Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Archive 32

little help needed...
I was a frequent user of AWB for a while, but my Windows PC gave up on me and I switched to a Mac, where AWB isn't supported. I know my way around a computer and very basic coding but I never experimented with virtual machines or boot camp or anything of the sort. AWB apparently works on Mac through using some form of virtualization software and since the ones recommended on the FAQ are paid I decided to try VirtualBox, but as I feared I didn't have a clear idea on how to proceed and I didn't want to screw anything up so I would unbelievably appreciate it if anyone with a little bit more computing intellect than me can guide me through not doing anything dumb and still successfully getting AWB again, thanks! GN-z11 ☎  ★ 21:23, 20 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Still need help? Here's a How-To Geek article on how to set up a Windows virtual machine on a Mac using VirtualBox. I've done this successfully (not too difficult), although I haven't actually tried running AWB on it (I use it for other purposes). If you're willing to pay for a more user-friendly experience, Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion are also viable alternatives. — k6ka  🍁 ( Talk ·  Contributions ) 12:38, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

Replacing text
I need this to replace instances of English: (translation) with. That is because has been making many disruptive IP edits such as this, and many have been overlooked. What I want to do for example is, replace (English:Travellers) with. That has already been manually done for Caravan, but I used it here to show what I mean. Hope somebody can help. -- Kailash29792 (talk)  05:27, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * If they are all listed like your example, will want to replace
 * with
 * I added in a whitespace check before the ital just as a precaution. Primefac (talk) 17:40, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Another editor asked about a similar task at AutoWikiBrowser/Tasks. Your work may overlap. Certes (talk) 17:50, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I added in a whitespace check before the ital just as a precaution. Primefac (talk) 17:40, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Another editor asked about a similar task at AutoWikiBrowser/Tasks. Your work may overlap. Certes (talk) 17:50, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

Little help please
Hi. My request for AWB was approved today. I downloaded AWB and tried to test it out. I set all the options and selected the only page as COVID-19 pandemic in Boston. When I hit Start, it said "No pages in list. Please press 'make list' to add pages." Please help me solve this. Qwerty325 (talk) 20:59, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * How did you "select" the page? The easiest way for one page is to type the title into the box just below, then click the  button to the right of that box to add the article to the empty list. Certes (talk) 21:08, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I added a page using the to the list then hit Start. I tried this again but this time I had noticed that the Skipped value was increasing every time I tried this. I went to the  page and unchecked the things that were checked. Then I tried again and it worked. What was in the page that resulted in it skipping it the first few times? Qwerty325 (talk) 21:39, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Each box on the Skip tab can be a reason for skipping. For example, suppose you haven't set up anything that would change this article.  (Maybe you're replacing "sppeling" by "spelling", but "sppeling" doesn't occur in that article.)  If "No changes are made" are checked then AWB quietly moves on to the next page in the list, or stops if it has reached the end of the list (as it will here because only one article is listed).  If you uncheck that box then you'll get a "No changes" message in the diff area and AWB will wait for you to click Skip manually.  If you have set up something which you expected to change that article but it didn't, please post the details here and someone may be able to identify the problem.  For example, you may have used a regular expression which does not do exactly what you intended.  Certes (talk) 22:55, 26 July 2020 (UTC)
 * In the bottom right panel, one of the tabs is labelled "Logs". When a page is skipped, a line gets added there with a brief "Skip reason". -- John of Reading (talk) 06:10, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Oh, I found that. It says it skipped because "only genfixes were made". What's a genfix? -- Qwerty325 (talk) 15:18, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * That's short for "general fixes". It means miscellaneous tidying like removing spaces at ends of lines.  These are often cosmetic edits and their value is a matter of opinion.  Many editors feel that they are worth making when already editing the page to make more substantive changes, but refrain from saving an edit with only cosmetic changes to avoid cluttering the edit history.  For this reason, AWB has an option to skip saving pages in which only genfixes were made. Certes (talk) 15:36, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Oh, that makes sense. One last question: Is it better to have that box (Skip genfixes) checked or unchecked in the tab? -- Qwerty325 (talk) 15:53, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Typically better to have it checked. Even if you don't care about whether you make cosmetic edits alone or not (you care per general bot policy and AWB rules), usually you have some task with AWB you want to do. When you are trying to do that task, making changes to pages which are general fixes only is a waste of your personal time. --Izno (talk) 16:22, 27 July 2020 (UTC)

Element ordering
AWB moves redirects before short descriptions even though WP:ORDER states that short description should be first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zidovudine&diff=969887933&oldid=967570699

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Methotrexate&diff=969887658&oldid=964467026

--Whywhenwhohow (talk) 02:29, 28 July 2020 (UTC)
 * This was reported as T247694 and fixed in March, but the developers have not yet released a new version of the software containing the fix. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:35, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Turkish language
AWB converts hyphen-minus (-) to endash (−), as you can see here. However, we only use it (-) in Turkish. So this change is wrong. Is there a way to turn off dash->en dash edits in the trwiki? -- ToprakM &thinsp;✉ 21:26, 28 July 2020 (UTC)

Is there a way to merge rules
Hello, so I ignorantly thought that my find/replace rules were stored in a central settings file. I've created other settings files and have since added new find/replace rules to those settings files, and now I realise that they did not propagate to my default list. Soooo, does anyone know of a simple way to merge rules from one file to another and pull out duplicates? I figured I'd see if there was an easy way to do this before I copy/paste the content from one XML file to another. Thanks, Cyphoidbomb (talk) 15:44, 30 July 2020 (UTC)

Skipping recently edited pages
There are sometimes errors that I search for that are often a component of text that in the short term is likely to be removed/reverted. Is there any way to, say, skip pages that have been edited within the last 36 hours? Neils51 (talk) 02:55, 1 August 2020 (UTC)

adding wikiproject banners
I have been adding wikiproject banners on talkpages using a module (given below). I've added more than 2000 banners with that module, an I am having only one issue: when there is  present, sometimes the banner is added outside that shell: special:diff/843217671. But this is not always the case. Most of the times, it is added inside the shell. Sometimes if the banner shell is missing the parameter  in it, then it is added successfully: special:diff/969699784. I am not sure whats causing the issue. I looked through the source code of pages (with successful, and problematic edits); but I couldnt find anything. I mean, I looked in the code of pages which had banner shells and yet the project banner was placed outside the shell. Code of both the pages looked similar to me.

Here is the regex/module I've been using:



public string ProcessArticle(string ArticleText, string ArticleTitle, int wikiNamespace, out string Summary, out bool Skip) {           Regex header = new Regex(@"\{\{{WikiProject Organized crime|{{WikiProject Organized Crime|{{WikiProject Fictional characters|{{Comicsproj|{{WikiProject Film|{{Film|{{WikiProject Video games|{{WikiProject Television|{{WPTV|{{WP Fictional|{{WikiProject Novels|{{WikiProject Anime|{{TelevisionWikiProject|{{WPFILM|{{WikiProject Songs|{{WP film|{{WPBooks|{{WikiProject Cities|{{NovelsWikiProject", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase); Summary = "Added banner for WP:WikiProject Organized Crime"; Skip = (header.Match(ArticleText).Success || !Namespace.IsTalk(ArticleTitle)); if (!Skip) ArticleText = "{{WikiProject Organized Crime}} \r" + ArticleText; return ArticleText; }

Is there any way to tell/force the AWB to place the banner inside the shell if the shell is already present? I skimmed through AutoWikiBrowser/Regular expression, but couldn't find a solution.

I am trying to get a bot approved for adding wikiproject banners. Is there any method through which I can successfully create an AWB bot to add wikiproject banners? Any method is welcome as long as it can used with bot flag. While I was looking for a solution, I came across User:Magioladitis/WikiProjects. There I found this:

 ArticleText = Regex.Replace(ArticleText, @"{{\s*(WikiProjectBanners|WikiProject[ _]+Banners|WPB|WPBS|Wikiprojectbannershell|WikiProject[ _]+Banner[ _]+Shell|WPBannerShell|WP[ _]+Banner[ _]+Shell|Bannershell|WikiProject[ _]+Banners[ _]+Shell|WikiProjectBanner[ _]+Shell|WikiProject[ _]+BannerShell) *\r?([\|}{<\n])", "{{WikiProject banner shell$2", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);

Is there any way to use above code to find a solution? Also pinging {{ping|Koavf|Primefac|Xaosflux|Cabayi}} as they have experience with AWB, and coding in general. Anybody's help would be appriciated a lot. —usernamekiran (talk) 08:16, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * {{u|Usernamekiran}}, Sorry to say that I'm not a regex whiz. I didn't want to totally ignore your ping but I can't help. :/ Consider WP:VPT. ―Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 08:21, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * {{re|Koavf}} thanks for the speedy response. Can you think of any other way than regex? I will surely try VPT if I dont get a solution here. Thanks, —usernamekiran (talk) 08:24, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Just editing by hand and copy-pasting in the editing window. ―Justin ( koavf ) ❤T☮C☺M☯ 08:38, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

{{od}} {{ping|Koavf|Primefac|Xaosflux|Cabayi}} The problem has been solved {{p|:d}} —usernamekiran (talk) 13:22, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * {{u|usernamekiran}}, that's good to hear. I find my own regex concoctions scary enough. Someone else's... *gulp* Cabayi (talk) 14:23, 3 August 2020 (UTC)


 * I know (again) I'm late to the party, but if you're just adding a header, why not just use a simple find/replace to put it inside WPBS? No need for a module. Primefac (talk) 22:07, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

Software translation
Hello. Can I translate the software into Hebrew? Get the source code and translate the words? Thank you! עמד (talk) 20:34, 9 August 2020 (UTC)

Error message
Moved to Phabricator T260462. SchreiberBike &#124; ⌨ 21:22, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Resolved. Don't know what did it. SchreiberBike &#124; ⌨ 23:14, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

