Help talk:Citation Style 1

URL with underscore

Here is an edit by IABot where <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">http://url_to_pdf/</syntaxhighlight> is treated as a valid url.––KEmel49(📝,📋) 19:13, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

Yep, should not allow that. I'll apply a fix after the next module suite update.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 20:01, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

It's also accepting example.com, which along with example.net, example.org, and example.edu should probably generate an error. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 20:25, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1"></syntaxhighlight>

Are you sure? Where are you seeing the module accept |url=example.com?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 20:32, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

In this revision of the article[1] reference 36. I think the error message isn't being displayed as the |url-status= is set to 'bot: unknown'. So the archive URL (that contains example.com) is shown, but the original is hidden along with the error message. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 20:42, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

Here is the template you mention:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1"></syntaxhighlight>

If we remove |url-status=bot: unknown then this:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1"></syntaxhighlight>

No error message because <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1">https://www.example.com/operation_himmlerstadt.pdf</syntaxhighlight> is a valid url. It is probably true that links to example.com are not likely to be useful as sources, but that isn't the same thing as errors categorized in Category:CS1 errors: URL (malformed urls). There is no test in cs1|2 that looks for pointless domain names. Consideration of that should be discussed separately.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 20:58, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

example.com domain should to be blacklisted.––KEmel49(📝,📋) 23:03, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

If it does anything, it should be put in a category like "likely placeholder url" that's only active in mainspace/draftspace. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 00:01, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

With (()) markup to bypass categorisation in legit cases. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 00:01, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

URL cannot be bypassed with <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">(())</syntaxhighlight> markup, because they are throughly checked character by character. Here is an example of url being surrounded by <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">(())</syntaxhighlight>:

See that because of these brackets there is an url error erupted.––KEmel49(📝,📋) 00:11, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

URL can be bypassed by (()) like every other parameter, assuming that functionality is coded it. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 17:14, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

fixed in the sandbox:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1">Template:Cite book/new</syntaxhighlight>

Template:Cite book/new

—Trappist the monk (talk) 13:27, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Lang = english

Is it useful or not to include lang = en in citations? Naraht (talk) 18:52, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Some editors think it is; some editors think it is not. If you expect that the article and citation template will be copied to a non-English wiki, then writing |language=en will be a minor aid to those who translate the en.wiki article to their own language. At en.wiki, we suppress the language annotation when |language=en or |language=English because this is the English wikipedia; no need to highlight the norm.

Your call. If you do use it, en is to be preferred over English because en will cause Module:Citation/CS1 to render the language annotation in the other wiki's language – assuming that the other wiki uses a more-or-less current version of Module:Citation/CS1 to render the citation template...

—Trappist the monk (talk) 19:12, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

We should certainly discourage the variants, i.e. |lang=en-CA, |lang=en-GB and |lang=en-US (I have seen others, I don't recall which ones), because the spelling of colour (or even the pronounciation of tomato) has no bearing at all on the validity of the source. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:18, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

I guess en-AU, en-IN, and en-SG are also major variants. But anyway, I agree: these distinctions are not important for reference metadata. —David Eppstein (talk) 18:28, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

In some cases lang=en will be useful here - for example where the work is in English but has a non-English language title, or an an English language article in a magazine/journal etc that is mainly written in another language. In such cases, it would be better NOT to supress itNigel Ish (talk) 18:41, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

More |title-link options

I think there should be more options for |title-link=. I would like to use with any free access identifier and use a similar technique for book chapters.   — Chris Capoccia 💬 00:21, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

The title-link parameter is for wikilinks to Wikipedia articles about the reference (for instance, book references for which we have a Wikipedia article). Maybe you are thinking about a different parameter with a different name? If you want to add an external link to a title, the parameter is url=. —David Eppstein (talk) 01:06, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

no, in the help page, it shows how you can use to link to doi or pmc. I think it should allow more identifier link types and not just for journal citations.   — Chris Capoccia 💬 13:21, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

The automatic promotion of free dois and pmc to url= has nothing to do with the title-link= parameter. Again, title-link= is for internal wikilink, url= is for external links. Free dois and pmcs are promoted to external links, not to wikilinks. —David Eppstein (talk) 19:32, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

i can already use title-link=doi for cite journal. I want to be able to use title-link=hdl for example and also be able to use title-link=doi for book chapters.   — Chris Capoccia 💬 19:37, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Can you provide a link to "the help page" (and relevant section if it's a complex one) this refers to? — SirOlgen (talk) 20:07, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Found it in Template:Slink...

