Template:!/doc

This is the {{!}} meta-template. Its use is analogous to an escape character.

This is an auxiliary template allowing the encoding of "|" within template parameters, because the pipe character is normally interpreted as a separator. This template is necessary if the character is used in wiki table syntax, or if the parameter is automatically wikilinked and you wish to use a pipe to specify different link text from the target page name. In other cases it is better to use "|".

This template cannot be used for putting the character as text in a wiki table; in that case, again, "|" can be used.

Note that no special template is needed for "!" (exclamation mark).

This is a high-risk template, and it usually cannot be substituted (see conditions for substing on the section below).

Substitution

It is possible to substitute {{!}} only if an unescaped "|" works as expected, i.e. after substituting the template containing {{!}}, or after eliminating an #if containing {{!}}.

A simple example

The following template code for {{Quotation}} using an ordinary pipe character,

• {{Quotation|It is not possible to use an ordinary pipe character | in template parameters, as it will be interpreted as a separator.|[[Help:Template#Usage hints and workarounds]]}}

produces:

It is not possible to use an ordinary pipe character

— in template parameters, as it will be interpreted as a separator., Help:Template#Usage hints and workarounds

whereas this code using the {{!}} meta-template,

• {{Quotation|It is not possible to use an ordinary pipe character {{!}} in template parameters, as it will be interpreted as a separator.|[[Help:Template#Usage hints and workarounds]]}}

produces:

It is not possible to use an ordinary pipe character | in template parameters, as it will be interpreted as a separator.

— Help:Template#Usage hints and workarounds

• {{!!}} creates ||
• {{!-}} creates |-
• {{-!}} creates  |
• {{'}} and related
• Wikipedia:Conditional tables
• {{pipe}}—Note that this one looks like {{!}} but has a very different meaning for the MediaWiki parser and thus has different functionality.
• {{pound}} creates #
• {{(}} creates {
• {{)}} creates }
• {{((}} creates {{
• {{))}} creates }}
• {{!(}} creates [
• {{)!}} creates ]
• {{(!}} creates {|
• {{!)}} creates |}
• {{=}} creates =
• {{Bar box}}—since {{Bar}} redirects here