Deployed version?
I noticed that the download binary version 6.1.0.1 (12353) is almost a year old. Is there a logic to when you release a new version for binary-only users? I merged the short description ordering fix from a later version and having no problems otherwise, so I'm just curious. Also I think it'd be helpful for nosy people like me to label the actual released version somehow in addition to (apparently) labeling the start of the new sequence of updates. David Brooks (talk) 14:55, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Open text selection in browser
I am not sure this is a bug or even if it is whether there is anything that can be done with it. Please take a note of the pages and text you have found this issue with (and possibly the pages you have not). --Izno (talk) 17:59, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks ; sorry for the small delay in coming back here ~ i've been dealing with a broken heart issue (hospital-type, not romantic-type) and haven't edited at all. I anticipate editing with AWB tomorrow; if the error happens i will return here with a report.  Thanks, happy days, LindsayHello 19:42, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi . So, i have just edited List of university art museums and galleries in New York State, and in the process highlighted a link and used the "Open text selection in browser" function, and my browser tried to open https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http://www.potsdam.edu/museum/facilities/%3DSUNY_Potsdam; obviously, i was able to just delete the first portion of the address and get it to open https://www.potsdam.edu/museum/facilities/%3DSUNY_Potsdam instead.  I don't know if this helps clarify/pinpoint the issue ~ in fact, to be fair, it's not an huge issue anyway, as it is possible to correct the link in the address bar, it's just an anomaly.  Speaking of anomalies, i notice that somehow in asking my browser to open the link, it appears that AWB changed the initial "h" into "H" as it passed the address; could that be causing this?  It is/was very definitely a lower-case in the article. Anyway, happy days, LindsayHello 07:10, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Your corrected link leads to a "page not found" error on the university website, so is that what you think the correct URL is? In the revision of the article yesterday the page reports a URL error for that citation (an editor has since corrected it). Sounds to me like the error is that when the URL is invalid AWB doesn't open it correctly, which is hardly surprising? Thanks Rjwilmsi  08:44, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, i agree, it does go to a "page not found", which is why i corrected it in the in which i found the issue (Kahtar is an alternate account of mine).  I reported it here because it is the first time i have had this error since i was asked to note it.  And, no, the "page not found" is not why AWB didn't open it correctly, because the very first time i mentioned this, the link i gave was an accurate one, which i was able to manually open by deleting the extraneous "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=" it had added to the URL it tried to open (see mine opening post, above). Hope i'm being clearer; happy days, LindsayHello 09:10, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
 * OK, the AWB logic is that if the text isn't a valid URL then it's assumed to be a wiki page. In I've changed that to always treat the text as a URL if it starts with HTTP (case insensitive). However, how/whether the browser will open an invalid URL (in this instance: with a space in it) will depend on your browser's behaviour, so while we won't treat HTTP links as wiki pages, they may still not open as expected.  Rjwilmsi  10:04, 14 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Great, thanks, ; that (not treating HTTP links as wiki pages) is all i was asking about. 'Twas just chance that the example i gave the other day was an invalid URL; usually it was a valid one, so if it doesn't happen any longer...i'm happy ; happy days, LindsayHello 06:22, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Um, a little late to this, but the fix in 12425 means that opening a text selection of http, or http 404, or... (you get the idea) will silently fail instead of displaying the desired article - Process.Start throws an exception that gets swallowed. Not often encountered, I know, but easy to correct by RE-matching ^\s*https?:// or the equivalent string comparisons. David Brooks (talk) 21:01, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Question
Does AWB work on Windows 8.1? I downloaded it but when I click run, nothing happens... 171.247.188.64 (talk) 03:57, 26 August 2020 (UTC)
 * If you mean the "Start" button, the reason isn't because of your OS but rather because you need to apply for permission first in order to use the program to actually make changes. This requires making an account to give said permission to, and even then you probably won't be accepted until you have at least a few hundred edits. Ionmars10 (talk) 04:06, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Auto tag
Any idea where the code is for the "auto tag" option is on AWB? Is this listed somewhere? Best Wishes,  Lee Vilenski (talk • contribs) 13:17, 28 August 2020 (UTC)
 * In WikiFunctions/Parse/Tagger.cs, starting at line 73. Is that what you meant? David Brooks (talk) 16:46, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

Often see edit-summaries that look like they are doing nothing
Perhaps this is just annoying to me but on the watchlist, I often see AWB summaries that look like they are doing nothing (eg. "(clean up, replaced: 9 million → 9 million))"  Is not 9 million the same as 9 million.). Can that be bettered?  Alanscottwalker (talk) 15:43, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
 * In that example, a simple space is being replaced by a non-breaking space for good reason, but I agree that's not too obvious from the summary. David Brooks (talk) 19:47, 30 August 2020 (UTC)

Formatting in display pane
In the display window, broken links no longer show in red. Is this an intentional change? Colonies Chris (talk) 13:38, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

restarting in
I am often coming across articles which are making AWB go "restarting in ". For example: Hans Langsdorff, and Nalbari district. AWB is successfully processing the pages, it gets "ready to save", and then upon hitting "save"/ctrl+S, it says "restarting in 30 seconds". That timer increases with every attempt, but the edit never gets saved. Is anybody facing similar problem? These articles have URLs without http by the way. —usernamekiran (talk) 07:31, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Institute
I have just had 'Institute' become 'ie'. The intention was probably to remove the cap. Need to report this in Phabricator, my regex skills are a little rusty? Neils51 (talk) 14:02, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * That looks like "the institute" rule from Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos. I've made a basic fix but the intention may have been more subtle. Certes (talk) 14:25, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I can see the problem and have probably fixed it but am having difficulty testing the fix. Can you name a page where the problem occurred? Certes (talk) 14:36, 6 September 2020 (UTC)


 * Hi Certes, thanks for looking at this. This is the article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Institute_of_Adult_Education
 * Thank you. That article has already had the typo fixed but I've tested with the similar Acton Institute, which confirms that the Institute was now fixes correctly. Certes (talk) 22:44, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Bug with linktrail
The linktrail on English Wikipedia is apparently lower case ASCII letters a through z. AWB attempts to simplify links without taking this into account. For example, process Cleavage (breasts) with general fixes, and it attempts to change  to. Instead of displaying as "brassières", this change would cause the incorrect "brassières". (AWB version 6.1.0.1, SVN 12353) M AN d ARAX  •  XAЯA b ИA M  21:38, 7 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Oops! They're going to be hard to find without searching a dump.  A quick sample check reveals quite a few cases but not resulting from AWB.  There was a brief discussion at VPT in 2013 on changing $linkTrail. Certes (talk) 22:45, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

Please bump the released version
To emphasize a comment above: some (very) experienced editors using AWB genfixes are still pushing short description under hatnotes without noticing. Not all of the users are source-capable, I think. Can you bump the downloaded binary? David Brooks (talk) 21:06, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Just to put some meat on this: I reviewed the most recent 1,000 AWB-tagged edits. Of them, 35 of the edited articles had a short description out-of-order; of those 35, there were 5 that seemed to have been pushed down by a genfix during that edit, and 2 that seemed to have been re-ordered manually. The remaining 28 have the potential to be auto-fixed by the unreleased genfix code. In addition, there were 144 where the short description was kept on top, usually because there were no subsequent hatnotes to be flipped upwards.
 * That was one snapshot; I just ran the code again and got 43 out-of-order and 162 "stable" ones. David Brooks (talk) 17:25, 26 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I usually remember to double-click the short description in the left and right diff panels to restore it to the top, but I expect I've forgotten more than once. Certes (talk) 17:42, 26 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I usually restore it as well, but have noticed later I've missed it on occasion. It also slows me down by having to Skip because that is the ONLY change. MB 20:06, 26 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I wasn't even aware of the issue until it was pointed out to me the other day. Please count this as another vote for an updated binary. -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 19:51, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Once this issue is resolved, it might be worthwhile to run a bot on these pages to put the Short description templates back where they belong. Ionmars10 (talk) 19:54, 30 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Talk about a cosmetic, unnecessary edit. If and when the issue is resolved, it can be dealt with in the course of dealing with more pertinent issues. This is hardly worth a specific run. Primefac (talk) 19:25, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
 * We may have different ideas of what's "cosmetic": if an editor makes an article conform to the Manual of Style with respect to Short Description and hatnotes ordering, then later it's edited with AWB and genfixes on, the article will no longer conform. I think MOS goes a little beyond cosmetic. And I wasn't clear in the above: the issue was resolved last November (change 12363); it just hasn't been prop'd. I've been making a private build of 12426 available to some active AWB users, which isn't an ideal choice. David Brooks (talk) 20:21, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Likely; I'm coming at it from a bot/BAG perspective (see WP:COSMETIC), wherein the changes mentioned above do not alter the "reader-facing" side of the page, do not change any categorization on the backend, and only changes the wikitext. I'm not saying it cannot be fixed by the patched/new release of AWB, I'm saying that going through purely to change the order of the templates will be problematic if done at a high rate. Primefac (talk) 15:43, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the formal definition of cosmetic; I understand your reluctance better now. Still, given the manual's invitation for technically-adept users to sync with source daily, I still feel comfortable making a private build available to some less-technical users (if they trust me to dispense binaries). David Brooks (talk) 17:16, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Would a temporary regex rule to replace (.*)(\{\{short description\|.*?\}\}) by $2$1 after fixes be useful? (Not tested; actual working regex may differ.) Certes (talk) 17:27, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Nice idea. I think  would work, with the SingleLine option. I started with   to avoid a null edit, and the .? covers some redirects. Note this would (properly) lift the SD from anywhere in the article, while AWB just re-orders Section 0 -- I do the same in a module anyway. David Brooks (talk) 14:19, 2 September 2020 (UTC)
 * What is the process to get the release version updated? — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 09:27, 13 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Just to hop in here - it is not just the ordering that is required but the change to handle date fixes in 2020 which are not happening at the moment. (T242103). Keith D (talk) 12:47, 13 September 2020 (UTC)
 * The fix is revision 12394 so a build-from-source will pick it up. Or something else? David Brooks (talk) 15:40, 13 September 2020 (UTC)

AWB not starting
Is it just me or anybody else's AWB not starting up? —usernamekiran (talk) 21:07, 22 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Works fine for me. Ionmars10 (talk) 21:14, 22 August 2020 (UTC)