For {{cite journal}}, some identifiers (specifying free resources) will automatically be linked to the title when |url= and |title-link= are not used to specify a different link target. This behaviour can be overridden by one out of a number of special keywords for |title-link= to manually select a specific source (|title-link=pmc or |title-link=doi) for auto-linking or to disable the feature (|title-link=none).

So we're talking about (A) behavior to specify *which* identifier to use for a |title-link= when more than one of those identifiers has a Wikipedia article, and (B) expanding the possible identifiers that could be specified. It that a correct interpretation of your request? — SirOlgen (talk) 20:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

yes, this is what I'm asking about, although it seems like title-link doesn't actually work the way the help info says. Maybe the best solution is just deleting the whole paragraph since the system doesn't actually work that way.   — Chris Capoccia 💬 21:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

It's mentioned in Help:Citation Style 1#Identifiers (search for "|title-link=doi") but I don't think it actually works, it seems to be just another case of documentation being out of date. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 20:22, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

As an example,<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext"></syntaxhighlight> produces,

|title-link=doi doesn't do anything. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 20:30, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Versus... <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext"></syntaxhighlight>

...which displays the same thing and takes you to the same place...

So I think you're right about it not actually working. SirOlgen (talk) 20:59, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

The key to this mystery is quoted above: Template:Tq. So this works (and including |pmc= because it will auto-link |title= if |title-link=doi doesn't work):

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1"></syntaxhighlight>

– title is linked to the doi identifier

—Trappist the monk (talk) 21:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Oh, I see. The title-link=doi doesn't quite do nothing. If there are two free ids to link, it says which one to choose. But it has no effect on whether there exists or does not exist a link on the title nor on which kind of free ids are allowed to be automatically promoted to a link on the title. —David Eppstein (talk) 22:43, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

so if i had a free hdl, would it be reasonable to use title-link to link the title?   — Chris Capoccia 💬 01:12, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Based on the example from user:Trappist the monk, it doesn't seem unreasonable to want to extend the functionality further such that <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" inline="1"></syntaxhighlight> would yield...

... where "title" actually links externally to hdl.handle.net/20.1000/100.

Presumably there's a use case where having multiple citation elements linking to the same external destination makes sense, but I would normally just expect that a person wishing to access the doi (or pmc or hdl) reference document would simply click on the hyperlinked doi (or pmc or hdl) number rather than a citation title. Maybe I'm being too simple-minded here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ — SirOlgen (talk) 04:26, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

incorrect "generic title" error on the majority of citations in Wayback Machine

This is probably due to it identifying wayback machine in any part of the title. The titles are definitely not "generic". Example: reference 88. -- ozmoozmo@en-wp (u:uh:t:th:c:s) 08:38, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

This can be solved by adding (()) around the effected titles, it suppresses the error message. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 09:41, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

@OzmoOzmo, See §Accept-this-as-written markup. Currently the field is:<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext"></syntaxhighlight>Which is rendered as:

To vanish that error messege you need to wrap the |title= in <syntaxhighlight lang="text" class="" style="" inline="1">(())</syntaxhighlight> (double parenthesis). which will be:<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext"></syntaxhighlight>Which will be rendered as:
.––KEmel49(📝,📋) 15:46, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

mutually exclusive parameters (and the Usage section)

The documentation for Template:Citation states

• "All are optional and indentation is used simply to group related items — these may be mutually exclusive where indicated." (the Full citation parameters section)
• "A full list of this template's supported parameters, their aliases, and their dependencies is shown in the Usage section near the top of this documentation page." (the Parameters section)

Where is this indicated? There is no Usage section, and as far as I can see never has been (just quickly looking at the documentation's history).

How or where do I find an overview over exactly which parameters are mutually exclusive, with what other parameters, under what circumstances?

All I can find that |page=, |pages= and |at= are mutually exclusive, and only by looking at this page, Help:Citation Style 1.

CapnZapp (talk) 10:29, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

The indentation referred to was that which existed prior to this edit. Nowadays it's at Template:Citation/doc#Description where a number of aliases are described, beginning straight away with

• 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.

