Template:Cite web

File:Template-info.png Template documentation

This template is used to cite online sources in Wikipedia articles. {{Cite news}} can also be used when citing a news source; for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Cite sources. A general discussion of the use of templates for adding citations to Wikipedia articles is available at Wikipedia:Citation templates.

Usage

Common forms with authors in any format

Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best. The following examples are for citations where one or more authors are listed in a single |author=authors parameter, using any format. Also shown below are two separate date formats that are commonly used in Wikipedia:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=22 December 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=December 22, 2024}}

Common forms with last1, first1; last2, first2

The examples hereafter will suffice for up to two authors each with first and last names; for more, just create more parameters in a similar style:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=22 December 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=December 22, 2024}}

All parameters

When copying all parameters in either the vertical or horizontal layouts, delete those which are not needed. None of the parameters should be capitalised, or the template will not work as intended. For example, use "url", "title", etc. - not "URL", "Title", etc.

All parameters, horizontal layout

{{cite web |url= |title= |first= |last= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |month= |year= |work= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |trans_title= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doibroken= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc = |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |deadurl= |accessdate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript=}}

All parameters, vertical layout

All parameters, vertical layout	Common parameters, vertical layout, multiple authors	Common parameters, vertical layout, single author
{{cite web | url = | title = | first = | last = | author = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | month = | year = | work = | publisher = | location = | page = | pages = | at = | language = | trans_title = | format = | arxiv = | asin = | bibcode = | doi = | doibroken = | isbn = | issn = | jfm = | jstor = | lccn = | mr = | oclc = | ol = | osti = | pmc = | pmid = | rfc = | ssrn = | zbl = | id = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | deadurl = | accessdate = | quote = | ref = | separator = | postscript = }}	{{cite web | url = | title = | last1 = | first1 = | last2 = | first2 = | date = | work = | publisher = | accessdate = }}	{{cite web | url = | title = | author = | date = | work = | publisher = | accessdate = }}

Examples

{{cite web |url = http://www.example.org/ |title = My Favorite Things, Part II |author = Doe, John |publisher = Open Publishing |date = 30 April 2005 |work = Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate= 6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url = http://www.example.org/ |title = My Favorite Things, Part II |author = Doe, John |date = 30 April 2005 |work = Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate = 6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John. "My Favorite Things, Part II". http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• "My Favorite Things, Part II". http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules |title=Digest of Rules |publisher=National Football League |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• "Digest of Rules". National Football League. http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Using format

{{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Foreign language and translated title

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Honni soit qui mal y pense |author=Joliet, François |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=French |trans_title=Shame on those who think evil }}

• Joliet, François (30 April 2005). "Honni soit qui mal y pense [Shamed be he who thinks evil of it]" (in French). http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Using authorlink

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |authorlink=John Doe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}

• Doe, John (30 April 2005). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Using coauthors

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}

• Doe, John; Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim (30 April 2005). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 16 May 2006. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Peter Smith; Jim Smythe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}

• Doe, John; Peter Smith; Jim Smythe (30 April 2005). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 16 May 2006. 

No author

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}

• "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. 30 April 2005. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 16 May 2006. 

No author, no publisher

This abbreviated format should only be used when the editor cannot determine the publisher and author.

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005}}

• "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. 30 April 2005. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005}}

• "Index of Sharp Things". 30 April 2005. http://www.example.org/. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=Greek }}

• "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (in Greek) (PDF). 30 April 2005. http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

Using "archiveurl" and "archivedate" (and optionally "deadurl") for webpages that have been archived

{{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=6 July 2005 |archiveurl=http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archivedate=11 September 2005 }}

• "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). 30 April 2005. Archived from the original on 11 September 2005. http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf. Retrieved 6 July 2005. 

{{cite web |url=http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm |title=Interview with Maggie Downs |date=31 March 2006 |publisher=The Desert Sun |archiveurl=http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:JAxf4v-pQmgJ:joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi%3Farchive%3Dcurrnews%26story%3D20060405-01shore.htm |archivedate=26 April 2006 |deadurl=no }}

• "Interview with Maggie Downs". The Desert Sun. 31 March 2006. Archived from the original on 26 April 2006. http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm. 

