Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 What are diffs?  





2 Why use diffs and page section links?  





3 How to harvest a diff  





4 How to harvest a page section link  





5 How to put diffs and links into your text  














Wikipedia:Simple diff and link guide







 

Edit links
 









Project page
Talk
 

















Read
View source
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
View source
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 
















Appearance
   

 





Page semi-protected

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


What are diffs?

Adiff is a permanent link to a single edit or set of edits, showing the difference between the before and after versions.

Why use diffs and page section links?

If you contribute an argument to a page like requests for comment, requests for arbitration, or the incidents noticeboard for administrative attention, it's essential to give evidence for your claims in the form of diffs and/or other links. Without such evidence, you will be taken less seriously. If you simply claim that "editor X has posted several personal attacks on talkpages" or "editor Y is edit warring on George W. Bush", you may be ignored, or told "diffs or it didn't happen".

The most useful evidence consists of diffs to individual edits and links to page sections. Don't link to entire talkpages, as they are too long and diverse to be helpful. Avoid linking to a page history or an editor's contributions, as those will probably have changed by the time somebody clicks on your link to view them.

How to harvest a diff

Find the page which contains the edit you want to refer to. Click on the View history tab. Find the edit in the history list. (If that's a problem, clicking on the word prev in the list will let you read the edit.) Right-click on its "prev" button and select "Copy link address" or "Copy Shortcut". The diff you want is now in your clipboard.

How to harvest a page section link

Find the page which contains the section you want to refer to. Click on "Permanent link" in the "Toolbox" in the lefthand sidebar. Go to the page's Table of Contents. Right-click on the name of the section you want to use, where it appears in the Table of Contents, and select "Copy link address". The section link you want is now in your clipboard.

How to put diffs and links into your text

Diffs and other links are all formatted in the same way. The whole of them must always be used, including the https://.

  1. Diffs and links will work if they're simply pasted "naked" into your text like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Simple_diff_and_link_guide&diff=797180441&oldid=797180310.
  2. Or you can make them neater by putting single (not double) square brackets round them. Typing this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Simple_diff_and_link_guide&diff=797180441&oldid=797180310] will give a note like this:[1].
  3. Or you can make them elegant by wrapping them into a word in your text. Typing this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Simple_diff_and_link_guide&diff=797180441&oldid=797180310 this] will give this link. Notice the space between the link and the wrapper word.

Other ways to represent diffs are using the {{diff}} template (i.e. {{diff|prev|797180441}} resulting in [2]) or using special diff links (like [[Special:Diff/797180441|this]] resulting in this). Please see Help:Diff for more details.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Simple_diff_and_link_guide&oldid=1057819655"

Categories: 
Wikipedia how-to
Wikipedia link help
Hidden categories: 
Wikipedia move-protected project pages
Wikipedia semi-protected project pages
 



This page was last edited on 29 November 2021, at 21:30 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



Privacy policy

About Wikipedia

Disclaimers

Contact Wikipedia

Code of Conduct

Developers

Statistics

Cookie statement

Mobile view



Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki