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{{hatnote|For information not specific to Wikimedia wikis, see [[mw:Manual:Interwiki]] and [[mw:Help:Interwiki linking]]}}
 
By adding a prefix to another [[Wikimedia projects|project]], internal link style ("prefixed internal link style") can be used to [[Help:Link|link]] to a page of another project. A system of shorthand link labels are used to refer to different projects, in the context of interproject linking, as seen within the actual source text. For example, <code>en:</code> refers to the English Wikipedia. This is seen in <code><nowiki>[[:en:Apple]]</nowiki></code>, which produces [[:en:Apple]], a link to the English Wikipedia article on "Apple".
 
This is called "interwiki linking". The precise interwiki links used vary slightly for each project, and can be seen at [[Special:Interwiki]].
This is called [[w:en:InterWiki|interwiki]]. For each project, an [[m:Interwiki map|interwiki map]] (a list of target projects with their prefixes) is specified ([//svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki/trunk/phase3/maintenance/interwiki.sql?view=markup example]). These target projects need not use MediaWiki and need not even be a wiki.
 
== Interwiki linking from and within Wikimedia ==
Within [[m:Wikimedia|Wikimedia]], for the purpose of {{mlww|interlanguage links||interlanguage links}} (see below), the project families are Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks and Wikisource. Thus, this applies for a link like en:, de:, etc., from a Wikipedia to another one, from a Wiktionary to another one, from a Wikiquote to another one, from a Wikibooks to another one or from a Wikisource to another one.
 
Most of the time, interwiki links are handled by [[Wikidata]] instead, but the manual interwiki link syntax still works and is useful in edge cases.
The interlanguage link feature works on Wikimedia Commons and produces links to the Wikipedias. This is not reciprocal, a link from a Wikipedia to Commons is an in-page link.
 
=== Project titles and shortcuts ===
This list is incomplete. See [[Special:Interwiki]] for a full list of valid interwiki links.
<section begin=iwl-tables />
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-bottom:0 ; margin-right:2em; display:inline-table;"
! Project !! Long form !! Shortcut
|-
| [[Wikipedia|<b>W</b>ikipedia]]
| <code>[[[[w:|wikipedia:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[w:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wiktionary|<b>Wikt</b>ionary]]
| <code>[[[[wiktionary:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[wikt:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikinews|Wiki<b>n</b>ews]]
| <code>[[[[wikinews:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[n:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikibooks|Wiki<b>b</b>ooks]]
| <code>[[[[wikibooks:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[b:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikiquote|Wiki<b>q</b>uote]]
| <code>[[[[wikiquote:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[q:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikisource|Wiki<b>s</b>ource]]
| <code>[[[[wikisource:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[s:]]]]</code>
Line 41 ⟶ 43:
| [[Wikisource]] (multilingual&nbsp;pages)
| <code>[[[[oldwikisource:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[wmmks:mul:]]]]</code>▼
|▼
|-
| [[Wikispecies|Wiki<b>species</b>]]
| <code>[[[[wikispecies:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[species:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikiversity|Wiki<b>v</b>ersity]]
| <code>[[[[wikiversity:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[v:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikivoyage|Wiki<b>voy</b>age]]
| <code>[[[[wikivoyage:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[voy:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikimedia Foundation|<b>W</b>iki<b>m</b>edia <b>F</b>oundation]]
| <code>[[[[wikimedia:]]]]</code><br /><code>[[[[foundation:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[wmf:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[Wikimedia Commons|Wikimedia <b>C</b>ommons]]
| <code>[[[[commons:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[c:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[m:Meta:About|Wikimedia Meta<b>M</b>eta-Wiki]]
|| <code>[[[[metawiki:]]]]</code><br/><!--
--><code>[[[[metawikimedia:]]]]</code><br/><!--
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|
|-
| [[MediaWiki|<b>M</b>edia<b>W</b>iki]]
| <code>[[[[mediawikiwiki:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[mw:]]]]</code>
Line 86 ⟶ 88:
|
|-
| [[m:Phabricator|Phabricator<b>Phab</b>ricator]]
| <code>[[[[phabricator:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[phab:]]]]</code>
Line 94 ⟶ 96:
|
|-
| [[Wikidata|Wiki<b>d</b>ata]]
| <code>[[[[wikidata:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[d:]]]]</code>
▲|-
| [[Wikifunctions|Wiki<b>f</b>unctions]]
| <code>[[[[wikifunctions:]]]]</code>
| <code>[[[[f:]]]]</code>
|-
| [[wikitech:|Wikitech]]
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| Belgium
| <code>[[[[wmbe:]]]]</code>
|-▼
| Brazil
| <code>[[[[wmbr:]]]]</code>
|-
| Canada
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| Italy
| <code>[[[[wmit:]]]]</code>
▲|-
| Macedonia▼
▲| <code>[[[[wmmk:]]]]</code>
|-
| Netherlands
| <code>[[[[wmnl:]]]]</code>
|-
▲| North Macedonia
| <code>[[[[wmmk:]]]]</code>
|-
| Norway
Line 191 ⟶ 200:
|}
 
