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href="#Lowercase_first_letter"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Lowercase first letter</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Lowercase_first_letter-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Forbidden_characters" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Forbidden_characters"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Forbidden characters</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Forbidden_characters-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Forbidden characters subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Forbidden_characters-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Clashes with wiki markup/HTML syntax</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Clashes with invalid-UTF-8 handling</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_problematic_characters" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_problematic_characters"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Other problematic characters</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Other_problematic_characters-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Other problematic characters subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Other_problematic_characters-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Colons" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Colons"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.1</span> <span>Colons</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Colons-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Forward_slashes_and_periods" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Forward_slashes_and_periods"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.2</span> <span>Forward slashes and periods</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Forward_slashes_and_periods-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Percent_and_encoded_characters" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Percent_and_encoded_characters"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.3</span> <span>Percent and encoded characters</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Percent_and_encoded_characters-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Question_marks_and_plus_signs" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Question_marks_and_plus_signs"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.4</span> <span>Question marks and plus signs</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Question_marks_and_plus_signs-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Spaces_and_underscores" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Spaces_and_underscores"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.5</span> <span>Spaces and underscores</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Spaces_and_underscores-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4.6</span> <span>Three or more consecutive tildes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Title_length" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Title_length"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Title length</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Title_length-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Italics_and_formatting" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Italics_and_formatting"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>Italics and formatting</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Italics_and_formatting-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Pictorial_names" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Pictorial_names"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>Pictorial names</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Pictorial_names-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Browser_support_limitations" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Browser_support_limitations"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>Browser support limitations</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Browser_support_limitations-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Restrictions_on_usernames" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Restrictions_on_usernames"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>Restrictions on usernames</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Restrictions_on_usernames-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Notes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">10</span> <span>Notes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Notes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" title="Table of Contents" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Wikipedia</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">Naming conventions (technical restrictions)</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 19 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-19" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">19 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naamkonvensies_(tegniese_beperkings)" title="Wikipedia:Naamkonvensies (tegniese beperkings) – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Wikipedia:Naamkonvensies (tegniese beperkings)" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9" title="ويكيبيديا:تحديات تقنية – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="ويكيبيديا:تحديات تقنية" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%B7%D0%B0_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%83%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5/%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%85%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Уикипедия:Правила за наименуване/Технически ограничения – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Уикипедия:Правила за наименуване/Технически ограничения" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquip%C3%A8dia:Anomenar_p%C3%A0gines/Restriccions_t%C3%A8cniques" title="Viquipèdia:Anomenar pàgines/Restriccions tècniques – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Viquipèdia:Anomenar pàgines/Restriccions tècniques" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedie:N%C3%A1zev_%C4%8Dl%C3%A1nku/Omezen%C3%AD" title="Wikipedie:Název článku/Omezení – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Wikipedie:Název článku/Omezení" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilfe:Seitenname" title="Hilfe:Seitenname – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Hilfe:Seitenname" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Restricciones_t%C3%A9cnicas_en_t%C3%ADtulos" title="Wikipedia:Restricciones técnicas en títulos – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Wikipedia:Restricciones técnicas en títulos" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikipedio:Titoloj_de_artikoloj_(teknikaj_limigoj)" title="Vikipedio:Titoloj de artikoloj (teknikaj limigoj) – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Vikipedio:Titoloj de artikoloj (teknikaj limigoj)" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eu mw-list-item"><a href="https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Muga_teknikoak_izenburuetan" title="Wikipedia:Muga teknikoak izenburuetan – Basque" lang="eu" hreflang="eu" data-title="Wikipedia:Muga teknikoak izenburuetan" data-language-autonym="Euskara" data-language-local-name="Basque" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Euskara</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%DA%A9%DB%8C%E2%80%8C%D9%BE%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%A7:%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF_%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85%E2%80%8C%DA%AF%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C_(%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AA%E2%80%8C%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C_%D9%81%D9%86%DB%8C)" title="ویکی‌پدیا:قواعد نام‌گذاری (محدودیت‌های فنی) – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="ویکی‌پدیا:قواعد