This template is used to convert commonly abbreviated things such as countries, states, provinces, and even language codes to and from their abbreviations. A hierarchical tree of subtemplates allows this template to convert virtually anything, which is really good for use in a backdoor template. If you have the word "California", but the template you're trying to use will only recognize "CA", use this to convert it!  How to use the template Syntax:   This template consists of a "tree" of subtemplates containing databases of abbreviations. Each successive parameter in the code input tells the template which database to query. The datatype parameter is the most broad and tells the template what type of information you are looking for (i.e. Countries, states, or languages). The specification parameter refines the search. For example, if the datatype parameter is "ISO 3166-1", that tells the template to look for a subtype (alpha2, alpha3, or numeric). If the datatype parameter is "ISO 3166-2", the template will look for a specific country (Canada, Mexico, United States, etc.). If the datatype parameter is "ISO 639-1", the template looks for the name of a language (English, Spanish, Zulu, etc.). The value parameter is the actual name or abbreviation the user wishes to convert.  The force parameter overrides the normal nature of the conversion and forces an abbreviation or a long word to be returned. This is useful when a user may input either an abbreviation or a full name, but the template in question can only accept one of them.  If the ISO codes are a little hard to remember, there are also shortcuts:  can also be called by  or .Note: The default for country abbreviations is alpha-2. For alpha-3 and numeric abbreviations, the user must specify the type in the specification parameter.  can also be called by , , , or .  can also be called by  or .Note: The default for language abbreviations is ISO 639-1. For ISO 639-2 abbreviations, the user must specify the type in the specification parameter.  can also be called by .  Supported datasets  ISO 3166-1 – Country abbreviations  alpha-2 – Two-letter abbreviations  alpha-3 – Three-letter abbreviations  numeric – Numeric equations thumb|400px|Countries supported in ISO 3166-2: Supported Not yet supported Does not exist in ISO 3166-2  ISO 3166-2 – State/provincial abbreviationsNote: All ISO 3166-2 codes should not include the 3166-1 country code in the value parameter. (e.g. If you're looking for Paris ["FR-75" in ISO 3166-2:FR], you should only type "75" and not "FR-75".)  ISO 3166-2:AU – States and territories of Australia  ISO 3166-2:BR – States of Brazil  ISO 3166-2:CA – Canadian subnational postal abbreviations  ISO 3166-2:CN – Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China  ISO 3166-2:DE – States of Germany  ISO 3166-2:EG – Governorates of Egypt  ISO 3166-2:ES – Provinces of Spain  ISO 3166-2:FR – Departments of France  ISO 3166-2:GB – Administrative geography of the United Kingdom  ISO 3166-2:ID – Provinces of Indonesia  ISO 3166-2:IE – Counties of Ireland  ISO 3166-2:IN – States and territories of India  ISO 3166-2:IT – Provinces of Italy  ISO 3166-2:JP – Prefectures of Japan  ISO 3166-2:MX – Political divisions of Mexico  ISO 3166-2:NG – States of Nigeria  ISO 3166-2:PK – Administrative units of Pakistan  ISO 3166-2:RU – Federal subjects of Russia  ISO 3166-2:TR – Provinces of Turkey  ISO 3166-2:US – United States postal abbreviations  ISO 3166-2:VN – Provinces of Vietnam  ISO 639 – Language codes  ISO 639-1 – Two letter codes  ISO 639-2 – Three letter codes   Usage Examples   From Name to Abbreviation  Code  Returns    {{ConvertAbbrev|ISO 3166-1|alpha-2|United Kingdom}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|Countries|alpha-3|United States}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|ISO 3166-2|CA|Alberta}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|Countries|Mexico|Federal District}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|ISO 639-1|Russian}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|Languages|Chinese}}       From Abbreviation to Name  Code  Returns    {{ConvertAbbrev|ISO 3166-1|alpha-2|GB}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|Countries|alpha-3|USA}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|ISO 3166-2|CA|AB}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|Countries|Mexico|DF}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|ISO 639-1|ru}}         {{ConvertAbbrev|Languages|zh}}       Sub-pages For a list of all the sub-pages of this template, see: Special:PrefixIndex/Template:ConvertAbbrev