Help:CS1 errors

CS1 citations that report these errors

{{Citation}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite album-notes}}
{{Cite AV media}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite book}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite conference}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite DVD-notes}}
{{Cite encyclopedia}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite episode}}
{{Cite interview}}
{{Cite journal}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite mailing list}}
{{Cite map}}
{{Cite music release notes}}
{{Cite news}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite newsgroup}}
{{Cite podcast}}
{{Cite press release}}	Template:Ya
{{Cite serial}}
{{Cite sign}}
{{cite speech}}
{{cite techreport}}
{{Cite thesis}}
{{Cite web}}	Template:Ya

This page describes the error messages reported by Citation Style 1 citations, what they mean, and how editors might resolve the errors.

Prior to 2013, the CS1 templates used the meta-template {{Citation/core}}. In 2013, as part of the WP:LUA project, Wikipedia editors upgraded the CS1 series of templates using a single Lua module. Module:Citation/CS1 is the engine that controls how CS1 citations are displayed and how citation data are passed to external referencing tools through COinS metadata. The benefits of the upgrade are enhanced performance, reduced complexity and redundancy, and for the purposes of this page, improved error detection, categorization, and reporting.

Controlling error message display

<section begin=control_error_messages_help_text /><section begin=show_error_messages_help_text />During Citation Style 1 development, many of the new error messages are hidden. Hidden messages are exposed as development proceeds. Editors who wish to see all of the CS1 error messages can do so by updating their common or skin CSS stylesheet to include:

.citation-comment {display: inline !important;} /* show all Citation Style 1 error messages */

Even with this css installed, older pages in Wikipedia's cache may not have been updated to show these error messages even though the page is listed in one of the tracking categories. A WP:NULLEDIT will resolve that issue.<section end=show_error_messages_help_text />

<section begin=hide_error_messages_help_text />Editors who do not wish to see any of the CS1 error messages can hide them all by updating their common or skin CSS stylesheet to include:

.citation-comment {display: none;} /* hide all Citation Style 1 error messages */<section end=hide_error_messages_help_text /><section end=control_error_messages_help_text />

|accessdate= requires |url=

<section begin=accessdate_missing_url_help_text />Template:Help desk

The |accessdate= parameter is used to identify the date that the web resource addressed by |url= was consulted. When the web resource has a publication or other fixed date associated with it, |accessdate= is of limited value though may be useful in identifying an appropriate archived version of the resource. Without |url=, |accessdate= is meaningless. When |url= is omitted or left blank, the |accessdate= value is not displayed.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |url= or remove |accessdate=. Editors should try to determine why the citation has |accessdate= without |url=. For example, the citation may never have had a |url=, or |url= may have been removed because it links to a site that violates the creator's copyright (see WP:COPYLINK), or because |url= was deemed to be dead and (mistakenly) removed. If the citation never had |url= or it was removed for copyright violations, remove |accessdate=. When a dead |url= has been removed, restore the |url= and if possible repair it (see WP:LINKROT).

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL.<section end=accessdate_missing_url_help_text />

|archiveurl= requires |archivedate=

<section begin=archive_missing_date_help_text />Template:Help desk

|archivedate= identifies the date that the web resource was archived.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |archivedate=. For web resources archived at archive.org, the archival date can be found in the |archiveurl=; for resources archived at webcitation.org, the cache date is included in the archive header.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with archiveurl citation errors.<section end=archive_missing_date_help_text />

|archiveurl= requires |url=

<section begin=archive_missing_url_help_text />Template:Help desk

A properly formatted citation that includes |archiveurl= and |archivedate= requires |url=. When the citation includes |deadurl=no, the ordering of elements in the rendered citation is changed to put the original url first.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |url=. For web resources archived at archive.org, the original url can be found in the |archiveurl= value; for resources archived at webcitation.org, the original url is included in the archive header.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with archiveurl citation errors.<section end=archive_missing_url_help_text />

Check |doi= value

<section begin=bad_doi_help_text />Template:Help desk

When CS1 citations contain |doi=, a test is done to see if the prefix portion of the DOI value contains the proper "10." registry identifier. Further validation of the DOI is not performed.

To resolve this error, ensure that the |doi= value is correct.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with DOI errors.<section end=bad_doi_help_text />

Check |isbn= value

<section begin=bad_isbn_help_text />Template:Help desk

Citation Style 1 templates that contain |isbn= are checked to ensure that the ISBN is the proper length (ten or thirteen digits) and validate the final check digit according to the ISBN specification. Only one ISBN is allowed in this field because the whole |isbn= value is included in the citation's COinS metadata. See also Wikipedia:COinS. More than one ISBN, or characters that are not part of the ISBN, corrupt the COinS metadata and will also corrupt the link to Special:BookSources.

