Template:Cite web

Template:Pp-template

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Usage

Copy a blank version to use. All parameter names must be in lowercase. Use the "|" (pipe) character between each parameter. Delete unused parameters to avoid clutter in the edit window. Some samples may include the current date. If the date is not current, then the page.

Most commonly used parameters in horizontal format

For references with author credit {{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}} For references without author credit {{cite web |url= |title= |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}

Most commonly used parameters in vertical format

{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote= }}

Full parameter set in horizontal format

{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |author= |author-link= |last2= |first2= |author2= |author-link2= |date= |year= |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor= |editor-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editors= |department= |website= |series= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |script-title= |trans-title= |type= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url= |archive-date= |dead-url= |access-date= |quote= |ref= |postscript= |subscription= |registration=}}

Full parameter set in vertical format

Vertical list	Prerequisites	Brief instructions / notes
{{cite web |url= |title= |last= |first= |author-link= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |date= |year= |editor-last= |editor-first= |editor-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |department= |website= |series= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |script-title= |trans-title= |type= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url= |archive-date= |dead-url= |access-date= |quote= |ref= |postscript= |subscription= |registration= }}	last   last last2         editor-last   editor-last editor2-last                                                                     url, archive-date archive-url url url	required required

• If a field name is listed in the Prerequisites column, it is a prerequisite for the field to the left.

Examples

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |publisher=Open Publishing |date=April 30, 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=February 16, 2026}}

Doe, John (April 30, 2005). My Favorite Things, Part II. Open Publishing.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |date=30 April 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=16 February 2026}}

Doe, John (30 April 2005). My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |date=2005-04-30 |access-date=2026-02-16}}

Doe, John (2005-04-30). My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |access-date=16 February 2026}}

Doe, John. My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |access-date=2026-02-16}}

My Favorite Things, Part II.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules |title=Digest of Rules |publisher=National Football League |access-date=February 16, 2026}}

Digest of Rules. National Football League.

Using format

• {{cite web |url=http://www.indiapost.gov.in/Pdf/Customs/List_of_Psychotropic_Substances.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |format=PDF |access-date=16 February 2026}}

List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board.

Foreign language and translated title

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Honi soit qui mal y pense |last=Joliet |first=François |date=30 April 2005 |access-date=16 February 2026 |language=French |trans-title=Shame on those who think evil of it}}

Joliet, François (30 April 2005). Honi soit qui mal y pense (French).

Using author-link

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |last=Doe |first=John |author-link=John Doe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=April 30, 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=February 16, 2026}}

Doe, John (April 30, 2005). My Favorite Things, Part II. Open Publishing.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favourite Things |last1=Doe |first1=John |last2=Smith |first2=Peter |last3=Smythe |first3=Jim |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |website=Encyclopaedia of Things |access-date=16 February 2026}}

Our Favourite Things. Open Publishing (30 April 2005).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |publisher=Open Publishing |date=2005-04-30 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=2026-02-16}}

Index of Sharp Things. Open Publishing (2005-04-30).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |website=Encyclopedia of Things |access-date=16 February 2026}}

Index of Sharp Things (30 April 2005).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=April 30, 2005 |access-date=February 16, 2026}}

Index of Sharp Things (April 30, 2005).

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=2005-04-30 |format=PDF |access-date=2026-02-16 |language=Greek}}

List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF) (Greek) (2005-04-30).

Using "archive-url" and "archive-date" (and optionally "dead-url") 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=2005-04-30 |format=PDF |access-date=2026-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050907150136/http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archive-date=2005-09-07}}

List of psychotropic substances under international control (PDF) (2005-04-30).

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

Interview with Maggie Downs. The Desert Sun (March 31, 2006).

• {{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 |access-date=16 February 2026 | archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5yo0HaAk7 |archive-date=19 May 2011 |dead-url=no}}

London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport). The Weather Underground.

Using quote

• {{cite web |url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html |title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea |website=WebExhibits |year=2008 |access-date=16 February 2026 |quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'}}

Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea (2008). “... 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 multiple aliased parameters are defined, then only one will show.

By default, sets of fields are terminated with a period (.).

