Get Involved!

TWiki is an open source project with 10+ years of history, built by a team of volunteers from around the world, and used by millions of people in over 100 countries. The community is focusing on building the best collaboration platform for the workplace. We invite you to get involved!

NOTE: This is a DistributionDocument.

• Please help maintain high quality documentation: This is a wiki, please fix the documentation if you find errors or incomplete content.
• Put questions and suggestions concerning the documentation of this topic in the comments section below.
• Use the Support web for problems you are having using TWiki.
• Use the Sandbox web to evaluate & test TWiki.

TWiki Text Formatting

These instructions are for contributors who prefer to use the Raw Edit over the default WYSIWYG editor. Working in TWiki is as easy as typing in text. You don't need to know HTML, though you can use it if you prefer. Links to topics are created automatically when you enter WikiWords. And TWiki shorthand gives you all the power of HTML with a simple coding system that takes no time to learn. It's all laid out below.

TWiki Editing Shorthand

Formatting Command:	You write:	You get:
Paragraphs: Blank lines will create new paragraphs.	1st paragraph 2nd paragraph	1st paragraph 2nd paragraph
Headings: Three or more dashes at the beginning of a line, followed by plus signs and the heading text. One plus creates a top level heading, two pluses a second level heading, etc. The maximum heading depth is 6. You can create a table of contents with the %TOC% variable. If you want to exclude a heading from the TOC, put !! after the ---+. Empty headings are allowed and won't appear in the table of contents.	---++ Sushi ---+++ Maguro ---+++!! Not in TOC	Sushi Maguro Not in TOC
Bold Text: Words get shown in bold by enclosing them in * asterisks.	*Bold*	Bold
Italic Text: Words get shown in italic by enclosing them in _ underscores.	_Italic_	Italic
Bold Italic: Words get shown in bold italic by enclosing them in __ double-underscores.	__Bold italic__	Bold italic
Fixed Font: Words get shown in fixed font by enclosing them in = equal signs.	=Fixed font=	Fixed font
Bold Fixed Font: Words get shown in bold fixed font by enclosing them in double equal signs.	==Bold fixed==	Bold fixed
You can follow the closing bold, italic, or other (* _ __ = ==) indicator with normal punctuation, such as commas and full stops. Make sure there is no space between the text and the indicators. All words enclosed by the indicators need to be on the same line.	_This works_, _this does not _ _this fails too_	This works, _this does not _ _this fails too_
Separator (Horizontal Rule): Three or more three dashes at the beginning of a line..	-------
Bulleted List: Multiple of three spaces, an asterisk, and another space. For all the list types, you can break a list item over several lines by indenting lines after the first one by at least 3 spaces.	* level 1 * level 2 * back on 1 * A bullet broken over three lines * last bullet	level 1 level 2 back on 1 A bullet broken over three lines last bullet
Icon List: Multiple of three spaces, an asterisk, text icon:name and another space. Use the name of any TWikiDocGraphics icon.	* icon:tip Icon list * icon:led-red Full * icon:led-green OK * icon:unchecked Item 1 * icon:checked Item 2 * icon:empty No bullet	Icon list Full OK Item 1 Item 2 No bullet
Numbered List: Multiple of three spaces, a type character, a dot, and another space. Several types are available besides a number: Type Generated Style Sample Sequence 1. Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3, 4... A. Uppercase letters A, B, C, D... a. Lowercase letters a, b, c, d... I. Uppercase Roman Numerals I, II, III, IV... i. Lowercase Roman Numerals i, ii, iii, iv...	1. Sushi 1. Dim Sum 1. Fondue A. Sushi A. Dim Sum A. Fondue i. Sushi i. Dim Sum i. Fondue	Sushi Dim Sum Fondue Sushi Dim Sum Fondue Sushi Dim Sum Fondue
Definition List: Three spaces, a dollar sign, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition. Deprecated syntax: Three spaces, the term with no spaces, a colon, a space, followed by the definition.	$ Sushi: Japan $ Dim Sum: S.F.	Sushi Japan Dim Sum S.F.
Table: Each row of the table is a line containing of one or more cells. Each cell starts and ends with a vertical bar '|'. Any spaces at the beginning of a line are ignored. | *bold* | header cell with text in asterisks |   center-aligned   | cell with at least two, and equal number of spaces on either side |      right-aligned | cell with more spaces on the left | 2 colspan || and multi-span columns with multiple |'s right next to each other |^| cell with caret indicating follow-up row of multi-span rows |>> ... <<| cell enclosed in double-square brackets can span multiple lines - useful for bullets and nested tables You can split rows over multiple lines by putting a backslash '\' at the end of each line Contents of table cells wrap automatically as determined by the browser Use %VBAR% or &#124; to add | characters in tables. Use %CARET% or &#94; to add ^ characters in tables. The TablePlugin provides the |^| multiple-span row functionality, |>> ... <<| multi-line syntax, and additional rendering features	| *L* | *C* | *R* | | A2 | B2 | C2 | | A3 | B3 | C3 | | multi span ||| | A5-7 | 5 | 5 | |^| six | six | |^| seven | seven | | split\ | over\ | 3 lines | | A9 |>> | Nested | | table | <<| C9 |	L C R A2 B2 C2 A3 B3 C3 multi span A5-7 5 5 six six seven seven split over 3 lines A9 Nested table C9
