TWiki Text Formatting

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, but won't appear in the table of contents.	---++ Sushi ---+++ Maguro ---++++!! Exclude from TOC	Sushi Maguro Exclude from 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.	_This works_, _this does not _	This works, _this does not _
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.	* bullet item level 1 * bullet item level 2 * back to level 1	bullet item level 1 bullet item level 2 back to level 1
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 e.g.	* A bullet broken over three lines. This text is not indented	A bullet broken over three lines. This text is not indented
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. Mammals 1. Rodents A. Rats A. Mice A. Capybaras i. Bats 1. Pipistrelle 1. Horseshoe (lesser)	Mammals Rodents Rats Mice Capybaras Bats Pipistrelle Horseshoe (lesser)
Definition List: Three spaces, a dollar sign, the term, 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. to make a cell a header, put the text in asterisks | *bold* | to center the contents of a cell, put an equal number of spaces on either side of the text (you need more than one space on each side) to right-align, put more spaces on the left | right-spaced |= to span multiple columns, put the |='s right next to each other =| 2 colspan || 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. The TablePlugin increases the number of things you can do with tables - for example, you can control formatting, and create multi-row spans by using a single caret (^) to indicate follow-up rows.	| *L* | *C* | *R* | | A2 | 2 | 2 | | A3 | 3 | 3 | | multi span ||| | A4-6 | \ four \ | four |	L C R A2 2 2 A3 3 3 multi span A4-6 four four
WikiWord Links: CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically. If you want to link to a topic in a different FS web write Otherweb.TopicName. (The link label is the the name of the web if it is WebHome, otherwise it is the topic name)	WebNotify %MAINWEB%.TWikiUsers	WebNotify TWikiUsers
Verbatim (Literal) text: Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags. verbatim tags disable HTML code. Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want the HTML code within the tags to be interpreted. NOTE: VARIABLES are still Set within verbatim tags (this is a historical peculiarity)	<verbatim> class CatAnimal { void purr() { <code here> } } </verbatim>	class CatAnimal { void purr() { <code here> } }
Anchors: You can define a reference inside a FS 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. 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
Forced Links: You can create a forced internal link by enclosing words in double square brackets. Text within the brackets may contain optional spaces; the topic name is formed by capitalizing the initial letter and by removing the spaces; for example, [[text formatting FAQ]] links to topic TextFormattingFAQ. You can also refer to a different web and use anchors. To "escape" double square brackets that would otherwise make a link, prefix the leading left square bracket with an exclamation mark !	[[wiki syntax]] [[%MAINWEB%.TWiki users]] escaped: ![[wiki syntax]]	wiki syntax Main.TWiki users escaped: [[wiki syntax]]
Specific Links: You can create a link where you specify the link text and the URL separately using nested square brackets [[reference][text]]. Internal link references (e.g. WikiSyntax) and URLs (e.g. http://TWiki.org/) are both supported. The rules described under Forced Links apply for internal link references. Anchor names can be added as well, to create a link to a specific place in a topic.	[[WikiSyntax][wiki syntax]] [[http://gnu.org][GNU]] [[mailto:a@b.street][mail]]	wiki syntax GNU mail
Prevent a Link: Prevent a WikiWord from being linked by prepending it with an exclamation mark.	!SunOS	SunOS
Disable Links: You can disable automatic linking of WikiWords by surrounding text with <noautolink> and </noautolink> tags. Each tag must be on a line by itself.	<noautolink> RedHat & SuSE </noautolink>	RedHat & SuSE

Using HTML

You can use just about any HTML tag without a problem - however, 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.
• Use XHTML 1.0 Transitional syntax
• 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
• Script tags may be filtered out, at the discretion of your sysadmin

• If you're pasting in preformatted HTML text and notice problems, check the file in a text processor with no text wrap. Also, save without hard line breaks on text wrap, in your HTML editing program.

TWiki converts shorthand notation to HTML for display. To copy a fully marked-up page, simply view source in your browser and save the contents. If you need to save HTML frequently, you may want to check out TWiki:Plugins/PublishAddOn.

NOTE: TWiki requires that the opening and closing angle brackets - <...> - of an HTML tag must be on the same line, or the tag will be broken.

Script tags

You can use HTML <script> tags in for your TWiki applications. However note that your TWiki administrator can disable <script> in topics, and may have chosen to do so for security considerations. TWiki markup and TWikiVariables are not expanded inside script tags.

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 FS web.

• NotExistingYet^? is a topic waiting to be written. Create the topic by clicking on the ?. (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.

• Email addresses like name@domain.com are linked automatically.

• [[Square bracket rules]] let you easily create non-WikiWord links.
  • You can also write [[http://yahoo.com Yahoo home page]] as an easier way of doing external links with descriptive text for the link, such as Yahoo home page.

TWiki Variables

TWiki Variables are names that are enclosed in percent signs % that are expanded on the fly.

• %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 FS web is the default web. Example: %INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}%

• %SEARCH{"sushi"}% : Inline search showing the search result embedded in a topic. FormattedSearch gives you control over formatting, useful for creating web-based applications.

• TWikiPreferences defines some site-wide variables. Among others:
  • Line break: Write %BR% to start a new line.
  • Colored text: Write: %RED% Red %ENDCOLOR% and %BLUE% blue %ENDCOLOR% colors to get: Red and blue colors.
  • Documentation Graphics: Write: %H% Help, %T% Tip, %X% Alert to get: Help, Tip, Alert. For more info see TWikiDocGraphics.

• There are many more variables, see TWikiVariables.

• 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%:

• CommentPlugin (Dakar, 6827): Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle.
• EditTablePlugin (Dakar, 6827): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
• ExifMetaDataPlugin (1.010): Displays EXIF data for jpeg images attached to a topic.
• GuidPlugin: (disabled)
• HeadlinesPlugin (1.95, 7779): Build news portals that show headline news based on RSS news feeds from news sites.
• InterwikiPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 7873$): Link ExternalSite:Page text to external sites based on aliases defined in the %RULESTOPIC% topic
• PreferencesPlugin (Dakar, 6827): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
• RedirectPlugin (1.000): This plugin allows one to produce TWiki topics that automatically redirect to other TWiki topics or URLs.
• SlideShowPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 7873$): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
• SmiliesPlugin (Dakar, 6827): Render smilies as icons, like  :-) for or  :cool: for :cool:
• SpreadSheetPlugin (Dakar, 6827): Add spreadsheet calculation like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in FS topics.
• TablePlugin (Dakar, 6850): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns

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, i.e. '©' 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'.