COinS

This template embeds COinS metadata in the HTML output, allowing reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata. As a general rule, only one data item per parameter. Do not include explanatory or alternate text:

• Use |date=27 September 2007 not |date=27 September 2007 (print version 25 September)

Use of templates within the citation template is discouraged because many of these templates will add extraneous HTML or CSS that will be included raw in the metadata. Also, HTML entities, for example  , –, etc, should not be used in parameters that contribute to the metadata. Do not include Wiki markup '' (italic font) or ''' (bold font) because these markup characters will contaminate the metadata.

COinS metadata is created for these parameters

• |periodical=, |journal=, |newspaper=, |magazine=, |work=, |website=, |encyclopedia=, |encyclopaedia=, |dictionary=
• |chapter=, |contribution=, |entry=, |article=, |section=
• |title=
• |publication-place=, |publicationplace=, |place=, |location=
• |date=, |year=, |publication-date=, |publicationdate=
• |series=, |version=
• |volume=
• |issue=, |number=
• |page=, |pages=, |at=
• |edition=
• |publisher=, |distributor=, |institution=
• |url=
• |chapter-url=, |chapterurl=, |contribution-url=, |contributionurl=, |section-url=, |sectionurl=
• |author#=, |author-last#=, |author#-last=, |last#=, |surname#=
• |author-first#=, |author#-first=, |first#=, |given#=
• any of the named identifiers (|isbn=, |issn=, |doi=, |pmc=, etc)

Deprecated

None of the cs1|2 parameters is deprecated.

Description

Authors

• last: Surname of a single author. Do not wikilink—use author-link instead. For corporate authors or authors for whom only one name is listed by the source, use last or one of its aliases (e.g. |author=Bono). Aliases: surname, author, last1, surname1, author1.
  • author: this parameter is used to hold the complete name of a single author (first and last) or to hold the name of a corporate author. This parameter should never hold the names of more than one author.
  • first: Given or first names of author; for example: Firstname Middlename or Firstname M. or Firstname M., Sr. Do not wikilink—use author-link instead. Aliases: given, first1, given1. Requires last; first name will not display if last is empty.
  • OR: for multiple authors, use last1, first1 through lastn, firstn, where n is any consecutive number for an unlimited number of authors (each firstn requires a corresponding lastn). Aliases: surname1, given1 through surnamen, givenn, or author1 through authorn. For an individual author plus an institutional author, you can use |first1=...|last1=...|author2=....
  • author-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author—not the author's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: author-link1, authorlink, authorlink1, author1-link, author1link.
  • OR: for multiple authors, use author-link1 through author-linkn. Aliases: authorlink1 through authorlinkn, or author1-link through authorn-link, or author1link through authornlink.
  • name-list-format: displays authors and editors in Vancouver style when set to vanc and when the list uses last/first parameters for the name list(s).
• vauthors: comma-separated list of author names in Vancouver style; enclose corporate or institutional author names in doubled parentheses:

  |vauthors=Smythe JB, ((Megabux Corporation))

  • author-link and author-mask may be used for the individual names in |vauthors= as described above
• authors: Free-form list of author names; use of this parameter is discouraged because it does not contribute to a citation's metadata; not an alias of last.
• translator-last: Surname of translator. Do not wikilink—use translator-link instead. Aliases: translator-surname, translator1, translator1-last, translator-last1.
  • translator-first: Given or first names of translator. Do not wikilink—use translator-link instead. Aliases: translator-given, translator1-first, translator-first1.
  • OR: for multiple translators, use translator-last1, translator-first1 through translator-lastn, translator-firstn, where n is any consecutive number for an unlimited number of translators (each translator-firstn requires a corresponding translator-lastn). Aliases: translator1-last, translator1-first through translatorn-last, translatorn-first, or translator1 through translatorn.
  • translator-link: Title of existing Wikipedia article about the translator—not the translator's website; do not wikilink. Aliases: translator-link1, translator1-link.
  • OR: for multiple translators, use translator-link1 through translator-linkn. Aliases: translator1-link through translatorn-link.
• collaboration: Name of a group of authors or collaborators; requires author, last, or vauthors listing one or more primary authors; follows author name-list; appends "et al." to author name-list.
• others: To record other contributors to the work, including illustrators. For the parameter value, write Illustrated by John Smith.
• Note: When using shortened footnotes or parenthetical referencing styles with templates, do not use multiple names in one field, or else the anchor will not match the inline link.