نام‌گذاری (محدودیت‌های فنی)" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gl mw-list-item"><a href="https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Restrici%C3%B3ns_t%C3%A9cnicas_nos_t%C3%ADtulos" title="Wikipedia:Restricións técnicas nos títulos – Galician" lang="gl" hreflang="gl" data-title="Wikipedia:Restricións técnicas nos títulos" data-language-autonym="Galego" data-language-local-name="Galician" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Galego</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4%EB%B0%B1%EA%B3%BC:%EC%A0%9C%EB%AA%A9%EC%9D%98_%EA%B8%B0%EC%88%A0%EC%A0%81_%ED%95%9C%EA%B3%84" title="위키백과:제목의 기술적 한계 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="위키백과:제목의 기술적 한계" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomoc:Nazwa_strony" title="Pomoc:Nazwa strony – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Pomoc:Nazwa strony" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Conven%C3%A7%C3%A3o_de_nomenclatura/Limita%C3%A7%C3%B5es_t%C3%A9cnicas" title="Wikipédia:Convenção de nomenclatura/Limitações técnicas – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Wikipédia:Convenção de nomenclatura/Limitações técnicas" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%8F:%D0%98%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9/%D0%A2%D0%B5%D1%85%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Википедия:Именование статей/Технические ограничения – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Википедия:Именование статей/Технические ограничения" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-si mw-list-item"><a href="https://si.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%B4%E0%B7%93%E0%B6%A9%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%BA%E0%B7%8F:%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%8F%E0%B6%B8%E0%B6%9A%E0%B6%BB%E0%B6%AB_%E0%B7%83%E0%B6%B8%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%B8%E0%B6%AD_(technical_restrictions)" title="විකිපීඩියා:නාමකරණ සම්මත (technical restrictions) – Sinhala" lang="si" hreflang="si" data-title="විකිපීඩියා:නාමකරණ සම්මත (technical restrictions)" data-language-autonym="සිංහල" data-language-local-name="Sinhala" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>සිංහල</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(technical_restrictions)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions) – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:T%C3%AAn_b%C3%A0i_(gi%E1%BB%9Bi_h%E1%BA%A1n_k%E1%BB%B9_thu%E1%BA%ADt)" title="Wikipedia:Tên bài (giới hạn kỹ thuật) – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Wikipedia:Tên bài (giới hạn kỹ thuật)" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:%E5%91%BD%E5%90%8D%E5%B8%B8%E8%A7%84/%E6%8A%80%E6%9C%AF%E9%99%90%E5%88%B6" title="Wikipedia:命名常规/技术限制 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="Wikipedia:命名常规/技术限制" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit 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navigation-not-searchable">"Wikipedia:Technical restrictions" redirects here. For technical restrictions on editing privileges, see <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:User_access_levels" title="Wikipedia:User access levels">Wikipedia:User access levels</a>. For technical restrictions on external links, see <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Spam_blacklist" title="Wikipedia:Spam blacklist">WP:Spam blacklist</a>. For technical restrictions of MediaWiki template mechanism, see <a href="/wiki/Help:Template_limits" title="Help:Template limits">Help:Template limits</a>.</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238436933">.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 0;border-collapse:collapse;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;background-color:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--color-base,#202122)}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{border:2px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ombox-delete{border:2px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ombox-content{border:1px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ombox-style{border:1px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ombox-move{border:1px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ombox-protection{border:2px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.9em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-invalid-type{text-align:center}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 10%}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{clear:right;float:right;margin:4px 0 4px 1em;width:238px}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output table.ombox img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}</style><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="Blue tick" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Blue_check.svg/30px-Blue_check.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="30" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Blue_check.svg/45px-Blue_check.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Blue_check.svg/60px-Blue_check.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="600" data-file-height="600"/></span></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><b>This <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines" title="Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines">guideline</a> documents an English Wikipedia <a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_naming_conventions" title="Category:Wikipedia naming conventions">naming convention</a>.</b><br/><div style="font-size: 90%;">Editors should generally follow it, though <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Ignore_all_rules" title="Wikipedia:Ignore all rules">exceptions</a> may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:PGCHANGE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:PGCHANGE">consensus</a>. When in doubt, discuss first on <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Naming_conventions_(technical_restrictions)" title="Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)">this guideline's talk page</a>.</div></td><td class="mbox-imageright"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1252059228">.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain{float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);background-color:var(--background-color-base,#fff);padding:0.3em 0.6em 0.2em 0.6em;text-align:center;font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxleft{float:left;margin:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutlist{display:inline-block;border-bottom:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);margin-bottom:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain ul{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutanchordiv{position:relative;top:-3em}.mw-parser-output li .module-shortcutanchordiv{float:right}.mw-parser-output .mbox-imageright 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(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .help-box{background-color:#0d1a27}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .help-box .sidebar-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .help-box .sidebar-heading{background:#082849}}</style><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks help-box noprint hlist" style="font-size:85%;width:23.0em;"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title"><span style="font-size:120%;"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles" title="Wikipedia:Article titles">Article titles</a></span></th></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> All naming conventions</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_naming_conventions" title="Category:Wikipedia naming conventions">Category:Wikipedia naming conventions</a></b></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Nature</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(fauna)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna)">Fauna (animals)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(flora)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (flora)">Flora (plants)</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <ul><li>Arts</li> <li>Entertainment</li> <li>Media</li></ul></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(books)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)">Books</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(broadcasting)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (broadcasting)">Broadcasting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(comics)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (comics)">Comics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(films)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films)">Films</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(manuscripts)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (manuscripts)">Manuscripts</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(music)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (music)">Music</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(operas)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (operas)">Operas</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(television)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (television)">Television</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(video_games)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (video games)">Video games</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Visual_arts#Article_titles" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Visual arts">Visual arts</a></li></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(people)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)">People</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(clergy)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (clergy)">Clergy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(ethnicities_and_tribes)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ethnicities and tribes)">Ethnicities and tribes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(royalty_and_nobility)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility)">Royalty and nobility</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(sportspeople)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (sportspeople)">Sports</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(baseball_players)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (baseball players)">Baseball players</a></li></ul></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <ul><li>Science</li> <li>Technology</li> <li>Transport</li></ul></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(astronomical_objects)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (astronomical objects)">Astronomy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(chemistry)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (chemistry)">Chemistry</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Medicine-related_articles#Article_titles" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Medicine-related articles">Medicine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(languages)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (languages)">Programming languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(aircraft)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (aircraft)">Aircraft</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(ships)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships)">Ships</a></li></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <ul><li>Government</li> <li>Politics</li> <li>Law</li></ul></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(government_and_legislation)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (government and legislation)">Government and legislation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Legal" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Legal">Legal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(political_parties)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (political parties)">Political parties</a></li></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Organizations</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(companies)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (companies)">Companies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Latter_Day_Saints)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Latter Day Saints)">Latter Day Saints</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(sports_teams)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (sports teams)">Sports teams</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <ul><li>Numbers</li> <li>Dates</li></ul></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(numbers_and_dates)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (numbers and dates)">Numbers and dates</a></li></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <ul><li>Places</li> <li>Events</li></ul></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(geographic_names)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)">Places</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(events)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (events)">Events</a></li></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <ul><li>Lists</li> <li>Categories</li></ul></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Category_names" title="Wikipedia:Category names">Categories</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Stand-alone_lists#Naming_conventions" title="Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists">Lists</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(long_lists)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (long lists)">Long lists</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Stub_sorting/Naming_conventions" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Naming conventions">Stub sorting</a></li></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Language/country-specific</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(writing_systems)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (writing systems)">Writing systems</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(languages)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (languages)">All languages</a></b></li> <li><b><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(country-specific_topics)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (country-specific topics)">All countries</a></b></li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(ancient_Romans)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ancient Romans)">Ancient Roman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Armenian)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Armenian)">Armenian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(places_in_Bangladesh)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (places in Bangladesh)">Bangladesh</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Burmese)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Burmese)">Burmese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Chinese)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese)">Chinese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Germany/Conventions" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject Germany/Conventions">German</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Greek)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Greek)">Greek</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Hebrew)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Hebrew)">Hebrew</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Indic)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Indic)">Indic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(Ireland-related_articles)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Ireland-related articles)">Irish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Japan-related_articles" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Japan-related