* Other current Wikimedia prefixes: [[betawikiversity:]] (shortform: [[v:mul:]]), [[download:]], [[dbdump:]], [[gerrit:]], [[mail:]], [[mailarchive:]], [[outreach:]], [[otrs:]], [[OTRSwiki:]], [[quality:]], [[spcom:]], [[ticket:]], [[tools:]], [[tswiki:]], [[svn:]], [[sulutil:]] [[rev:]], [[wmania:]]</span>, [[wm2016:]], [[wm2017:]].</span>
<section end=iwl-tables />
* See a complete list of current and old but still working prefixes for all Wikimedia wikis at the [[foundation:Special:SiteMatrix|Wikimedia SiteMatrix]].
 
<section begin=iwl-text />
Some of theThe '''long forms''' don'tare worksometimes overwritten asby expectednamespaces withinwith the same project;name. forFor example <tt><nowiki>[[meta:]]</nowiki></tt> doesn'tprefers workto onthe Meta, while <tt><nowiki>[[metawikipedia:]]</nowiki></tt> does.Project Thisnamespace dependsinstead on theMeta. configuration of the wiki and where the names are stored (see also next paragraph). The '''shortcuts''' should work everywhere. ''(That is the intention; currently (16-Jan-2007), it does not work on all projects.)''
 
The [[m:Interwiki map|interwiki map]] on Meta lists many prefixes, among others, <tt><nowiki>[[wikipedia:]]</nowiki></tt> for the English Wikipedia, working from any Wiki supporting the Meta interwiki map, not(except onlyfor fromWikipedias MediaWikithat wikis.use Someit prefixes work only withas a page,project for example: [[wikipediawikipedia:]] (failsnamespace) vs. [[wikipediawikipedia:Interwikimedia link]] (works). These prefixes are case insensitive.
<!-- This template needs fixing:
One-letter prefixes (as a live check on the table): {{for loop|call=If interwiki link show||a|b|c|d|e|f|g|h|i|j|k|l|m|n|o|p|q|r|s|t|u|v|w|x|y|z}}
-->
 
The shortcuts are just interwikis withhave different histories. Wikipedia, Wikiquote etc. point to the English versions via an entry in [[m:Interwiki map]], and are also included in [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/mediawiki/browse/master/maintenance/interwiki.list the standard MediaWiki interwiki table]; (IIRC); w, q, b, wikt etc. are used like interlanguage wikilinks to link to the sisterproject in the same language (so [[w:it:b:]] is equivalent to [[Wikibooks:it:]]), and are hardcoded rather than part of [[interwiki map]].
 
Non-Wikimedia interwiki codes have a limitation, that they can only be used through a link. For example, the entry for "[[wikt:John|John]]" on Wiktionary, a Wikimedia project, can be accessed by <tt><nowiki>[[wikt:John]]</nowiki></tt> or http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/wikt:John. However, the latter method does not work for non-Wikimedia wikis. For example, the main page on the Mozilla Wiki can be accessed via <tt><nowiki>[[MozillaWiki:Main Page]]</nowiki></tt>, but http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MozillaWiki:Main_Page results in an error. In these cases, Special:Search can be used (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/MozillaWiki:Main_Page). You can see [[m:Special:Interwiki|the Interwiki special page]] for a list of "forward" and "non-forward" prefixes.
<section end=iwl-text />
 
=== Interwiki links on other sites ===
Other MediaWiki installations will support different interwiki prefixes.
You may be able use the [[mw:API:Query_-_Meta#siteinfo_.2F_si|MediaWiki API]] to query for a site's available interwiki prefixes.
Try replacing the <tt>index.php?''stuff''</tt> on the end of an edit or history URL with
api.php?action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=interwikimap
 
== Technical ==
A project's own namespace prefix cannot be reused as code for an external project. However, the prefix used for a target project may coincide with the prefix for a project namespace, within that project. As a result, to link to a page in that namespace, use the same prefix twice, for example: [[en:Wikisource:Wikisource:Scriptorium]].
You can't use one project's namespace prefix in another project's codebase because it might match a namespace within that same project. For example, [[MediaWiki:Sidebar]] exists on MetaWiki, Wikibooks, and MediaWiki.
So, when you're linking to a page in that namespace, add the project prefix, like this: [[MetaWiki:MediaWiki:Sidebar]], [[Wikibooks:MediaWiki:Sidebar]], or [[Mediawikiwiki:MediaWiki:Sidebar]].
 