 * whenever I am trying to start AWB, first I am getting error "the operation has timed out" under window title "network access error". After clicking ok, I get "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." followed by following this in the same dialogue box:

 -- ``` AWBPlugins - Kingbotk Plugin
 * description**:
 * workaround**:
 * OS**: Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0
 * version**: AutoWikiBrowser (6.1.0.1), WikiFunctions (6.1.0.1), revision 12353 (2019-09-17 21:16:42)
 * net**: 4.0.30319.42000
 * duplicate**:
 * site**: https://en.wikipedia.org

AWBBasePlugins

ListMakerPlugins ```

If I click on "continue working", then the green loading box (with the loading bar) stays there forever. courtesy ping to User:Ionmars10 —usernamekiran (talk) 08:49, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Does AWB work for Windows NT? I seem to recall it's Vista or newer. Primefac (talk) 11:53, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * According to our article on MS Windows versions, NT 6.2 is Windows 8 (not 8.1). --Izno (talk) 12:41, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I hate to admit that as someone who used to own a machine running Windows NT (4.0, apparently) I did not realize they kept the name but dropped the marketing. Primefac (talk) 16:40, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * According to the Phab task which implemented AWB 6.0, the required .NET version is 4.5. You may need to update that first. --Izno (talk) 12:46, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Your problem may be logged already at T99277. --Izno (talk) 12:51, 23 August 2020 (UTC)


 * I got this error on windows 10, and the .NET version is above 4.5. It was working fine till a couple days ago, and I got this error without any changes in my computer system. —usernamekiran (talk) 18:11, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * update: I successfully logged in, and made two edits; without making any changes to the system. —usernamekiran (talk) 17:31, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Just a weird observation: whenever I am trying to use AWB without enabling VPN, I am getting this error. Maybe an issue with my ISP? —usernamekiran (talk) 20:19, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Misplaced sign when space is used as the thousands separator
Not sure if this still happens (last edit from 2016) but: ("5 000€" -> "5 €000" etc.) 85.156.64.153 (talk) 20:57, 23 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Still happens in 6.1.0.1. —[ Alan M 1  (talk) ]— 11:51, 9 September 2020 (UTC)


 * Thanks for clarifying. According to the following regex search, it may still happen in some articles: That search takes some time and gives the "timed out" warning but manages to give a few results. That search is for the € sign, but there're probably more similar signs that have the same problem. Maybe disable the sign repositioning for the  's and leave it on for the  's or something. 85.76.16.175 (talk) 22:07, 15 September 2020 (UTC)
 * This search is quicker and finds more cases (though far from all, because other three-digit numbers are available). Certes (talk) 23:05, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Importing PetScan query list to AWB?
I'd like go through a list of pages categorized as essays but missing essaysort on their talk page. I don't know how to set this up in AWB, but it's reflected in the PetScan queries linked here. Is there any way to import those to AWB? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 00:16, 14 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , if you have a way of converting the list into plaintext (i.e. each line contains *just* the page name), you should be able to just copy-paste it into AWB's page list area. If not, you could set the output format in PetScan to "Wiki", copy that and paste it into some page in your userspace, and then use the "Links on page" search type in AWB. Ionmars10 (talk) 00:25, 14 September 2020 (UTC)
 * It might be worth asking for a "simple list" option to be added to PetScan's output formats. I'm sure that would be a trivial enhancement, which I would also find useful.  I currently request a .tsv then use a pre-canned regex to have my text editor remove all but the second column. Certes (talk) 11:12, 14 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , you should convert the PetScan query to PagePile (use PagePile option in Output tab), and click on PlainText in the result. IKhitron (talk) 12:06, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Making a list against Special:UnconnectedPages
Is that have any method to make a list to Special:UnconnectedPages with the namespace available to select, recently an user created some article then connects to Wikidata which leaves those pages in the list. If is's possible it will be better to create a list and do a null edit for those pages to clean up those items. Shinjiman &#8660; &#9832; 04:42, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Connection errors
A few days ago I was able to connect via AWB and work with it in a private wiki (a few thousand changes). Only one day later I get another error, so no connection.

The wiki is a 1.34.0 i tested AWB 6.1.0.1, 5.10.1.0 both give the same error. The error text varies depending on the protocol and IE access: http://cloud.go-designs.de/s/A2CHPiwM3PrGmG7.

I also tested different workstations with different operating systems to avoid having a misdirected firewall rule causing this. I'm not sure if it's a common mistake and how to fix it. I've always had mistakes before, but as I said I was able to work with them that day without any problems. I only had some problems with the user before, that was solvable by creating a new one for tests.

Any ideas what could causes that or way i can try? maybe theres a way to force the adress, to skip the tests? --Gunnar.offel (talk) 04:48, 18 August 2020 (UTC)




 * I created an internal rebuild of the wiki by just using the database. it uses the default settings in LocalSettings. It doesn't workes either. On a later test it could login, as long the application was open it works several hundred changes. after restarting AWB, the error comes back. So i would like to reask, any ideas which setting could force this or any way how i could skip the tests? An older version (1.33) seems to work always. -- Gunnar.offel (talk) 06:57, 6 September 2020 (UTC)


 * I have the same issue on an independent wiki. This happened suddenly, with no changes made to the wiki's or AWB's settings. I'm surprised this is barely reported. And even though I'm using the latest version, the "Check for updates" option literally tells me it fails even though it should just tell me I'm up-to-date. Klow (talk) 19:42, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

List generator: feature request
Can be usefule a list generator tool to generate list of pages: The tool must generate 2 indipendent lists, generated with the usual source of AWB (List 1 and List 2) then the output must be: --ValterVB (talk) 14:42, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
 * only the pages present in the two lists
 * only the pages in list 1 thar aren't in list 2
 * only the pages in list 2 thar aren't in list 1
 * I think AWB already has this. Select "Tools > List comparer" from the AWB menu bar. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:23, 22 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot, I have missing this ... --ValterVB (talk) 16:32, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

Problem using CheckWiki error numbers to build page list
Using AWB with Simple English Wikipedia, I'm unable to load a list of pages via the "CheckWiki error (number)" option. When I try, I get the following message:

Network access error The remote server returned an error: (308) Permanent Redirect.

I've had the same error with two different CheckWiki error ID numbers. Do I need to open something on Phabricator, or does anyone know what is causing this? It does look like task T257689, but I don't see how to apply that fix to what I'm seeing. Thanks. --Auntof6 (talk) 05:33, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
 * That fix will be released whenever Reedy does a release of AWB. Would it be possible to have a slightly more-regular timeline on releases in general? Like, once every 1/2/3/4/6 months or something? --Izno (talk) 19:01, 23 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I will wait for the new release. --Auntof6 (talk) 20:37, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Bots section not showing up
Pretty self explanatory, the "Bots" tab is not showing up, and thus not letting me fully automate the editing. Any help? 62.122.233.124 (talk) 18:06, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Were you logged in? I got logged out for no obvious reason a few hours ago. Certes (talk) 18:16, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
 * You have to be logged in, with a bot account, for that to show up. — xaosflux  Talk 19:22, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Author's response - Yep. I am logged in with a bot account. I feel like I also should mention that this is on a Fandom wiki (which I properly linked, as I was able to save pages manually). 62.122.233.124 (talk) 18:49, 27 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Why do you people keep saying "bots", when the correct spelling is automated robot or simple robot ifnot tool?86.120.235.68 (talk) 05:47, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
 * "Bot" is Wikipedia jargon for a specific type of software robot which makes automated changes to the encyclopedia. Certes (talk) 11:34, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
 * See Internet bot &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:10, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

orphan according to AWB
I think AWB tags an article as an orhpan if there are three, or less incoming links. The definition/criteria has been changed now to zero links. Is there a way to change this in installed AWB, or is the definition controlled by the devs, and not by end user/installation? —usernamekiran (talk) 04:41, 28 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I am completely unfamiliar with the use of any automated tools, but an orphan article is an article with zero incoming links. So, any automated tool that encourages tagging articles with one, two or three incoming links as "orphans" should be modified or disabled. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  05:02, 28 September 2020 (UTC)
 * The AWB setting "Options > Restrict orphan tag addition to linkless pages" should be ticked by all editors using AWB on the English-language Wikipedia. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:26, 28 September 2020 (UTC)
 * But that restricts the addition entirely. I think if an article is orphan, then it should be tagged as an orphan. Otherwise there is a very high chances of these article literally being forgotten, and ending up at WP:Forgotten Articles. We should tag them to integrate in the encyclopaedia :) —usernamekiran (talk) 10:35, 28 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I believe that when the auto tagger is turned on and the "Restrict orphan tag addition to linkless pages" option is ticked, AWB will add the tag to pages having zero links. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:43, 28 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Looking at the code (Taggers.cs line 766 ff), the above inferences seem correct, except that the default is <3 (not <=3). And, yes, it's 0 if the option is set. And no action if you're Swedish. And it tries to remove an orphan tag if there are 3 or more links. David Brooks (talk) 15:00, 28 September 2020 (UTC)

reading an external file on a local drive
Possible?

