Ref/doc

This documentation is for the , ,  and  templates. The note templates place notes into an article, and the ref templates place labeled references to the notes, with the labels normally hyperlinks for navigating from a ref to a corresponding note and back from the note to the ref. The label pair of templates are similar to the pair without the label name, but with more features.

The links and backlinks are identified internally by combining the specified parameters. The templates accepts a number of unnamed parameters identified by their position. It also accepts a named parameter (named noid) which is deprecated since its introduction.

The first parameter of  is a label that has to be used for the parameter of the corresponding . The label is used to form the fragment identifier for the footnote link and back link. The second parameter of  is the footnote reference marker, shown as a superscript. The easiest choice is to make these two the same, but this is not a requirement. If the second parameter is not supplied, the marker is a superscripted external link of the form [n].

Syntax 
The following illustrates the general syntax of each template:
 
 
 
 

Description of each parameter is as follows:

id
Identifier for a note and its back link (mandatory). This is the only mandatory parameter for  and  couple, which can be used to add simple footnotes.

Every pair of  and , as well as every pair of  and , should have unique identifiers. This applies even if two references pointing to the same footnote are desired. (Correct method of implementing this feature is illustrated further below.) Duplicate identifiers generate invalid code, to which web browsers react differently. Some browsers report errors, while others may randomly keep one id and discard others silently. In all cases, however, navigation between some footnote marks and their body texts does not work as desired. See Help:Markup validation.

label
Label text displayed where these templates are inserted (mandatory for  and ). The following explains template specific behavior:
In ,  and , the label appears in superscript; in , the label appear as standard-sized baseline bold text.
In ,  and , the label is also hyperlinked and helps navigating back and forth between the inline footnote marker (in the prose) and its body text. , however, attaches not hyperlink to the label but disregards this parameter when the backlink parameter (explained later) is present.
In , the label is always enclosed in brackets.

This parameter is optional in  and , therefore:
 displays a unique number in square brackets if this parameter is omitted. (See example above.)
 appends this label to a back linked caret (^), so if omitted, only a caret is displayed. (See example above.)

There is no mandate to include this parameter in both ref and note portion at the same time. In fact, there may be the need to do the opposite. This example shows how to use  and  to link multiple footnote markers of the same appearance to the same footnote.

backlink
As explained above,  does not generate a back link from label parameter. A unique parameter of -, backlink is a complementary parameter that is part id and part label:
"Complementary parameter" means a - may either forgo this parameter or must both have it.
"Part id" means in a - pair, both ends must have the same backlink value. In addition, in any - pair, the combination of id and backlink must be unique.
"Part label" means in , this parameter completely overrides label parameter.
A  with a backlink cannot connect to a . Likewise, a  with a backlink cannot connect to a .

Example:

This parameter (backlink) also accepts the special value "none" (without quotation marks), which causes a caret to appear where  is placed.

text
In all previous examples, the body text of a piece of footnote was inserted outside  or  template. However, it is possible to insert the body text inside the template, in place of text parameter. Everything put inside text parameter glows when the user clicks on the footnote mark. In the example below, try clicking on S and </sup>T</sup> and see the difference.

Since the footnote body text starts without a delimiter after this string, there is a caveat: If the footnote body text start with a lowercase letter, the first word may be attached to the back link. (For more info, see Help:Wikilinks.)

noid=noid
Deprecated parameter – Suppresses back linking from note component to ref. In case of , an active hyperlink still appears, although it is broken. 

This parameter was originally meant to alleviate the problem of connecting many ref tags with the same ID to one note tag with that ID. However, it only replaces one form of broken code with another. Consider using  instead, which does not generate any back link unless configured to do so. There must always be one and only one note template for every ref template with the same id.

Additional examples

Unique ID issue
As explained earlier, the id parameter for every - pair should be unique. The following example shows what happens when two refs use the same id. Try navigating from bulleted text to footnotes and back.

Table footnotes 
One common application for ref and note templates is in placing footnotes below tables, as in the following example taken from the Kent#Economy article:

<li>
<li>
<li>

Alternative referencing style 
Using ref/note tags is not the only way to create footnotes. Cite.php is currently the preferred method of creating footnotes, especially when the number of footnotes increases and the size of the article (or the area in which footnotes are used) grows. Ref converter can convert ref/note tags to the newer Cite.php style.

The following examples compares two method and also shows how they can be combined:

Also see examples and explanation in Wikipedia:Footnote3.

See also 
 Wikipedia:Footnote3, an essay on this method of creating footnotes.
 Help:Footnotes
 Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
 :Category:Citation templates, including those not part of the "Ref/Note Label" system.