{{Cite web |url=http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/03772.html |title=London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport) |publisher=The Weather Underground, Inc. |accessdate=6 June 2008 |ref=harv | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5yo0HaAk7 |archivedate=19 May 2011| deadurl=no }}

• "London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport)". The Weather Underground, Inc.. Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/03772.html. Retrieved 6 June 2008. 

Using "quote"

{{cite web |url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html |title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea |work=WebExhibits |year=2008 |accessdate=27 September 2009 |quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...' }}

• "Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea". WebExhibits. 2008. http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html. Retrieved 27 September 2009. "... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'" 

Parameters

Syntax

Nested parameters rely on their parent parameters:

• parent
• OR: parent2—may be used instead of parent
  • child—may be used with parent (and is ignored if parent is not used)
  • OR: child2—may be used instead of child (and is ignored if parent2 is not used)

Where aliases are listed, only one of the parameters may be defined; if aliased parameters are defined, then only one will show.

This template embeds COinS metadata in the HTML output, allowing reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata; see Wikipedia:COinS.

• Be careful using templates within the citation template, as many will add a lot of extraneous HTML or CSS that will be rendered in the meta-data.
  • Known templates that should not be used: {{smallcaps}}.

By default, sets of fields are terminated with a period (.); this can be an issue when the last field in an abbreviation or initial with a period, as two periods then display. The only solution is to not include the last period in the value for the set of fields.

Description

Authors

• last: Surname of author. Do not wikilink—use authorlink instead. Where the surname is usually written first—as in Chinese—or for corporate authors, simply use last to include the same format as the source.
  • first: Given or first names of author, including title(s); for example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Dr. Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use authorlink instead.
  • OR: for multiple authors, use first1, last1 through first9, last9 for up to nine authors. By default, if nine authors are defined, then only eight will show and "et al." will show in place of the last author.

• authorlink: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author—not the author's website; do not wikilink.
• OR: for multiple authors, use authorlink1 through authorlink9.

Aliases: last, last1, author, authors; last1, author1 through last9, author9.

• others: To record other contributors to the work, such as "Illustrated by Smith" or "Trans. Smith".

When using Shortened footnotes or Parenthetical referencing styles with templates, do not use multiple names in one parameter else the anchor will not match the inline link.

Title

• work: Title of website; can be wikilinked to an existing Wikipedia article or url may be used to add an external link, but not both. Displays in italics.
  • trans_title: If the source cited is in a foreign language, an English translation of the title can be given here. The template will display this in square brackets after the work field and it will link to the url field, if used. Use of the language parameter is recommended.
• title: Title of web page. Displays in quotes.

Titles containing certain characters will display and link incorrectly unless those characters are encoded.

newline	[	]
space	[	]	|

This parameter is required and will generate an error if not defined. On errors, main, help and template pages are placed into Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. Set |template doc demo=true to disable categorization; mainly used for documentation where the error is demonstrated.

• type: Provides additional information about the media type of the source; format in sentence case. Displays in parentheses following the title. Examples: Thesis, Booklet, CD liner, Press release.

• language: The language the source is written in, if not English. Displays in parentheses with "in" before the language name. Use the full language name; do not use icons or templates.

Date

• date: Full date of source being referenced; in same format as other dates in the article; do not wikilink. Displayed after the authors and enclosed in parentheses; if there is no author, then displayed after publisher.
• OR: year: Year of source being referenced.
  • month: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, use date instead; do not wikilink.
  • origyear: Original publication year; displayed after the date or year. For clarity, please supply specifics; example: |origyear=First published 1859 or |origyear=Composed 1904.

