Template:Anchor/doc

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

{{ombox | type = style | image = | text = This template is used on 40,000+ pages, and changes to it will be widely noticed. Please test any changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in a user subpage, and consider discussing changes at the talk page before implementing them.

The template {{anchor}} inserts one or more HTML fragment identifiers (anchor names) in a page. Those locations can then be linked to using [[#Location|...]] syntax. (Usually the first letter of the location is capitalised to reflect the common capitalisation used in section headers.)

Examples

1. {{anchor|Foo}}
   could be linked to with [[#Foo|...]] from within the same article,
   or it could be linked to with [[Article name#Foo|...]] from other articles and from redirects.
2. Anchors can be more suitable for inter-article linking than section titles are. For example:
   == {{anchor|Foo}} Section title ==
   Here, links via [[Article name#Foo]] would remain valid even if the section were renamed. (Note that the anchor is placed before the section name; otherwise browsers may hide the section title from view.) However, as noted under Limitations below, it may be preferable to use direct HTML rather than the template within section titles:
   == <span id="Foo"></span> Section title ==
3. The template can be used to create multiple anchors with a single call. For example,
   {{anchor|Foo|Bar|baz}}
   will create three anchors that can then be linked to with [[#Foo]], [[#Bar]] and [[#baz]].

Limitations

Character	Code	Template	Meaning
"	" "	N/A	(double) quotation mark
#	#	N/A	hash
|	|	{{!}}	pipe
=	=	{{=}}	equals

• Anchor names that contain any character shown in the table on the right will not work as expected. However, any of these characters can be replaced with the "&#" codes shown for them here. Or, the pipe symbol and equals sign can be worked around with {{!}}

and {{=}}

, respectively. Markup code such as <sup>

and <sub>

(superscript and subscript) cannot be used. Most other characters, including white space and punctuation, are not a problem.

• Anchor names should be unique on a page, and should not duplicate any heading titles. Duplicate anchors will not work as expected since the #location links go to the first anchor with that name. Duplicate anchors result in invalid HTML; you can check for duplicate anchors by running the page through the W3C Markup Validation Service.
• If the template is added to a section title then the code will appear in the edit summary window when that section is edited, as in "/* {{anchor|Issues}}Limitations */ New issue". Also, when the section is saved, browsers may not return to the section. Consider using <span id="..."></span> directly, rather than using the anchor template, when in a section title.
• Anchor links are case sensitive in some browsers, so treat all anchor links as case sensitive.

Use in tables

Anchors may be used within tables, subject to certain restrictions. The {{anchor}} template may be used in the caption and cells of a table, but not those portions of a table that are outside the caption and cells. It is used on the table's caption thus:

|+ {{anchor|FooX}} A table caption

and the following forms of cell are valid:

!{{anchor|Foo1}} A header cell
!style="background:white;" |{{anchor|Foo2}} A header cell with styling
|{{anchor|Foo3}} A data cell
|rowspan=2 |{{anchor|Foo4}} A data cell spanning two rows

You need to ensure that the {{anchor}} is not in that portion of the markup intended for the classes, styles etc. Thus, {{anchor}} cannot be placed anywhere on lines that begin with {| (start of table) or |- (new row), and the following forms of cell are not valid:

!{{anchor|Foo1}} |A header cell
!style="background:white;" {{anchor|Foo2}} |A header cell with styling
|{{anchor|Foo3}} |A data cell
|rowspan=2 {{anchor|Foo4}} |A data cell spanning two rows

If it is necessary for an anchor to be in any of these positions, a different technique is used - the id= attribute. This is placed in that portion of the markup where the classes, styles etc. may be used, as follows:

{| id=FooX class=wikitable
|- id=FooY
!id=Foo1 |A header cell
!style="background:white;" id=Foo2 |A header cell with styling
|id=Foo3 |A data cell
|rowspan=2 id=Foo4 |A data cell spanning two rows

The id= attribute may appear before, between or after any other attributes that may be present, but only one id= attribute may be used in each of these areas.

TemplateData

The template {{anchor}} inserts one or more HTML anchors in a page. Those locations can then be linked to using [[#location|...]] syntax. The parameters here are for convenience; no parameter name is required in the template itself.

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
First anchor	1	First anchor; Only the first anchor is required.	String	required
Second anchor	2	Second anchor.	String	optional
Third anchor	3	Third anchor. For additional anchors, just type in 4 as the parameter name for the next, 5 for the next after that, and so on.	String	optional