This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting. |
This page will help you to fix the cite error message:
A list-defined reference named "$1" is not used in the content (see the help page).
A footnote used multiple times may be defined with a name:
<ref name="foo">content</ref>
To invoke a named footnote:
<ref name="foo" />
References may also be defined within the reference list:
((reflist|refs= <ref name=rename1>refcontent1</ref> <ref name=rename2>refcontent2</ref> <ref name=rename3>refcontent3</ref> <ref name=rename4>refcontent4</ref> ))
List-defined references may be invoked by the standard markup or by use of ((r)).
All references defined in the reference list must be invoked in the content. Unused references must be removed or commented out.
Including more than one nested reference in List-defined references will cause a Cite error.
Misusing a template that was never intended as a citation template and placing it in <ref>
tags may cause this issue.
A template that creates <ref>
tags; known instances:
A template that includes table markup; known instances:
The content of this message is dependent on the language setting in Special:Preferences. You can test how the error messages look in the most popular languages with these links: |
Ex. 1) There are three references defined in the list, but none are invoked in the content. Note the spurious error for the first reference named ipsum:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. ==References== ((reflist|refs= <ref name=ipsum>Reference1</ref> <ref name=minim>Reference2</ref> <ref name=dolor>Reference3</ref> ))
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
Cite error: A list-defined reference named "ipsum" is not used in the content (see the help page).
Cite error: A list-defined reference named "minim" is not used in the content (see the help page).
Ex. 2) If only one reference is defined but not invoked, then only the spurious error is shown:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. ==References== ((reflist|refs= <ref name=ipsum>Reference1</ref> ))
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
Ex. 3) Not so obvious case. If you mistakenly nest an ((sfn)) type template inside <ref></ref> as in the second footnote below, an error message will show:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.<ref>((harvp|foo|1999|p=123))</ref> Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.<ref>((sfnp|Foo|1999|p=123))</ref> ==References== ((reflist)) *((citation|last=foo|title=foobar|year=1999))
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.[1] Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.[2]
Pages with this error message are placed into Pages with incorrect ref formatting. The system message page is at Cite error references missing key.
<references>...</references>
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