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Template:Hatnote/sandbox

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< Template:Hatnote
This is the template sandbox page for Template:Hatnote (diff).
See also the companion subpage for test cases.
Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]
"Template:Dablink" redirects here. Not to be confused with Template:Dablinks. For the meta-template that formats text into a standardized style for an inline variant of a hatnote, see Template:Hatnote inline.
WarningThis template is used in system messages, and on approximately 717,000 pages, or roughly 1% of all pages.
Changes to it can cause immediate changes to the Wikipedia user interface.
To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Please discuss changes on the talk page before implementing them.
This template should not be substituted.
Redirect
  • {{DablinkTemplate:Dablink}}
This template uses Lua:
  • Module:Hatnote (sandbox)
CSSThis template uses TemplateStyles:
  • Module:Hatnote/styles.css

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

{{Hatnote|Example hatnote text.}} →
Example hatnote text.

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

Contents

  • 1 Function
  • 2 Usage
  • 3 Parameters
  • 4 Example
  • 5 Errors
  • 6 Technical details
  • 7 See also

Function

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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

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Basic usage
{{hatnote|text}}
All parameters
{{hatnote|text|extraclasses=extra classes|selfref=yes|category=no}}

Parameters

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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

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  • {{hatnote|Example hatnote text}} →
    Example hatnote text

Errors

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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:

  1. No parameters were specified (the template code was {{hatnote}}). Please use {{hatnote|text}} instead.
  2. 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.
  3. 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}}.
  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

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The HTML code produced by this template looks like this:

  • <div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">hatnote text</div>

The code is produced by Module:Hatnote.

See also

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  • {{For}}
  • v
  • t
  • e
Hatnote templates
  • Wikipedia:Hatnote
  • Wikipedia:Disambiguation
  • Wikipedia:Redirect
Generic
  • {{Hatnote}}
  • {{Hatnote group}}
  • {{Self-reference}}
For and about
  • {{For}}
  • {{For-text}} (for custom text)
  • {{For-multi}} (for multiple uses)
  • {{About}}
  • Variations: {{Other uses}}
  • {{Other uses of}}
  • {{Redirect-distinguish-for}}
  • {{About-distinguish}}
  • {{About-distinguish-text}}
Other topics
  • {{Other people}}
  • {{About other people}} (adds "about" description)
  • {{Similar names}}
  • {{Other storms}}
  • {{Other stars by Bayer designation}}
  • {{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-distinguish}}
  • {{Redirect-distinguish-text}}
  • {{Redirect-distinguish-for}}
  • {{Technical reasons}}
Distinguish
  • {{Distinguish}} (supports custom text)
  • {{About-distinguish}}
  • {{About-distinguish-text}} (for custom text)
  • {{Redirect-distinguish}}
  • {{Redirect-distinguish-text}} (for custom text)
  • {{Redirect-distinguish-for}}
For use in sections
  • {{Main}}
  • {{Main if exists}}
  • {{Main list}}
  • {{Further}}
  • {{Further-text}} (for custom text)
  • {{Further interlanguage link}}
  • {{See also}}
  • {{See also-text}} (for custom text)
  • {{For outline}}
  • {{For timeline}}
Special
  • {{Broader}}
  • {{For introduction}}
  • {{See Wiktionary}}
  • {{Transcluding article}}
  • {{Transcluded section}}
Subject specific
  • {{About year}}
  • {{Highway detail hatnote}}
  • {{For LMST}}
  • {{WikiIPA}}
  • Category:Hatnote templates
    • modules
    • for [family] names
    • for lists
  • hatnote templates for category pages
TemplateData documentation used by VisualEditor and other tools
See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Hatnote in articles based on its TemplateData.

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[Edit template data]

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Text1

This field should contain the text that will be displayed in the hatnote.

Stringrequired
Extra classesextraclasses

Extra CSS classes to be added to the <div> tags surrounding the hatnote text.

Lineoptional
Self referenceselfref

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]]".)

Lineoptional
Categorycategory

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.

Unknownoptional
The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Hatnote/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (edit | diff) and testcases (edit) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Hatnote/sandbox&oldid=1304600480"
Last edited on 7 August 2025, at 01:35

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