Template:Self reference/doc

The template generates a hatnote that will not appear in any reuse of Wikipedia article content, including the printable version of an article. The template's intended purpose is to display information that is relevant only to a reader viewing the article directly within Wikipedia. Such information might include a disambiguation statement that points to a Wikipedia help page or an instruction to editors. (In Wikipedia terminology, these are forms of self-reference.)

Unlike many hatnote templates, has no preset text, link generation, or formatting other than italics. simply returns Foo. Many hatnote templates that do contain helpful preset text and linking, such as for and about, support a selfref parameter that gives them the same functionality as, making them better options in most circumstances.

In most cases, references to the Wikipedia project are discouraged, and the valid uses for this template are rare. Consultation of the list of Self-references to avoid is advisable.

Usage
In most cases, is used to create a disambiguation link to a page in the "Wikipedia:" namespace from article-space; for instance, the page Objectivity (disambiguation) could have a self-referential "hatnote" link at the top:.

When using in this way, use the following format:

which produces:

italicized (Wikipedia house style for self-referential notes), and both preceded and followed by a linebreak.

For inline use (in body text, mid-sentence, and in hatnotes), without the indentation and line breaking, use :

which produces: (illustrated here on the same line as other content).

Template also has the parameter inline:

However, it does not always function properly, and may cause a line break under some circumstances.

Unprintworthy content
Rarely, there is other, non-self-referential content which shouldn't appear in mirrors, print editions, or other off-Wikipedia reuses of Wikipedia content, and which shouldn't be italicized as a self-reference.

It is preferable to mark such unprintworthy content with the Unprintworthy inline template (which includes the  CSS class, but not the   class, since links in such content will not be internal self-references). Although not all mirror sites do so, the content in question can be removed by reusers of WP content, without any reformatting, by ignoring or removing content marked up by this template, or more accurately by the  CSS class that it (and some other templates) use.

Note: The following syntax has been obsolete since 2008, and if you see it, replace it as described below.

There was a, pre-2008 legacy usage of that was used for such unprintworthy cases, and pre-dates the Unprintworthy inline template. This is to simply end the template with a pipe character – :

This method cannot be depended upon. For one thing, many editors would interpret the ending pipe as an error and remove it, turning the template into an indented self-ref hatnote! It also has not been used since 2008. Any remaining uses of it should be replaced with Selfref inline (if real a self-references) or Unprintworthy inline (if simply unprintworthy).