articles">Japanese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Korean)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Korean)">Korean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Macedonia)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Macedonia)">Macedonian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Mongolian)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Mongolian)">Mongolian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(New_Zealand)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (New Zealand)">New Zealand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Norse_mythology)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Norse mythology)">Old Norse</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Poland-related_articles" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Poland-related articles">Polish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Romanization_of_Russian" title="Wikipedia:Romanization of Russian">Russian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Tibetan)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Tibetan)">Tibetan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Romanization_of_Ukrainian" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Romanization of Ukrainian">Ukrainian</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Formatting</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(capitalization)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization)">Capitalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(use_English)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)">Use English</a></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(definite_or_indefinite_article_at_beginning_of_name)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (definite or indefinite article at beginning of name)">Definite or indefinite article at beginning of name</a></span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(plurals)" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plurals)">Plurals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Abbreviations#Acronyms_in_page_titles" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations">Acronyms</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Technical restrictions</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Naming_conventions" title="Template:Naming conventions"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Template_talk:Naming_conventions&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Template talk:Naming conventions (page does not exist)"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Naming_conventions" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Naming conventions"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Some <a href="/wiki/Help:Page_name" title="Help:Page name">page names</a> are not possible because of limitations imposed by the <a href="/wiki/MediaWiki" title="MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> software. In some cases (such as names which should begin with a lowercase letter, like <a href="/wiki/EBay" title="EBay">eBay</a>), a template can be added to the article to cause the title header to be displayed as desired. In other cases (such as names containing restricted characters) it is necessary to adopt and display a different title. This page describes appropriate ways to manage these situations. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc"/> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Restrictions_and_workarounds" data-mw-thread-id="h-Restrictions_and_workarounds"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Restrictions_and_workarounds"></span>Restrictions and workarounds<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Restrictions_and_workarounds"></span></h2></div> <p>Restrictions on page titles are listed at <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Page_name#Technical_restrictions_and_limitations" title="Wikipedia:Page name">Wikipedia:Page name § Technical restrictions and limitations</a>. The most commonly encountered problems are that: </p> <ul><li>titles cannot begin with a lowercase letter;</li> <li>titles cannot contain certain restricted characters.</li></ul> <p>There are two basic ways of handling a situation where the desired title of a page is technically impossible: </p> <ul><li>Use the magic word <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE">DISPLAYTITLE</a> to change the way the title header is displayed on the page (although the stored page name is not affected). This is often done through a template, the most common one being <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Lowercase" class="mw-redirect" title="Template:Lowercase">lowercase</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>, which causes the title to be displayed with an initial lowercase letter, as in <a href="/wiki/IPod" title="IPod">iPod</a>.</li> <li>If this is not possible (due to restrictions on DISPLAYTITLE), choose a different title for the page, and use a template such as <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">correct title</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span> to place a hatnote stating what the correct title should be. This is normally necessary in the case of restricted characters.</li></ul> <p>These templates should never be <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_substitution" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Template substitution">substituted (subst)</a>. To see which articles have these naming problems you can click on "What links here" in the toolbox for each template. If the template is substituted, it will no longer be linked. </p><p>Before declaring the current title to be "wrong" with the "correct title" template (or one of the more specific templates), please consider whether the title you are proposing as "correct" would really comply with Wikipedia conventions, particularly <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(use_English)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)">Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(capital_letters)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters)">Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters)</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(trademarks)" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style (trademarks)">Wikipedia:Manual of Style (trademarks)</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Lowercase_first_letter" data-mw-thread-id="h-Lowercase_first_letter"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Lowercase_first_letter"></span>Lowercase first letter<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Lowercase_first_letter"></span></h2></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1252059228"><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:NCLOWERCASEFIRST"></span><span id="WP:NCFIRSTLETTER"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NCLOWERCASEFIRST&redirect=no">WP:NCLOWERCASEFIRST</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NCFIRSTLETTER&redirect=no">WP:NCFIRSTLETTER</a></span></li></ul></div></div> <p>The MediaWiki software is configured so that a page title on the English Wikipedia (as stored in the database) cannot begin with a lower-case letter, and links that begin with a lower-case letter are treated as if capitalized, i.e. <code>[[foo]]</code> is treated the same as <code>[[Foo]]</code>. </p><p>Examples of articles affected by this problem are: </p> <ul><li><b>eBay</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/EBay" title="EBay">EBay</a></li> <li><b><span class="nowrap"><span class="texhtml mvar" style="font-style:italic;">e</span> (mathematical constant)</span></b>, located at <span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/E_(mathematical_constant)" title="E (mathematical constant)">E (mathematical constant)</a></span></li> <li><b>iOS</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/IOS" title="IOS">IOS</a> (and various articles beginning with: <span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=iOS&ns0=1&fulltext=Search">iOS</a></span>)</li> <li><b>man page</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/Man_page" title="Man