Template:Merge/doc
 | This is a documentation subpage for Template:Merge. It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
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{{Wikipedia:Article alerts/Bot use warning}}
Which merge template should I use?
Do not use this tag on a Wikipedia WP:template or WP:category—instead see below for instructions.
- To merge at least two articles together at an unspecified location, use
{{Merge|OtherPage}} - To merge the contents of the tagged article into another article, use
{{Merge to|DestinationPage}} - If the contents of another article should be merged into the tagged article, use
{{Merge from|SourcePage}}– the opposite of{{Merge to}}; - To suggest merging only some material from one article to another, use
{{Merge portions from|SourcePage}}and{{Split portions|DestinationPage}}
Terminology
Source page is the page that content is merged from.
Destination page or target page is the page that content is merged into.
Other page is any page involved in a merger.
When to use and when not to use
These templates are used primarily to identify potential merges that would benefit from discussion. If it is obvious that a merge would be appropriate, then you may boldly merge the pages yourself without tagging and without discussion. Some editors also use these tags to mark pages that obviously require merging in the hope that someone else will merge the pages.
After adding the merge tag, you are expected to create a section on the talk page of the appropriate article (see below for details) explaining your rationale for the merge proposal. If the rationale is so obvious that it requires no explanation, then you should consider boldly merging the pages yourself, or explain on the talk page why you didn't do so yourself.
- If you want to propose merging a category, you must do so at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion, using the specific templates available there.
- If you want to propose merging a template, you must do so at Wikipedia:Templates for discussion, using the specific templates available there.
How to use
Simple example
Tagging a single page, without specifying source or destination, is simple:
| Markup | Renders as |
|---|---|
{{Merge|OtherPage |date=June 2022 }}
or
{{Merge |OtherPage |{{subst:DATE}} }}
|
|
When you want to discuss a simple merge of one page into another, tag both source and destination page:
| Markup | Renders as | ||
|---|---|---|---|
{{Merge to |DestinationPage |date=June 2022 }}
or
{{Merge to |DestinationPage |{{subst:DATE}} }}
|
| ||
| Markup | Renders as | ||
|---|---|---|---|
{{Merge from |SourcePage |date=June 2022 }}
or
{{Merge from |SourcePage |{{subst:DATE}} }}
|
| ||
This allows editors at both pages to see the proposed source and destination.
Other options
By default, the Discuss link on the template links to the top of the destination page's talk page. To specify which section, or to name a different talk page entirely, use the |discuss= parameter:
{{Merge|OtherPage |discuss=Talk:OtherPage#Merger discussion |date=June 2022}}
To name multiple pages to be merged, simply separate them with a vertical pipe. You can add up to 20 articles to be merged:
{{Merge|OtherPage1 |OtherPage2 |OtherPage3 |discuss=Talk:OtherPage#Merger discussion |date=June 2022}}
To name multiple pages to merge into a single page, use the |target= parameter. For example, to merge the tagged page, as well as SourcePage1, SourcePage2, and SourcePage3 into DestinationPage, use:
{{Merge|SourcePage1 |SourcePage2 |SourcePage3 |target=DestinationPage |discuss=Talk:OtherPage#Merger discussion |date=June 2022}}
If you are placing the template in a section, you can use |section=yes to change the wording to reflect this:
{{Merge|OtherPage |discuss=Talk:OtherPage#Merger discussion |date=June 2022 |section=yes}}
- Do not link to the pages with square brackets.
For example, write{{Merge|OtherPage}}, not{{Merge|[[OtherPage]]}} - If you don't supply a date, a bot will add it later.
- The date may not be shown in the box. Do not be concerned about this. It is used when grouping tagged pages together into categories by date.
- These templates will add tagged articles to Category:Articles to be merged, while non-articles (files, templates, etc.) will be added to Category:Miscellany to be merged.
- For {{Merge}}, if you are specifying a merge of two or more pages in different namespaces, the template supports this via specification of the full page name, including the namespace prefix.
|nspace=can take on namespace values, which fixes all params to the namespace specified. - Do not
subst:these templates.
When to remove
There is no deadline for completing proposed merges. Pages that have been tagged for a long time (frequently more than one year) generally fall into these groups:
- Discussion supported the proposed merge, but no one did it yet
- Feel free to merge the pages yourself.
- Discussion opposed merge, but nobody removed the tags
- Feel free to remove the tags yourself.
- No discussion found
- Feel free to remove the tags if you believe the merge would be a poor choice, or to boldly merge the pages if you believe the merge would be appropriate. Or feel free to start a discussion if you are uncertain or feel it would be controversial.
TemplateData
TemplateData for Merge
This is a hatnote template that proposes to merge the page it is applied to with one or more other pages.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other page | 1 | This is the page with which this article should be merged. Note: 19 additional pages to merge can be added manually as optional parameters. | Page name | required |
| Second page | 2 | Second page to be involved in the merger | Page name | optional |
| Third page | 3 | Third page to be involved in the merger | Page name | optional |
| Destination page | target | When listing several pages to merge, name one proposed destination page for the merger with this parameter. | Page name | optional |
| Month and year | date | The month and year that the template was placed (in full). "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}" inserts the current month and year automatically.
| Line | suggested |
| Discussion | discuss discussion | Discussion related to the merge proposal; typically on the talk page of the destination page (default is ''Other page''). Insert the full page name (with namespace). | Page name | optional |
| Section | section | If you are placing the template in a section, set this parameter to "yes". | Line | optional |
| Page(s) namespace | nspace | Optional namespace of the pages involved in the merger (though not the destination page, if specified). Default is "all", which allows specifying pages across multiple namespaces for merge. Can be customized according to the accepted nspace values at Template:Pagelist. | Line | optional |
TemplateData for Merge to
This is a hatnote template that proposes to merge the page it is applied into one or more specified pages. Use 'merge from' to tag the destination page(s).
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Destination page | 1 | This is the page into which this article should be merged. Note: 19 additional pages to merge into can be added manually as optional parameters. | Page name | required |
| Second page | 2 | Second page that the article should be merged into | Page name | optional |
| Third page | 3 | Third page that the article should be merged into | Page name | optional |
| Month and year | date | The month and year that the template was placed (in full). "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}" inserts the current month and year automatically.
| Line | suggested |
| Discussion | discuss discussion | Discussion related to the merge proposal; default is on the talk page of the destination page. Insert the full page name (with namespace). | Page name | optional |
| Section | section | If you are placing the template in a section, set this parameter to "yes". | Line | optional |
TemplateData for Merge from
This is a hatnote template that proposes to merge one or more specified pages into the tagged page. Use 'merge to' to tag the source page(s).
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source page | 1 | This is the page from which content should be merged into this article. Note: 19 additional pages to merge from can be added manually as optional parameters. | Page name | required |
| Second page | 2 | Second page that should be merged into this article | Page name | optional |
| Third page | 3 | Third page that should be merged into this article | Page name | optional |
| Month and year | date | The month and year that the template was placed (in full). "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}" inserts the current month and year automatically.
| Line | suggested |
| Discussion | discuss discussion | Discussion related to the merge proposal; default is on the talk page of the destination page. Insert the full page name (with namespace). | Page name | optional |
| Section | section | If you are placing the template in a section, set this parameter to "yes". | Line | optional |
See also
{{Wikipedia:Template messages/Splitting/List|noheading=yes}}{{Wikipedia:Template messages/Merging/List|noheading=yes}}