Help:Style

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These style conventions encourage tidy, organized, and visually consistent articles. Follow them as closely as possible when editing the ArchWiki.

Article pages

Title

Titles should use sentence case, e.g. "Title for new page" is correct, while "Title for New Page" is not. Note that common words that are part of a proper name or an upper-case acronym must be capitalized, e.g. "Advanced Linux Sound Architecture", not "Advanced Linux sound architecture".
Namespaces are not considered part of titles, so "ArchWiki:Example article" is correct, while "ArchWiki:example article" is not. Subpage names should start with a capital letter, so "My page/My subpage" is correct, while "My page/my subpage" is not.
By default, the topic name in titles should be in the singular form; it should be in the plural form if it represents a group or class of something and is a countable noun or perceived as such.
Unless the subject of the article is primarily known by its acronym, prefer using the full name in the title of the article. Do not include both the full name and the acronym (e.g. in parentheses) in the title, but rather use a redirect on the acronym page that points to the page titled with the full name.
Titles of localized pages must follow Help:i18n#Page titles.
See the Help:Article naming guidelines article for more information.

Layout

Order elements in an article as follows:

#Magic words (optional)
#Categories
#Interlanguage links (optional)
#Article status templates (optional)
#Related articles box (optional)
#Preface or introduction
Table of contents (automatic)
Article-specific sections

Magic words

Behavior switches — and in general, all of the magic words that change how an article is displayed or behaves but do not add content by themselves — should all go at the very top of articles.
This rule applies in particular to {{DISPLAYTITLE:title}} and Template:Lowercase title, which makes use of the former.

Interlanguage links

If the article has translations in the local or an external Arch Linux wiki, interlanguage links must be included right below the categories and above the first line of text.
Note that they will actually appear in the appropriate column to the left side of the page.
There should be no blank lines between interlanguage links and the first line of text, because this introduces extra space at the top of the article.
When adding or editing interlanguage links you should take care of repeating your action for all the already existing translations.
Do not add more than one interlanguage link for each language to an article.
Do not add interlanguage links for the same language of the article.
The interlanguage links must be sorted alphabetically based on the language tag, not the local name, so for example [[fi:Title]] comes before [[fr:Title]] even though "Suomi" would come after "Français".
See the Help:i18n and Wikipedia:Help:Interlanguage links articles for more information.

Article status templates

Article status templates that refer to the whole article must be included right below the categories (or interlanguage links, if present) and right above the introduction (or the Related articles box, if present).
Article status templates that refer to a specific portion of an article must be placed as close as possible above such portion, but appropriately avoiding to break paragraphs, code blocks or other pre-existing templates.
Always accompany an article status template with some words of explanation in the dedicated field (examples are provided in each template's page), possibly even opening a discussion in the talk page.

Preface or introduction

Describes the topic of the article.
Rather than paraphrasing or writing your own (possibly biased) description of a piece of software, you can use the upstream author's description, which can usually be found on the project's home page or about page, if it exists. An example is MediaTomb.
Included right above the first section of the article.
Do not explicitly make an == Introduction == or == Preface == section: let it appear above the first section heading. A table of contents is shown automatically between the preface and first section when there are sufficient sections in the article.
See Help:Writing article introductions for more information.

Standard sections

"Installation" section

The Installation section describes how to install the software, see #Package management instructions.
Use the standard title of Installation and order it early in the article.

"Known issues" section

Known issues sections are used for known bugs or usage problems which do not have a solution yet (compare to #"Troubleshooting" section).
Use the standard title of Known issues and order it early in the article.
If a bug report exists for the known issue, it is very desirable that you provide a link to it. If it does not exist, you should report it yourself, thus increasing the chances that the bug will be fixed.
Refrain from mentioning dates or version numbers (for example, "Linux kernel 3.17 does not support device XYZ as of October 2014 yet.") whenever possible. Again, prefer to link references like bug reports for follow-up information instead.

"Tips and tricks" section

Tips and tricks sections provide advanced tips or examples of using the software.
Use the standard title of Tips and tricks.
The various tips and tricks should be organized in subsections.