Title

• title: Title of source page on website. Displays in quotes. If script-title is defined, title holds romanized transliteration of title in script-title.
  • script-title: Original title for languages that do not use a Latin-based alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc); follows transliteration defined in title. May be prefixed with an ISO 639-1 two-character code to help browsers properly display the script:

    ... |title=Tōkyō tawā |script-title=ja:東京タワー |trans-title=Tokyo Tower ...

  • trans-title: English translation of the title if the source cited is in a foreign language. Displays in square brackets after title; trans-title is included in the link. Use of the language parameter is recommended.

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

newline	[	]	|
space	[	]	|
	{{bracket|text}}		{{pipe}} –

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.

• website: Title of website; may be wikilinked. Displays in italics. Aliases: work

• 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. Alias: medium.

• language: The language in which the source is written. Displays in parentheses with "in" before the language name or names. Use the full language name or ISO 639-1 code. When the source uses more than one language, list them individually, separated by commas, e.g. |language=French, German. The use of language names or language codes recognized by Wikimedia adds the page to the appropriate subcategory of Category:CS1 foreign language sources; do not use templates or wikilinks. Note: When the language is "English" (or "en"), no language is displayed in the citation. Note: When two or more languages are listed there is no need to include "and" before the last language. "and" is inserted automatically by the template.

Date

• date: Date of source being referenced. Can be full date (day, month, and year) or partial date (month and year, season and year, or year). Use same format as other publication dates in the citations. Required when year is used to disambiguate {{sfn}} links to multiple-work citations by the same author in the same year.^[more] Do not wikilink. Displays after the authors and is enclosed in parentheses. If there is no author, then displays after publisher.

For approximate year, precede with "c. ", like this: |date=c. 1900.

For no date, or "undated", add as |date=n.d.

• year: Year of source being referenced. Use of |date= is recommended unless all of the following conditions are met:
  1. The template uses |ref=harv, or the template is {{citation}}, or |mode=cs2
  2. The |date= format is YYYY-MM-DD.
  3. The citation requires a CITEREF disambiguator.
• orig-year: Original publication year; displays after the date or year. For clarity, please supply specifics. For example: |orig-year=First published 1859 or |orig-year=Composed 1904. Alias: origyear
• df: date format; sets rendered dates to the specified format; does not support date ranges or seasonal dates. Accepts one value which may be one of these:

  dmy – set publication dates to day month year format; access- and archive-dates are not modified;

  mdy – as above for month day, year format

  ymd – as above for year initial numeric format YYYY-MM-DD

  dmy-all – set publication, access-, and archive-dates to day month year format;

  mdy-all – as above for month day, year format

  ymd-all – as above for year initial numeric format YYYY-MM-DD

Publisher

• publisher: Name of publisher; may be wikilinked if relevant. The publisher is the company that publishes the work being cited. Do not use the publisher parameter for the name of a work (e.g. a book, encyclopedia, newspaper, magazine, journal, website). Not normally used for periodicals. Corporate designations such as "Ltd", "Inc" or "GmbH" are not usually included. Omit where the publisher's name is substantially the same as the name of the work (for example, The New York Times Co. publishes The New York Times newspaper, so there is no reason to name the publisher). Displays after title.
• place: 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 after the title. Alias: location
• publication-place: If any one of publication-place, place, or location is defined, the location will show after the title; if publication-place and place or location are defined, then place or location is shown before the title prefixed with "written at" and publication-place is shown after the title.
• 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.
• via: Name of the content deliverer (if different from publisher). via is not a replacement for publisher, but provides additional detail. It may be used when the content deliverer presents the source in a format other than the original (e.g. NewsBank), when the URL provided does not make clear the identity of the deliverer, where no URL or DOI is available (EBSCO), if the deliverer requests attribution, or as requested in WP:The Wikipedia Library (e.g. Credo, HighBeam).

