Help:CS1 errors: Difference between revisions

=== Preview messages ===

When editors preview an article, MediaWiki displays a preview message box under the Preview header.  When {{cs1}} and {{cs2}} templates have error or maintenance messages, [[Module:Citation/CS1]] summarizes those messages in the preview message box.  Such a message box might look something like this:

The summary messages have three components:

#a colored ({{color|#3a3|green maintenance}} or {{color|#d33|red error}}) message that identifies the type of template that has a message with a link to that template's documentation; wrapper templates with messages will show the name of the wrapped template, and;

#'messages may be hidden' – the message suffix with a help link to this page.

=== Error and maintenance messages ===

Even with this CSS installed, older pages in Wikipedia's cache may not have been updated to show these error messages even though the page is listed in one of the tracking categories. A [[WP:NULLEDIT|null edit]] will resolve that issue.

To hide normally-displayed <span style="color:#d33">error messages</span>:

You can personalize the display of these messages (such as changing the color), but you will need to ask someone who knows CSS or at [[WP:VPT|the technical village pump]] if you do not understand how.

=== Properties category highlighting ===

[[Module:Citation/CS1]] adds properties categories to some CS1|2 citations.  Unlike errors or maintenance needs, there is no message when a properties category is added.  Properties categories may be temporary or may be perpetual.  Editors can use CSS to add special styling to CS1|2 template renderings that will highlight a citation that added a properties category.  For example, this template uses a long volume name:

:<code><nowiki>{{cite book |title=Title |date=May–Jun 2021 |volume = 1: Long volume}}</nowiki></code>

If you add this to your CSS that citation will render with a {{background|#FFC|pale yellow}} background:

:<syntaxhighlight lang="css">.cs1-prop-long-vol {background: #FFC;}</syntaxhighlight>

::{{code|lang=css|.cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source {}|}} – subcategories of {{cl|CS1 foreign language sources}}

::{{code|lang=css|.cs1-prop-foreign-lang-source-2 {}|}} – {{cl|CS1 foreign language sources (ISO 639-2)}}

::{{code|lang=css|.cs1-prop-location-test {}|}} – {{cl|CS1 location test‎}}

::{{code|lang=css|.cs1-prop-long-vol {}|}} – {{cl|CS1: long volume value}}

==Most common errors==

<!-- Items listed here with ~10k or more -->

Pages with this error are automatically placed in {{#invoke:cs1 documentation support|help_text_cats|err_accessdate_missing_url|pages=yes}}.<ref group="lower-alpha" name="categories" /><section end="accessdate_missing_url_help_text" />

==<span id="archive_url">|archive-url= is malformed </span>==

{{endplainlist}}

To resolve this error, ensure that the date is an actual date and that the date format follows the [[MOS:DATEFORMAT|Wikipedia Manual of Style's guidance on dates]] in the named parameter. See [[Help:CS1 errors#ExamplesOfUnacceptableDates|examples of unacceptable dates and how to fix them]], below.  Or, some conceptual issues to look for:

* impossible dates, such as 29 February 2011 (2011 was not a leap year)

* misplaced, incorrect, or extraneous punctuation

* misplaced, incorrect, or extraneous spacing

* other unacceptable date formats listed in [[MOS:BADDATEFORMAT]]

* more than one date in a date-holding parameter

* years before 100 AD, including BCE/BC dates. Try using parameter {{para|orig-date}} instead.  

: {{error-small|invalid form}} – 10-digit ISBNs with the mis-positioned 'X' character

: {{error-small|invalid group id}} – 13-digit ISBN begins with '9790'; this prefix / group ID combination is reserved to [[ISMN]]

* '''Do not''' try to resolve the error by simply recalculating the check digit.  The check digit is there to check whether the main part of the number is correct.  If the ISBN is failing to validate, it is likely that there is a typo in the main part of the number.  In this case, recalculating the check digit results in an apparently valid ISBN that leads to the wrong source (or to nowhere).

Pages with this error are automatically placed in {{#invoke:cs1 documentation support|help_text_cats|err_bad_lccn|pages=yes}}.<ref group="lower-alpha" name="categories" /><section end="bad_lccn_help_text" />

==<span id="bad_message_id">Check |message-id= value</span>==

<section begin="bad_message_id_help_text" />{{help desk}}{{#invoke:Cs1 documentation support|help_text_error_messages|err_bad_usenet_id}}

Further validation is not performed.