"Troubleshooting" section

Troubleshooting sections are used for frequently asked questions regarding the software or for solutions to common problems (compare to #"Known issues" section).
Use the standard title of Troubleshooting. Common misspellings that should be avoided are Trouble shooting, Trouble-shooting, and TroubleShooting.
You can also report temporary workarounds for known bugs, but in this case, it is very desirable that you provide a link to the bug report. In case it has not been reported yet, you should report it yourself, thus increasing the chances that the bug will be properly fixed.
Refrain from mentioning dates or version numbers whenever possible. There are great benefits in linking to external references like bug reports both for readers and editors:
- For readers, the Wiki does not become a stopping point: they can find more information close to the source that may have otherwise been missed by their search efforts.
- For Wiki editors, it makes cleanup easier by reducing the effort involved in researching whether a reported bug is still an issue; this can even lead to greater autonomy if the reader finds new information and comes back to edit the wiki.

"See also" section

See also sections contain a list of links to references and sources of additional information.
This should be a list where each entry is started with *, which creates a MediaWiki bulleted list.
Use the standard title of See also and place the section last in the article. Other similar titles such as External links, More resources, etc. should be avoided.

Section headings

Headings should start from level 2 (==), because level 1 is reserved for article titles.
Do not skip levels when making subsections, so a subsection of a level 2 needs a level 3 heading and so on.
Headings use sentence case; not title case: My new heading; not My New Heading.
Avoid using links in headings because they break style consistency and do not stand out well enough. Usually the anchor text is also found in the section content, otherwise you can use a simple sentence like:

See Some related article for more information.

For the same reason, also avoid using any kind of HTML or wiki markup code, including #Code formatting templates. See also Help:Style/Formatting and punctuation.

See Help:Effective use of headers for more information.

Formatting

Code formatting

Use Template:ic for short lines of code, file names and paths, configuration parameters, variables and other cases to be represented inline, for example:
Run sh ./hello_world.sh in the console.

For single lines of code (command line input or output code and file content) to be represented in a proper frame, simply start them with a single space character, see also Help:Editing#Code. For example:

$ sh ./hello_world.sh

Hello World

Use Template:bc for multiple lines of code (command line input or output code and file content) to be represented in a proper frame, for example:

#!/bin/sh

# Demo
echo "Hello World"

Use Template:hc when in the need of representing both command line input and output, for example:

$ sh ./hello_world.sh

Hello World

When you need to represent file content and you feel it may be difficult for readers to understand which file that code refers to, you can also use Template:hc to show the file name in the heading, for example:

~/hello_world.sh

#!/bin/sh

# Demo
echo "Hello World"

For blocks of code such as a configuration file, consider focusing the reader to the relevant lines and ellipsing (...) any surrounding, non-relevant content.

See the Help:Template article for more information and for troubleshooting problems with template-breaking characters like = or |.

Command line text

When using inline code (Template:ic), no prompt symbol is to be represented, but any notes about permissions must be added explicitly to the surrounding text.
When using block code (Template:bc or lines starting with a space character), use $ as a prompt for regular user commands; use # as a prompt for root commands.
Note: Because # is also used to denote comments in text files, you should always make sure to avoid ambiguities, usually by explicitly writing to run the command or edit a text file.
- The sentence introducing a command block should usually end with :.
- Unless really necessary, prefer using:
```
# command
```
  instead of writing:
```
$ sudo command
```
- Do not use the root prompt and the sudo command together, like in:
```
# sudo command
```
  The only exception is when sudo is used with the -u flag: in this case the prompt can match the others of the same code block, or default to $.
- Do not add comments in the same box of a command, for example:
```
# pacman -S foo  #Install package foo
```
- Avoid writing excessively long lines of code: use line-breaking techniques when possible.
Do not assume the user uses sudo or other privilege escalation utilities (e.g. gksu, kdesu).