To resolve this error, ensure that the |isbn= value is correct, that only one ISBN is used, and that no other text is included. Use the 13-digit ISBN when it is available.

In very rare cases, publishers have released books with malformed ISBNs. If you are certain that a non-conforming ISBN truly corresponds to the published work, then you can add |ignore-isbn-error=true to the citation in order to suppress the error message. In many cases books may have been reissued with a corrected ISBN. Use a corrected ISBN when possible.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with ISBN errors.<section end=bad_isbn_help_text />

Check |ol= value

<section begin=bad_ol_help_text />Template:Help desk

The |ol= parameter is the Open Library identifier. It is checked to ensure that the last character is either A (authors), M (books), or W (works). Further validation is not performed.

To resolve this error, ensure that the |ol= value is correct.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with OL errors.<section end=bad_ol_help_text />

Check |url= scheme

<section begin=bad_url_help_text />Template:Help desk

External links in CS1 citations are made from two parts: the title (|title=, |chapter=, etc.) and the URL (|url=, |chapter-url=, |laysummary=, etc.). The |url= portion must begin with a supported URI scheme. The URI schemes http://, https:// and the protocol relative scheme // are most commonly used; irc://, ircs://, ftp://, news:, mailto: and gopher:// are also supported.

The URL field is checked to ensure it includes either a colon (:) or the double forward slash (//). Further validation is not performed.

To resolve this error, ensure that the |url= value is correct.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with URL errors.<section end=bad_url_help_text />

|displayauthors= suggested

<section begin=displayauthors_help_text />Template:Help desk

Prior to the introduction of Lua-based citations, the citation formatting templates were designed to support no more than nine authors. If nine (or more) author parameters were specified, then the template would display eight author names followed by "et al." to indicate that the list had been truncated. Some editors relied on this behavior to include the "et al." label. For example:

The Lua-based citation templates can accommodate an arbitrarily large number of authors. As with the old templates, the Lua-based templates can explicitly include an "et al." label with the |display-authors= parameter.

The old-style templates supported at most nine authors. The new Lua-based templates cannot know if editors created citations with exactly nine authors because there were only nine authors or, because old-style citations were limited to nine authors. This error message is reported by citations with exactly nine authors but without |displayauthors=. To preserve the behavior of old-style citations, Lua-based citations display "et al." in place of the ninth author.

To resolve this error, add the remaining authors to the citation or set |displayauthors= to 8 or some lesser value to truncate the author list. If there are exactly nine authors, then set |displayauthors= to 9 or higher to display all nine authors without "et al."

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al.<section end=displayauthors_help_text />

|displayeditors= suggested

<section begin=displayeditors_help_text />Template:Help desk

Prior to the introduction of Lua-based citations, the citation formatting templates were designed to support no more than four editors. Specifically, if four (or more) editor parameters were specified, then the template would display three editor names followed by "et al." to indicate that the list had been truncated. Some editors relied on this behavior to include the "et al." label. For example:

The Lua-based citation templates can accommodate an arbitrarily large number of editors. The Lua-based templates can also explicitly include an "et al." label with the new |displayeditors= parameter, a parameter that was not available to the old-style templates.

The old-style templates supported at most four editors. The new Lua-based templates cannot know if Wikipedia editors created citations with exactly four editors because there were only four editors or, because old-style citations were limited to four editors. This error message is reported by citations with exactly four editors but without |displayeditors=. To preserve the behavior of old-style citations, Lua-based citations display "et al." in place of the fourth editor.

To resolve this error, add the remaining editors to the citation or set |displayeditors= to 3 or some lesser value to truncate the editor list. If there are exactly four editors, then set |displayeditors= to 4 or higher to display all four editors without including "et al."

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages using citations with old-style implicit et al.<section end=displayeditors_help_text />

Empty citation

<section begin=empty_citation_help_text />Template:Help desk

"Empty" may mean that the CS1 citation contains no recognizable parameter identifiers. For example this citation isn't "empty" because it contains usable information:

{{cite web | http://www.foobar.com | The Foobar Bar}}

The citation is "empty" because it doesn't contain the necessary parameter identifiers (in this case |url= and |title=) that tell {{cite web}} how to use the information that the citation does contain.

"Empty" may also mean that an editor meant to use another template entirely. Perhaps the editor used {{citation}} when the intent was to use {{citation needed}} or {{quote}}.

