The pages on this site are wiki-based pages, which means that pages can be created and edited by multiple authors. To edit a page, click the Edit link that exists somewhere on the page, usually in the header or footer. Some pages may be password-protected, depending on the system's security policies, but many systems allow open editing of pages.
PmWiki is not WYSIWYG - When editing a page, you see the markup text that describes the content of the page. The basic rules for page markup are simple:
To make a list, start each line with # for numbered (ordered) lists or * for bulleted (unordered) lists more.
To make a heading, start a line with two or more ! marks; !! is a subheading, and !!! is a sub-subheading more.
To emphasize text, enclose it in 2 or 3 single quotes; ''text'' for italics or '''text''' for bold more.
To make a link to another page, enclose the page's name in double brackets; for example [[basic editing]] links to this page.
To make a link to another site, type its address, such as [[https://example.com/]]. Email links must have "mailto:" before such as mailto:xyz@example.com
If you want to experiment with editing a page, try it on the Wiki Sandbox. You can edit the Wiki Sandbox without affecting anything important on this site. On talk pages and discussions, it's courteous to sign your contribution; using ~~~ effectively 'signs' the name that you provide in the Author field on the Page Edit form.
Examples of common markups
The tables below demonstrate many of the common markups used to format pages. The left column shows what to write to achieve the effect, the right column shows the effect of the markup. More details are available from the text formatting rules and other documentation pages. An exhaustive list of default markup is available as the markup master index.
Paragraphs and line breaks
What to type
What it looks like
Consecutive lines
will be merged together
as part of the same paragraph.
One or more empty lines will start a new paragraph.
Consecutive lines
will be merged together
as part of the same paragraph.
One or more empty lines will start a new paragraph.
Two backslashes at the end of a line \\
force a line break.
Or use this markup: [[<<]] to force a break.
Two backslashes at the end of a line force a line break.
Or use this markup: to force a break.
Further reading:
text formatting rules for more information on linebreaks, indented or hanging paragraphs.
wiki styles for centered or right justified paragraphs and "floating" text (boxes), borders and much more.
Lists
Start each line with # for numbered (ordered) lists or * for bulleted (unordered) lists:
* Bullet list
* Another item
** More asterisks produce sub-items
** etc.
Bullet list
Another item
More asterisks produce sub-items
etc.
# Numbered lists
# Another item
## more hashes produce sub-items
Numbered lists
Another item
more hashes produce sub-items
# List types
# can be mixed
** numbered list with unordered sub-list
* @@Monospaced text@@
* Text with '^superscripts^'
* Text with '_subscripts_'
* deleted {-strikethrough-} text
* inserted {+underline+} text
* [+big+], [++bigger++] text
* [-small-], [--smaller--] text
The (:title:) directive sets the page's title to something other than its page name.
(:Title Basic PmWiki editing rules:)
The name of this page is "{$Name}", and its title is "{$Title}".
The name of this page is "BasicEditing", and its title is "Basic PmWiki editing rules".
Page description
The (:Description Page description here:) directive sets the page description. The description is used by search engines, and can be displayed in search results and in page lists.
(:Description PmWiki's basic editing rules:)
The summary description of this page is "{$Description}".
The summary description of this page is "PmWiki's basic editing rules".
(:Summary:PmWiki's basic edit syntax:)
The summary of this page is "{$:Summary}".
The summary of this page is "PmWiki's basic edit syntax".
I'm new to PmWiki, where can I find some basic help for getting started?
The Basic Editing page is a good start. From there, you can just follow the navigational links at the top or the bottom of the page (they are called Wiki Trails) to the next pages, or to the Documentation Index page, which provides an outline style index of essential documentation pages, organized from basic to advanced.
See special characters on how to insert special characters that don't appear on your keyboard.
How can I preserve line-breaks from the source text?
PmWiki normally treats consecutive lines of text as being a paragraph, and merges and wraps lines together on output. This is consistent with most other wiki packages. An author can use the (:linebreaks:) directive to cause the following lines of markup text in the page to be kept as separate lines in the output. Or a wiki administrator can set in config.php$HTMLPNewline = '<br/>'; to force literal new lines for the whole site.
Can I just enter HTML directly?
By default (and by design), PmWiki does not support the use of HTML elements in the editable markup for wiki pages. There are a number of reasons for this described in the PmWiki Philosophy and Audiences. Enabling HTML markup within wiki pages in a collaborative environment may exclude some potential authors from being able to edit pages, and pose a number of display and security issues. However, a site administrator can use the Cookbook:Enable HTML recipe to enable the use of HTML markup directly in pages.
