This is a list of commonly used edit summary abbreviations. Find a more concise list at quick reference. Select from the box above for more abbreviations and terms.
Note: This page does not state any official guidelines regarding edit summary content. For more information about that, see Help:Edit summary, which strongly encourages editors to provide accurate and detailed summaries.
Addition of category
cat
Meaning: A category to the page.
Secondary text (encouraged):
[[Category:Name of category]] (which puts a useful link directly into the edit summary)
Meaning: I have added or rephrased the following brief bit of full text.
Secondary text (required):
[in quotation marks, the exact text in question]
Secondary text (encouraged):
[in quotation marks, the exact text that is being replaced]
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
Such specificity is extremely helpful to those viewing only the edit summary, since it may obviate the need to open the article's History page to obtain these details.
[the full text or a description of the portion of the text in question (if not obvious)]
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
Specifically:
cap, capital, or cpt when there is a general fixing of capitalization.
caps when EVERY letter of a word is capitalized (e.g., ALL CAPS).
uc or ucase when uppercasing the first letter of a word.
lc or lcase when lowercasing the first letter of a word.
Common occurences:
Wikipedia's article titles are case-sensitive, except for the first letter of the article, which always appears as a capital letter. Also, according to Wikipedia:Manual of Style, except for compound proper nouns (such as "New York City Police Department") only the first letter of the first word in section headings should be capitalized.
Examples:
cap throughout this section for consistency
caps "NATO"
uc toys in the list that have proper (not generic) names
This is often seen when an article has been incorrectly laid out with "level 3" headers at the top level (i.e., === text ===) instead of "level 2" headers (i.e., == text ==).
Meaning: I have created or removed a link from this Wikipedia article to another one.
Secondary text (required):
[[Wikipedia article name]] (which puts the link directly into the edit summary) or
'Wikipedia article name'
Secondary text (encouraged):
[a description of the links in question (if not obvious)]
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
It is preferred that the actual link(s) be included in the edit summary. This can be achieved by copying it from the edit box so that it appears in double brackets [[ ]]. Otherwise, name the link(s) between single apostrophes (').
This is especially useful when the link is to a new article, since Wikipedians watchlisting the current page are likely to be interested in the new page.
Meaning: I added one or more interwiki links to this page.
Secondary text (required):
{{Interwiki link name}} (which puts the link directly into the edit summary) or
'Interwiki link name'
Secondary text (encouraged):
[a description of the links in question (if not obvious)]
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
It is preferred that the actual link(s) be included in the edit summary. This can be achieved by copying it from the edit box so that it appears in curly brackets {{ }}. Otherwise, name the link(s) between single apostrophes (').
This is especially useful when the link is to a new material, since Wikipedians watchlisting the current page are likely to be interested in viewing it.
Examples:
iw: {{Wikiquote:Rabbits}}
+iwks: {{Wikiquote:Politics}} and {{Wikiquote:Feminism}}
rem iw for pictures (too broad)
added wikilink {{Wikipedia books|Soap}} (new material)
Meaning: I have merged one or more other articles into this article.
Secondary text (required):
[[Wikipedia article name]] (which puts the link directly into the edit summary) or
'Wikipedia article name'
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
It is preferred that the actual link(s) be included in the edit summary. This can be achieved by copying it from the edit box so that it appears in double brackets [[ ]]. Otherwise, name the link(s) between single apostrophes (').
Examples:
mrg: 'USA' & 'United States of America'
mrgd: [[USA]] and [[United States of America]]
merged in [[sheepherding]] and [[droving]] (after consenus, see Talk)
Meaning: I have made changes to one or more pre-existing category links.
Secondary text (required):
[[Category:Category name]] (which puts the link directly into the edit summary) or
'Category name'
Secondary text (encourage):
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
It is preferred that the actual link(s) be included in the edit summary. This can be achieved by copying it from the edit box so that it appears in double brackets [[ ]]. Otherwise, name the link(s) between single apostrophes (').
This is especially useful when the link is to a new article, since Wikipedians watchlisting the current page are likely to be interested in the new page.
Examples:
re-cat 'America' to 'North America'
recat [[Category:America]] to [[Category:North American]] per consensus (see Talk)
Meaning: I have made this article redirect to another article.
Secondary text (required):
[[Wikipedia article name]] (which puts the link directly into the edit summary) or
'Wikipedia article name'
Secondary text (encouraged):
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
It is preferred that the actual link(s) be included in the edit summary. This can be achieved by copying it from the edit box so that it appears in double brackets [[ ]]. Otherwise, name the link(s) between single apostrophes (').
This is especially useful when the link is to a new article, since Wikipedians watchlisting the current page are likely to be interested in the new page.
Examples:
REDIRECT 'Cats'
rd [[Cats]]
redir [[Droving]]to [[Sheepherding]] (new article)
Meaning: I changed a wikilink to point to the appropriate disambiguation page.
Secondary text (required):
[[Wikipedia disambiguation page name]] (which puts the link directly into the edit summary) or
'Wikipedia disambiguation page name'
Secondary text (encouraged):
[the reason or context for the change(s)]
It is preferred that the actual link(s) be included in the edit summary. This can be achieved by copying it from the edit box so that it appears in double brackets [[ ]]. Otherwise, name the link(s) between single apostrophes (').
This is especially useful when the link is to a new article, since Wikipedians watchlisting the current page are likely to be interested in the new page.
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