I want to have awb ingest a local copy of the IANA language-subtag-registry file, parse that apart, format appropriate data, and then replace the content of the several lua modules:
 * Module:Language/data/iana languages
 * Module:Language/data/iana scripts
 * Module:Language/data/iana regions
 * Module:Language/data/iana variants
 * Module:Language/data/iana suppressed scripts
 * Module:Language/data/ISO 639-1

The registry file is periodically updated so the process now is to fetch a copy, put it in a sandbox, and then run Module:Language/data/iana languages/make. Then it's copy pasta to update the various modules. Would be nice to automate that more. Can awb open and read that external file? If so, tips on how to accomplish this?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 19:51, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
 * You can write a custom module to read the external file. — Ganeshk (talk) 20:38, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Excellent, thank you.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 22:58, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Got it working (User:Trappist the monk/IANA subtag registry file update); now to wait for the next update. While writing this script, and because my ignorance of c# is profound, I spent a bit of time on the internets for tips about how to do this or about how to do that.  On one such visit I stumbled upon   with which it is apparently possible to read the content of a webpage.  This seems a better solution than using my browser to download and save the language-subtag-registry file.  Is it possible for a custom module to read the IANA language-subtag-registry file directly from the web?  Any working examples that I can adapt to this use?
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 10:18, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * The simplified (modern) way is  But you need additional lines if you want to set a UserAgent. And you may need to precede that with   because AWB uses framework 4.5 which defaults to TLS 1.1, although I think AWB will have already set the protocol globally. Don't be confused by the "Async" part of the name; the Result property forces a synchronous wait. One could also use the older HttpWebRequest mechanism, but I don't think you can do that in one line. David Brooks (talk) 16:33, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * ETA: Oh, smacking my head for not testing in situ. It looks like an AWB module can't handle System.Net.Http.HttpClient because AWB didn't include the DLL reference. You'll have to use WebClient after all. Working up some code. David Brooks (talk) 16:43, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I was just going to report that... Thank you.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 17:01, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * actually tested in situ this time... There are some undisposed Disposable objects, but you probably won't notice. David Brooks (talk) 17:19, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Yay! Works. Thank you.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 17:54, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * You are most welcome. There are a couple of ways it could have been more elegant, but I had to get to an appointment as soon as I got it working. Obviously the User Agent can be any string; that depends on what IANA would prefer you do. David Brooks (talk) 21:17, 29 September 2020 (UTC)
 * And just now, IANA updated the language-subtag-registry file so I have used the script to update the Lua modules. So much easier, thanks.  Apparently   has to be set to something (either for c# or for IANA, don't know which).  According to our article about the user-agent header, Google will be deprecating the header in their browsers; I had hoped that an empty string or space character would suffice.  Alas, no.  So I'll give it a bot-like user-agent header (or I could, maybe, spoof an old Netscape 1.2 on Windows 3.1 as user agent ...)
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 00:01, 30 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia's own API asks us to set a user agent so it knows who or what is using the system and can see that it's in good faith rather than a denial-of-service attack or other misuse. IANA may have a similar system. Certes (talk) 00:08, 30 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes; if you don't set the UserAgent, IANA returns a 403 error with content "Status 403 Forbidden: User-Agent required. Contact iana@iana.org with questions". Given that "please set the string to something that suggests who you are and what you are doing" is in the MW API, I guess that's what IANA wants too. It should probably be more informative, and sorry I didn't explain that. David Brooks (talk) 15:32, 30 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia's own API asks us to set a user agent so it knows who or what is using the system and can see that it's in good faith rather than a denial-of-service attack or other misuse. IANA may have a similar system. Certes (talk) 00:08, 30 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes; if you don't set the UserAgent, IANA returns a 403 error with content "Status 403 Forbidden: User-Agent required. Contact iana@iana.org with questions". Given that "please set the string to something that suggests who you are and what you are doing" is in the MW API, I guess that's what IANA wants too. It should probably be more informative, and sorry I didn't explain that. David Brooks (talk) 15:32, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

Full time
I am not reporting this as a bug because I am not certain whether it is a problem with AWB or a problem with the users editing it, but I have now had to revert two different editors, one claiming to use AWB, who are automatically changing the phrase "full time" into "full-time" even in situations where it is inappropriate, and together have made three times the same bad edit to the same article. This change should only be made when the next word after the phrase is a noun, as part of a noun adjunct phrase. When "full time" is used as a standalone adjective-noun phrase, for instance as the subject or object of a sentence or the object of a preposition, it should not be hyphenated. If the software cannot understand such distinctions in grammar it should not be making this change. If it is indeed a bug in AWB itself, I would appreciate it if someone would report it in the appropriate channels.

Meanwhile, is there some way of locking out all AWB changes to an article until an issue like this is fixed? I don't see instructions for that on WP:AWB and it seems like an important capability to have. —David Eppstein (talk) 21:59, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * You might try . I don't know if that works for awb users who are not bots but I suspect that you'll find out soon enough.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 22:04, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've added that. We should at least find out if it doesn't work. Harder to tell whether it works or whether the people who troll recent changes for AWB-worthy gnomery have moved on to new ground. —David Eppstein (talk) 22:16, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , As an editor who has watched your page for 3 years plus now, I don’t think I have ever seen you this upset. I’d say the problem is partly both with AWB software itself & AWB users blindly trusting the software to a fault. You have made this point & as I said earlier I appreciate your frustration, as an English tutor myself i totally understand your point, which is grammatically absolutely correct. In the end I think AWB users shouldn’t 100% trust the software & clearly we have to double check before saving the edits. I saw your post on Captain Raju’s tp & I concur with you that blindly trusting the software isn’t a good idea. I too am guilty of this & moving forward I won’t be so blindly trusting anymore. Don’t get yourself worked up David, from your tone I sense frustration and rightfully so, but like I said please do calm down. Celestina007 (talk) 22:20, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I just tried to use awb to delete all text in Lisa Lix but awb saw the and skipped the article.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 22:41, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * David Eppstein, wrap phrases you know to be correct in not a typo, which AWB will respect by default (and friends such as sic). Whether editors on a mission with their own handwritten changes will is a different story (and it's generally hard to tell if users are rolling their own or using the AWB typo fixer). You should be able to remove the bots template accordingly. --Izno (talk) 22:45, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the more targeted workaround. Regardless of the ability to work around this issue in isolated cases, it still should be the case that software does not change that which it does not understand. —David Eppstein (talk) 23:02, 2 October 2020 (UTC)
 * This isn't really the software's fault. The rules of use for AWB clearly state that users are responsible for all edits and all parts of each edit. If you're catching people making an incorrect typo-fix, either they didn't know it was wrong (in which case they need education regardless of tool use) or didn't check the edit fully (which means they need to slow down). The AWB typo module in particular defaults to off and, if I recall correctly, when enabled it tells people that they need to be super careful because likely typos are context-sensitive. (I never run with it on as a matter of fact because it can be so distracting to check every part of every edit. Probably the wiki's loss, but I have other stuff to do, which is why I'm using AWB I'm the first place myself.)
 * If you really think this is not a change the module should ever recommend at all when turned on, the list of typo fixes is at WP:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos (where indeed a regex pattern for this change appears, leading me to believe the user in question was using the typos module), which is subject to the consensus process of course. That said, I think this is not a case which should be removed from there. --Izno (talk) 00:54, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * The change code in .../Typos in question, as far as I can tell, is this:
 * 
 * It looks like it avoids "at full time" but needs more limits on when it does a replacement., do you have links to any inappropriate edits that changed "full time" to "full-time"? – Jonesey95 (talk) 02:06, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * It is obviously not reasonable to say that it's not AWB's fault and that users should be carefully checking all of their edits, because obviously the users are not and have not been checking all their edits. As for diffs: the three from today that frustrated me so much by wasting my time undoing repeated automated mistakes: Lix 1 Lix 2 Lix 3, and two more that I found from much earlier by searching for similar strings that were incorrectly hyphenated: Curb Racing from July 2016 and Daytona from March 2016. Also note that none of these articles has anything to do with association football, that association football's use of "full-time" rather than "full time" when this phrase is used as a noun appears rather grammatically idiosyncratic to me (I can't say whether it is correct for football but it is too far removed from mainstream hyphenation rules to be incorporated into AWB without safeguards that it only apply to football articles) and that these are four different people supposedly responsible for the same mistake. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:28, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Don't know what to tell you then, as I've already told you how to resolve this. The rules of use are clear on the point on who/what is responsible for each change. --Izno (talk) 12:55, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I have removed the regex pending a more specific replacement pattern. I think that it would be reasonable to have a replacement that targeted specific phrases like "full time work" and "full time students", but a search for "full time" in article space shows too many potential incorrect replacements and judgement calls. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:06, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * And as for this, a search now is survivor bias, not an indication that a change like this is needed. --Izno (talk) 02:01, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I have no way of knowing. There are still many instances of "full time" being used incorrectly, but too many of them require significant evaluation of the context, a strong grammatical mind, or both. Someone with those qualities could make it a pet project, just as editors have adopted the phrase "comprised of" and similar bugbears. I do not see this as a case for a general-purpose typo script that shows evidence of careless use. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:37, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * The rules certainly do not make me, as a non-user of AWB, the responsible party for dealing with repeated problems on the part of AWB users. Your position would lead to the conclusion that, when AWB users have been demonstrated to have failed in their responsibility for checking edits, they should have their AWB privileges rescinded. Would you like to propose doing so for the four editors whose diffs are listed above? Or perhaps would you think it a better alternative for AWB not to include regexps likely to become problematic in this way? —David Eppstein (talk) 22:56, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * undent: when AWB users have been demonstrated to have failed in their responsibility for checking edits, they should have their AWB privileges rescinded. Yes, that's how it works, after there is sufficient cause for it. Have they been informed they made errors as expected on a collaborative project and have they continued to do so? No? Move along then. You got what you wanted, and I have no taste for reverting, even though I think it was wrong to do so. --Izno (talk) 01:51, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * undent: when AWB users have been demonstrated to have failed in their responsibility for checking edits, they should have their AWB privileges rescinded. Yes, that's how it works, after there is sufficient cause for it. Have they been informed they made errors as expected on a collaborative project and have they continued to do so? No? Move along then. You got what you wanted, and I have no taste for reverting, even though I think it was wrong to do so. --Izno (talk) 01:51, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

AWB marking "middle ages" (not head-capped) as a "typo"?
Hi! Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this. (I'll take it elsewhere if so.)

I don't use this tool myself, but I just now noticed that a number of edits I've had to revert over and over again were apparently tagged as having been performed with AWB. The two times I can recall taking this issue to a talk page (the first and second times it happened) it was not explained to me that the edit and the edit summary had been generated semi-automatically despite my actually demonstrating my own ignorance of automatically-generated edit summaries several times. (I should probably apologize for assuming back then that I was dealing with disruptive IDHT behaviour by someone who had already been told to stop, but in my defense I didn't know a semi-automated tool was directing these edits to be made, and again no one seems to have told me that this was the case.)

Given that, even with the European Middle Ages, capitalization is apparently not universal, if AWB is directing people to fix the "typo", it should probably be amended not to do so...