When dealing with pages whose title begins with the projects prefix but the page is internal, for example [[Wikibooks:What is Wikibooks?]], keep things consistent across projects by adding the projects prefix again. It becomes, [[Wikibooks:Wikibooks:What is Wikibooks?]].
 
In the first example the <code>Wikibooks:</code> prefix gets in the way of recognizing <code>Wikibooks:</code> as a namespace in Wikibooks. But in MetaWiki, adding <code>Wikibooks:</code> makes the link to be treated as an interwiki prefix rather than a namespace, this allows links to be redirected to another project.
For portability across projects, one may want to select a link code that leads to the same target from all projects, for example: [[MetaWikipedia:wikibooks:Main Page]]. The "superfluous" "MetaWikipedia:" prevents "wikibooks:" being interpreted as namespace prefix, when the code is used at wikibooks itself, while at Meta the "MetaWikipedia:" is ignored (it is not a namespace prefix and even at Meta itself, it is recognized as code for Meta). The codes above work from all projects; however, the [[Help:Link#Wikilinks|existence detection]] and the [[Help:Self link|self-link feature]] do not work on interwiki links.
 
=== Prefixes ===
Interwiki links can use prefixes for the '''project''' and/or for the '''language'''. Without the prefix, links are local, for pages in the same project and the same language. If only a language is given, they go to a page in the same (or similar) project for the specified language. If a language is given on a multilingual wiki, it will go to the Wikipedia of the given language:
for pages in the same project and the same language. If only a language is given, they go to a page in the same
(or similar) project for the specified language:
 
<nowiki>[[:fr:]]</nowiki> [[:fr:]]
<nowiki>[[:os:]]</nowiki> [[:os:]]
 
If only the project is specified, they typically go to the specified project in the corresponding language of the source, see above. At most, two prefixes are needed for pages in any existing project and any supported language. If a project is given on a multilingual wiki, it will go to the English version of the project:
are needed for pages in any existing project and any supported language:
 
<nowiki>[[s:de:Hauptseite]]</nowiki> [[s:de:Hauptseite]]
<nowiki>[[b:en:Main page]]</nowiki>&#160; [[b:en:Main page]]
<nowiki>[[n:en:Main page]]</nowiki> &#160; [[n:en:Main page]]
 
If the language is different, specifying it before the project can also work. However, this is '''discouraged''', as it may not function as expected on some projects:
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Non-local interwiki links will still work if you type them in the search bar and choose "go".
 
== Wikia ==
In [[w:en:Wikia|Wikia]], the prefix is the ''internal'' project name for some older wikis. For others, "Wikia:c:" is added in front (e.g. <tt>[&#91;Wikia:c:psychology&#93;]</tt> or shorter <tt>[&#91;w:c:trains:locomotive&#93;]</tt>). (The "c" is for "city", a legacy of Wikia's original name ''Wikicities''.)
 
Note that w: only points to wikia: from other wikis on that same site; on Wikimedia projects, w: is the Wikipedia in the same language as the local wiki.
 
''From Wikimedia projects'', use <tt>[&#91;wikiasite:psychology&#93;]</tt>, giving [[wikiasite:psychology]]; <tt>[&#91;wikia:trains:locomotive&#93;]</tt>, giving [[wikia:trains:locomotive]]; or for the central wikia, [[centralwikia:About Wikia]]. ''Don't confuse this with [[wikia:c:Community Central]] and other pages on the Community Central wikia.''<!-- {{lcfirst:Wikia}} is the official name for Wikis hosted by {{ucfirst:Wikia}} -->
 
== Interlanguage links ==
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The feature can also be used on an image description page, to link to the same or a similar image in a sister project. Other interwiki links to images require the prefixed colon.
 
Note that, if a page may be used as a [[mw:Help:templateTemplate|template]] (even if it is not in the template namespace), it should note its interlanguage links between <tt>&lt;noinclude&gt;</tt> and <tt>&lt;/noinclude&gt;</tt>. This is the same idea as for [[Help:Category|categories]].
 
Comparison:
Line 321 ⟶ 315:
* on en: [[:de:Zug]], [[:fr:Train]]
* on fr: [[:de:Zug]], [[:en:Train]]
 
Thus, there is no possibility of simply copying each list, let alone of using a template, as can be done, if different languages share one project with or without separate namespaces. For further information, see:
* [[m:Template:H-langs:Interwiki linking]], used at the bottom of [[m:Help:Interwiki linking|this page on Meta]]
* [[wikisource:Template:InterLingvLigoj]]
* [[Template:Other languages/Meta:About|Template:About]]
 
=== In-page interlanguage links ===
To make an interlanguage link in-page, prefix a colon (e.g. <nowiki>[[:en:wiki|wiki]]</nowiki>). This can be useful to link to a page in another language, if no local version is available. For example, several templates for conveniently making such links would be:
 