WikiWord Links: CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically if preceded by whitespace or parenthesis. If you want to link to a topic in a different web write Otherweb.TopicName. To link to a topic in a subweb write Otherweb.Subweb.TopicName. The link label excludes the name of the web, e.g. only the topic name is shown. As an exception, the name of the web is shown for the WebHome topic. Dots '.' are used to separate webs and subwebs from topic names and therefore cannot be used in topic names. Links can be prevented with an ! exclamation point prefix. It's generally a good idea to use the TWikiVariables %SYSTEMWEB% and %USERSWEB% instead of TWiki and Main.	WebStatistics Sandbox.WebNotify Sandbox.WebHome Sandbox.Subweb.TopicName !EscapedWikiWord	WebStatistics WebNotify Sandbox TopicName EscapedWikiWord
Anchors: You can define a reference inside a TWiki topic (called an anchor name) and link to that. To define an anchor write #AnchorName at the beginning of a line. The anchor name must be a WikiWord of no more than 32 characters. To link to an anchor name use the [[MyTopic#MyAnchor]] syntax. You can omit the topic name if you want to link within the same topic.	[[WikiWord#NotThere]] [[#MyAnchor][Jump]] #MyAnchor To here	WikiWord#NotThere Jump To here
External Links: URLs starting with file, ftp, gopher, http, https, irc, mailto, news, nntp and telnet are linked automatically if preceded by whitespace or parenthesis. External links are indicated with a trailing icon, and open up in a new browser tab or window; the behavior of both can be set in configure or preferences variables (see TWikiExternalLinks for details). Links can be prevented with an ! exclamation point prefix.	http://50nm7panwb5tevr.roads-uae.org https://21p4u7392w.roads-uae.org !http://escaped-link	http://50nm7panwb5tevr.roads-uae.org https://21p4u7392w.roads-uae.org http://escaped-link
Forced Links: Use double square brackets to create forced links: Write [[link]] or [[link][label]] to force a link. Use the former for singleton words and if automatic linking is disabled. Use the latter one to specify a link label other than the link. For the link, you can use internal link references (e.g. WikiWords) and URLs (e.g. http://uhm1yw1p2k7baemmv4.roads-uae.org/). URL parameters can follow a WikiWord Anchor names can be added to create a link to a specific place in a document. To "escape" double square brackets that would otherwise make a link, prefix the leading left square bracket with an exclamation point. The topic title instead of the topic name is shown for [[WikiWord]] links if the SHOWTOPICTITLELINK preferences setting is enabled.	[[WikiWord]] [[WikiWord?n1=v1;n2=v2]] [[WikiWord#TheAnchor]] [[WikiWord?n=5#TheAnchor]] [[WikiSyntax][wiki syntax]] [[http://21hpuj8mu4.roads-uae.org/][GNU]] [[Singleton]] escaped: ![[WikiSyntax]]	WikiWord WikiWord?n1=v1;n2=v2 WikiWord#TheAnchor WikiWord?n=5#TheAnchor wiki syntax GNU Singleton escaped: [[WikiSyntax]]
Topic Title Links: Use double square brackets and a plus sign to create links with topic title: Write [[+TopicName]] or [[+Web.TopicName]] to show the topic title instead of the topic name. The topic title is defined by the form field named "Title", the topic preferences setting named TITLE, or the topic name if neither exists. An alternative syntax is [[TopicName][$topictitle]] or [[Web.TopicName][$topictitle]].	[[+BugN1234]] [[+Bugs.BugN1234]] [[BugN1234][$topictitle]]	The sky is falling The sky is falling The sky is falling
Refer to Topic or Attachment Name in Double Square Brackets: $name in the link label in the double square brackets notation refers to the topic name or the attachment file name. $name is used for consistency with QuerySearch, in which name refers to the topic name and the attachment file name, respectively.	[[%SYSTEMWEB%.WikiWord\ #TheSyntax][$name]] [[%PUBURL%/%WEB%/WabiSabi\ /wabisabi.gif][$name]]	WikiWord wabisabi.gif
Prevent a Link: Prevent a WikiWord from being linked by prepending it with an exclamation point.	!RedHat	RedHat
Disable Links: You can disable automatic linking of WikiWords by surrounding text with <noautolink> and </noautolink> tags. It is possible to turn off all auto-linking with a NOAUTOLINK preferences setting.	<noautolink> RedHat & SuSE </noautolink>	RedHat & SuSE
Mailto Links: E-mail addresses are linked automatically. To create e-mail links that have more descriptive link text, specify subject lines or message bodies, or omit the e-mail address, you can write [[mailto:user@domain][descriptive text]].	a@b.com [[mailto:a@b.com]\ [Mail]] [[mailto:?subject=\ Hi][Hi]]	a@bPLEASENOSPAM.com Mail Hi
Twitter Links: @twitter IDs are linked automatically. The link rule is defined by the {Links}{TwitterUrlPattern} configure setting.	@twiki !@escaped	@twiki @escaped
Verbatim Text: Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags. The verbatim tag disables HTML code. Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want the HTML code within the tags to be interpreted. Preferences variables (* Set NAME = value) are set within verbatim tags.	<verbatim> class CatAnimal { void purr() { <code here> } } </verbatim>	class CatAnimal { void purr() { <code here> } }
Literal Text: TWiki generates HTML code from TWiki shorthand. Experts surround anything that must be output literally in the HTML code, without the application of TWiki shorthand rules, with <literal>..</literal> tags. Any HTML within literal tags must be well formed i.e. all tags must be properly closed before the end of the literal block. TWiki Variables are expanded within literal blocks.	<literal> | Not | A | Table | <literal>	| Not | A | Table |
Protected Text: Experts protect text from mangling by WYSIWYG editors using <sticky>..</sticky> tags. Sticky tags don't have any effect on normal topic display; they are only relevant when content has to be protected from a WYSIWYG editor (usually because it isn't well-formed HTML, or because it is HTML that WYSIWYG would normally filter out or modify). Protected content appears as plain text in the WYSIWYG editor.	<sticky> <div> This div is required </div> </sticky>	This div is required

Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript

You can use most HTML tags in TWiki topics without a problem. This is useful where you want to add some content that is formatted in a way that is not supported using TWiki shorthand, for example, you can write <strike>deleted text</strike> to get deleted text.

There are a few usability and technical considerations to keep in mind:

• On collaboration pages, it's better not to use HTML, but to use TWiki shorthand instead - this keeps the text uncluttered and easy to edit using the plaintext editor.
• If you must use HTML, use XHTML 1.0 Transitional syntax.
• Use <literal>..</literal> tags around blocks of HTML to avoid accidental interpretation of TWiki shorthand within the HTML.
• Script tags may be filtered out, at the discretion of your TWiki administrator.

Recommendations when pasting HTML from other sources (using the plain-text editor):

• Copy only text between <body> and </body> tags.
• Remove all empty lines. TWiki inserts <p /> paragraph tags on empty lines, which causes problems if done between HTML tags that do not allow paragraph tags, like for example between table tags.
• Remove leading spaces. TWiki might interpret some text as lists.
• Do not span a tag over more than one line. TWiki requires that the opening and closing angle brackets - <...> - of a HTML tag are on the same line, or the tag will be broken.
• In your HTML editing program, save without hard line breaks on text wrap.

When using a WYSIWYG editor, you can just copy-paste directly into the editor, and the content will be converted to TWiki shorthand automatically when you save.

It is also possible to add Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript code to TWiki pages, which can be used to make TWiki application more interactive. To prevent TWiki from interpreting some text as markup, it can be enclosed in HTML-escaped <pre>-tags.

<!-- <pre> -->
<script language="javascript">
<!--
  // put your JavaScript code here
//-->
</script>
<!-- </pre> -->

<!-- <pre> -->
<style type="text/css">
  /* put your CSS code here */
</style>
<!-- </pre> -->

Hyperlinks

Being able to create links without any special formatting is a core TWiki feature, made possible with WikiWords and inline URLs.