To resolve this error, add appropriate parameter identifiers or replace the CS1 citation with a more appropriate template.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with empty citations.<section end=empty_citation_help_text />

Extra |pages or |at

<section begin=extra_pages_help_text />Template:Help desk

This error occurs when CS1 citations attempt to simultaneously use more than one of the parameters: |page=, |pages=, or |at=. Each of these parameters is meant to provide a different way of specifying the location of the cited content within a larger work, and only one of these parameters is displayed in any rendered citation. According to their intended purpose, |page= should be used to specify a single page that is relevant to the cited content, |pages= should be used to specify a range or list of pages (e.g. 37–42) that are relevant, and |at= should be used to indicate a location in the larger work that is not a numbered page (e.g. "back cover"). Sometimes, editors misunderstand the meaning of |pages=, and attempt to use it to indicate the total number of pages in the resource.

When |page= is used with either or both of |pages= or |at=, only the |page= value is displayed. Similarly, when |pages= is used with |at=, only the |pages= value is displayed.

To resolve this error, remove the inappropriate parameter.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations using conflicting page specifications.<section end=extra_pages_help_text />

|format= requires |url=

<section begin=format_missing_url_help_text />Template:Help desk

This error occurs when CS1 citations use |format= without also providing an url for |url=. The |format= parameter is used to specify the file format of a web resource (e.g. PDF, DOC, XLS, etc.). In some cases an editor may have intended to use |type= to specify a kind of document (e.g. hard cover, paperback, pamphlet, etc.) The |format= value is always displayed.

To resolve this error, remove |format= or define |url= or change |format= to |type=.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages using citations with format and no URL.<section end=format_missing_url_help_text />

Missing or empty |title=

There are two slightly different error conditions that can arise when CS1 citations lack appropriate titles. In each case, CS1 reports this error message. The necessary resolution may vary depending on the cause of the error. The error message links to the appropriate description below.

Bare URL without a title

<section begin=bare_url_missing_title_help_text />Template:Help desk

All Lua-based CS1 citations report this error when one of the URL-containing parameters cannot be paired with an associated title. This error may also occur when |title= cannot be linked with |url= because the citation also contains a conflicting |titlelink= parameter.

URL-containing parameters and associated title parameters

URL parameters	Title parameters
|chapterurl=	|chapter=, |contribution=, |entry=, |article=
|conferenceurl=	|conference=
|contributionurl=	|chapter=, |contribution=, |entry=, |article=
|transcripturl=	|transcript=

Because URLs are ugly and generally uninformative, it is expected that editors should provide a meaningful title for each URL. In most cases this can be accomplished by using the |title= parameter.

To resolve this error, provide an appropriate title for the URL-containing parameter. In the case where |url= and |titlelink= are contending for |title= you must choose which one to keep. Consider moving |url= or |titlelink= to a more suitable parameter.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs.<section end=bare_url_missing_title_help_text />

Citation without a title of any form

<section begin=citation_missing_title_help_text />Template:Help desk

This error occurs for CS1 citations when all of the associated title parameters are omitted or left blank. Depending on the type of citation ({{cite web}}, {{cite book}}, {{cite journal}}, etc.), the possible title parameters may include |title=, |chapter=, |article=, |journal=, |booktitle=, and so forth. At least one such title parameter must be provided for each citation.

Sometimes this error occurs because an editor has used a CS1 citation as a shortened footnote when {{sfn}} or one of the {{harv}} family of templates would have been more appropriate. This error also occurs when an editor used {{citation}} but intended to use {{citation needed}}.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |title= or replace the CS1 citation with a more appropriate template.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations lacking titles.<section end=citation_missing_title_help_text />

Missing or empty |url=

<section begin=cite_web_url_help_text />Template:Help desk

This is error message is reported only by {{cite web}} CS1 citations where |url= is blank or omitted. The |url= parameter is required so that |title= can link to the web resource.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |url= or use a more appropriate CS1 citation.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages using web citations with no URL.<section end=cite_web_url_help_text />

More than one of |param1=, |param2=, and |param3= specified

<section begin=redundant_parameters_help_text />Template:Help desk

This error occurs when a CS1 citation includes more than one parameter that maps to the same meaning. For example, |author=, |last=, and |last1= are all synonyms of each other, so no more than one of these parameters should ever be used in a single citation.

To resolve this error, remove or modify the redundant parameter(s).

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations having redundant parameters.<section end=redundant_parameters_help_text />

Text "????" ignored

<section begin=text_ignored_help_text />Template:Help desk

Unlike many Wikipedia templates, the CS1 citations do not use unnamed or positional parameters. When a citation contains text between vertical bars and that text does not contain an equal sign (=), CS1 ignores the text and reports the error. This is true even when the text is the name of a valid parameter.

This error can also be caused by vertical bars that are part of URLs or titles. When vertical bars occur in URLs, replace each vertical bar with %7c. When vertical bars occur in parameter values that are not URLs, replace each vertical bar with |.