Keyboard keys

The standard way to represent keyboard keys in articles is using instances of Template:ic.
Letter keys should be represented in lower case: a. To represent upper-case letters, use Shift+a instead of Shift+A or A.
The correct way to represent key combinations makes use of the + symbol to join keys, with no additional spaces around it, in a single instance of the template: Ctrl+c.
Ctrl + c, Ctrl+c, Ctrl-c are non-compliant forms, and should be avoided.
The correct way to represent key sequences is either verbose, e.g. "press g followed by Shift+t", or concise, separating the keys with a single space in different instances of the template: g Shift+t.
The following are the standard ways of representing some special keys:
- Shift (not SHIFT)
- Ctrl (not CTRL or Control)
- Alt (not ALT)
- Super (not Windows or Mod)
- Enter (not ENTER or Return)
- Esc (not ESC or Escape)
- Space (not SPACE)
- Backspace
- Tab
- Ins (not INS or Insert)
- Del (not DEL or Delete)
- PrintScreen
- Up (not ↑ or Up Arrow) – similarly for other arrow keys
- PageUp
- PageDown
- Fn (not FN or fn) – the function key present on many laptops

Notes, Warnings, Tips

A Note should be used for information that somehow diverges from what the user would naturally expect at some point in the article. This includes also information that gives more in-depth knowledge on something in particular that otherwise would be considered a bit extraneous to the article. Another example is when needing to point out a temporary announcement like a change in the name of a package.

A Note can also be used to highlight information that is important but easily overlooked by someone new to the subject area.

A Warning should be used where the described procedure could carry severe consequences such as being reasonably difficult to undo or resulting in damage to the system. Warnings should generally indicate both the worst case scenarios as well as the conditions that could lead to or avoid such worst cases.

In general, do not abuse Warnings: if you are undecided, chances are high that you should use a Note.

A Tip should indicate a method or procedure that could be useful and bring benefits to somebody, albeit not needed to complete the operation being dealt with, and therefore safely ignorable.
When two or more notes, warnings or tips have to appear one after each other at the same point of an article, prefer grouping their texts in a list inside a single template, avoiding stacking the templates unless they are completely unrelated. For example:

Tip:

Tip example #1.
Tip example #2.

Tables

See mw:Help:Tables for the syntax.

Tables should generally have the wikitable class.
Comparison tables should additionally have the sortable class.
Use table headers and table cell templates when appropriate.
Table headers should be in sentence case.
Table legends should use definition lists and be placed before tables.

Instructions

File editing requests

Do not assume a specific text editor (nano, vim, emacs, etc.) when requesting text file edits, except when necessary.
In general, do not use commands to implicitly request text file edits. For example, $ echo -e "clear\nreset" >> ~/.bash_logout should be:

Append the following lines to ~/.bash_logout:

clear
reset

A common exception are commands which involve generating a complex, system-specific output, for example genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab.

Where it might be helpful, a link to Help:Reading#Append, add, create, edit can be added.

Package management instructions

Official packages

Please avoid using examples of pacman commands in order to give instructions for the installation of official packages: this has been established both for simplicity's sake (every Arch user should know pacman's article by memory) and to avoid errors such as pacman -Sy package or possibly never-ending discussions like the choice between pacman -S package and pacman -Syu package. All the more reason you should not suggest the use of pacman frontends or wrappers.

Instead, just use a simple statement like:

Install the foobar package.

Or, if for example the application name differs from the package name:

MyApplication can be installed with the my-app-pkg package.

The instructions for the installation of a list of packages may appear as:

Install the foobar1, foobar2 and foobar3 packages.

If referring to a package group you may use:

Install the foobar group.

You are granted the flexibility to adapt the wording to your specific article.

Links to the referenced packages are mandatory and should be created using Template:Pkg, for example {{Pkg|foobar}}.

When referring to package groups, Template:Grp should be used instead, for example {{Grp|foobar}}.

The above examples also make use of a link to install (e.g. [[install]]): this is recommended to be used at least on the first occurrence of an installation request, especially in articles that are more likely to be visited by Arch novices.
If the package is hosted in the core, extra, or community repositories, do not make reference to the repository, thus facilitating maintenance because it is not uncommon for a package to be moved to a different repository. If however the package is hosted in an official repository which is not enabled by default (multilib, testing, etc.), mentioning it is required, using a wording like:

Install the foobar package from the official multilib repository.