Hijiri 88 ( 聖やや ) 08:33, 8 October 2020 (UTC)

The "Bots" section is not showing up
Despite me logging in to a bot account, the section is not showing up. Any help? image Joker876PL (talk) 12:46, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * your account has to be both bot flagged and on this list: WP:AWB/CP. Which account are you using? —  xaosflux  Talk 13:06, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * My bot account is  (userpage on my main fandom wiki). Does it have to be on that list in order to work on Fandom wikis?
 * because that project has made use of page-specific access controls, you should add the account to their page here. — xaosflux  Talk 16:49, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

restarting in (seconds) What does this mean, and how can I fix it?
https://imgur.com/a/YVm34cE

I tried to edit using AWB, but a window saying Restarting in (seconds) pops up, and I can't edit any more. How can I fix it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.239.25.66 (talk) 05:43, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

DAB page handling
AWB seems to have special handling for DAB pages (e.g. it won't tag them as orphans or stubs). I found today that this special processing was NOT invoked on 6500 (disambiguation) - probably because it is designated with instead of the more common. MB 21:38, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
 * OK, adds support for . We were already supporting .  Rjwilmsi  15:10, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

Removing Wikilinks tag feature on AWB
Hello, I am not an AWB user, so please forgive my ignorance of it. However, I have been an editor since 2007 and have been actively working to reduce the number of articles with Too Few Winkilinks tags. The list in Community Portal used to have 20,000 articles, but is down now to 4500 articles thanks to everyone's efforts.

What I have noticed is that a sizeable percentage of articles on this list have been one or two sentence stubs that have tagged by someone using AWB. The majority of these articles have one or two Wikilinks already, but do not need anymore. People are not taking the time to view each article objectively. If you look at Category:Articles with too few wikilinks from October 2020 you will find dozens of one-sentence stub articles on different species of beetles. I have encountered ever more of these tagged beetle stubs in the past, along with ones on crayfish, spiders, and other categories.

Perhaps someone might suggest a solution to this. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rogermx (talk • contribs) 16:53, 31 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Could the logic for adding the tag be changed to a apply a threshhold of wikilinks per kilobyte rather than (or as well as) a simple count? Certes (talk) 17:11, 31 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree with Certes's approach. But then we need to define the "content of article" which should exclude (the size of) categories, def sort, auth ctrl, and other templates/stuff, AWB can readily identify refs. —usernamekiran (talk) 11:47, 3 November 2020 (UTC)


 * I think it's useful as-is. Not only does this tagging promote linking, it also promotes expansion of the article (which might be more than you're used to doing, working on ). By diluting the Underlinked pool with some per-size denominator, or some other mechanism, you're also suggesting that 1-2 sentence stubs can't ever be expanded beyond that.
 * There are ~233 pages at the intersection of &, which we can probably use AWB to wikify. FYI/courtesy pings to  & .   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  13:30, 3 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Last time I checked, AWB did not consider links in Automatic Taxobox and Speciesbox templates in its calculations like it does with Taxobox. If it did that, many of the unnecessary Underlinked tags would be prevented. Changing from Taxobox to Automatic Taxobox in an article can result in an underlinked tag, even if the change does not affect the appearance of the article. As it is now, editors sometimes add links to common terms such as "North America" in order to remove the underlinked tag. Bob Webster (talk) 14:16, 3 November 2020 (UTC)


 * Agree that some improvement should be made. The underlinked tag is the only one I frequently remove before saving, when it is applied to a one or two line stub. MB 15:45, 3 November 2020 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't disagree with something like a "Restrict Underlinked tag addition to larger pages" option, though, similar to the currently-used "Restrict orphan tag addition to linkless pages".  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  12:20, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Searching for precise wikitext
I'd like to make an AWB list of all article pages that contain the exact string, but using the search function doesn't seem to be working for that. Could anyone help? Much appreciated, &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 03:24, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
 * If you do "Wiki search (text)" for, I think that gets you what you want. SchreiberBike &#124; ⌨
 * I would do
 * If you want exactly that, and not spacing/caps variations, then
 * &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 03:39, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks both! &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 03:51, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

edit summary length
In March of 2018 there was this discussion. More than two years on, is it true that awb does not allow edit summaries to be longer than 247 characters?

—Trappist the monk (talk) 17:05, 14 November 2020 (UTC)


 * phab:T199347 remains unresolved. --Izno (talk) 17:15, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Well bother ... On the up side, at least I'm getting 246 characters which is better than 155 ...
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 17:34, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

Little help please
I'm now working on category pages on zh.wiktionary. I want to remove all the categories in a page, then add a single template on it. Can this be achieved with AWB? --TongcyDai (talk) 05:45, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

Are custom typo lists possible?
Is there any way I can set it to use a custom typo list rather than the standard WP:AWB/T list? I periodically use AWB to clean up the typos and malformattings that have crept into London-related articles. Because the City and the Corporation are both heavily-used proper names when it comes to London (the City is a district, the Corporation is a local government body, and as such there are literally thousands of articles including phrases like "he worked in the City" where the capitalization is correct), the current capitalization rule is generating huge numbers of false positives. I don't want to edit it out of the main list as in almost every other context this fix is going to be correct, but it would be really convenient if it were possible to use a custom regex list from which I could remove the rule(s) that are causing issues, without having to edit the main list and mess up everybody else's workflow. &#8209; Iridescent 11:27, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Shorter answer: No, I'm not aware of any way to use a custom list in place of the WP:AWB/T list.
 * Longer answer: If this rule is going to damage thousands of articles, it should be corrected or disabled. Even if you were able to switch to a different typo list, everyone else will still be using the standard list. They may not be aware of the exceptions, and, dare I say it, not all AWB users are sufficiently careful. For example, I've watchlisted every article that uses the term "Kampfgeschwader" because its abbreviation "KG" is damaged by the AWB/T kilogram rule. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:30, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * all pages containing "Kampfgeschwader" should no longer be under threat of mis-typoing KG, mostly due to rule changes, making it more robust against false positives. Only 1 instance of not a typo was necessary (for  on Kampfgeschwader 51); no other FPs at this time. We can sleep easier at night now (I have several obscure minor planets on my watchlist for this and other SI rules).   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  00:57, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you, that was excellent work. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:09, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I would love to use a custom typo list. Amongst other uses, it would be a great way to test a typo before adding it to the official list. Certes (talk) 12:50, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * The AWB Find+Replace dialog can be used to configure personal typo rules; I have several thousand. If you use it to test a possible addition to WP:AWB/T, AWB makes it easy to reformat the rule as required: Select the rule in the Find+Replace dialog, right click, and choose "Copy as RETF rule". AWB will copy to your clipboard the text that you'd need to add to the shared WP:AWB/T list. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:09, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I use AWB Find+Replace regularly, including rule testing, but hadn't spotted the RETF export. Certes (talk) 13:13, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Under "Normal Settings" in the AWB Find+Replace dialog you can create your entry and select "After Fixes". This means an entry can become an override to the supplied list, achieving what you are after unless I have misread your requirement. Of course there is a tick box to enable/disable as desired.  John of Reading has alluded to this, however thought i would 'spell it out'. Neils51 (talk) 23:42, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * What I want is a way to temporarily disable the rule that attempts to replace "the City" with "the city". If I'm understanding you correctly, you're suggesting adding an additional rule to F&R to run afterwards replacing "the city" with "the City" thus cancelling it out and meaning no change—however, this would change instances that are correctly in lower-case and create even more false positives. Because the City is a centre (arguably the centre) of the global economy, there are literally thousands and probably tens of thousands of variations on "she worked in the City", "the road led to the City" etc—far too many to manually notatypo all of them. Under normal circumstances I'd just remove the regex in question from the list, but in this case I see that as a last resort as it would mean vast numbers of correct fixes being missed given that in any article that isn't about the City the replacement is likely to be correct. (The similar rule for "the Corporation" is also problematic—the Corporation is the body that governs the City—but isn't used as often so isn't generating as many false positives.) &#8209; Iridescent 08:09, 19 November 2020 (UTC):
 * To 'temporarily disable' we can say 'have nil effect'. To to do that you could have a rule that runs pre-genfixes that converts "the City" to say "the CCIITTYY" then a rule that runs "After Fixes" that converts "the CCIITTYY" to "the City". This though only creates a global nil effect and you are preferably wanting to be selective, and without absolute criteria then that may not be possible without manual intervention.  If undesired changes are regularly being made by AWB users then despite the numbers it may be worth creating a rule that moves "the City" to the template " the Ci" for AWB to ignore.  Some mods may be a percentage game (and a long game) and sometimes you will get 80% of what you want and the remainder you may need to double-click to remove, which is easier than manually keying a correction. If many of the articles belong to particular categories then it may be worth asking for assistance with such a project's donkey work? - Neils51 (talk) 10:33, 19 November 2020 (UTC)
 * To 'temporarily disable' we can say 'have nil effect'. To to do that you could have a rule that runs pre-genfixes that converts "the City" to say "the CCIITTYY" then a rule that runs "After Fixes" that converts "the CCIITTYY" to "the City". This though only creates a global nil effect and you are preferably wanting to be selective, and without absolute criteria then that may not be possible without manual intervention.  If undesired changes are regularly being made by AWB users then despite the numbers it may be worth creating a rule that moves "the City" to the template " the Ci" for AWB to ignore.  Some mods may be a percentage game (and a long game) and sometimes you will get 80% of what you want and the remainder you may need to double-click to remove, which is easier than manually keying a correction. If many of the articles belong to particular categories then it may be worth asking for assistance with such a project's donkey work? - Neils51 (talk) 10:33, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

Windows XP?
What's wrong with Windows XP? I am just asking before I download the AWB for another non-Wikimedia wiki.