To resolve this error, remove the extraneous text, add '=', add an appropriate parameter name to complete the parameter, or properly encode vertical bars in URLs and titles.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations using unnamed parameters.<section end=text_ignored_help_text />

|trans-chapter= requires |chapter=

<section begin=trans_missing_chapter_help_text />Template:Help desk

This error occurs when a CS1 citation has an English translation of a chapter title in |trans-chapter= but does not have the original-language chapter title in |chapter=.

To resolve this error, provide a value for |chapter=. Consider adding |language= if not already part of the citation.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations using translated terms without the original.<section end=trans_missing_chapter_help_text />

|trans-title= requires |title=

<section begin=trans_missing_title_help_text />Template:Help desk

CS1 citations report this error when the citation has an English translation of the title in |trans-title= but does not have the original-language title in |title=.

To resolve this error, provide the original language title for |title=. Consider adding |language= if not already part of the citation.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations using translated terms without the original.<section end=trans_missing_title_help_text />

Unknown parameter |????= ignored

<section begin=parameter_ignored_help_text />Template:Help desk

CS1 citations report this error when the name portion of a parameter's |name=value pair is not recognized as a valid name. Typically, this is caused by spelling errors.

With the old-style citation templates, it was possible to include information within the template that was simply ignored as unrecognized parameters. The Lua-based CS1 engine does not ignore unrecognized parameters. The purpose of the citation is to properly identify the source; not act as a repository of notes and ancillary information.

To resolve this error, ensure that the parameter's name is correctly spelled and that there are no characters except spaces between the parameter's name and the leading vertical bar (|) or trailing equal sign (=). A list of valid parameters can be found by consulting Help:Citation Style 1 or visiting the description page of the specific template being used, such as {{cite web}}, {{cite book}}, {{cite journal}}, etc. Consider moving information associated with the unknown parameter into an appropriate parameter or to a section of the article's talk page for preservation.

For frequently encountered spelling errors, consider adding the misspelled parameter name to the list of common parameter misspellings.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters.<section end=parameter_ignored_help_text />

Unknown parameter |xxxx= ignored (|yyyy= suggested)

<section begin=parameter_case_help_text />Template:Help desk

CS1 citations report this error when the name portion of a parameter's |name=value-pair is not recognized as a valid name. With very few exceptions CS1 citation parameters are lower case. CS1 will report this error when the parameter's name contains uppercase letters (Xxxx, xxXx, XXXX) but the parameter's name is defined as lowercase (xxxx). Some parameters, like |isbn= can be either lowercase or uppercase, but not of mixed case (|isbn= or |ISBN= but not |Isbn=). CS1 will also report this error when the parameter's name matches a name in the list of common parameter misspellings (found |acessdate= but expected |accessdate=).

CS1 will offer a suggested parameter name from the list of valid parameters or from the list of common parameter misspellings.

To resolve this error, replace the erroneous parameter name with a correct one, possibly using the suggested name.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations using unsupported parameters.<section end=parameter_case_help_text />

Wikilink embedded in URL title

<section begin=wikilink_in_url_help_text />Template:Help desk

External links in a rendered citation are a combination of url-holding parameters, |url=, |chapterurl=, etc., with title-holding parameters, |title=, |chapter=, etc. Title-holding parameters may be wikilinked to another Wikipedia article but not when there is a matching url-holding parameter in the citation. When this condition occurs, the wikilink is suppressed, the wiki markup ignored, and the rendered citation links to the external site.

Some templates will also cause this error if they are part of a title-holding parameter. The error occurs when the template produces wikilinked content. For example, {{lang}} templates output a wikilinked category. Templates in url-holding parameters may also corrupt the citation's COinS metadata. As a general rule, avoid using templates in title-holding parameters unless you know that the template's affects are entirely visual ({{!}} and the like).

This type of error may also occur in identifier-based templates ({{cite doi}}, etc.). When this happens, the error message is shown in the article but the error is actually located in the identifier-based citation template.

To resolve this error, remove wikilinks from title-holding parameters that are intended to be externally linked or remove the external URL, which will allow the internal wikilinks to work as expected. If wikilink-producing templates are important to the citation, move them out of the CS1 template but leave them inside the citation's <ref>...</ref> tags. Some of the functionality provided by templates may also be available through CS1 parameters.

To resolve errors in identifier-based citation templates, the template must be edited to correct the error. Exercise caution when editing these templates because identifier-based citation templates are often used in multiple articles.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in Category:Pages with citations having wikilinks embedded in URL titles.<section end=wikilink_in_url_help_text /><section begin=notes_help_text />

Notes

<section end=notes_help_text />

<section begin=references_help_text />

References

<section end=references_help_text />