It could perhaps do with a thorough update, several people have moved things around in the last few years. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 12:01, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Hopefully you or somebody will add that link somewhere appropriate on the help page, User:Redrose64. I didn't ask for my own sake, but for everybody reading the page. Plus: you're talking about indentations and aliases, I posted because the help page talked about (but did not detail) mutually exclusive dependencies. Cheers CapnZapp (talk) 09:21, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

no title

I was trying to fix a cite here and the link is dead and there is no archive, so I cant put anything. Previously, it was a bare link. Looking at previous discussion, there doesnt seem to be a way to set the parameter to not have a title, so I just used "NO TITLE". Any better options. I could just remove it, but I am not keen on that in the event someone happens to be able to find the source with what is there. ← Metallurgist (talk) 09:08, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

The IRNA appears to be offline, probably due to the ongoing US-Iran war. I would suggest leaving this as a bare url for the moment. When they come back online it might be possible to find the correct article by looking through their archive. Adding "No title" doesn't seem correct as it likely does have a title, just one that we don't know at the moment. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested «@» °∆t° 10:38, 7 March 2026 (UTC)

Author-link

Would it make any sense to include a link to an article on an author which is not in English? If so, how would one format it? I was excited to find that Template:Ill has an article, but is it irrelevant for a reference here?  Mr.choppers | ✎  03:23, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

The only way to link in citation templates to a foreign-language article about an author is via |author-link=:xx:name, e.g. . -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 03:40, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

How to cite different chapters in a single AV media reference

I'm having trouble figuring out how to cite certain chapters from this 60-page booklet I'm using as a reference in the Tremors (1990 film) article. At the moment I'm using Template:Cite AV media notes with a Harvard citation to cite each chapter, but something tells me that it's not intuitive to do so as I do here Tremors (1990 film)#Media cited (notice how I use the same booklet five times?). So, how do I go about making this work without using the template that much? Nineteen Ninety-Four guy (talk) 08:21, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

See Template:T. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 11:56, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

i18n: 'etal' for display-authors

<syntaxhighlight lang="lua"> if 'etal' == max:lower():gsub("[ '%.]", ) then -- the :gsub() portion makes 'etal' from a variety of 'et al.' spellings and stylings </syntaxhighlight>

Keyword 'etal' is hardcoded in Module:Citation/CS1, making it difficult for i18n. Please transfer it to the keywords table in /configutaiton. Thanks in advance.--Namoroka (talk) 04:50, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

accept-as-written

What change(s) to what modules would be needed to remove the need to add the (( )) accept-as-written markup from |issue= in cite journal and cite news so that numbers like 12,345 appear without a space? I'm not proposing this change, I'd just like to know for a private wiki I'm helping set up. Nthep (talk) 15:31, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Find the line <syntaxhighlight lang="lua" inline="1">Issue = utilities.hyphen_to_dash (Issue);</syntaxhighlight> in Module:Citation/CS1 and comment it out.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 16:00, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

@Trappist the monk thanks. Nthep (talk) 16:33, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Request for adding new parameters to {{cite book}}

Hi, Kartik here. I would like to request adding support for two common library classification identifiers to the CS1 suite (specifically {{cite book}}): |lcc= and |ddc=

While we do currently support identifiers like |lccn= (Library of Congress Control Number) and |oclc=, these refer to specific catalog records rather than the topical classification of the work itself. Many library APIs also sometimes provide these fields alongside LCCN and OCLC.

Example citation of the book "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" using LCC and DDC:

{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart J. Russell |title=Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach |last2=Norvig |first2=Peter |author-link2=Peter Norvig |date=December 1, 2009 |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |isbn=978-0136042594 |edition=3rd |lcc=Q335 .R86 2010 |ddc=006.3 |lccn=2011-288031 |oclc=359890490 |ol=24430154M}} RightYiZheng (talk) 14:31, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I don't think so. We really don't care what shelving system an individual library uses. Of course Template:Tq include a shelving system identifier; it helps that library's patrons find the source on the library's shelf. That same identifier may not be of any use to someone using a library with a different shelving system.

I don't think we should be adding |lcc= or |ddc= to .

—Trappist the monk (talk) 14:50, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I agree with Trappist. We have a long-standing, though mostly silent, consensus not to use Dewey Decimal, LCC, or other shelving system numbers in our citations. They are not really helpful to readers who want to locate a source for themselves. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:32, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Category:CS1 errors: generic name

Would Special:Search/insource:"last=results" be worth adding? If not, would anybody like to remove those from the pages? 1234qwer1234qwer4 23:03, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Category:CS1 maint: deprecated archival service vs usurped links

Quick question (ideally) - links that have been marked as usurped should be supressed in the citation templates, right? Is supressing the archive.today link messing with that? I've seen this a few times, I believe, but just now I came across [2] ref 12 on Jeremy Geidt which is marked as usurped, but presents a link to the reader which still takes you to that usurped page. GreenLipstickLesbian💌🧸 07:54, 21 March 2026 (UTC)

Hide all the links! Izno (talk) 08:30, 21 March 2026 (UTC)