Template:!/doc

The magic word {{!}} is used to escape a vertical bar character "|" in wikitext markup, causing the parser to temporarily not interpret it as a special character.

This used to be a template, but for speed reasons, the MediaWiki parser was changed in July 2014 to instantly interpret {{!}} as "|" and ignore this template, making {{!}} a magic word. You can continue to use the code in exactly the same way as before.

Do not use syntax like {{Template:!}}, and do not supply a parameter, for example {{!|foo}}. In those cases, the template transcludes as an error message:

Usage

The code {{!}} is used to escape the vertical bar character, |, so that it is interpreted later than it would be otherwise. This is mostly useful when trying to include a table in a template. For example,

{{cquote|text=
This is text before
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Header text !! Header text
|-
| Example 1 || Example 2
|-
| Example 3 || Example 4
|}
This is text after
}}

yields nonsense:

“

This is text before {

” — Example 1

However escaping the bars with this magic word and similar templates gives:

{{cquote|text=
This is text before
{{(!}} class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!+}} Caption text
{{!-}}
! Header text !! Header text
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example 1 {{!!}} Example 2
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example 3 {{!!}} Example 4
{{!)}}
This is text after
}}

“

This is text before

Caption text

Header text	Header text
Example 1	Example 2
Example 3	Example 4

This is text after

”

For how to include a table in a footnote, do:

Example 1{{refn|group=note|This is a note before}}

Example 2{{refn|group=note|1=<nowiki />This is text before
{{(!}} class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!+}} Caption text
{{!-}}
! Header text !! Header text
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example 1 {{!!}} Example 2
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example 3 {{!!}} Example 4
{{!)}}
This is text after
<nowiki />}}

Example 3{{refn|group=note|This is a note after}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

Be careful to follow this formatting, otherwise the table may gobble up the subsequent footnote. This can be unnoticeable if there is only one footnote, only causing an issue if a second footnote is added.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Tracking category

• Category:Pages which use a template in place of a magic word (4)

See also

Template call (m for magic word)	Output (delayed interpretation as wikimarkup)	HTML alternative (never interpreted as wikimarkup)
{{!}} (m)	|	| or {{pipe}}
{{=}} (m)	=	=
{{!!}}	||	||
{{!(}}	[	[
{{)!}}	]	]
{{!((}}	[[ || [[
{{))!}}	]]	]]
{{(}}	{	{
{{)}}	}	}
{{((}}	{{ || {{
{{))}}	}}	}}
{{(((}}		}}}
{{(!}}	{|	{|
{{!+}}	|+	|+
{{!-}}	|-	|-
{{!)}}	|}	|}

Documentation for the magic word may be found in the MediaWiki documentation at mw:Help:Magic words#Other.

• {{pipe}}, a template that uses the numeric character reference for the vertical bar character
• mw:Help:Templates#Using pipes in parameter values
• Help:Conditional tables