page">Man page</a></li> <li><b>pH</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/PH" title="PH">PH</a></li> <li><b>p:Machinery</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/P:Machinery" title="P:Machinery">P:Machinery</a></li></ul> <p>Examples of categories affected by this problem are: </p> <ul><li><b>Category:macOS</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/Category:MacOS" title="Category:MacOS">Category:MacOS</a> (and subcategories beginning with macOS)</li></ul> <p>Example of template affected by this problem: </p> <ul><li><b>Template:iPhone models</b>, located at <a href="/wiki/Template:IPhone_models" title="Template:IPhone models">Template:IPhone models</a></li></ul> <p>This also means that the page <a href="/wiki/Long_s" title="Long s">Long s</a>, on the character <b>ſ</b>, cannot be moved to (or redirected from) <a href="/wiki/S" title="S">ſ</a>, as <b>ſ</b> is a lowercase letter whose uppercase form is <a href="/wiki/S" title="S">S</a>. </p><p>To fix this problem, you can place the <code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Lowercase_title" title="Template:Lowercase title">lowercase title</a>}}</code> wiki markup at the top of the article, category or template page (and optionally at the top of their talk/discussion page). This will cause the page title to be displayed with the initial letter in lowercase, as at <a href="/wiki/EBay" title="EBay">eBay</a>. Note that it does not fix every occurrence, like Wikipedia search bar <a href="/wiki/Search_suggest_drop-down_list" title="Search suggest drop-down list">search suggest drop-down list</a> feature and Search results, as well as the page history, edit, log pages, or the browser <a href="/wiki/Address_bar" title="Address bar">address bar</a> (it only affects the page title on the rendered HTML page and tab/window title bars). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Forbidden_characters" data-mw-thread-id="h-Forbidden_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Forbidden_characters"></span>Forbidden characters<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Forbidden_characters"></span></h2></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1252059228"><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:NCHASHTAG"></span><span id="WP:FORBIDDEN"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NCHASHTAG&redirect=no">WP:NCHASHTAG</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:FORBIDDEN&redirect=no">WP:FORBIDDEN</a></span></li></ul></div></div> <p>Due to clashes with various elements of the <a href="/wiki/MediaWiki" title="MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> software, some characters (and "characters") are <em>not</em> allowed to be part of page titles (nor are they supported by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE">DISPLAYTITLE</a>). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax" data-mw-thread-id="h-Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax-Forbidden_characters"><span id="Clashes_with_wiki_markup.2FHTML_syntax"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax-Forbidden_characters"></span>Clashes with wiki markup/HTML syntax<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Clashes_with_wiki_markup/HTML_syntax-Forbidden_characters"></span></h3></div> <p>The following characters are forbidden due to clashes with <a href="/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:Wiki markup">wiki markup</a> and <a href="/wiki/HTML" title="HTML">HTML</a> syntax: </p> <dl><dd><code># < > [ ] { } |</code></dd></dl> <p>For articles about these characters, see <a href="/wiki/Number_sign" title="Number sign">number sign</a>, <a href="/wiki/Less-than_sign" title="Less-than sign">less-than sign</a>, <a href="/wiki/Greater-than_sign" title="Greater-than sign">greater-than sign</a>, <a href="/wiki/Bracket" title="Bracket">bracket</a> (covers several characters), and <a href="/wiki/Vertical_bar" title="Vertical bar">vertical bar</a>, respectively. </p><p>If the desired title of an article contains any of these characters, then an alternative title must be used instead. Often, you can simply remove the characters (e.g. <a href="/wiki/MARRS" title="MARRS">MARRS</a> instead of <i>M|A|R|R|S</i>). However, it may be necessary to spell out the character (e.g. <a href="/wiki/C-sharp" class="mw-disambig" title="C-sharp">C-sharp</a> instead of <i>C#</i>) or use another substitute. Note that the sharp sign ♯ (different from the keyboard # character) <i>can</i> be used, as in <a href="/wiki/C%E2%99%AF_(musical_note)" title="C♯ (musical note)">C♯ (musical note)</a>. </p><p>In any of these cases, a hatnote should be placed at the top of the article informing readers what the correct title is. This is done using one of the following template calls: </p> <ul><li><code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">Correct title</a>|<i>Title</i>|reason=#}}</code> for titles containing #</li> <li><code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">Correct title</a>|<i>Title</i>|reason=bracket}}</code> for titles containing < > [ ] { }</li> <li><code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">Correct title</a>|<i>Title</i>|reason=vbar}}</code> for titles containing |<br/>Use <a href="/wiki/Template:!" title="Template:!">{{!}}</a> to represent the | character within the correct title.</li> <li><code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">Correct title</a>|<i>Title</i>}}</code> for cases not covered by any one of the above.</li></ul> <p>Examples: </p> <ul><li><b>Song #3</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/Song_3" title="Song 3">Song 3</a></li> <li><i><b>Point #1</b></i> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/Point_No._1" title="Point No. 1">Point No. 1</a></i></li> <li><i><b>Look Out for #1</b></i> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/Look_Out_for_Number_1" title="Look Out for Number 1">Look Out for Number 1</a></i></li> <li><b>C# (programming language)</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/C_Sharp_(programming_language)" title="C Sharp (programming language)">C Sharp (programming language)</a></li> <li><b>Cygnus OB2 #12</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/Cygnus_OB2-12" title="Cygnus OB2-12">Cygnus OB2-12</a></li> <li><b>Red {an orchestra}</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/Red_(an_orchestra)" title="Red (an orchestra)">Red (an orchestra)</a></li> <li><i><b>[A→B] Life</b></i> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/(A%E2%86%92B)_Life" title="(A→B) Life">(A→B) Life</a></i></li> <li><b><|°_°|></b> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/Robot_Face" title="Robot Face">Robot Face</a></i></li> <li><i><b>While(1<2)</b></i> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/While(1_Is_Less_Than_2)" title="While(1 Is Less Than 2)">While(1 Is Less Than 2)</a></i></li> <li><i><b>[title of show]</b></i> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/Title_of_show" title="Title of show">title of show</a></i></li> <li><i><b>I am > I was</b></i> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/I_Am_Greater_than_I_Was" title="I Am Greater than I Was">I Am Greater than I Was</a></i></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling" data-mw-thread-id="h-Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling-Forbidden_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling-Forbidden_characters"></span>Clashes with invalid-UTF-8 handling<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Clashes_with_invalid-UTF-8_handling-Forbidden_characters"></span></h3></div> <p>Titles cannot contain invalid <a href="/wiki/UTF-8" title="UTF-8">UTF-8</a> sequences (for our purposes, those that would decode to <a href="/wiki/UTF-16" title="UTF-16">UTF-16</a> <a href="/wiki/Universal_Character_Set_characters#Surrogates" title="Universal Character Set characters">unpaired surrogates</a> or code points beyond U+10FFFF). Thus, titles like <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%9F%C0">%ED%9F%C0</a> (contains a UTF-8 sequence decoding to code point U+D800, an unpaired