* {{links-small|w|template|nli}} - <nowiki>[[:nl:{{{1}}}]] (in [[Dutch language|Dutch]])</nowiki>
* {{links-small|w|template|nlil}} - <nowiki>[[{{{1}}}]] ([[:nl:{{{2|{{{1}}}}}}|nl]])</nowiki>
* {{links-small|w|template|nlii}} - <nowiki>''[[{{{1}}}]]'' ([[:nl:{{{2|{{{1}}}}}}|nl]])</nowiki>
* {{links-small|w|template|nlis}} - <nowiki>([[:nl:{{{1|{{PAGENAME}}}}}|nl]])</nowiki>
* {{links-small|w|template|nlinl}} - <nowiki>{{{1}}} ([[:nl:{{{2|{{{1}}}}}}|nl]])</nowiki>
 
=== Interlanguage links in the wider sense ===
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Possible reasons for using an "interlanguage link" in the page body include:
* controlControl over position
* controlControl over label
* theThe target contains an anchor
 
== Interwiki links versus external links ==
Disadvantages of interwiki links:
* The wikitext is less portable across wikis, because wikis do not always have an interwiki prefix for the same sites and even if they do, the prefixes may differ
* There is no feature to find interwiki links, while searching for an external link can be done with [[Special:Linksearch]] (if installed). This is due to the fact that, while there is an [[mw:Externallinks table|external links table]], there is no such thing for interwiki links. The [[mw:interwiki table|interwiki table]] only stores the interwiki prefixes with their targets as function of the parameter, not the instances of the links. Using the general text search, to search for interwiki links, is more work for the server and therefore, it may be slow, not up-to-date or in busy hours, disabled. See also: [[Help:What_links_here#Finding_external_links_to_a_page|Finding external links to a page]].
* They're misleading because the user has no indication that they're being taken to a different site.
 
Using templates like {{links-small|template|h:mlw}}, the advantages of interwiki links and external links are combined. When a page using this template, which is in this case used for links to the English Wikipedia, is copied to that site, a template with the same name is needed there too. Due to that template, {{links-small|w|template|h:mlw}}, which redirects to {{links-small|w|template|h:ml}}, the interwiki links are automatically converted to internal links. Hence, they provide existence detection and allow use of "What links here", as well as Linksearch.
 
Comparison:
* <nowiki>[[imdbtitle:0389790|Bee Movie]]</nowiki> gives ''[[imdbtitle:0389790|Bee Movie]]''
* <nowiki>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389790 Bee Movie]</nowiki> gives ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389790 Bee Movie]''
** [http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALinksearch&target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt0389790 Linksearch] works for the latter only
 
The applicable CSS classes are "extiw" and "external text". The choice may be governed by this, either way, for uniformity or distinction. An interwiki link is easier to type by itself, but if one goes to the webpage anyways, before putting the link, copying the URL is very convenient. When a template is created, e.g. {{tiw|imdb title}}, the template can be made, such that it uses an interwiki link and a parameter, like "tt0389790" or "0389790", or that it uses an external link and a parameter like one of those or the full url, if that is more convenient.
 
== Interwiki links to the same wiki versus internal links ==
Disadvantages of interwiki links to the same wiki, compared to internal links:
* no existence detection
* "What links here" works for internal links only
* The interwiki link prefix for the same wiki should be supported otherwise it creates an invalid internal link.
 
Advantages of interwiki links to the same wiki, compared to internal links:
* better portability across wikis, provided that the same prefix applies and is not equal to a namespace name
 
When using templates like {{links-small|template|h:ml}}, the advantages of internal links, interwiki links and external links are combined, provided that a template with the same name and adapted content is present on the other site.
 
== See also ==
* [[mw:Help:Interwiki linking]]
* [[mw:Manual:Interwiki]]
* [[w:Help:Interwiki linking]]
* [[Help:Interlanguage link demo]]
* {{mlm|Sister projects||Wikimedia sister projects}}
* [[m:Templates for linking to sister projects]]
* {{mlm|Interwiki map||Wikimedia interwiki map}}
** [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/diffusion/MW/browse/master/maintenance/interwiki.list Default interwiki prefixes]
* {{mlww|InterWikimedia links||Interwikimedia link}} at [[Wikipedia]]
* [http://tools.wikimedia.de/~flacus/IWLC/index.php Wikipedia Interwiki-Link-Checker] (dead)
** [[de:Benutzer:Flacus/Wikipedia Interwiki-Link-Checker/en]] (with the Interwiki-Link-Checker, you can help to improve the internationalisation of Wikipedia)
*[[MeatBall:InterWiki]]
{{h:f|langs=|enname=Interwiki linking}}
 
[[Category:EditorHandbook handbookWikimedia-specific]]
[[Category:Content and banner management]]
Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Interwiki_linking_on_Wikimedia_wikis"