AUR packages

Please avoid using examples of how to install AUR packages, neither with the official method nor mentioning AUR helpers. Every user who installs unofficial packages should have read the Arch User Repository article and be aware of all the possible consequences on their system.

Instead, just use a simple statement like:

Install the foobar^AUR package.

You are granted the flexibility to adapt the wording to your specific article. See the section on #Official packages for more examples.

Links to the referenced packages are mandatory and should be created using Template:AUR (e.g. {{AUR|foobar}}).

Unofficial repositories

When suggesting to use an unofficial repository for installing a pre-built package, do not provide instructions for enabling the repository, but make sure such repository is included in Unofficial user repositories and then simply link to it. Also, just like with official packages, do not add examples of pacman commands. For example:

Install the foobar package from the example repository.

If the package is also available in the AUR:

Install the foobar^AUR package, also available in the example repository.

If the package is available in the AUR with a different name:

Install the aurpkg^AUR package, also available as builtpackage from the example repository.

You are granted the flexibility to adapt the wording to your specific article.

The link to Unofficial user repositories is mandatory and should point to the relevant repository section, for example [[Unofficial user repositories#example|example]].

systemd units operations

Do not give examples of how to enable, start, or perform any other basic operations with systemctl on systemd units. Instead, use a simple sentence listing the units involved, possibly remarking dependencies or conflicts with other units, and a description of the actions to be performed. For example:

To have GDM launched at boot time, enable gdm.service.

Or, if for example the unit is a template that needs instantiation:

To enable automatic switching of netctl profiles on a wireless interface, enable an instance of netctl-auto@.service with the interface name, for example netctl-auto@wlan0.service.

You are granted the flexibility to adapt the wording to your specific article.

Make sure to link to the systemd#Using units article section, either directly or through a dedicated redirect like [[start]], [[enable]] or [[stop]].

Shells

Do not assume a particular shell as the user's shell (e.g. Bash), except when really needed: try to be as shell-neutral as possible when writing or editing articles.

Hypertext metaphor

See Help:Editing#Links for the syntax of internal, interwiki and external links.

Try to interlink your article with as many others as you can, using the words in the text.
Only link to existing articles. If you encounter a dead link, try to fix it. External links that appear to be dead should be marked with Template:Dead link.
Avoid implicit links whenever possible. For example, prefer instructions like "See the systemd article for more information" instead of "See here for more information".

A link can be used in two ways:

As a topic reference, where the link is a term, part of the running text and subject to regular grammar rules: use a link label if needed; internal/interwiki links should point to a redirect if available.
As a page/section reference: do not use a link label, and spell the title also according to Template:Lowercase title where used; in particular, do not hide the # symbol in same-page section links, e.g. [[#Hypertext metaphor|Hypertext metaphor]].

See these examples:

Topic reference	Page/section reference
Use an SSH agent to speed up authentication	Follow SSH keys#SSH agents to speed up authentication
Subpixel rendering is supported by most monitors	Enable subpixel rendering as described in Font configuration#Subpixel rendering
Include a keyfile in the initramfs	Instructions can be found in dm-crypt/Device encryption#Keyfiles
Be aware that mouse keys is disabled by default	See Wikipedia:Mouse keys for details
We have style rules for links	The #Hypertext metaphor section has style rules for links

Before writing a specific procedure in an article or describing something in particular, always check if there is already an article that treats that part in detail: in that case, link that article instead of duplicating its content. Also:
- For technical terms not covered by an article in the ArchWiki, link to the relevant Wikipedia page.
- If the upstream documentation for the subject of your article is well-written and maintained, prefer just writing Arch-specific adaptations and linking to the official documentation for general information.

For example: "Kernel parameters are used to issue system calls at boot; see the Linux kernel documentation for a complete list."

In general, maintain coherence with Help:Reading#Organization.