surrogate) or <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%F6%80%80%80">%F6%80%80%80</a> (contains a UTF-8 sequence decoding to code point U+180000, beyond the U+10FFFF limit) are invalid. (These examples use percent-encoded URLs rather than wikilinks, as the "characters" themselves <i>should</i> be impossible to insert into wikitext without percent-encoding.) </p><p>This also means that three <i>valid</i> UTF-8 sequences are forbidden in page titles (how these are displayed may vary depending on your browser and installed fonts): </p> <dl><dd><code>� � �</code></dd></dl> <p>The first of these characters or "characters", the <a href="/wiki/Specials_(Unicode_block)#Replacement_character" title="Specials (Unicode block)">replacement character</a>, is forbidden because the MediaWiki software uses the replacement character to represent invalid UTF-8 sequences, and cannot differentiate this use as a placeholder from an actual instance of the replacement character. The other two (the two <a href="/wiki/Universal_Character_Set_characters#Non-characters" title="Universal Character Set characters">noncharacters</a> at the end of <a href="/wiki/Plane_(Unicode)" title="Plane (Unicode)">Unicode plane</a> 0, the <a href="/wiki/Plane_(Unicode)#Basic_Multilingual_Plane" title="Plane (Unicode)">Basic Multilingual Plane</a>) are forbidden because the MediaWiki software uses the replacement character as a placeholder for these, just as it does for invalid UTF-8 sequences. Note, however, that the other 64 Unicode noncharacters (a block of 32 from U+FDD0 through U+FDEF, plus the two at the end of each of planes 1 through 16 [totaling another 32]) are <em>not</em> forbidden in page titles, as can be seen in the following examples: </p> <dl><dd><a href="/wiki/%EF%B7%90" class="mw-redirect" title="﷐">Noncharacter encoded at U+FDD0</a></dd> <dd><a href="/wiki/%F4%8F%BF%BE" class="mw-redirect" title="􏿾">Noncharacter encoded at U+10FFFE</a></dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Other_problematic_characters" data-mw-thread-id="h-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Other problematic characters<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h2></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Colons" data-mw-thread-id="h-Colons-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Colons-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Colons<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Colons-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h3></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1252059228"><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:NC-COLON"></span><span id="WP:NC-COLONS"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NC-COLON&redirect=no">WP:NC-COLON</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NC-COLONS&redirect=no">WP:NC-COLONS</a></span></li></ul></div></div> <p>In general, article titles containing colons are fine, subject to the following exceptions: </p> <ul><li>Page names cannot begin with a colon. However, if the initial colon can be dropped to produce a satisfactory title, then this should be done, and the problem fixed with <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE">DISPLAYTITLE</a>. (This will not work with more than one initial colon.) This happens because an initial colon is used for the <a href="/wiki/Help:Colon_trick" title="Help:Colon trick">colon trick</a>.</li> <li>Article titles should not begin with a standard <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Namespace" title="Wikipedia:Namespace">namespace</a> prefix (<b>Talk:</b>, <b>Help:</b> etc.), as this will place them in the wrong namespace, which (among other problems) will exclude them from standard search results. In this case, another title must be found (it won't help to change the capitalization of the prefix or put spaces before or after the colon). For example, <b>Help: A Day in the Life</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/Help!:_A_Day_in_the_Life" title="Help!: A Day in the Life">Help!: A Day in the Life</a>. A <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Redirect" title="Wikipedia:Redirect">redirect</a> is created at the original title (in this case at <a href="/wiki/Help:A_Day_in_the_Life" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:A Day in the Life">Help:A Day in the Life</a>, which is what the above title <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Canonical" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Canonical">resolves</a> to).</li> <li>Article titles cannot begin with an <a href="/wiki/Help:Interwiki_linking" title="Help:Interwiki linking">interwiki</a> or <a href="/wiki/Help:Interlanguage_links" title="Help:Interlanguage links">interlanguage</a> prefix, or namespace <a href="/wiki/Help:Namespace#Aliases" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:Namespace">alias</a>. Again, these are case-insensitive, and putting spaces before or after the colon will not help. Examples: <ul><li><b>Lad: A Dog</b> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/Lad,_A_Dog" title="Lad, A Dog">Lad, A Dog</a></i> (<b>lad:</b> is the prefix for <a href="/wiki/Ladino_Wikipedia" class="mw-redirect" title="Ladino Wikipedia">Ladino Wikipedia</a>)</li> <li><b>It: Welcome to Derry</b> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/It_%E2%80%93_Welcome_to_Derry" title="It – Welcome to Derry">It – Welcome to Derry</a></i> (<b>it:</b> is the prefix for <a href="/wiki/Italian_Wikipedia" title="Italian Wikipedia">Italian Wikipedia</a>)</li> <li><b>DK: King of Swing</b> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/DK_King_of_Swing" title="DK King of Swing">DK King of Swing</a></i> (<b>dk:</b> is one of the prefixes for the <a href="/wiki/Danish_Wikipedia" title="Danish Wikipedia">Danish Wikipedia</a>, the other is <b>da:</b>)</li> <li><b>Project: Mersh</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/Project_Mersh" title="Project Mersh">Project Mersh</a> (<b>Project:</b> is an alias for the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Project_namespace" title="Wikipedia:Project namespace">Wikipedia namespace</a>)</li> <li><b>V: The New Mythology Suite</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/V_%E2%80%93_The_New_Mythology_Suite" title="V – The New Mythology Suite">V – The New Mythology Suite</a> (<b>v:</b> is a prefix for <a href="/wiki/Wikiversity" title="Wikiversity">Wikiversity</a>)</li> <li><b>B: The Beginning</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/B_%E2%80%93_The_Beginning" title="B – The Beginning">B – The Beginning</a> (<b>b:</b> is a prefix for <a href="/wiki/Wikibooks" title="Wikibooks">Wikibooks</a>)</li> <li><b>C:Real</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/C_Real_(Greek_band)" title="C Real (Greek band)">C Real (Greek band)</a> (<b>c:</b> is a prefix for <a href="/wiki/Wikimedia_Commons" title="Wikimedia Commons">Wikimedia Commons</a>)</li> <li><b>D:Ream</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/D_Ream" title="D Ream">D Ream</a> (<b>d:</b> is a prefix for <a href="/wiki/Wikidata" title="Wikidata">Wikidata</a>)</li> <li><b>W:/2016Album/</b> is located at <i><a href="/wiki//2016Album/" title="/2016Album/">/2016Album/</a></i> but displays as having the correct title <i><a href="/wiki//2016Album/" title="/2016Album/">W:/2016Album/</a></i> (<b>w:</b> is a prefix for the <a href="/wiki/English_Wikipedia" title="English Wikipedia">English Wikipedia</a><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>).</li> <li><b>TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition</b> is located at <a href="/wiki/TM103_Hustlerz_Ambition" title="TM103 Hustlerz Ambition">TM103 Hustlerz Ambition</a> (<b>tm:</b> is an alias for the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_namespace" title="Wikipedia:Template namespace">template namespace</a> per <a href="https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T363757" class="extiw" title="phabricator:T363757">T363757</a>)</li></ul></li></ul> <dl><dd>In the case of aliases a redirect can be created; as an example, "Project: Mersh" will be at <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Mersh" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Mersh">Wikipedia:Mersh</a>, which is what it <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Canonical" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Canonical">resolves</a> to.