Publisher

• publisher: Name of publisher; may be wikilinked if relevant. Not normally included for periodicals. Corporate designations such as "Ltd", "Inc" or "GmbH" are not usually included. Displays after title; if work is defined, then publisher and location are enclosed in parentheses.
• location: Geographical place of publication; generally not wikilinked; omit when the name of the work includes the location (examples: The Boston Globe, The Times of India). Displays preceding publisher.
• publication-date: Date of publication when different from the date the work was written. Displays only if year or date are defined and only if different, else publication-date is used and displayed as date. Use the same format as other dates in the article; do not wikilink. Follows publisher; if work is not defined, then publication-date is preceded by "published" and enclosed in parenthesis.

Series

• series or version: When the source is part of a series, such as a book series or a journal where the issue numbering has restarted.

In-source locations

• page: Page in the source that supports the content. Displays preceded with <syntaxhighlight lang="text" enclose="none">​p.​</syntaxhighlight> unless |nopp=y.
• OR: pages: Pages in the source that supports the content; separate page ranges with an en dash (–); separate non-sequential pages with a comma (,); do not use to indicate the total number of pages in the source. Displays preceded with <syntaxhighlight lang="text" enclose="none">​pp.​</syntaxhighlight> unless |nopp=y.
  • nopp: Set to y to suppress the <syntaxhighlight lang="text" enclose="none">​p.​</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="text" enclose="none">​pp.​</syntaxhighlight> notations where this is inappropriate; for example, where |page=Front cover.
• OR: at: For sources where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient. Overridden by |page= or |pages=.

Examples: page (p.) or pages (pp.); section (sec.), column (col.), paragraph (para.); track; hours, minutes and seconds; act, scene, canto, book, part, folio, stanza, back cover, liner notes, indicia, colophon, dust jacket, verse.

URL

• url: URL of an online location where the text of the publication can be found. Cannot be used if title is wikilinked. If applicable, the link may point to the specific page(s) referenced. Do not link to any commercial booksellers such as Amazon.com; see WP:PAGELINKS.
  • accessdate: Full date when URL was accessed; use the same format as other dates in the article; do not wikilink.
  • archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and the Internet Archive; requires archivedate.
    • archivedate: Date when the item was archived; use the same format as other dates in the article; do not wikilink.
    • deadurl: To change the order with the title retaining the original link and the archive linked at the end, set |deadurl=no.
  • template doc demo: The archive parameters have error checking to ensure that all the required parameters are included, else {{citation error}} is invoked. On errors, main, help and template pages are placed into Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. Set |template doc demo=true to disable categorization; mainly used for documentation where the error is demonstrated.
• format: Format of the work referred to by url; examples: PDF, DOC, XLS; HTML is implied and should not be specified; displayed in parentheses after title.

URLs must begin with a supported URI scheme: http:// and https:// will be supported by all browsers; irc://, ircs://, ftp://, news:, mailto: and gopher:// will require a plugin or an external application and should normally be avoided. IPv6 host-names are currently not supported.

If URLs in citation template parameters contain certain characters they will display and link incorrectly. Those characters need to be percent-encoded. For example, a space must be replaced by %20. To encode the URL, replace these characters:

sp	"	'	<	>	[	]	|	}
%20	%22	%27	%3c	%3e	%5b	%5d	%7c	%7d

Single apostrophes do not need to be encoded; but unencoded multiples will be parsed as italic or bold markup. Single curly closing braces also do not need to be encoded; but an unencoded pair will be parsed as the double closing braces for the template transclusion.

Anchor

• ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID; such a linkable reference can be made the target of wikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template; see anchors for Harvard referencing templates.

Identifiers

• id: A unique identifier, used where none of the specialized identifiers are applicable; wikilink or use a template as applicable.

