Template:Visible anchor

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The template {{Visible anchor}} inserts one or more HTML anchors in a page. Those locations can then be linked to using [[#link|...]] syntax. Unlike {{Anchor}}, the first parameter will be visible text on the page.

Usage

{{visible anchor|anchor 1[|anchor 2][|text=display text]}}

The template can be used with up to 10 anchor names. Anchor names are case sensitive, so {{Visible anchor|Anchor name 1}} and {{Visible anchor|Anchor Name 1}} are not equivalent. When making an anchor, in general capitalize the first letter of the anchor name, and follow the same capitalization guidelines as headers. An optional |text= parameter can be added in order to specify the text to display in the anchor. By default, the value of the first parameter is used. The redirect {{vanchor}} can also be used.

Linking to anchors

Link to an anchor in the same article using just the anchor name, e.g. [[#Anchor name]]. (In the Visual Editor, type #Anchor name into the link field.)

From a different article, link to an anchor by specifying the article name, followed by a #, then the anchor name. e.g. [[Article name#Anchor name]].

The # will be visible in the link text. To prevent this, give the link a display title in the typical manner: After a pipe character (|) in the wikitext ([[#Anchor name|Anchor name]]), or by editing the text of the link in the Visual Editor.

Destination highlighting

When a link to an anchor is followed, the destination anchor's visible text will typically be highlighted with a shaded background. (May vary based on the reader's browser or selected wiki skin.) For example:

This text anchor will be highlighted after following this link which targets it.

Examples

Code	Result	Link
{{vanchor|Foo}}	Foo	#Foo
{{vanchor|Bar|Baz}}	Bar	#Bar, #Baz
{{vanchor|Qux|text=This is the text that will be displayed.}}	This is the text that will be displayed.	#Qux

Limitations

Character	Code	Template	Meaning
	" "	—	(double) quotation mark
#	#	—	hash
	|	{{!}}	pipe
=	=	{{}}	equals

• This template should not be used within section headings. Doing so will result in broken links in edit summaries, as well as possible duplicate anchors (see below).
• Anchor names should be unique on a page, and should not duplicate any heading titles. Duplicate anchors won't work as expected since the #links go to the first anchor with that name. Duplicate anchors also result in invalid HTML; you can check for duplicate anchors by running the page through the W3C Markup Validation Service.
• Anchor names that contain any character shown in the table on the right will not work as expected. However, any of these characters can be replaced with the "&#" codes shown for them here. Or, the pipe symbol and equals sign can be worked around with {{!}} and {{}}, respectively. Markup code such as <sup> and <sub> (superscript and subscript) cannot be used. Most other characters, including white space and punctuation, are not a problem.
• The template can create a maximum of 10 anchors. Specifying more than 10 anchors will result in an error message.
• If positional parameters (parameters without specifying 1=, 2=, etc.) are used, whitespace and newlines will be preserved. If you instead specify the name of the parameters (e.g. |1=) whitespace and newlines will be trimmed.

TemplateData

The template {{Visible anchor}} inserts one or more HTML anchors in a page. Those locations can then be linked to using [[#link|...]] syntax. Unlike {{Anchor}}, the first parameter will be visible text on the page.

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Anchor name, and text to display	1	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting; you can put formatting in the "text" parameter instead. Example start-of-content	String	required
Second anchor name	2	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	suggested
Third anchor name	3	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Fourth anchor name	4	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Fifth anchor name	5	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Sixth anchor name	6	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Seventh anchor name	7	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Eighth anchor name	8	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Ninth anchor name	9	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Tenth anchor name	10	This will become an anchor. The characters ", #, | and = must be escaped; see the main template page for details. Do not try to use formatting.	String	optional
Display text	text	Overrides the display of parameter 1, but is not an anchor name. May be formatted. Example Properties of CO<sub>2</sub>	Content	suggested

Aliases

• {{visanc}}
• {{vanchor}}

See also

• {{Anchor}}
• {{Anchored list}}
• {{Shortcut}}

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Visible anchor/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.