</dd></dl> <p>Except in the case of initial colons and the w: and en: prefixes, DISPLAYTITLE will not work in the above situations. Use <code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">Correct title</a>|<i>Correct title</i>|reason=:}}</code>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Forward_slashes_and_periods" data-mw-thread-id="h-Forward_slashes_and_periods-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Forward_slashes_and_periods-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Forward slashes and periods<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Forward_slashes_and_periods-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h3></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1252059228"><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:NC-SLASH"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcut</a></div><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:NC-SLASH&redirect=no">WP:NC-SLASH</a></span></li></ul></div></div><p>In <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Namespace" title="Wikipedia:Namespace">namespaces</a> where the <a href="/wiki/Help:Subpages" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:Subpages">subpage feature</a> is enabled, the forward slash (/) separates a subpage name from its main page name. However subpages are <em>disabled</em> in the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Main_namespace" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Main namespace">main namespace</a>, so article names can contain slashes if appropriate, as in <a href="/wiki/Providence/Stoughton_Line" title="Providence/Stoughton Line">Providence/Stoughton Line</a> – there is no need for such titles to be fixed. Be aware of the following side effects, however: </p><ul><li>Subpages are still enabled in the talk namespace as they are widely used for archiving old discussions. Therefore, if an article has a forward slash in its name, its corresponding talk page may display an extraneous subpage level-up link at the top (for example, <a href="/wiki/Talk:Providence/Stoughton_Line" title="Talk:Providence/Stoughton Line">Talk:Providence/Stoughton Line</a> has a link to <a href="/wiki/Talk:Providence" title="Talk:Providence">Talk:Providence</a> at the top).</li> <li>If / is the first character of the title, then links to it from outside the main namespace will not work as expected (they will prepend the title of the current page); a workaround is to prepend a colon, or to use an HTML entity as the beginning of the link, e.g. [[:/pol/]], [[&#47;pol/]] or [[&#x2f;pol/]] to get to <a href="/wiki//pol/" title="/pol/">/pol/</a>.</li></ul> <p>Page names consisting of exactly one or two periods (full stops), or beginning with <b>./</b> or <b>../</b>, or containing <b>/./</b> or <b>/../</b>, or ending with <b>/.</b> or <b>/..</b>, are not allowed. In most such cases <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE">DISPLAYTITLE</a> will not work, so <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">correct title</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span> should be used. As a result of this, the abbreviation of <i><a href="/wiki/Slashdot" title="Slashdot">Slashdot</a></i>, <i><b>/.</b></i>, does not redirect to the page. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Percent_and_encoded_characters" data-mw-thread-id="h-Percent_and_encoded_characters-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Percent_and_encoded_characters-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Percent and encoded characters<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Percent_and_encoded_characters-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h3></div> <p>A title can normally contain the character %. However it cannot contain % followed by two <a href="/wiki/Hexadecimal" title="Hexadecimal">hexadecimal</a> digits (which would cause it to be converted to a single character, by <a href="/wiki/Percent-encoding" title="Percent-encoding">percent-encoding</a>). Similarly a title cannot contain <a href="/wiki/HTML_character_entities" class="mw-redirect" title="HTML character entities">HTML character entities</a> such as <code>&#47;</code> and <code>&ndash;</code>, even if the character they represent is allowed. In the unlikely event of such sequences appearing in a desired title, an alternative title must be constructed (for example by inserting a space after the %, or omitting a semicolon). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Question_marks_and_plus_signs" data-mw-thread-id="h-Question_marks_and_plus_signs-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Question_marks_and_plus_signs-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Question marks and plus signs<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Question_marks_and_plus_signs-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h3></div> <p>There is no reason why titles should not include ? or +. However, with such titles, attention is required when typing URLs into the address bar of a browser. Here ? is interpreted as beginning a <a href="/wiki/Query_string" title="Query string">query string</a>, and a + in a query string is interpreted as a space. In URLs, ? and + should be replaced by their corresponding <a href="/wiki/Escape_code" class="mw-redirect" title="Escape code">escape codes</a>, %3F and %2B. (The same technique is necessary for many other special characters, depending on browser.) </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Spaces_and_underscores" data-mw-thread-id="h-Spaces_and_underscores-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Spaces_and_underscores-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Spaces and underscores<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Spaces_and_underscores-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h3></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Help:Link" title="Help:Link">links</a>, spaces (<span class="nounderlines" style="border: 1px solid var(--border-color-muted,#ddd); color: var(--color-base); background-color: var( --background-color-neutral-subtle, #fdfdfd); padding: 1px 1px;"> </span>) and underscores (<span class="nounderlines" style="border: 1px solid var(--border-color-muted,#ddd); color: var(--color-base); background-color: var( --background-color-neutral-subtle, #fdfdfd); padding: 1px 1px;">_</span>) are treated equivalently. Underscores are used in URLs, spaces in displayed titles. Leading and trailing spaces/underscores are stripped, consecutive spaces/underscores are reduced to a single one, and page names consisting of only spaces and underscores are not allowed at all. </p><p>Titles affected by this behavior can generally be made to display correctly using the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE">DISPLAYTITLE</a> magic word. However, this does not work for titles consisting of only spaces or underscores, which should use a parenthetical disambiguator e.g. <a href="/wiki/(album)" title="(album)"><i>_</i> (album)</a> is located at <a href="/wiki/(album)" title="(album)">(album)</a>. Articles with underscores in titles are tracked in <a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_underscores_in_the_title" title="Category:Articles with underscores in the title">Category:Articles with underscores in the title</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes" data-mw-thread-id="h-Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes-Other_problematic_characters"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes-Other_problematic_characters"></span>Three or more consecutive tildes<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Three_or_more_consecutive_tildes-Other_problematic_characters"></span></h3></div> <p>Titles cannot contain three or more consecutive <a href="/wiki/Tilde" title="Tilde">tildes</a> (~~~), as four consecutive tildes are used to create standard editors' <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Signatures" title="Wikipedia:Signatures">signatures</a> on talk pages, while three consecutive tildes generates an undated signature. For this reason, <b>~~~</b> is located at <i><a href="/wiki/Tilde_Tilde_Tilde" title="Tilde Tilde Tilde">Tilde Tilde Tilde</a></i>. When using <code>{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Correct_title" title="Template:Correct title">Correct title</a>}}</code> and in all occurrences throughout the article, add nowiki tags around the sequence of tildes, as the software will otherwise convert these to a user-generated signature. