 | This template is used on approximately 30,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
 | If you plan to make breaking changes to this template, move it, or nominate it for deletion, please notify Twinkle's users and maintainers at Wikipedia talk:Twinkle as a courtesy, as the standard installation of Twinkle adds and removes this template. Thank you! |
This template is intended to be useful for creating links to "diffs"; that is, links to pages that show the differences between two versions of a wiki page.
Every version of a page has a revision ID, which you can find from the history of the page by looking at the timestamp link for the edit. The timestamp link is in this form:
http[s]://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SomePageName&oldid=442212827
The number after oldid= is the revision ID.
Given one or two revision IDs, you can construct links to several types of diffs.
Usage
- ((Diff
|title |diff |oldid |label |diffonly=yes))
title– The title of the page (optional in most cases)diff– The ID or keyword that is used against the base ID. Possible keywords are:cur– Compare with the current version of a page.prev– Compare with the previous version of a page.next– Compare with the next version of a page.- id – This should be larger than
oldid.
oldid– The base ID onto which the diff is generated.label– Text to display as link (optional)—no label will generate a numbered link as the label.|diffonly=yes– Displays the page comparisons only (optional)—parameter name required if used.
Only the diff parameter is required; all other parameters are optional. Omitted parameters must be empty (by using a double pipe). You can also use the named parameters title, diff, oldid, and label.
Helper subtemplate
In order to make this template simpler to use the helper subtemplate ((Diff/translator)) is available, to be used only in the preview window.
- Syntax
- ((Diff/translator
|label |url=diff URL))
For instance, imagine you want to refer to the following diff URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=139993&oldid=139992&diffonly=1; you only need to transcribe that URL in the ((Diff/translator)) subtemplate and produce a preview, without saving the page:
- ((Diff/translator
|Sic exorsi sumus |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=139993&oldid=139992&diffonly=1)) - ↳
((Diff|Main Page|139993|139992|Sic exorsi sumus|diffonly=yes))
- ↳
Now copy the code generated (((Diff|Main Page|139993|139992|Sic exorsi sumus|diffonly=yes))) into the edit window where ((Diff/translator)) was and publish the page.
Examples
Below each example in the left-hand column is the pseudocode for that example in brown italics and indented. Elements that should be entered literally are in brown bold underlined italics. When a parameter is left blank, the resulting two adjacent pipes are underlined (but not bolded): ||.
| Code | Output |
|---|---|
((Diff|Main Page|prev|204901573|Diff between a numbered version and the previous version))
|
Diff between a numbered version and the previous version
This is the form that would be used most often.
|
((Diff|Foobar|616706711|616706707|Diff between two numbered versions of a page))
|
Diff between two numbered versions of a page
|
((Diff||616706711|616706707|Diff between two numbered versions of a page without title parameter))
|
Diff between two numbered versions of a page without title parameter
|
((Diff|Wikipedia:Pagediff|204934693|204901573|Diff between two numbered versions of a page in Wikipedia namespace))
|
Diff between two numbered versions of a page in Wikipedia namespace
|
((Diff|Main Page|next|204901573|Diff between a numbered version and the subsequent version))
|
Diff between a numbered version and the subsequent version
|
((Diff|Main Page|cur|204901573|Diff between a numbered version and the current version of a page))
|
Diff between a numbered version and the current version of a page
|
((Diff|Main Page|cur||Diff showing the most recent change to a page))
|
Diff showing the most recent change to a page
|
((Diff|Main Page||204901573|A link to a numbered version of a page))
|
A link to a numbered version of a page
|
((Diff|Main Page|204901573|202506579|Comparison display without page display of two numbered versions of a page |diffonly=yes))
|
Comparison display without page display of two numbered versions of a page
|
TemplateData
TemplateData for Diff
A template that is intended to be useful for creating links to diffs; that is, links to pages that show the differences between two versions of a wiki page.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| title | title page 1 | The title of the page. | Page name | optional |
| Diff | diff 2 | The ID or keyword that is used against the base ID. Possible keywords are:
| Line | required |
| Oldid | oldid 3 | The base ID onto which the diff is generated. Some number like "442212827" (without the quotes). | Number | optional |
| Label | label 4 | Text to display as link. No label will give a numbered link. | Line | optional |
| Diffonly | diffonly | Displays the page comparisons only. If you use this, the value should be "yes" (without the quotes). | Line | optional |
See also
- ((Oldid)) – simplifies the case for linking to a known old version
- ((Diff2)) – same as ((Diff)), but assumes a diff between the given revision and the one immediately before
- ((Diff3)) – same as ((Diff2)), but does not support section links
- ((Diff4))
- ((URL to diff)) – takes a diff URL and makes a ((Diff)) template
- ((Diffsandbox)) – compares a given page with the sandbox version
- ((DiffPages)) – accepts two pagenames (no id's needed)
- ((Querylink)) – generic template to construct query strings
- diff utility – syntax highlight on wiki pages with mw:Extension:SyntaxHighlight GeSHi
- Special:Diff serves a similar purpose; see Help:Wiki markup#Linking to old revisions of pages, diffs, and specific history pages.
- ((TextDiff))
- ((Url to title))