125.167.119.164 (talk) 01:10, 20 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Windows XP is too old an operating system. Ruslik_ Zero 08:19, 20 November 2020 (UTC)
 * For Wikimedia wikis there is a requirement for TLS 1.2 to be supported for the HTTPS connection and XP doesn't support it. Rjwilmsi  14:44, 20 November 2020 (UTC)

Stub listing
Hi guys. Is there any ways or parameters to detect all stubs in the Wikipedia using AWB? CyberTroopers (talk) 03:24, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , try using Category:All stub articles. What is the search you're trying to do, exactly? Because if you wish to combine the stub requirement with some other search type, the exact method of doing that will depend on which search option you use. Ionmars10 (talk) 03:40, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * actually I'm using this AWB on Malay Wikipedia. I'd like to put stub category in all uncategorized stub so it'll be easier for us to expand bit by bit when we have the all of them in list. I'm not pretty familiar with all source code including regex things because I'm not major in it but would gladly accept if anyone would guide me about the stub. I'm currently using AWB for fixing grammar errors and and replace template only. CyberTroopers (talk) 04:56, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , so ms:Kategori:Tunas, correct? Well, what I'd recommend as a general strategy is finding groups of articles in a certain category, and applying a specific stub template. Over time, the size of the category (currently 66,660) can hopefully be whittled down to something less daunting through this method. I immediately see a lot of integer stubs, which should probably be moved over to ms:Kategori:Tunas_nombor. I suggest starting out with these just to get a feel for everything:
 * In the bottom left panel, set the source to "Wiki search (text)" and the query to: <tt>hastemplate:"tunas" incategory:"Integer"</tt> (If you're not familiar with these already, these search filters are part of CirrusSearch and return articles that have both the ordinary "tunas" template (or a redirect to it) and the "Integer" category)
 * In the panel to the right of that, go to Options -> Find and replace -> Normal settings
 * Select a row in the table and set the following options:
 * Find: <tt> </tt>
 * Replace with:
 * Disable CaseSensitive, and enable Regex
 * What this particular regex does is that it catches either "stub" or "tunas" (which AFAIK are the only two common names for this template), surrounded by double curly brackets, and replaces it with ms:Templat:Tunas-nombor. If you want to experiment with regex there are tons of "regex tester" sites out there, all of which are easy to find with a quick web search.
 * Click OK, go to the start tab, and start processing!
 * This should knock out about 500 articles fairly quickly. For future runs, or if you're just not in the mood for cookie-cutter "number" articles at the moment, you can simply change the category name and the desired template, or you can try experimenting with some of the other options if necessary. Feel free to ask here if you have any more questions. Ionmars10 (talk) 05:49, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * This should knock out about 500 articles fairly quickly. For future runs, or if you're just not in the mood for cookie-cutter "number" articles at the moment, you can simply change the category name and the desired template, or you can try experimenting with some of the other options if necessary. Feel free to ask here if you have any more questions. Ionmars10 (talk) 05:49, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * This should knock out about 500 articles fairly quickly. For future runs, or if you're just not in the mood for cookie-cutter "number" articles at the moment, you can simply change the category name and the desired template, or you can try experimenting with some of the other options if necessary. Feel free to ask here if you have any more questions. Ionmars10 (talk) 05:49, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Random addition of "underlinked" cleanup tags
This needs to be stopped. I create many well sourced stubs on notable academics and many AWB users will dump an "underlinked" tag on such articles, even though it is not underlinked. See Raz Segal for an egregious example, just today an editor using AWB placed an underlinked tag, a third editor removed it, and   put it back. (t &#183; c)  buidhe  03:18, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , if you read the underlinked tag, you will realize that it talks about the number of internal links to other articles, not about the sources. I dream of horses (Contribs) Please notify me after replying off my talk page. Thank you. 03:20, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , I know what underlinked is. But the article is not underlinked, there are no reasonable links to add to the prose (and the tag documentation itself states "there is no consensus on what constitutes "too few" links"). How does the tag on this article, or many others like it, benefit the encyclopedia? (t &#183; c)  buidhe  03:26, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * , ultimately, we need to have a consensus over what constitutes "too few links". Until then, I'm forced to be, on ocassion, borderline bold when deciding to tag an article with underlinked.
 * This isn't something that can be fixed by adding or removing code from AWB, but with a lack of communication within the community. Indeed, just removing the ability for AWB to automatically add underlinked could remove the motivation to start a discussion around consensus. I'm also a bit cynical about recruiting enough people to actually get a consensus. After all, this is a boring discussion. That's probably why there's no consensus.
 * Shall I say consensus one more time? Yes. Consensus.
 * For some reason, my signature seems determined to not be on the same line as the joke template in preview. I dream of horses (Contribs) Please notify me after replying off my talk page. Thank you. 04:25, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I have fixed the jokes template. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:56, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I would say this is underlinked, in a broader sense. There is no link to his place of birth or his nationality, because this information is not found in the article. There is no link to the institution(s) from which he received his education and degrees, because this information is also not found in the article. BD2412  T 07:05, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Citation parameter renaming
Hello User:Trappist the monk, User:John of Reading, I have had some pushback on the AWB general-fix to the renaming of citation parameters such as ‘accessdate’. A comment made (archived I think) was that the renaming was a long-term project to update citation parameter names. I feel that if the end-game intention is to have all citation styles use the revised parameter names then it would be worth documenting that the older ones are deprecated and that the desired use is the currently documented names. If the older names are merely documented as aliases then there will no impetus for change and the ‘long-term project’ will be decades. Defending the general-fix renaming is not an effective use of my time so unless this is addressed I will be one of possibly a number who will likely turn off general-fixes when using AWB, which I would prefer not to do. There appear to be two options, document that the previous names are deprecated, and therefore renaming is defensible, or remove citation parameter name renaming from AWB. Neils51 (talk) 04:06, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid I've been one of the people pushing back. I turned off genfixes when unable to see the simple edit I was attempting in a diff with 281 accessdate changes.  If the unhyphenated version is deprecated, would it be possible to remove accessdate from genfixes temporarily whilst a bot makes the bulk of the changes, or would WP:COSMETICBOT apply? Certes (talk) 11:49, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah, WP:COSMETICBOT applies. There is a discussion that may be of interest.  I am in the process of composing a cosmetic bot that would deal with the accessdate → access-date replacements among other cosmetic fixes to cs1|2 templates.  I may attempt a WP:BRFA for that regardless of the WP:VPR outcome.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:06, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Most cs1|2 template documentation has this:
 * If non-hyphenated aliases of parameters with hyphens are defined, they exist only for legacy support (and are subject to become unsupported in the future); therefore, to streamline the appearance and improve consistency, select the hyphenated variant when adding parameters to a citation template and also consider switching already present non-hyphenated parameters to their hyphenated equivalents at the same time.
 * See for example.
 * accessdate exists in about 2.8 million articles. There was an adverse reaction when we deprecated deadurl and dead-url in favor of url-status – a much much smaller cohort.  I don't need that kind of drama in my life so I added the non-hyphenated parameters to genfixes so that editors using awb with genfixes enabled could whittle away at the backlog before we actually deprecate and subsequently remove support for the non-hyphenated parameter names.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:06, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree that this change should not be in genfixes at this time. There are too many changes in too many articles to be able to manually look at the diffs and confirm other AWB changes are correct. Please remove it. Changing to hyphenated parameters is more suited to a bot. I still have genfixes on, but often skip saving the edit when there are many of these parameter changes making the diff too difficult to scan quickly. <b style="color:#00FF00">MB</b> 15:30, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Have to agree with <b style="color:#00FF00">MB</b> on this one the diffs are too much to check and I have turned off genfixes so that I can check the changes made. May be we should forget the change altogether as it is a pointless change. Keith D (talk) 21:47, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * When I add new citations via the dropdown labelled "Templates" in the editor window, I note that it uses the parameter . Shouldn't that be amended so that we don't add to the supposed problem?  Schwede  66  22:03, 7 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Which is why.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 12:58, 9 November 2020 (UTC)
 * For the same reason as others, I've found the hyphen insertion too distracting for now. But I've kept genfixes on, because you can use Normal Settings to mask the unhyphenated words before genfixes and unmask them after (by "mask", I mean temporarily replace with a very weird string). Authorlink is another, by the way. David Brooks (talk) 00:19, 8 November 2020 (UTC)
 * accessdate → access-date renaming suspended.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 12:58, 9 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Can renaming authorlink also be suspended? Cite book doc still uses it in examples, and doesn't mention its being deprecated, only that author-link is the primary version. David Brooks (talk) 22:13, 9 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Oppose There are many fewer (~88% fewer) instances of authorlink (~325k, rounding up from after summing all variants up to author5link/authorlink5 (309k)) than accessdate (~2.8m), and I suspect, from my intense gnomishness in this area, many fewer instances on a per-page basis as well. The number of accessdates per page is too damn high (sometimes), but continuing down this slippery slope will erode the benefits of including these pre-updates in WP:GenFixes, at what I think is a very reasonable cost.  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  22:47, 9 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, sure, I'm not very passionate about it. But if you are going to swing the needle in that direction, shouldn't the many examples be fixed, starting with Cite book/doc, Basic usage examples? Or Cite web/doc, where author-link is indeed preferred but authorlink is used in the TemplateData descriptions. I call these out because they are likely to be used as building blocks by non-gnomes: more special-interest templates are probably less urgent (e.g. EB1911/doc doesn't even mention the hyphenated version but as one of its few users I know now). David Brooks (talk) 16:44, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree; basic usage examples should use the preferred/standard parameter names, even if currently-valid aliases exists.  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  17:45, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅ for all CS1 template doc examples & &sect;TemplateData. It looked as if that was the last of the unhyphenateds that needed updating too, though I only looked visually and not programatically.  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  18:55, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
 * The only exception being _authorlink1_ type parameters in Template:Cite press release/doc, which I'm not familiar with.  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  19:08, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I've made a demonstration edit for what I think that should go to if you want to implement for the other numbered parameters. --Izno (talk) 19:17, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I've made a demonstration edit for what I think that should go to if you want to implement for the other numbered parameters. --Izno (talk) 19:17, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I realize this page is not the right place for where the conversation has moved on to - where is? But while I'm here, can I ask just how much of a deep-clean the deprecation of authorlink is intended to be? I dove into a very few potentially problematic templates.

