Template:Hatnote/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Hatnote.
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 370,000 pages.
To avoid large-scale disruption and unnecessary server load, any changes to it should first be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can then be added to this page in a single edit. Please consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Shortcut

T:HAT

This template uses Lua:

Module:Hatnote

This template produces formatted text, following the guideline for a Wikipedia hatnote.

{{hatnote|Example hatnote text.}} →

Broadly speaking, a hatnote should answer a readers' question (maybe preemptively): Am I on the right page?

Function[edit source]

This template is primarily used to add a correctly formatted hatnote to a page. Often, but not always, this is a disambiguation link at the top of article pages. It places an HTML div- / div block around the text entered as its only argument, which provides standardized formatting (contents are indented and italicized in most displays); it also isolates the contained code to make sure that it is interpreted correctly.

This template is also used as the "meta-template" for additional specialized disambiguation link templates; see Category:Hatnote templates for a list.

The template does not automatically create links of any kind. Links and other desired formatting must be explicitly added, using normal Wikipedia markup.

Usage[edit source]

Basic usage

{{hatnote|text}}

All parameters

{{hatnote|text|extraclasses=extra classes|selfref=yes|category=no}}

Parameters[edit source]

This template accepts the following parameters:

1 - the hatnote text (required)
extraclasses - any extra CSS classes to be added - For example, the {{see also}} template adds the classes "|extraclasses=boilerplate seealso".
selfref - If set to "yes", "y", "true" or "1", adds the CSS class "selfref". This is used to denote self-references to Wikipedia. See Template:Selfref for more information.
category - If set to "no", "n", "false", or "0", suppresses the error tracking category (Category:Hatnote templates with errors). This has an effect only if the leftmost parameter (the hatnote text) is omitted.

Example[edit source]

{{hatnote|Example hatnote text}} →

Errors[edit source]

If no hatnote text is supplied, the template will output the following message:

Error: no text specified (help).

If you see this error message, it is for one of four reasons:

No parameters were specified (the template code was {{hatnote}}). Please use {{hatnote|text}} instead.
Some parameters were specified, but the hatnote text wasn't included. For example, the template text {{hatnote|extraclasses=seealso}} will produce this error. Please use (for example) {{hatnote|text|extraclasses=seealso}} instead.
The hatnote text was specified, but that text contains an equals sign ("="). The equals sign has a special meaning in template code, and because of this it cannot be used in template parameters that do not specify a parameter name. For example, the template code {{hatnote|2+2=4}} will produce this error. To work around this, you can specify the parameter name explicitly by using 1= before the hatnote text, like this: {{hatnote|1=2+2=4}}.
You tried to access Module:Hatnote directly by using {{#invoke:hatnote|hatnote|text}}. Use of #invoke in this way has been disabled for performance reasons. Please use {{hatnote|text}} instead.

If you see this error message and are unsure of what to do, please post a message on Template talk:Hatnote, and someone should be able to help you.

Pages that contain this error message are tracked in Category:Hatnote templates with errors.

Technical details[edit source]

The HTML code produced by this template looks like this:

<div role="note" class="hatnote">hatnote text</div>

The code is produced by Module:Hatnote.

TemplateData documentation used by VisualEditor and other tools

See the monthly error report for this template.

TemplateData for Hatnote

Template for creating a standard Wikipedia hatnote. A hatnote is a short note placed at the top of an article to provide disambiguation of closely related terms or summarise a topic, explaining its boundaries.

Template parameters
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Text	`1`	This field should contain the text that will be displayed in the hatnote.	String	required
Extra classes	`extraclasses`	Extra CSS classes to be added to the <div> tags surrounding the hatnote text.	Line	optional
Self reference	`selfref`	Set to "yes" if the hatnote text is a self-reference to Wikipedia that would not make sense on mirrors or forks of the Wikipedia site. (E.g. "For the Wikipedia Sandbox, see [[WP:SAND]]".)	Line	optional
Category	`category`	Set to "no", "n", "false", or "0" to suppresses the error tracking category (Category:Hatnote templates with errors). This only has an effect if the hatnote text is omitted.	Unknown	optional

External links[edit source]

Template:Hatnote/doc at Wikipedia, the free Terran-based encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

v t e Hatnote templates
Starfleet Logistics:Hatnote Starfleet Logistics:Disambiguation Starfleet Logistics:Redirect
Main articles	{{Main}} {{Cat main}} (for categories)
Generic	{{Hatnote}} {{Selfref}} (for self-references)
Other uses	{{About}} Variations: {{Other uses}} {{Other uses2}} (automatically supplies disambiguation suffix) {{Other uses of}} (provides context for disambiguation) {{Distinguish-otheruses}} {{Distinguish-otheruses2}} (automatically supplies disambiguation suffix)
For (other topic)	{{For}} {{For2}} (for custom text)
Further information	{{Further}} {{Further2}} (for custom text) {{For outline}} {{Broader}}
See	{{See also}} {{Category see also}} {{See also if exists}} {{Category see also if exists}} {{Category see also if exists 2}} {{Cat more}} (for categories) {{See introduction}} {{See Wiktionary}}
Other people	{{Other people}} {{About other people}} (adds "about" description) {{Similar names}}
Other topics	{{Other hurricanes}} {{Other places}} {{Other ships}}
Redirect	{{Redirect}} {{Redirect2}} (for two redirects) {{Redirect-multi}} (for multiple redirects) {{Redirect-several}} (for several redirects, without listing each) {{Redirect-synonym}} {{Redirect for}} {{Redirect-distinguish}} {{technical reasons}}
Distinguish	{{Distinguish}} (supports custom text too) {{Redirect-distinguish}} {{Redirect-distinguish2}} (for custom text) {{Redirect-distinguish6}} {{About-distinguish}} {{About-distinguish2}} (for custom text)
Transclusion	{{Transcluding article}} {{Transcluded section}}
Subject specific	{{Year dab}} {{Highway detail hatnote}} {{Pope Stephen ToP Dab}} {{For LMST}} {{WikiIPA}} {{Other MeSH codes}} {{Other Pennsylvania townships}}
Hatnote categories	Hatnote templates Hatnote modules for category pages for [family] names for lists for user pages
Hatnote templates documentation Category:Hatnote templates