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Title_length" data-mw-thread-id="h-Title_length"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Title_length"></span>Title length<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Title_length"></span></h2></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1252059228"><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:TITLELENGTH"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcut</a></div><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:TITLELENGTH&redirect=no">WP:TITLELENGTH</a></span></li></ul></div></div> <p>Titles must be fewer than 256 bytes long when encoded in <a href="/wiki/UTF-8" title="UTF-8">UTF-8</a>. Therefore, the full titles of <i><a href="/wiki/The_Boy_Bands_Have_Won" title="The Boy Bands Have Won">The Boy Bands Have Won</a></i>, <i><a href="/wiki/Noisy_Outlaws" title="Noisy Outlaws">Noisy Outlaws</a></i>, and <i><a href="/wiki/When_the_Pawn..." title="When the Pawn...">When the Pawn...</a></i> cannot be displayed properly, so they must be located under their common shorthand names. Non-ASCII characters can take up to 4 bytes to encode, so the total number of allowable characters may be lower. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Italics_and_formatting" data-mw-thread-id="h-Italics_and_formatting"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Italics_and_formatting"></span>Italics and formatting<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Italics_and_formatting"></span></h2></div> <p>It is not possible for a title <em>as stored in the database</em> to contain formatting, such as italics or bolding. The double or triple apostrophes normally used to produce these effects in wiki markup are treated just as groups of apostrophes if they appear in titles. Other wiki markup or HTML-based formatting would require characters that are not permissible in titles (see <a href="#Forbidden_characters">Forbidden characters</a> above). </p><p>It is technically possible to <em>display</em> formatting in titles using <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DISPLAYTITLE">DISPLAYTITLE</a>. A template, <span class="nowrap">{{</span><a href="/wiki/Template:Italic_title" title="Template:Italic title">italic title</a><span class="nowrap">}}</span>, exists to display the title in italics. For guidance on when this technique should be used, see <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:ITALICTITLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:ITALICTITLE">WP:ITALICTITLE</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Pictorial_names" data-mw-thread-id="h-Pictorial_names"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Pictorial_names"></span>Pictorial names<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Pictorial_names"></span></h2></div> <p>Titles cannot contain images (which would require forbidden characters in order to be displayed), only <a href="/wiki/Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a> characters. For example, the recycling symbol <a href="/wiki/%E2%99%B2" class="mw-redirect" title="♲">♲</a> is encoded in Unicode as U+2672, so it can be included, but the <a href="/wiki/File:Pictogram_NDB.svg" title="File:Pictogram NDB.svg">non-directional beacon symbol</a> is not a Unicode character and cannot appear in a page title. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Browser_support_limitations" data-mw-thread-id="h-Browser_support_limitations"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Browser_support_limitations"></span>Browser support limitations<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Browser_support_limitations"></span></h2></div> <p>Use <a href="/wiki/Precomposed_character" title="Precomposed character">precomposed characters</a> when possible. </p><p>Use the <a href="/wiki/Unicode_normalization" class="mw-redirect" title="Unicode normalization">text normalization</a> "Normalization Form C" (often abbreviated NFC). For more information, see the <span class="plainlinks"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.w3.org/TR/charmod-norm/">W3C's Character Model for the World Wide Web</a></span> and <span class="plainlinks"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://unicode.org/reports/tr15/">Unicode's normalization forms</a></span>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Restrictions_on_usernames" data-mw-thread-id="h-Restrictions_on_usernames"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Restrictions_on_usernames"></span>Restrictions on usernames<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Restrictions_on_usernames"></span></h2></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Username_policy" title="Wikipedia:Username policy">Wikipedia:Username policy</a></div> <p>Usernames are subject to the same technical restrictions as page titles (see <a href="#Forbidden_characters">Forbidden characters</a> above). In particular, the symbols <code># < > [ ] | { }</code> are not allowed. There are also additional restrictions: </p> <ul><li>The username must not already exist in the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SUL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SUL">single unified login</a> system.</li> <li>It may not contain any of the symbols <code>/ @ : =</code>.</li> <li>It may not contain various control characters, unusual whitespace, or <a href="/wiki/Private_Use_Area" class="mw-redirect" title="Private Use Area">Private Use Area</a> characters: U+0080–U+009F, U+00A0, U+2000–U+200F, U+2028–U+202F, U+3000, or U+E000–U+F8FF.</li> <li>It may not be an IP address, nor may it look like an IP address (for example, "564.348.992.800" is not a valid IP address, but since it looks like one, it is an invalid username).</li> <li>It may not be one of a <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgReservedUsernames" class="extiw" title="mw:Manual:$wgReservedUsernames">list of configured reserved usernames</a> (e.g. "<a href="/wiki/User:MediaWiki_default" title="User:MediaWiki default">MediaWiki default</a>").</li> <li>It may not be more than 85 bytes long.</li></ul> <p>Additionally, there are the restrictions tested by <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AntiSpoof" class="extiw" title="mw:Extension:AntiSpoof">the AntiSpoof extension</a>, which includes more blacklisted characters (various '/'-lookalikes and characters from unusual scripts such as Runic, Ugaritic, and so on) and checks against mixed scripts. There are also limitations placed by <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Title_blacklist" class="extiw" title="meta:Title blacklist">meta:Title blacklist</a>, both the normal blacklisting rules and those tagged by <code><newaccountonly></code>. Among the more notable of these are that accounts containing strings implying advanced permissions (e.g. "admin") or impersonating high-profile users are blocked. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Notes" data-mw-thread-id="h-Notes"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Notes"></span>Notes<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Notes"></span></h2></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">except on a foreign <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Sister_project" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Sister project">WP:sister project</a> where it links to the current language Wikipedia. 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