Internal Links

• GoodStyle is a WikiWord that links to the GoodStyle topic located in the current web.

• NotExistingYet is a topic waiting to be written because it is a red-link. Create the topic by clicking on the link. (Try clicking, but then, Cancel - creating the topic would wreck this example!)

External Links

• http://..., https://..., ftp://..., gopher://..., news://..., file://..., telnet://... and mailto:...@... are linked automatically.

• Write [[URL][label]] to get an external link with a descriptive text for the link, such as [[http://21p4u7392w.roads-uae.org/][Google home page]] to get Google home page.

• E-mail addresses like name@domain.com are linked automatically.

TWiki Variables

TWiki Variables are names enclosed in percent signs that are that are expanded to some other text when the topic is displayed. For example, %TOPIC% is expanded to TextFormattingRules. Some variables can take arguments in curly braces - for example, %INCLUDE{"OtherTopic" arg="value"}%.

Many TWiki variables are built-in, and others are predefined for your convenience. TWikiVariables describes how you can also define your own TWiki Variables at the entire site, individual web, or individual topic level. Variables are fully expanded before any of the TWiki text formatting rules are applied.

Commonly used variables:

• %TOC% : Automatically generates a table of contents based on headings in a topic - see the top of this page for an example.
• %WEB% : The current web, is TWiki.
• %TOPIC% : The current topic name, is TextFormattingRules.
• %ATTACHURL% : The attachment URL of the current topic. Example usage: If you attach a file to a topic you can refer to it as %ATTACHURL%/image.gif to show the URL of the file or the image in your text.
• %INCLUDE{"SomeTopic"}% : Server side include, includes another topic. The current web is the default web. Example: %INCLUDE{"TWiki06x01.SiteMap"}%
• %SEARCH{"sushi"}% : Inline search showing the search result embedded in a topic. FormattedSearch gives you control over formatting, used to create web-based applications.
• Documentation Graphics: There are many graphics available to use in your topics. Use %ICON{"help"}%, %ICON{"tip"}%, and %ICON{"warning"}% to get: , , and , respectively.
• Use the TWiki Variables Wizard to find and compose variables.
• See all TWiki Variables.

To "escape" a variable, prefix it with an exclamation mark. Write: !%SOMEVARIABLE% to get: %SOMEVARIABLE%.

TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions

Plugins can extend the functionality of TWiki into many other areas. There are a huge number of TWiki plugins available from the Plugins web on TWiki.org.

Currently enabled plugins on this TWiki installation, as listed by %PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%:

• SpreadSheetPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30478 (2018-07-16) $): Add spreadsheet calculation like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to TWiki tables or anywhere in topic text
• AutoSectionsPlugin (2016-10-25, $Rev: 30269 (2016-10-25) $): Automatically make editable sections based on headings
• BackupRestorePlugin (2018-07-10, $Rev: 30551 (2018-07-16) $): Administrator utility to backup, restore and upgrade a TWiki site
• BlackListPlugin (2013-03-22, $Rev: 25492 (2013-03-22) $): Utility to keep malicious users away from a public TWiki site
• CalendarPlugin (2012-12-03, $Rev: 24315 (2012-12-04) $): Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events
• ChartPlugin (2013-05-23, $Rev: 25974 (2013-05-23) $): Visualize TWiki tables with area charts, bar charts, line graphs, scatter charts and sparklines
• ColorPickerPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30442 (2018-07-16) $): Color picker, packaged for use in TWiki forms and TWiki applications
• CommentPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30530 (2018-07-16) $): Quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
• DatePickerPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30446 (2018-07-16) $): Pop-up calendar with date picker, for use in TWiki forms, HTML forms and TWiki plugins
• EditTablePlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30448 (2018-07-16) $): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
• GaugePlugin (2013-05-16, $Rev: 25944 (2013-05-16) $): Create gauges (graphical or not), typically used for dashboards
• GeoLookupPlugin (2019-02-19, $Rev$): Lookup geolocation by IP address or domain name
• HeadlinesPlugin (2018-07-13, $Rev: 30560 (2018-07-16) $): Show headline news in TWiki pages based on RSS and ATOM news feeds from external sites
• IfThenActionPlugin (2017-11-15, $Rev: 30405 (2017-11-15) $): Execute if-then actions on topic view, save, file upload, and user registration, with rules defined in a topic
• InterwikiPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30454 (2018-07-16) $): Write ExternalSite:Page to link to a page on an external site based on aliases defined in a rules topic
• JQueryPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30456 (2018-07-16) $): jQuery JavaScript library for TWiki
• LocalCityTimePlugin (2013-04-22, $Rev: 25817 (2013-04-23) $): Shows the local time of a city embedded in a TWiki topic
• PercentCompletePlugin (2015-05-29, $Rev: 29248 (2015-05-29) $): Percent complete selector, for use in TWiki forms and TWiki applications
• PerlDocPlugin (2011-07-13, $Rev: 29704 (2015-12-20) $): Extract the Perl documentation (POD) from a Perl module and display it in a topic
• PreferencesPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30528 (2018-07-16) $): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
• QRCodePlugin (2018-07-17, $Rev: 30621 (2018-07-17) $): Create QR Code (a matrix barcode) in TWiki pages, useful for mobile applications
• RecentVisitorPlugin (2012-12-22, $Rev: 24176 (2012-11-22) $): Show recent visitors to a TWiki site
• RenderListPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30468 (2018-07-16) $): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
• SetGetPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30472 (2018-07-16) $): Set and get variables and JSON objects in topics, optionally persistently across topic views
• ShareMePlugin (2012-12-01, $Rev: 24254 (2012-12-01) $): Icon bar to share a TWiki page on popular social media sites such as Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter
• SlideShowPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30474 (2018-07-16) $): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
• SmiliesPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30476 (2018-07-16) $): Render smilies as icons, like  :-)  as or  :eek:  as
• SyntaxHighlightingPlugin (2016-01-22, $Rev): Highlight source code fragments for many languages
• TWikiDrawPlugin (2013-05-17, $Rev: 25952 (2013-05-17) $): Vector drawing editor and clickable maps for diagrams and workflows
• TWikiOrgPlugin (1.001): TWiki.org specific extensions
• TWikiSheetPlugin (2018-07-15, $Rev: 30604 (2018-07-16) $): Add TWiki Sheet spreadsheet functionality to TWiki tables
• TablePlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30480 (2018-07-16) $): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
• TagMePlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30482 (2018-07-16) $): Tag wiki content collectively or authoritatively to find content by keywords
• TinyMCEPlugin (2018-07-10, $Rev: 30541 (2018-07-16) $): Integration of the Tiny MCE WYSIWYG Editor
• TwistyPlugin (2018-07-06, $Rev: 30497 (2018-07-16) $): Twisty section JavaScript library to open/close content dynamically
• VarCachePlugin (2018-07-08, $Rev: 30524 (2018-07-08) $): Cache TWiki variables in selected topics for faster page rendering
• WatchlistPlugin (2018-07-10, $Rev: 30536 (2018-07-16) $): Watch topics of interest and get notified of changes by e-mail
• WysiwygPlugin (2018-07-06, $Rev: 30528 (2018-07-16) $): Translator framework for WYSIWYG editors

Check on current Plugin status and settings for this site in TWikiPreferences.

Common Editing Errors

TWiki formatting rules are fairly simple to use and quick to type. However, there are some things to watch out for, taken from the TextFormattingFAQ:

• Q: Text enclosed in angle brackets like <filename> is not displayed. How can I show it as it is?
  • A: The '<' and '>' characters have a special meaning in HTML, they define HTML tags. You need to escape them, so write '<' instead of '<', and '>' instead of '>'.
    Example: Type 'prog <filename>' to get 'prog <filename>'.

• Q: Why is the '&' character sometimes not displayed?
  • A: The '&' character has a special meaning in HTML, it starts a so-called character entity, e.g., '©' is the © copyright character. You need to escape '&' to see it as it is, so write '&' instead of '&'.
    Example: Type 'This & that' to get 'This & that'.

Related topics: WikiSyntax, WikiWord, WikiNotation, TextFormattingRules, TWikiEditingShorthand, TWikiRenderingShortcut, TWikiShorthand, TWikiVariablesQuickStart

Comments & Questions about this Distribution Document Topic

Updated to cover improved mailto links (EmailThisPageLink) and EasierExternalLinking. This page is now a bit too wide to easily fit into the pop-up TextFormattingRules from the Edit page - we should either set it to be wider in the edit*.tmpl templates' launchWindow routine, or perhaps use a smaller font. We should target 800x600 screens since those are still quite common according to browser stats sites, so IMO the smaller font is the way to go, although perhaps parameterisable sizes for the pop-up windows would also be a good idea (see CVS:templates/edit.iejs.tmpl for an example of parameterising JavaScript using TWikiVariables.)