Some of the primary templates still have slightly off TemplateData: Cite web has authorlink listed first among equals; Citation uses authorlink in its Description column. As to user-directed documentation among those in Category:Citation Style 1 specific-source templates, Cite IETF for example only lists authorlinkn (except for one example).

Beyond the templates listed in Category:Citation Style 1 templates, there are many (5000+?) templates that transclude Cite book, although very few (about 12, I think) use authorlink in docs. In many cases they are simply directly citing a specific book, and others may also use it in their wrapping code (which is OK because editors generally don't see that) but there are others that pass the parameter through. In addition over 500 templates transclude Cite encyclopedia.

A small number of these templates only accept authorlink and ignore author-link. Example Cambridge Ancient History, which is why the current Arab–Byzantine wars mistakenly uses the hyphenated version and doesn't link that author (admittedly the only example I could find). New Cambridge History of Islam has a similar shortcoming.

And, I guess, all the same questions could be asked for accessdate.

Finally, is there an intention to eventually bot-update all articles from authorlink? Not only in the "primary" templates, but all those that transclude them. David Brooks (talk) 21:05, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I boldly suggest that genfixes is the wrong tool for implementing changes. It's perfect for fixing errors – if we had a few hundred axes-date typos then here would be a great place to remedy them – but not for making the sort of bulk changeover we see after a TfD close.  Certes (talk) 22:45, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks to the monk for cleaning up the bulk changes. Certes (talk) 21:37, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * And thanks to User:Tom.Reding for making some of the CS1 template code fixes I noted above. There are still archaic doc files, for example Template:Citation/doc in its TemplateData Description column. Is it OK for a humble but experienced editor to fix those (I understand json) or should that be done by an expert? And is there a better page for these discussions? David Brooks (talk) 01:20, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * nm; I actually read WP:TemplateData, so I'll start fixing those I found. David Brooks (talk) 15:19, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Find and replace
Hello everyone. Is it possible to use the find and replace function (or whatever it is called) to other templates except for citation templates? — hueman1 ( talk •  contributions ) 12:05, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, though I'm going to need a little more detail so that I can better assist. Primefac (talk) 13:40, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
 * For example, I'm going to search for CPP-NPA-NDF to replace it with CPP–NPA–NDF but this would also include CPP-NPA-NDF's in citations. — hueman1 ( talk •  contributions ) 23:19, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
 * In the "normal settings" find/replace, there's an option to "ignore templates, refs...[etc]", which should take care of that issue. Primefac (talk) 23:22, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Similarly, I ran the search and replace function to remove all occurrences of City after Philippine cities that doesn't require this suffix (see MOS:PHIL). This included the occurrences of City in citation templates (which I do not intend to do). — hueman1 ( talk •  contributions ) 23:29, 10 December 2020 (UTC)

AWB pre-programmed regex is borked
Okay, so I kind of never really got a response the last time I asked about this, and it might be a different problem(s), so here we go.

I was running some cleanup on infobox person, removing deprecated or invalid parameters etc, along with some "standardization" genfixes (see here). There were two main issues that came up (and one minor one), which were quickly pointed out on my talk page:


 * 1) When $1 is present in a template's parameter, it is removed for some reason.
 * 2) If a reference isn't written "perfectly" (see this diff but also the others listed by Isaidnoway) it gets trimmed/removed
 * 3) If a named reference call is removed (and the named reference is now unused) it throws the usual "ref not used" error.

As near as I can tell (aside from #3, which is a "not my problem" issue for me), this is coming as a result of my "genfixes" code in my bot's module, which I will paste below. If I'm doing something bonkers, and/or I'm a numpty and have missed something obvious, or if there's a better way to do what I'm intending, I would love to know, because as near as I can tell, this is an issue with AWB's GetTemplateParameterValues.

Thanks in advance for the assistance. Note that the WriteLines are so I have a record of the edits. Primefac (talk) 21:51, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * For first one you need to Regex.Escape all the text you pass into the replace input of WikiRegexes.TemplateEnd.Replace otherwise $1 in any text is interpreted as the regex group. Not an AWB problem. Rjwilmsi  14:41, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Okay, I'll be honest but I'm not quite sure where to place that. Is it just going to be  in the   line? Primefac (talk) 16:51, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I think so, yes. Try testing it out in a sandbox. – SD0001  (talk) 13:08, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
 * I put a check string after, and the output was already cut off (for example, the airdate param in the first infobox at Special:PermaLink/991016039). So, it would seem the issue lies further up the code. Primefac (talk) 20:51, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Just completely guessing (I don't use AWB but I've looked into this part recently, borrowing some of AWB's regexes) this may have something to do with PipeCleanedTemplate, given that Special:Diff/972882617 contains a non-ending pipe along with a tag (<).
 * This part doesn't touch ref tags ). So pipe isn't removed there. So when it's processed by GetTemplateParameterValues it splits at the pipe. To AWB, it will look something like this . Which explains why it's cut off. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 21:35, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * If I'm right in the above, I think this is probably fixed in AWB by adding "ref" to . That would then hash out the tag. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 21:38, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
 * As near as I can tell, that fix (adding "ref" to  regex in line 564) fixed the issue I've been having. Primefac (talk) 22:40, 30 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Problem is the external link with a pipe in it, not that it's in a ref tag. handles external links. I'll sort out another snapshot release - edit available here.  Rjwilmsi  11:34, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Allow adding more attributes in <Typo ></Typo> tags for RegExTypoFix
Hi. It seems the current code for RegExTypoFix can only handle a defined set of attributes in <Typo ></Typo> tag, and in a given order. Because it's based on a regular expression to parse the <Typo ></Typo> tag. I'd like to be able to add other attributes, like an "id" attribute (to have a unique ID for the typo) or an "automatic" attribute (when the suggestion can be applied automatically) : AWB probably probably won't use it for the moment, but it will allow other tools to use such extra attributes. For example, WPCleaner could easily use both attributes. I've submitted a Phabricator ticket a few months ago, but no answer. If need be, I'm OK to do the modification myself in AWB code and submit a patch: what's the best way to do this? If that works, I will also do the improvements on WPCleaner to use the new attributes. --NicoV (Talk on frwiki) 17:06, 4 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I've added 2 solutions to the Phabricator ticket: one that only requires to change the regular expression (one line change), one that also requires changing the code (I only gave the change to the regular expression, but I can also provide the whole code if this solution is preferred). --NicoV (Talk on frwiki) 09:06, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
 * If anyone knows how to submit a patch, I've added the second solution in the Phabricator ticket... --NicoV (Talk on frwiki) 17:46, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi Rjwilmsi. Is there a way to submit a patch? --NicoV (Talk on frwiki) 14:57, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Enable fixing RefsAfterPunctuation for Arabic wikis (ar, ary, arz)
Hi, and all. Could you, please, take a look at T268361? This is a request to enable fixing RefsAfterPunctuation for Arabic wikis (ar, ary, arz). Thank you. --Meno25 (talk) 18:09, 20 November 2020 (UTC)


 * Fixed by Rjwilmsi. --Meno25 (talk) 19:13, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Tasks on Phabricator die to be triaged!
Page notice on this page advises me to report all things on Phabricator, and I did report what I had, and I hate to come back and complain, and to ping random people. So please, can someone reassure me that Phabricator tag actually gets read once in a while? Many thanks -- Ата  (talk) 18:37, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I added/updated some bugs on Phabricator on December 19, and received responses on December 21. GoingBatty (talk) 21:12, 25 December 2020 (UTC)

Using AWB as a grabber
Hi all, hope you have had happy holidays so far. I'm in the process of moving a wiki at the moment and would like to use a grabber to get all articles. However, those that are commonly used are too confusing for me. I'm familiar with AWB though and was wondering if it's possible to somehow use it as a grabber? Seelentau (talk) 13:16, 26 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Nevermind, figured out a workaround. Seelentau (talk) 14:13, 26 December 2020 (UTC)

Short description moving and WP:ORDER
Hey I had an edit reverted by a user where AWB moved the short description tag beneath other tags (something i've been noticing it doing). The user revert description was: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" /><blockquote class="templatequote" >(Undid revision 998958484 by Dillard421 (talk) - 1. Short desc is first per WP:ORDER. 2. There is no community consensus to deprecate the hyphenated forms and that is the longstanding convention at this article. The page the referenced is WP:ORDER. On that page it states that the short description goes first before any hat notes. Isn't  a hat note? I'm likely wrong, can someone educate me if I am? <span style= "font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#00C000"> Dillard421♂♂ (talk to me) 
 * Yes, other uses is a hatnote. The article had short description before other uses per WP:ORDER, and you moved it down several lines. I moved it back per WP:ORDER. One of us is confused. &#8213; Mandruss  &#9742;  21:35, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
 * This is a well-known issue with the latest officially released version. There is, however, a newer snapshot here that fixes this issue. If the snapshot doesn't work for whatever reason, or you're just too lazy to download it, just double click on the short description changes in the diff display to undo them manually each time they appear. Ionmars10 (talk) 21:38, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Technically, the SD template does not need to be the first template, but it must be the first template that does or could at some point itself generate a short description. So it is important, for example, that the SD template is always above any infoboxes. Currently, the various hatnote templates do not set the SD, but they could at some point. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 10:10, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Regarding the community consensus to deprecate the unhyphenated citation parameters, you may be interested in Bots/Requests for approval/Monkbot 18. GoingBatty (talk) 06:34, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Off topic here, but I don't recognize that bot approval as a consensus to deprecate. Such things need higher visibility and more participation than eight editors out of tens of thousands. I for one never watch bot approval discussions, but I care about citation coding issues and I think allowing parameter names to break between lines was a terrible idea from a usability standpoint. The RfC you linked before you removed that stated: "Reworded to make it more clear that this proposal is not to eliminate any current version of a parameter." So Monkbot will have to tolerate the rare reversion when it comes across an article where I'm heavily invested in maintaining citation code (currently just the one). &#8213; Mandruss   &#9742;  07:14, 8 January 2021 (UTC)