• arxiv: ArXiv.
• asin: Amazon Standard Identification Number.
  • asin-tld: ASIN top-level domain for Amazon sites other than the US; valid values: co.jp, co.uk, ca, cn, fr, de, it, es
• bibcode: Bibcode; used by a number of astronomical data systems; example: 1924MNRAS..84..308E.
• doi: Digital object identifier; example: 10.1038/news070508-7; checked to ensure it begins with <syntaxhighlight lang="text" enclose="none">​10.​</syntaxhighlight>; if not an error shows and the page is placed in Category:Pages with DOI errors.
  • doi_brokendate: Date the DOI is broken; use the same format as other dates in the article.
• isbn: International Standard Book Number such as 978-0812695939; see Wikipedia:ISBN and ISBN. Dashes in the ISBN are optional, but preferred. Use the 13-digit ISBN where possible; this can normally be found beneath the barcode as a number beginning 978 or 979. For sources with the older 9 digit SBN system, prefix the number with a zero; thus SBN 812695-93-3 should be entered as |isbn=0812695-93-3.
• issn: International Standard Serial Number; eight characters may be split into two groups of four using a hyphen, but not an N-dash or a space.
• jfm: Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik.
• jstor: JSTOR abstract.
• lccn: Library of Congress Control Number.
• mr: Mathematical Reviews.
• oclc: Online Computer Library Center.
• ol: Open Library.
• osti: Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
• pmc: PubMed Central article number for full-text free repository of an article.
• pmid: PubMed Unique Identifier.
• rfc: Request for Comments.
• ssrn: Social Science Research Network.
• zbl: Zentralblatt MATH.

Quote

• quote: Relevant text quoted from the source; enclosed in quotes. When supplied, the citation terminator (a period by default) is suppressed, so the quote needs to include terminating punctuation.

Editors

• editor-last: Surname of editor. Do not wikilink—use editor-link instead. Where the surname is usually written first—as in Chinese—or for corporate authors, simply use editor-last to include the same format as the source.
  • editor-first: Given or first names of editor, including title(s); example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Dr. Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use editor-link instead.
  • OR: for multiple editors, use editor1-first, editor1-last through editor4-first, editor4-last for up to four editors.

• editor-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the editor—not the editor's website; do not wikilink.
• OR: for multiple editors, use editor1-link through editor4-link.

Display:

If authors: Authors are first, followed by the included work, then "In" and the editors, then the main work.

If no authors: Editors appear before the included work; a single editor is followed by "ed."; multiple editors are followed by "eds."; more than three editors will be followed by "et al., eds."

Laysummary

• laysummary: URL link to a non-technical summary or review of the source; the URL title is set to "Lay summary".
  • laysource: Name of the source of the laysummary. Displays in italics and preceded by an endash.
  • laydate: Date of the summary. Displays in parentheses.

Display options

• author-mask: Replaces the name of the first author with a strike-through dash (—) author-mask em in length. If |author-mask=1 then the dash will be one em in length and so on. Set author-mask to a text value to display a word instead:– for example, 'with'. You must still include the values for all authors for metadata purposes. Primarily intended for use in bibliographies for some styles where multiple works by a single author are listed. Do not use in a list generated by {{reflist}}, <references /> or similar as there is no control as to the order that references will display.
• author-name-separator: Changes the separator between last and first names; defaults to a comma and space (, ); if the parameter is present, but blank, no separator punctuation will be used; a space must be encoded as   do not use an asterisk (*), colon (:) or hash (#) as they will be interpreted as wikimarkup.
• author-separator: Changes the separator between authors; defaults to a semicolon and space (; ); if the parameter is present, but blank, no separator punctuation will be used; a space must be encoded as   do not use an asterisk (*), colon (:) or hash (#) as they will be interpreted as wikimarkup.
• display-authors: By default, the number of authors displayed is limited to 8; if 9 are provided, the ninth is displayed as "et al." This parameter allows display of fewer authors before the "et al."; example: |display-authors=2; if there are 8 or fewer authors, then "et al." may be suppressed by setting |display-authors=9.
• lastauthoramp: When set to any value, changes the separator to use between the last two names in lists of authors to an ampersand (&); defaults to a semicolon and space (; ), else |author-separator= if set.
• postscript: The closing punctuation for the citation; defaults to a period (.); if the parameter is present, but blank, no terminating punctuation will be used. Ignored if |quote= is specified.
• separator: The punctuation used to separate lists of authors, editors, etc. Defaults to a period (.); if the parameter is present, but blank, no separator punctuation will be used; do not use an asterisk (*), colon (:) or hash (#) as they will be interpreted as wikimarkup.

This template produces COinS metadata; see COinS in Wikipedia for background information.