Perhaps if we put a common %STYLESHEET% variable in all templates that includes an optional CSS reference, which can then include a suitable font setup?

I have also temporarily removed the %TOC%, because (1) it was generating a '*' after the TOC, due to a bug, and (2) it takes up a lot of space and doesn't seem that useful since most of the content of the page is in a table. Without a TOC, the pop-up window shows the top part of the table, which is the most useful part IMO. However, others may disagree

-- RichardDonkin - 05 Apr 2002

I'd de-TOC TWikiShorthand instead! It's pretty similar to this page, but I was gonna edit it down for the simple user's guide version. And you don't want all that in a popup window. Makes even more sense with NewContents even sharper divisions of doc type/detail, if that goes anywhere!

-- Main.MikeMannix - 04 May 2002

Just knew from support that there is a tag for preventing a link for sections of text -rather than a single WikiWord- and it is not documented above: You must surround the text with <noautolink> ... </noautolink> tags. Hope this to be of some help.

-- AntonioVega - 12 Apr 2002

Hi, Antonio: I looked around. <noautolink> is over a year old, and was briefly documented, then undocumented because people didn't like - found confusing and inconsistent - the HTML style of the tag. . <verbatim> snuck in there, and <nop> is HTML-like - I can see how these would confuse. Then again, what good's an undocumented feature (if it's useful)? Thanks for the tip - I won't add it now, but will ask. If you think it should be docced - or the brackets changed - weigh in on the See DisableWikiWordLinks... page where the discussion still goes on.

RedHat and SuSE are GNU-Linux distributors.

Useful, but the tags are too long...

-- Main.MikeMannix - 04 May 2002

Has anyone else noticed that the TWiki Editing Shorthand table has these unbalanced HTML end tags at the end of the table?

</td></tr>
</table>

I removed them....they tend to mess up table-based skins.

-- GladeDiviney - 04 May 2002

I tweaked the text so that the table is more narrow. This is needed because the popup window when getting text formatting help is small.

-- PeterThoeny - 01 Feb 2003

According to TelnetURLSupport, "(http|ftp|gopher|news|file|https|telnet)" are all supported. So I've added them to the External Links section.

-- JohnRouillard - 01 Feb 2003

The noautolink tags can't be used inline, but must be on a line by themself. I think noautolink should always work, inline and otherwise.

I also think it is rather unwiki-like to use html-style code for this, but can't think of a suitable alternative right now.

-- MattWilkie - 06 Feb 2003

I've been unable to find any notes on what the ---# style of heading is for (I saw it in one of the standard TWiki pages) and was expecting to find some notes on here. Is it any different to ---+ ?

-- GrahamAshton - 25 Jun 2003

• Graham, it looks like ---# is the same as ---+ but we need confirmation from gurus. Be patient -- PeterMasiar - 10 Jul 2003
• Correct, they are currently the same. ---# is reserved for auto-numbered headings.

-- PeterThoeny - 16 Jul 2003

In the NOTE on HTML formatting and unclosed angle brackets the example displays the wrong angle bracket for the HTML entity:

<, ex: a > b

I've changed it display the proper less than entity.

-- BasilJamesWhitehouseIII - 10 Jul 2003

There seems be something wrong in linking to local files. Various typo are rendered corretly in the source page, ex. a href="file://C:/... or a href="file:///C|/..., but clicking the link has no effect. It is in Win 2k Prof. Apache, Cygwin, Perl.

-- AndrzejGoralczyk - 11 Jan 2004

Mozilla file:// links are disabled by the browser. The gory details are at MozillaBug:84128. Scroll down to comment #20 for a workaround (and the http://2x5pf1vewbyx6ydr76ab89h0br.roads-uae.org/ extension for an easier way to implement it).

If you are not using Mozilla, something else is happening and you should go to Support (ie: file:// links should work fine).

-- MattWilkie - 13 Jan 2004

Thank You, Matt. Now Mozilla works.

-- AndrzejGoralczyk - 01 Feb 2004

I found myself in the awkward situation that I wanted to use JavaScript to embed a form with some dynamic properties on a wiki page. While I would be the first one to condemn this practice :-) it would be nice if there was a way to say "this is magical, don't touch". What I need to happen is for stuff like "if (number > 1000)" to get through to the JavaScript interpreter correctly, i.e. the larger-than sign should not be converted to an entity. (Of course I had to use > here to make it through.)

