Magic words

What are magic words?

A "magic word" is a symbol recognized by the MediaWiki software. It triggers the software to do something other than display that symbol, or transclude a page with that name, but instead to use the symbol directly.

There are four types of magic words:

Type of magic word	Syntax	Example magic word	Example output
variable	{{FOO}}	{{FULLPAGENAME}}	Training:EN/MagicWords
	returns information about the page, wiki, or date is mainly used within templates
tag	<foo>	<tagsearch cat="Training">
	implemented in PHP as part of a MediaWiki extension tags with "bs:" prefix com from BlueSpice. See Reference:TagSearch all others come form MediaWiki or from third-party extensions, e.g. Extension:SyntaxHighlight
behavior switch	__FOO__	__NOTOC__	hides the table of contents (TOC)
	controls the layout or behavior of the page (if supported by the skin) includes or omits certain elements of the page also known as "double underscore" can be put anywhere in the source code of the designated page (usually at the end of the page), with exception of __TOC__ (output of the table of contents is where the behavior switch is inserted
parser function	{{foo:...}} or {{#foo:...}}	{{#dateformat:date|ISO 8601}}	2019-12-31
		{{{#userslink:(who?)}	shows all users who are online
		{{#hwinfobox:}}	shows five latest changes with the dates
	similar to a variable, but takes one or more parameters. used to program simple logic into pages (templates). Only for simple logic! Be aware: hard to read / maintain if in larger scale! If complex logic is required, consider Lua script in "Module" namespace (Extension:Scribunto) and invoke using {{#invoke:...}} can also be "tag-like", e.g. {{#ask:...}} from SemanticMediaWiki see Help:Extension:ParserFunctions and Help:Magic_words#Parser_functions {{#ifeq:{{{type}}}|warning |This is a warning! | }}

How to add a magic word

Magic words are inserted directly in the source code. Some frequently used magic words can also be added directly with the VisualEditor "Insert > Magic word" menu item:

Related information

• MediaWiki: Full list of MediaWiki MagicWords
• Extension: BlueSpiceInsertMagic
• Technical Reference: BlueSpiceInsertMagic