Help:Reftags

This page, Help:Reftags, explains the use of the reftag element,p for defining reference footnotes, as displayed by using a s tag or a template to list the footnotes. A reftag can also be defined by using wikitext function to generate the text  and allow direct use of subst'ing of templates to embed equivalent markup inside a footnote, or to nest a p inside a.

Defining a reftag element
The general format is  for a simple reftag footnote. However reftags can have a  to define a footnote to be reused on a page by named ref,, as when citing the same webpage at several spots in the article text. There can be more than 3,000 reftag footnotes defined on a page, but usually there are less than a hundred.

Citing different pages in a single source
When citing different pages in a single source, a named ref can be followed by a template. Given a ref like " ", the ref  can be reused, now using a different page number, say 53. This subsequent ref  will show the same superscript number, with a suffix of a colon and, in this case 53, the page number. This format allows the reader to click to the reference section, and then click on other references from the same source.

Named groupings
Rather than define hundreds of footnotes in a single list, various reftags could split to some named groupings, such as using " " to collect those footnotes into group name  as displayed by. For example, a common tactic is to define footnote group "fn" which shows each link as "[fn 9]" for the 9th footnote in the. A group name can be multiple words in straight double quotation marks, but a single-word name with no punctuation or other special characters, just ASCII letters and numerals, can omit the quotation marks (as: ). Hence, many group names are typically one-word labels, to avoid excessive quotation marks.

Defining a reftag function
Rather than using an element, an alternate method is to use the wikitext function  , as  to define the contents of a footnote.

Examples:
 * Using  will show a superscript number:  and list footnote "Example of tag:ref function" under the References.
 * Using named  will show a superscript number:  and list footnote "Named reftag function xx1" under the References below. The footnote name   then can be reused by putting  at various points in the text.