-- EraEriksson - 03 Mar 2004

I removed the reference to "You need TablePlugin for multi-span rows to work." since this Plugin is preinstalled in the latest Beta.

-- PeterThoeny - 17 Mar 2004

It might be wise to leave in something like "(multi-span rows provided by TablePlugin)" just in case it is uninstalled. It could also help someone visiting this site who is running an earlier version.

-- SamHasler - 22 Mar 2004

Era: I added doc on how to escape JavaScript.

Sam: Good suggestion, done.

-- PeterThoeny - 30 Mar 2004

Explained continuation lines in lists. Please check my suggested wording.

-- DanielKabs - 23 Aug 2005

Thanks Daniel, it's descriptive.

-- PeterThoeny - 24 Aug 2005

I would like to know if there is any format code that would make any given text look like it has been crossed over (I want to show for everybody to see in a explicit way what was corrected or erased in the last revision of a page)

-- JaimeCaamanoRuiz - 25 Aug 2005

You can use HTML for that, see updated docs above (under "Using HTML" section)

-- PeterThoeny - 25 Aug 2005

It was right there and I didn't see it. Sorry and thanks!

-- JaimeCaamanoRuiz - 25 Aug 2005

You didn't see it because I just added it

-- PeterThoeny - 25 Aug 2005

Moved question about attaching files to HowDoIAttachFiles. This area is for commenting on TextFormattingRules documentation.

-- LynnwoodBrown - 13 Oct 2005

This topic is important. It should be promoted to WebHome

-- ZhengShao - 23 Jan 2006

Just noticed it's already on WebHome

-- ZhengShao - 23 Jan 2006

I couldn't find an existing topic for the html methods of displaying special characters. Since I had to create one for my own TWiki installation, I'm sharing the love. Check out SpecialCharacters which has a very long list of multiple methods of displaying special symbols and characters.

-- AmandaSmith - 20 Feb 2006

I want to put a <verbatim> code snippet in a table cell, but the presence of the <verbatim> tag seems to invalidate all table-related formatting in the line where it appears. Is it possible to do have a formatted snippet in a cell?

-- NickPollitt - 10 Mar 2006

Use either HTML ( <table>) or try the RecursiveRenderPlugin.

-- FranzJosefSilli - 11 Mar 2006

Is there any way to collapse and expand the different %TOC% levels so that you can view just the main general headings and then drill down into each for greater detail? (i.e. Click on a heading in the TOC and have it expand to show and sub headings. Then click on any sub headings to show further sub-sub-headings, etc)

-- PatSchmidt - 30 Mar 2006

TWiki does not have collabsable TOC entries. That is a good candidate for a Plugin. (Please ask support questions in the Support web.)

-- PeterThoeny - 30 Mar 2006

Oops...sorry about that!

-- PatSchmidt - 31 Mar 2006

When making tables--using

-- AvirupDasgupta - 04 Apr 2006

Didn't you have a look at EditTablerowPlugin or EditInTablePlugin? And PLEASE ask support questions in the Support Web!

-- FranzJosefSilli - 04 Apr 2006

Is there some rason I'm not able to use ! to escape a variable with a parameter inside fixed font tags, e.g., why doesn't this work: !%INCLUDE{ "heading name" section="content" }%

-- CarlMcKinney - 22 Aug 2006

Please ask support questions in the Support web. You can use the ! escape character only if preceeded by whitespace. An alternative escape is <nop>, e.g. %<nop>INCLUDE{ ... }%

-- PeterThoeny - 23 Aug 2006

I'd recommend updating the comment on Anchors: from The anchor name must be a WikiWord. to The anchor name must be a WikiWord of no more than 32 characters. Thanks,

-- GregoryWalden - 17 Jan 2007

Fixed. This is a wiki, by all means please feel free to update the documentation directly!

-- PeterThoeny - 18 Jan 2007

Can anyone explain what differences and similarities exists within TWiki and MediaWiki formatting rules? - Nashev

-- IlyaNenashev - 29 Mar 2007

See MediaWiki, MediaWikiSyntaxPlugin, EditSyntaxPlugin, MediaWikiTablePlugin. And please ask support questions in the Support web.

-- PeterThoeny - 29 Mar 2007

Is the feature of the "automatic anchor" to a heading considered an undocumented feature (and thus, subject to change)?