Except in rare cases, you should not leave an article as a dead-end page (an article that does not link to any other) or an orphan page (an article that is not linked to from any other).
Do not use interwiki links for links to localized pages of the same language of the article being edited because they will not be shown in Special:WhatLinksHere pages. For example, using [[:hu:Main page]] in a Hungarian article is wrong, while [[Main page (Magyar)]] is correct.
Using this kind of links between different languages is instead acceptable because this would make it easier to move the articles to a separate wiki in case a separate wiki is created in the future.
Finally, note the difference of this kind of links from #Interlanguage links, which do not have the colon at the beginning.
Prefer the "Wikipedia:" interwiki prefix over the shorter "w:" prefix.

Man pages

Man pages should be referenced using Template:man.

Coding style

When adding commands or scripts, use a consistent coding style throughout the article, possibly also referring to the other articles, especially if there are any related ones. If available, respect the official or most common coding style guidelines for the language.
Avoid deprecated features of the programming/scripting language you are using: for example, use the $() syntax for shell command substitution instead of the backticks/grave (``) syntax.
Scripts should be written to only do what is minimally necessary to perform the required task in the clearest possible way. They should not be designed for flexibility or expansion: prefer using pseudo-variables over actual variables. Do not add irrelevant functionality such as argument parsing or output formatting.
Scripts should be added mainly for educational purposes, when the verbose explanation in the article's text cannot be made sufficiently clear and concise. They can be useful for example to show how a complex command is intended to be used, or how related or interdependent commands are meant to work together.
If a script is deemed to add value to an article but does not meet the criteria above, it can be linked externally, possibly publishing it as a gist.
When representing the name or path of a directory, end it with a slash or explicitly add an appositive such as "directory" of "folder", for example:

"Check if the /sys/firmware/efi directory has been created", not "Check if /sys/firmware/efi has been created".
"Place a .conf file in /etc/modules-load.d/", not "Place a .conf file in /etc/modules-load.d".

Arguments containing spaces should be quoted with double quotation marks, e.g. cd "foo bar" instead of cd foo\ bar.

Supported kernel versions

Do not remove any notes or adaptations regarding kernel versions greater than or equal to the minimum version between the current linux-lts package in the core repository and the kernel on the latest installation media.

Non-pertinent content

Please do not sign articles, nor credit article authors: the ArchWiki is a work of the community, and the history of each article is enough for crediting its contributors.
Reporting the sources used to write an article, though, is good practice: you can use the "See also" section for this purpose.
Uploading files is disabled for normal users, and including images in articles is not allowed. As an alternative you can include links to external images or galleries, and if you need to draw simple diagrams you may use an ASCII editor like Asciiflow and Template:Text art. Rationale:
- Maintenance: Arch is rolling release, and images would make updating articles much more difficult.
- Necessity: Arch does not develop nor maintain any sort of GUI application, so we do not need to display any screenshot.
- Moderation: free image upload would require time to be spent removing oversized or inappropriate images.
- Accessibility: we support users with slow connections, text-only browsers, screen readers and the like.
- Efficiency: images waste server bandwidth and storage space.
- Simplicity: text-only articles just look simpler and tidier.

Spelling

Avoid contractions: "don't", "isn't", "you've", etc. should be "do not", "is not", and "you have", for example.
Avoid unnecessary shortening of words: for example, instead of "repo", "distro", and "config", prefer "repository", "distribution", and "configuration".
In the same fashion, prefer using the long form of uncommon command options instead of their single-character counterpart. See also Help:Style/Formatting and punctuation#Configuration parameters, variables, options, properties....
The names of projects, applications, executables etc. should be spelled, especially regarding capitalization, primarily according to their official documentation style. This includes the case where the documentation treats the name as a common noun, i.e. with an uppercase first letter when appearing at the beginning of a sentence, and lowercase otherwise. If the official documentation does not apply a consistent style, follow the style already used in the ArchWiki. If the name does not appear in the ArchWiki, or it still has inconsistent spelling, choose a style and conform to it throughout the article, also possibly updating the other pages that mention the name. Taking Git as an example you may choose to spell the name with the first letter uppercase ("Git") when talking about the project/software generally, and use all lowercase and italic ("git") when referring to the compiled program. When name capitalization can generate controversy, explicitly define a style in the article's talk page. See also Help:Style/Formatting and punctuation#Executable/application names