==<span id="bad_url">Check |url= value</span>==

Top- and second-level domain names are checked for proper form.  Generally, top-level domain names must be two or more letters; second-level domain names must be two or more letters, digits, or hyphens (first and last character must be a letter or digit).  [[Single-letter second-level domain]]s are supported for:

* certain letters of the [[.com]] TLD (q, x, z)

* certain letters of the [[.net]] TLD (i, q)

Third- and subsequent-level domain names are not checked.  The path portion of the URL is not checked.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in {{#invoke:cs1 documentation support|help_text_cats|err_bad_url|pages=yes}}.<ref group="lower-alpha" name="categories" /><section end="bad_url_help_text" />

*{{#invoke:Cs1 documentation support|help_text_error_messages|err_param_unknown_empty|$1=s|$2=<code class="cs1-code">{{pipe}}&lt;param1>=</code>, <code class="cs1-code">{{pipe}}&lt;param2>=</code>, ...}}}}

Empty positional parameters, which typically look like two adjacent pipes in a template, <code><nowiki>| |</nowiki></code>, or a pipe and then the end of the template, <code><nowiki>|}}</nowiki></code>, are identified as numbered parameters: {{error-small|{{para|1|plain=yes}}}}.  Similarly, a pipe followed by an HTML comment that encloses everything before the next pipe or closing brace, <code>| &lt;!--&lt;{{var|param name/value pair}}>--> |</code> will be identified as an empty numbered parameter. Parameters that have both a pipe and an equal sign but do not have a name are identified as empty-string parameters: <code>|=</code> or <code>| =</code> → {{error-small|{{para|(empty string)|plain=yes}}}}.  Various templates that wrap CS1|2 templates may cause this error when they use constructs like this: <code><nowiki>|{{#if:{{{2|}}}|title}}={{{2|}}}</nowiki></code>.  When <code><nowiki>{{{2|}}}</nowiki></code> does not have a value, the template creates <code>|=</code>.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in {{#invoke:cs1 documentation support|help_text_cats|err_param_unknown_empty|pages=yes}}.<ref group="lower-alpha" name="categories" /><section end="param_unknown_empty_help_text" />

==<span id="missing_periodical"></span>Cite &lt;template> requires |&lt;param>===

<section begin="missing_periodical_help_text" />{{help desk}}{{#invoke:Cs1 documentation support|help_text_error_messages|err_missing_periodical|$1=&lt;template>|$2=&lt;param>}}

These CS1 periodical templates require a periodical parameter. The periodical templates are:

* {{para|work}}

Pages with this error are automatically placed in {{#invoke:cs1 documentation support|help_text_cats|err_missing_periodical|pages=yes}}.<ref group="lower-alpha" name="categories" /><section end="missing_periodical_help_text" />

! style="width: 6em;" | Date

|-

|}<section end="deprecated_params_table" /><section end="deprecated_params_help_text" /><section begin="deleted_params_table" />

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{|class="wikitable"

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: <span class="error" style="font-size:100%">unknown language code</span> – the {{para|script-&lt;{{var|param}}>}} parameter has a (possibly valid) language code that CS1|2 does not recognize as a language using a non-Latin script

Language codes known to CS1|2 for languages that do not use a Latin script are:

Pages with this error are automatically placed in {{#invoke:cs1 documentation support|help_text_cats|err_apostrophe_markup|pages=yes}}.<ref group="lower-alpha" name="categories" /><section end="apostrophe_markup_help_text" />

==<span id="missing_name">Missing |&lt;name>''n''=</span>==

|-

| {{para|chapter-url-access}} || {{para|chapter-url}}

==<span id="embargo_missing_pmc">|pmc-embargo-date= requires |pmc=</span>==

<section begin="ssrn_missing_help_text" />{{help desk}}{{#invoke:Cs1 documentation support|help_text_error_messages|err_ssrn_missing}}

To resolve this error, ensure that the template has {{para|ssrn}} with a properly constructed value.

*{{#invoke:Cs1 documentation support|help_text_error_messages|err_parameter_ignored_suggest|$1=&lt;param>|$2=&lt;sparam>}}}}

   

The CS1|2 engine does not ignore unrecognized parameters. The purpose of the citation is to properly identify the source, not to act as a repository of notes and ancillary information.

<!-- When moving this section keep <section begin="notes_help_text"> (located above this section header) attacted -->

{{reflist |group=lower-alpha |refs=

}}<section end="notes_help_text" /><!--

When moving this section keep the following attached to the References section below --><section begin="references_help_text" />