Template:Distinguish/doc

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Description[change source]

It renders a hatnote to remind readers about the existence of one or more articles or elements whose title(s) is/are similar to this page. It is used in cases where the distinction between the title(s) is/are obvious that it does not need further explanation.

For cases where an explanation is required, use {{For}} and {{About}}. For use on category pages, the corresponding template is {{Category distinguish}}.

Usage[change source]

It is the standard usage:

{{Distinguish|Foo}}


This hatnote can be used to distinguish from multiple articles:

{{Distinguish|Foo|Bar}}

{{Distinguish|Foo|Bar|Gaz}}


You may customize the text too. Use |text=. For example:

{{Distinguish|text = custom [[text]], or [[foo]], a common example term}}

When to use[change source]

This hatnote is generally used when readers have misspelled their desired title, and the error would be apparent by simply displaying the alternative term without further explanation. For example, consider a reader looking for the punctuation mark who instead ends up at coma:

Coma

Readers are presumed to recognize that they actually wanted comma by merely looking at the spelling, and this case generally requires no further explanation.

However, {{distinguish}} is not suitable when the difference is not readily apparent without additional details. Consider a reader looking for a game they believe is named Reversi:

☒N Reversi

In the above hatnote, it is not generally apparent how the suggested Reversis is different from Reversi, which is also a game.

In this case you should use {{about}} instead of {{distinguish}}. The difference is to provide explanatation upfront without requiring the reader to click through and differentiate the terms on their own.

checkY Reversi

{{Distinguish}} should only be used when the ambiguity exists for a portion of the readership that is sufficient to warrant a hatnote. Care should be taken to avoid trivial uses.

TemplateData[change source]

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Distinguish in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Distinguish

A hatnote used when there is an ambiguity in an article's title.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Name of article1

Name of article that you want to link to

Page namesuggested
Optional additional article to link (2)2

Optional additional article to link

Page nameoptional
Optional additional article to link (3)3

Optional additional article to link

Page nameoptional
Optional additional article to link (4)4

Optional additional article to link

Page nameoptional
Custom texttext

Custom message in wikitext; e.g. "[[foo]] and [[bar]]" produces "Not to be confused with [[foo]] and [[bar]]."

Stringoptional
Self referenceselfref

If set, marks note as being a self reference, to not be shown when content is reused

Booleanoptional

Redirects[change source]

See also[change source]