(The feature to which I'm referring is that there is automatically an anchor to every heading in a document, initially or primarily used for the TOC feature, but also usable by anyone who is aware of the feature to create a link to that heading. Further, that anchor is constructed by taking the text of the heading and:

• prepending a "#"
• deleting (all?) punctuation (iirc?)
• replacing spaces with underbars
• limiting the length to 32 characters

If not, I don't see that feature documented anywhere--but maybe I missed something? (I have a note in WikiLearn, but that isn't TWiki documentation.)

-- RandyKramer - 17 Mar 2008

This is an undocumented feature for TOC. Better to rely on manually entered anchors before a heading, such as this one:

#CommonEditingErrors
---++ Common Editing Errors

-- PeterThoeny - 18 Mar 2008

Peter,

Thanks!

Is it worth documenting the undocumented feature? I mean, something like the following; or, if not in the official documentation, maybe by just leaving the note here?

There is an undocumented feature which automatically creates an anchor for every heading in a document to support the TOC (Table of Content) feature. This is intentionally undocumented because the details may change and you should not rely on it. Instead, create your own anchor:

#CommonEditingErrors
---++ Common Editing Errors

-- RandyKramer - 18 Mar 2008

The code for anchors on my twiki causes the link to affix two '.pl's to the view script in the hyperlink.

ie. all anchors break because there is a "view.pl.pl" call in the link. is there a way I can manually change this or is there a likely point of error in my configuration?

-- StevenMoncada - 05 Sep 2008

I have the same problem (.pl.pl) with TWiki-4.2.3, Wed, 06 Aug 2008, build 17396, Plugin API-Vversion 1.2. Please help.

-- BernhardGonitianer - 05 Oct 2008

It appears that unusual link protocols are not supported. For example, we use an application that has URLs like "doors://froggy:36677/?version=1,prodID=0,dbid=3b0430a148c5136f,container=00003484". We'd like to create an ordinary hyperlink for such URLs, but TWiki currently rejects the possibility that "doors://" could be a protocol.

-- ByronHawkins - 06 Jan 2009

You can add uncommon protocols to the {linkProtocolPattern} setting in configure.

Alternatively, add a new rule to your InterwikiPlugin.

-- PeterThoeny - 06 Jan 2009

Some of the numeric list examples are generating bullets instead of numeric or alphabetic lists. Why?

-- JonathanAddelston - 2010-02-09

Hmm, the numbered bullets render properly in my browser. TWiki simply generates HTML, may be your browser does not render numbered lists properly?

-- PeterThoeny - 2010-02-10

Is there a way I can indent a line without bullet point?

-- GirishDeshpande - 2010-05-20

Please ask support questions in the Support forum.

-- PeterThoeny - 2010-05-20

Thank you Randy for adding the note on potential confusion. I fixed the topic that is included. Now the example works properly in the included topic TWikiVariablesQuickStart as well as here in TextFormattingRules. Since the note is no longer needed I moved it to here:

> Note: Potential for Confusion: _The topic (i.e., name) of this TWiki page is "TextFormatting Rules". Below, the topic is displayed as "TWikiVariablesQuickStart". This occurs because the content of this section has been included from a different TWiki topic named "TWikiVariablesQuickStart"._

-- Peter Thoeny - 2016-02-13

Is there markup that makes it possible to "force" and anchor, e.g. #A

-- TWiki Guest - 2016-08-07

Can you please provide an example of how can an anchor be placed within a table so that it does not break the formatting, e.g.

with

-- TWiki Guest - 2016-08-07

Guest: Best to ask support questions in the Support forum. This comment section is about the documentation of this topic.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2016-08-08

Is there a reason blockquote isn't shown on this pager?

-- Randy Kramer - 2017-03-07

pager ==> page

-- Randy Kramer - 2017-03-07

The <blockquote> tag is not singled out because it is a regular HTML tag. This page covers TWiki markup and TWiki specific tags such as <sticky>.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2017-03-09

Ahh, ok, thanks! (You can delete what you want of the comments I've put here...)

-- Randy Kramer - 2017-03-19

Need to explain why markup like www._yourdomainname_.com doesn't work

-- TWiki Guest - 2017-12-14

The doc mentions just http (among others), not a simple www....:

"URLs starting with file, ftp, gopher, http, https, irc, mailto, news, nntp and telnet are linked automatically if preceded by whitespace or parenthesis."

-- Peter Thoeny - 2017-12-18