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Shortcut H:CERNKY

This page will help you to fix the cite error message:

A list-defined reference has no name (see the help page).

• If you have read this help page and find something missing or confusing, please discuss it at the main talk page.
• Please reference this page and the page where you have the problem so we can understand your issues.
• For basic information on the footnotes system, see Referencing for beginners; for advanced help, see Footnotes.

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=refname1>refcontent1</ref>
<ref name=refname2>refcontent2</ref>
<ref name=refname3>refcontent3</ref>
<ref name=refname4>refcontent4</ref>
))

List-defined references may be invoked by the standard markup or by use of ((r)).

An explanatory note may include a reference by using #tag:ref:

((#tag:ref|refcontent|name=name|group=groupname))

Where content may include <ref>...</ref> tags

A list-defined reference has an invalid name. Ensure the footnote name is formatted properly.

More than one use of ((refn)) or #tag:ref within list defined references. You can only use ((refn)) or #tag:ref once as a list-defined reference.

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: বাংলা English español British English français português do Brasil русский Deutsch Bahasa Indonesia العربية 中文（中国大陆） română italiano Türkçe

In the example below, a reference with the name excepteur is not named in the References list, since that reference is malformed. This causes a secondary error because the undefined reference is invoked in the References list:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.<ref name=ipsum/> Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.<ref name=minim/> Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.<ref name=duis/> Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.<ref name=excepteur/> Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus.

==References==
((reflist|refs=
<ref name=duis>duis</ref>
<ref name=>excepteur</ref>
<ref name=ipsum>ipsum</ref>
<ref name=minim>minim</ref>
))

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 laborious nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.^[2] Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.^[3] Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.^[4] Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus.

Nested references defined with #tag:ref are used more than once in the reference list:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.<ref name=ipsum/> Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.<ref name=minim/> Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.<ref name=duis group=nb/> Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.<ref name=excepteur group=nb/> Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus.

==Notes==
((reflist|group=nb|refs=
((refn|duis<ref>Reference 1</ref>|name=duis|group=nb))
((refn|excepteur<ref>Reference 2</ref>|name=excepteur|group=nb))
))

==References==
((reflist|refs=
<ref name=ipsum>ipsum</ref>
<ref name=minim>minim</ref>))}

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 laborious nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.^[2] Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.^{[nb 1]} Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.^{[nb 2]} Curabitur pretium tincidunt lacus.

Pages with this error message are placed into Pages with incorrect ref formatting. The system message page is at Cite error references no key.

• T22707 Nested refs fail inside references block