View source for Template:!/doc

{{Documentation subpage}}
{{transclusionless|should=yes|reason=it was replaced with a [[Help:Magic words|magic word]]}}

The magic word <code><nowiki>{{!}}</nowiki></code> is used to escape a [[vertical bar]] character "&#124;" in [[wp:wikitext|wikitext]] markup, causing the parser to temporarily not interpret it as a special character.

This used to be a template, but for speed reasons, the [[MediaWiki]] parser was changed in July 2014 to instantly interpret <code><nowiki>{{!}}</nowiki></code> as "&#124;" and ignore this template, making <code><nowiki>{{!}}</nowiki></code> a [[mw:Help:Magic words|magic word]]. You can continue to use the code in exactly the same way as before.

Do not use syntax like <code><nowiki>{{Template:!}}</nowiki></code>, and do not supply a parameter, for example <code><nowiki>{{!|foo}}</nowiki></code>. In those cases, the template transcludes as an error message: {{error|Error: The retired template {{tn|!}} has been transcluded; see [[mw:Help:Magic words#Other]] for details. To fix this, use only the code {{Magic word|!}} to generate the &#124; character.}}


== Usage ==
The code <code><nowiki>{{!}}</nowiki></code> is used to [[Escape_character|escape]] the vertical bar character, &#124;, so that it is interpreted later than it would be otherwise. This is mostly useful when trying to include a table in a template. For example,

<pre>
{{cquote|text=
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Header text !! Header text
|-
| Example1 || Example2
|-
| Example3 || Example4
|}
}}
</pre>

yields nonsense:
{{cquote|text=<nowiki />
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Header text !! Header text
|-
| Example1 || Example2
|-
| Example3 || Example4
|}
}}

However escaping the bars with this magic word and similar templates gives:

<pre>
{{cquote|text=
{{(!}} class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!+}} Caption text
{{!-}}
! Header text !! Header text
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example1 {{!!}} Example2
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example3 {{!!}} Example4
{{!)}}
}}
</pre>

{{cquote|text=<nowiki />
{{(!}} class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!+}} Caption text
{{!-}}
! Header text !! Header text
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example1 {{!!}} Example2
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example3 {{!!}} Example4
{{!)}}
}}

For how to include a table in a footnote, do:
<pre>
Example 1{{refn|group=note|This is a note before}}

Example 2{{refn|group=note|1=&lt;nowiki&gt;</nowiki>{{(!}}class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!}}+ Example table with two columns
! A column
! Another column
{{!}}-
{{!}} Some data
{{!}} Some more data
{{!)}}&lt;nowiki&gt;</nowiki>}}

Example 3{{refn|group=note|This is a note after}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}
</pre>
Be careful to follow this formatting, [[Special:Diff/1078738513|otherwise the table may gobble up the subsequent footnote]]. This can be unnoticeable if there is only one footnote, only causing an issue if a second footnote is added.

Example 1{{refn|group=note|This is a note before}}

Example 2{{refn|group=note|1=<nowiki></nowiki>
{{(!}} class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!}}+ Example table with two columns
! A column
! Another column
{{!}}-
{{!}} Some data
{{!}} Some more data
{{!)}}<nowiki></nowiki>}}

Example 3{{refn|group=note|This is a note after}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==See also==
{{Escape template list}}
Documentation for the magic word may be found in the MediaWiki documentation at [[mw:Help:Magic words#Other]].
* {{tl|pipe}}, a template that uses the [[numeric character reference]] for the vertical bar character
* [[m:Help:Template#A parameter value containing a pipe character]]
*[[Help:Conditional tables]]

<includeonly>{{sandbox other||
<!-- Categories below this line; interwikis at Wikidata -->

[[Category:Character-substitution templates]]

}}</includeonly>