# வார்ப்புரு:ConvertAbbrev/doc


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 **abbr**eviation 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
  - .
<small>**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.</small>  
- can also be called by
  - ,
  - ,
  - , or
  - .
- can also be called by
  - or
  - .
<small>**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.</small>  
- 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

- ISO 3166-2 – State/provincial abbreviations
<small>**Note:** 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".)</small>  
  - ISO 3166-2:AU – States and territories of Australia
  - ISO 3166-2:BD – Districts of Bangladesh
  - ISO 3166-2:BR – States of Brazil
  - ISO 3166-2:CA – Canadian subnational postal abbreviations
  - ISO 3166-2:CN – Administrative divisions 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
<table>  
<tr>  
<td><table>  
<caption>**From Name to Abbreviation**</caption>  
<th>Code</th>  
<th>Returns</th>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
</table></td>  
<td><table>  
<caption>**From Abbreviation to Name**</caption>  
<th>Code</th>  
<th>Returns</th>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
<tr>  
<td><code></code></td>  
<td></td>  
</tr>  
</table></td>  
</tr>  
</table>  

## Sub-pages
For a list of all the sub-pages of this template, see:  
Special:PrefixIndex/Template:ConvertAbbrev