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2006-06-03T17:06:44Z

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==URLs in external links==

A [[Help:Link|link]] in external link style can be of the forms:
*''target'': <nowiki>http://meta.wikimedia.org/</nowiki> is rendered as http://meta.wikimedia.org/
*[ ''target'' ''label'' ], with a blank space in between: <nowiki> [http://meta.wikimedia.org/ wikimedia] </nowiki> gives [http://meta.wikimedia.org/ wikimedia] (see also [[Help:Piped link]])
*[ ''target'' ] - these are automatically labelled with serial numbers 1, 2, 3, ...:<nowiki> [http://meta.wikimedia.org/]</nowiki> gives [http://meta.wikimedia.org/]

The target is a URL which can start with "<nowiki>http://</nowiki>" or "<nowiki>ftp://</nowiki>";

"file://" does not work by default. If enabled it only works in MSIE. To enable it, add a $wgUrlProtocols entry to [[LocalSettings.php]]; see the $wgUrlProtocols in [[DefaultSettings.php]] for example.

All [[Help:Special characters|character]]s of the URL must be among:
A-Z a-z 0-9 ._\/~%-+&#?!=()@

If a URL contains a different character it should be converted; for example, ^ has to be written %5e, the hexadecimal [[w:ASCII|ASCII]] value with a percent sign in front. A blank space can also be converted into an underscore.

Conversion:

" # $ % & ' * , : ; < > ? [ ^ ` { | }
%22 %23 %24 %25 %26 %27 %2a %2c %3a %3b %3c %3e %3f %5b %5e %60 %7b %7c %7d

For the other characters either the code or the character can be used in internal and external links, they are equivalent. The system does a conversion when needed. E.g.

<nowiki>[[%C3%80_propos_de_M%C3%A9ta]]</nowiki>

is rendered as [[%C3%80_propos_de_M%C3%A9ta]], almost like [[ À propos de Méta]], which leads to this page on Meta with in the address bar the URL

http://meta.BelieveTheSign.org/wiki/%C3%80_propos_de_M%C3%A9ta

while http://meta.BelieveTheSign.org/wiki/À_propos_de_Méta leads to the same.

See also (in BelieveTheSign): [[w:Internationalized domain names|Internationalized domain names]] and [[en:Punycode|Punycode]].

===Use in templates===
For use in templates, note that all URLs on e.g. BelieveTheSign can be written in the form

<nowiki>http://</nowiki>www.BelieveTheSign.org/w/index.php?title={{{1}}}

This requires {{{1}}} to be written with underscores and escape codes (if applicable). To benefit from the conversion carried out by localurl, two parameters are needed:

<nowiki>http://</nowiki>en.BelieveTheSign.org{{localurl:{{{1}}}|{{{2}}}}}

(see [[Template talk:Url 2p]]). An example with the second parameter in localurl fixed is {{tcw|ed}}.

==Old versions of pages==

All old versions of all pages are numbered (with [[oldid]]) approximately in the order of becoming an old version, i.e. in chronological order of the next edit of the same page.

*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Help:Link&oldid=53587 - normal link to old page
*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?oldid=53587 - no page name in the URL, goes to the correct page
*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Help:Link&oldid=53588 - number and name do not correspond; the name is ignored
*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=abc&oldid=53587 - non-existing page name; oldid is ignored, works like going to a non-existing page, except for the links to assumed previous and next versions, and on editing, for the warning of editing an old version of a page.

See also [[Help:Page history#Linking_to_specific_versions_of_articles|Linking to specific versions of articles]].

==New pages==

New pages are numbered (with [[curid]]) chronologically.

*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=x&curid=9906 - gives the page with correct full name

See also [[Multiple titles]].

{{H:new| page versions get a number "oldid" as soon as they are created; they are produced by variable <nowiki>{{REVISIONID}}</nowiki>. The URL is like in the previous section.}}

==Edit==

Examples:

*Edit the whole page: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Help:URL&action=edit
*Edit the 5th section: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Help:URL&action=edit&section=5
*Add at the end: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Help:URL&action=edit&section=1000 (use large section number)
*Ditto with [[Help:Edit summary#.22Post_a_comment.22_feature|"Post a comment" feature]]: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Help:URL&action=edit&section=new

==Purge==

In some cases of caching problems, to update a page it can help to use "action=purge", in a URL like {{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAMEE}}|action=purge}}

==Kinds of dead links==
There can be various kinds of errors in the URL. With some the server is not even reached, with others the server takes some action. The server may also go to the correct page and just ignore a wrong parameter or anchor.

*{{SERVER}}{{localurl:%abc}}
*http://meta.wikimedia.or/
*{{SERVER}}abc
*http://met.mediawiki.org
*{{SERVER}}/abc
*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:URL&action=abc
*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:URL&act=abc
*http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:URL#abc

==See also==

[[Help:Namespace]]

Help:URL - Revision history

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