Language register

Articles should be written using formal, professional, and concise language. Care should be taken to remove grammar and orthography errors through edit previews and proofreading.
Remember not only to answer how, but also why. Explanatory information always goes further toward imparting knowledge than does instruction alone.
Do not omit terms that are necessary to give an exact, unambiguous meaning to a sentence. For example, always add the word "repository" when mentioning the name of a repository.
Do not use indefinite time references such as "currently", "at the time of writing" or "soon"; replace them with definite expressions such as "as of May 2015" etc.
Write objectively: do not include personal comments on articles; use discussion pages for this purpose. In general, do not write in first person.
When editing content, be consistent with the style used in the rest of the article. For example, if the reader is always addressed using the second person, this style should be adopted by the added content; the same goes if third person or passive voice are clearly dominant throughout the article.
When offering a choice among different options (pieces of software, methods to do something, etc.) do not explicitly recommend one over the others, but objectively describe the advantages and disadvantages of each, thus helping the reader to make the best decision for his personal case.

Category pages

Every category must be appropriately categorized under at least one parent category, except for root categories, which are Category:Archive, Category:DeveloperWiki, Category:Languages, Category:Maintenance and Category:Sandbox.
A category can be categorized under more than one category, provided one is not ancestor of the others.
Avoid circular relationships: two categories cannot be reciprocal ancestors.
Do not categorize a category under itself (self-categorized category).
Categories must be included at the top of the category page.
Categories should not redirect, except temporarily during renaming.
By default, category names should be in the singular form ("topic" categories, for example Category:Simulation); they should be in the plural form if the singular form can be used to describe one of its members ("set" categories, for example Category:Boot loaders).

Redirect pages

It is encouraged to create redirect pages for acronyms or grammatical variants of an existing article's title, or for a term or topic discussed in a subsection of a more generic article, for example ALSA, daemon or AIGLX. Redirects can simplify the source text by replacing labelled links, compare the previous examples with [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture|ALSA]], [[daemons|daemon]] or [[Xorg#Composite|AIGLX]].
Redirect pages should contain only the redirect code and nothing else. The only exceptions are:
- Archived pages, which are in fact redirects, must be categorized under Category:Archive.
- Renamed categories can contain a Template:Archive flag.
Redirect only to internal articles; do not use interwiki redirections.

Redirects using interlanguage links are exceptionally allowed in accordance with Help:i18n and upon authorization from the ArchWiki:Maintenance Team.

See Help:Editing#Redirects for more information.

User pages

Pages in the User namespace cannot be categorized.
Pages in the User namespace can only be linked from other pages in the User or talk namespaces, unless authorization to do otherwise is given by Administrators.
Pages in the User namespace cannot be targets of redirects from other namespaces.

Generic rules

Edit summary

See ArchWiki:Contributing#The 3 fundamental rules.

HTML tags

Usage of HTML tags is generally discouraged: always prefer using wiki markup or templates when possible, see Help:Editing and related.
When tempted to use <pre>code</pre>, always resort to {{bc|code}}. When tempted to use <tt>text</tt> or <code>text</code>, always resort to {{ic|text}}.
Especially avoid HTML comments (): it is likely that a note added in a HTML comment can be explicitly shown in the article's discussion page.
You can add an appropriate Article status template in place of the comment.
Use <br> only when necessary: to start a new paragraph or break a line, put a blank line below it.
Common exceptions to this rule are when it is necessary to break a line in a list item and you cannot use a sub-item, or inside a template and you cannot use a list.

Help:Style

Article pages

Title

Layout

Magic words

Categories

Interlanguage links

Article status templates

Related articles box

Preface or introduction

Standard sections

"Installation" section

"Known issues" section

"Tips and tricks" section

"Troubleshooting" section

"See also" section

Section headings

Formatting

Code formatting

Command line text

Keyboard keys

Notes, Warnings, Tips

Tables

Instructions

File editing requests

Package management instructions

Official packages

AUR packages

Unofficial repositories

systemd units operations

Shells

Hypertext metaphor

Man pages

Coding style

Supported kernel versions

Non-pertinent content

Spelling

Language register

Category pages

Redirect pages

User pages

Generic rules

Edit summary

HTML tags