• agency: The news agency (wire service) that provided the content; examples: Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. May be wikilinked if relevant.

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: The number of a single page in the source that supports the content. Use either |page= or |pages=, but not both. Displays preceded by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">p.</syntaxhighlight> unless |nopp=y.
• OR: pages: A range of pages in the source that supports the content. Use either |page= or |pages=, but not both. Separate using 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 by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">pp.</syntaxhighlight> unless |nopp=y. Hyphens are automatically converted to en dashes; if hyphens are appropriate, for example: pp. 3-1–3-15, use |pages=3{{hyphen}}1–3{{hyphen}}15 or |at=pp. 3-1–3-15.
  • nopp: Set to y, yes, or true to suppress the <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">p.</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" id="" style="" inline="1">pp.</syntaxhighlight> notations where this is inappropriate; for example, where |page=Front cover or |pages=passim.
• OR: at: For sources where a page number is inappropriate or insufficient. Overridden by |page= or |pages=. Use only one of |page=, |pages=, or |at=.

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. Remove tracking parameters from URLs, e.g. #ixzz2rBr3aO94 or ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=...&utm_term=...&utm_campaign=.... Do not link to any commercial booksellers, such as Amazon.com. Invalid URLs, including those containing spaces, will result in an error message.
  • access-date: Full date when the content pointed to by url was last verified to support the text in the article; do not wikilink; requires url; use the same format as other access and archive dates in the citations. Not required for linked documents that do not change. For example, access-date is not required for links to copies of published research papers accessible via DOI or a published book, but should be used for links to news articles on commercial websites (these can change from time to time, even if they are also published in a physical medium). Note that access-date is the date that the URL was checked to not just be working, but to support the assertion being cited (which the current version of the page may not do). Can be hidden or styled by registered editors. Alias: accessdate.
  • archive-url: The URL of an archived copy of a web page if the original URL is no longer available. Typically used to refer to services such as WebCite and Internet Archive ; requires archive-date and url. By default (overridden by |dead-url=no) the archived link is displayed first, with the original link at the end. Alias: archiveurl.
    • archive-date: Date when the original URL was archived; preceded in display by default text "archived from the original on". Use the same format as other access and archive dates in the citations. This does not necessarily have to be the same format that was used for citing publication dates. Do not wikilink. Alias: archivedate.
    • dead-url: the default value of this optional parameter, if omitted, is |dead-url=yes. Equivalent values are y or true. When the URL is still live, but pre-emptively archived, then set |dead-url=no; this changes the display order, with the title retaining the original link and the archive linked at the end. When the original URL has been usurped for the purposes of spam, advertising, or is otherwise unsuitable, setting |dead-url=unfit or |dead-url=usurped suppresses display of the original URL (but |url= is still required). Alias: deadurl.
  • template-doc-demo: The archive parameters will be error-checked to ensure that all the required parameters are included, or else {{citation error}} is invoked. With errors, main, help and template pages are placed into one of the subcategories of Category:Articles with incorrect citation syntax. Set |template-doc-demo=true to disable categorization; mainly used for documentation where the error is demonstrated. Alias: no-cat.
• format: Format of the work referred to by url; for example: PDF, DOC, or XLS; displayed in parentheses after title. (For media format, use type.) HTML is implied and should not be specified. Automatically added when a PDF icon is displayed. Does not change the external link icon. Note: External link icons do not include alt text; thus, they do not add format information for the visually impaired.

URLs must begin with a supported URI scheme. http:// and https:// will be supported by all browsers; however, ftp://, gopher://, irc://, ircs://, mailto: and news: may require a plug-in 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, then they will not display and link correctly. Those characters need to be percent-encoded. For example, a space must be replaced by %20. To encode the URL, replace the following characters with:

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

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

Anchor

• ref: the citation's HTML anchor identifier. When set, |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID (the id attribute in the citation's <cite id="ID"> HTML tag). Setting |ref=ID identifies the template as a target and allows wikilinking to full references, especially useful with short-form citations like shortened notes and parenthetic