Help:Links

Internal Links

A wikilink or internal link links a page to another page within English Wikipedia.

• [[a]] gives a (link to a, labeled a).
• [[a|b]] gives b (link to a, labeled b).
• [[a]]b gives ab, just like [[a|ab]] does: ab.
• [[a|b]]c gives bc, just like [[a|bc]] does: bc.
• [[a]]:b gives a:b (punctuation is not appended to the link).
• a[[b]] gives ab.
• [[a]]<nowiki>b</nowiki> gives ab.
• [[a]]''b'' gives ab.
• ''[[a]]''b gives ab.
• [[a|b]]c<nowiki>d</nowiki> gives bcd.

The link target is case-sensitive except for the first character (so atom links to Atom, but ATom does not). If the target contains a namespace prefix, then the prefix and the first character after the colon are case-insensitive (so uSeR:your MOM links to User:Your Mom).

Attempting to link normally to an image page or a category page will produce a different effect: it will place the image on the page, add the page to the category or create an interlanguage link at the edge of the page. To override this behavior, add an initial colon, as in [[:Category:Help]], [[:fr:Help:Link]], [[:Image:Mediawiki.png]].

External Links

Restrictions on Linking

For policy or technical reasons, editors are restricted from linking to the following, without exception:

1. Material that violates the copyrights of others per contributors' rights and obligations should not be linked. Linking to websites that display copyrighted works is acceptable as long as the website has licensed the work. Knowingly directing others to material that violates copyright may be considered contributory infringement. If you know that an external Web site is carrying a work in violation of the creator's copyright, do not link to that copy of the work. Linking to a page that illegally distributes someone else's work sheds a bad light on Wikipedia and its editors. This is particularly relevant when linking to sites such as YouTube, where due care should be taken to avoid linking to material that violates its creator's copyright.

How to link

Link with no text (code and example output):

[http://example.com/]

[1]

Link containing text:

[http://example.com/ The RFC-mandated example.com website]

The RFC-mandated example.com website

All text following a space is taken as the text to use for the link. Embedding wikilinks into the link text is incorrect; instead choose the appropriate words to link.

"The [[RFC]]-mandated [http://example.com/ example.com website]". 

"The RFC-mandated example.com website".

External links section

If an article has external links, the standard format is to place them in a bulleted list under a primary heading at the end of the article. External links should identify the link and briefly summarize the website's contents and why the website is relevant to the article. The heading should be "External links" (plural) even if there is only a single link listed. If several external links are listed and the subject of the article is a living person, organization, web service, or otherwise has an official website, it is normal practice to place the link to that site at the top of the list (if it is not already in an appropriate infobox).

If you link to another website, you should give your reader a good summary of the site's contents, and the reasons why this specific website is relevant to the article in question. If you link to an online article, try to provide as much meaningful article information as possible. For example:

== External links ==
* [http://example.com/link_1 Link 1]
* [http://example.com/link_2 Link 2]