯𐑤𐑓𐑧𐑑𐑤𐑥𐑦𐑧𐑸𐑹𐑺𐑿
{{Contains SignWriting script}}	Template:Contains SignWriting script	𝠀𝠁𝠂𝠥𝠧𝡩𝡪𝡫𝣶𝪛𝣷𝣸𝣺𝦙𝦚𝦛𝩆𝩈𝩉
{{Contains Sindhi text}}	Template:Contains Sindhi text	सिन्धी ਸਿੰਧੀ سنڌي
{{Contains Sundanese script}}	Template:Contains Sundanese script	ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ°ᮂ᮸᳅
{{Contains Syriac text}}	Template:Contains Syriac text	ܐܠܦ ܒܝܬ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ
{{Contains Tamil text}}	Template:Contains Tamil text	தமிழ் அரிச்சடி
{{Contains Tangut text}}	Template:Contains Tangut text	𗃰𗁼𗀪𘄠𘢓𘫖
{{Contains Thai text}}	Template:Contains Thai text	ภาษาไทยฒุุุุุููิิิ่่่้้้้้ึึืืั๎๎
{{Contains Tibetan text}}	Template:Contains Tibetan text	༁༂༖༗ཆཇླྀཹྪྫ࿂࿃࿘࿙
{{Contains Tifinagh text}}	Template:Contains Tifinagh text	ⴰⴲⴸⴹⴺⴻⴼⴽⵃⵈⵏⵐⵞⵟⵥⵯ⵰
{{Contains Urdu text}}	Template:Contains Urdu text	اردو تہجی
{{Contains Uyghur text}}	Template:Contains Uyghur text	ئۇيغۇر يېزىقى
{{Contains Vietnamese text}}	Template:Contains Vietnamese text	Tiếng Việt
{{IPA notice}}	Template:IPA notice	øɤ̞ɰ̊ɖʈd͡ʑʥʘʄɻ̍t̪tᶣo̙ɝ
{{Uncommon Unicode notice}}	Template:Uncommon Unicode notice	N/A

External links

• Template:Contains special characters at Wikipedia, the free Terran-based encyclopedia that anyone can edit.