 * This predictably keeps coming up—even though the issue is purely WP:COSMETIC, I hope it can be fixed soon, since AWB edits happen at scale, and the discussion around it is needlessly consuming oxygen. I don't mind you reverting to fix things on one or two pages you particularly care about, as we're all allowed a degree of pickiness, but please note that it's discouraged to make edits that do not effect any rendered display for readers. &#123;{u&#124;  Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 09:40, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I think that's talking about things like removing (or inserting) unnecessary spaces in section heading code, not things that substantially make things easier and less error-prone for editors who aren't using VE. OCD kind of stuff. I occasionally see an editor removing - horror! - unnecessary blanks at the end of lines, apparently to reduce the file size by a few bytes (I can't imagine any other reason). Anyway I've never had an editor complain about my cite cleanups, and one admin has spoken favorably about them. So I guess I'll continue. Also note that hyphenating parameter names does not effect any rendered display for readers, so by your literal reading both AWB and Monkbot are performing "discouraged" edits, and on a far wider scale than I am. &#8213; Mandruss  &#9742;  10:00, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
 * You are correct it is just cosmetic, but it makes a lot of noises in the diffs when its moved forth and back by different users/bots (typically together with other edits...) Christian75 (talk) 13:21, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

Compiler executable file csc.exe cannot be found
I'm using a new Windows 10 PC, and creating a simple new module in AWB (see this thread). When I do, I receive an error stating "Compiler executable file csc.exe cannot be found" (similar to this previous thread). I followed the suggestion there to disable the custom module settings and ensured that my settings file has <Module><Enabled>false</Enabled>, but restarting and trying again generated the same error. I then tried downloading .NET Desktop Runtime 5.0.1 x64 from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0 and restarted my PC, but still get the same error. Could someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 21:05, 25 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Hello (hello hello ) - is there anybody out there? GoingBatty (talk) 15:14, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I haven't a clue (not on Windows) but a quick search for "Compiler executable file csc.exe cannot be found" reveals these suggestions. Certes (talk) 15:43, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but it appears those discussions are for people who understand the source code of their applications, and I don't understand the AWB source code. Maybe  or  could take a peek?  Thanks!  GoingBatty (talk) 20:24, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * That original discussion suggests that .NET v4 is required. Looking at the basics, if you do the following  what sort of results do you get? Neils51 (talk) 00:54, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Here's what I get:

Directory of C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319

03/18/2019 11:46 PM         2,140,808 csc.exe 1 File(s)     2,140,808 bytes

Directory of C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319

03/18/2019 11:46 PM         2,758,280 csc.exe 1 File(s)     2,758,280 bytes

Directory of C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_netfx4-csc_exe_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_4.0.15788.0_none_75079bfa3b569be1

03/18/2019 11:46 PM         2,758,280 csc.exe 1 File(s)     2,758,280 bytes

Directory of C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_netfx4-csc_exe_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_4.0.15788.0_none_bcb4d2d14fd2c4e7

03/18/2019 11:46 PM         2,140,808 csc.exe 1 File(s)     2,140,808 bytes
 * Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 05:04, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Are you saying when you open AWB you get the csc.exe error even before loading your settings file with the custom module? Rjwilmsi  08:18, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi there! I only get the csc.exe error when I try to load a custom module and click the Make Module button.  I am able to use AWB perfectly without a custom module.  Thanks!  GoingBatty (talk) 14:58, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * OK, in the custom modules windows what options do you have in the Language picklist (should be something like C# 4.0 and VB NET 2) and which are you using? Rjwilmsi  15:01, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * The only choices I have are C# 3.5 and VB.NET 2.0. I'm selecting C# 3.5.  Is there a way to have C# 4.0 in the drop down?  GoingBatty (talk) 15:38, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * OK, something doesn't add up if you say you installed .NET v5, have .NET v4 reported above, but only have .NET 3.5 available as a custom module. If you look in Windows features (see screenshot in the first answer here) what options do you get for .NET? I would say .NET 5 is too new so you are missing a relevant version of .NET 4, probably version 4.5 or higher up to 4.8. Rjwilmsi  15:58, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * GoingBatty_Windows_Features.JPG I have .NET Framework 3.5 unchecked, and .NET Framework 4.8 Advanced Services partially checked - see screenshot. I may have installed the wrong .NET v5 file or installed it incorrectly.  I have not changed these settings.  Thanks!  GoingBatty (talk) 16:18, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * OK, I suggest you tick .NET 3.5 and let Windows install that, then test AWB again. Rjwilmsi  16:23, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * (raises hand) I think there's a confusion between C# 3.5 and .NET 3.5 above. I have .NET 3.5 and various .NET 4.x versions, VS 2019 which probably means C# 7.3 (I lost track of the available Fx/csc combinations) but the Module dropdown only says C# 3.5, which restricts the language features I can use. That's OK; newer compilers respect the older language version, and I can still speak classic C#. Or did I need to tweak my AWB config somehow? David Brooks (talk) 18:43, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * That did it - thanks so much!!!! GoingBatty (talk) 03:36, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

New build please
The downloadable version is over a year old and causing problems. Please could it be updated. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 10:43, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I've uploaded a new snapshot, AutoWikiBrowser6102-12426.zip to here, which makes available the latest AWB version. Rjwilmsi  15:02, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * This is the same build as I've sent to a few folks who might be watching. It also stops pushing the Short Description down below hatnotes. I recommend it!
 * That said, rev 12427 got pushed a few hours ago: "Add 'Number disambiguation' to known Disambigs" (if that's interesting to anyone). David Brooks (talk) 22:22, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

New version?
Could we get a new full version soon? It's been over a year since the last release.

Also, fixing once and for all would be great. My bots have been busted ever since the regression a few years back. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:18, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * / would also be a boon. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:20, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Literally this morning. I had to go to Sourceforge to download it, but it is available. --Izno (talk) 15:49, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Great to hear. I didn't see it on the AWB sourceforge page, and the AWB Updater didn't fetch it either. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:54, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * It's a snapshot not a formal release. Rjwilmsi  21:32, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , on that build, I don't seem able to enable typo fixing. It gives me a popup when I select the checkbox, but when I click 'OK', the box never gets enabled. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 02:05, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Ah thanks for mentioning that. Thought I was the only one. I'm using one of David Brooks' versions that I obtained in August. Dawnseeker2000  02:18, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I did notice intermittent issues getting the typos to load, but they did load for me just now with that snapshot build, so I don't think it's the build. Rjwilmsi  14:45, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Very intermittent for me too. Once (actually with a debug build), AWB emitted an incorrect GET request, which is a little crazy. I'll keep an eye on it. David Brooks (talk) 18:58, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * OK, I got a consistent repro. It fails when logged in, and even when subsequently logged out. It succeeds initially before logging in. Investigating. David Brooks (talk) 19:12, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * What's happening: before you log in, the path used to download typos is the default. During log in, various parameters are updated from the json file AutoWikiBrowser/Config. In that file, the "typolink" parameter is an empty string, which would make me say eureka, except the config file hasn't been updated since 2018. Maybe there has been a recent code change - I can look. Also if you log in and load a settings file that already has typos enabled, you're good too (it's easy to edit the xml by hand). Developers, if you're listening, I'm looking at Session.cs:368. David Brooks (talk) 20:04, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Can confirm that enabling typo fixing on startup prior to login works. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:18, 30 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Finally had time and installed the 6.1.0.2 snapshot from above. It starts up fine, searches OK and has the old config correctly, but will not let me log in – says I am not allowed. The old 6.1.0.1 version does still let me log in OK. Thoughts? — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 17:39, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Could it be configured to look at a different wiki where you're not on the permitted list? Certes (talk) 17:59, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Sadly not that easy. It seems to use the same configuration as the older version. It also finds the same articles to work on — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 18:19, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Is there some way to turn on a debug log? — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 19:49, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Is there no hope? ... cries quietly into his beer ... — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 19:11, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Downloads Wireshark and pours another, less salty, beer — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:46, 13 December 2020 (UTC)


 * I can log in fine, are you on en-wiki or some other site? Rjwilmsi  11:06, 15 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Wireshark is a monster. It did tell me all sorts of exciting things, but nothing useful here. My copy of AWB 6.1.0.1 is fine – it lets me log in and then agrees that I am allowed to change articles. My copy of AWB 6.1.0.2 is configured in the same way. It finds the same articles for me to work on. It does let me log in, but then complains that I am not enabled to use AWB. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 19:14, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
 * OK. I'll try again, are you using AWB on en-wiki or some other language/site? Rjwilmsi  21:53, 16 December 2020 (UTC)
 * The stranger looks up into the glare of the desert sun and watches a condor as it floats lazily far above in the thermals. A ragged tumbleweed rolls past lethargically in the sluggish breeze. He slowly takes the unlit cigar from his parched lips and softly utters the word ... "Here" — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 09:16, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Right, I'm not following your sense of humour. Anyway, I can log in with the snapshot version as myself and my bot's account, and on AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage/Version 6.1.0.2 is listed as enabled. So the only thing I can think of is that in the settings file you are using the wiki is something other than en-wp, and the wiki you are trying to log in against doesn't have 6.1.0.2 enabled. If that's not it, then I don't know what the problem is. Rjwilmsi  12:33, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I tried again with the December snapshot (AutoWikiBrowser6102-12432). I first removed all evidence of the two old versions, including scanning the registry and pruning any references to AWB/AutoWikiBrowser. Same result. AWB logs in but reports that I do not have access. Re-installing 6101 works again. BTW — I am using a fully updated Windows 10 machine and trying to access and edit this site using my standard username. Please could I ask for a short-term "test" snapshot with some sort of debug logging enabled so that I can see the request for the login and access test and the response data that causes the "No access". — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 12:22, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * From this, it sounds like you're able to understand the HTTP conversation. Have you tried a debugging proxy? I use Fiddler 4. After installation you just run it and it will trace all your HTTP traffic. You'll probably have to unlock SSL decryption (Tools/Options/HTTPS). Select the interactions on the left, and Inspectors/Headers on the right and go from there. David Brooks (talk) 15:24, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Nature will, indeed, find a way. Fiddler is much nicer than Wireshark . Thanks . The diagnosis turns out to be very simple — as the best errors often do — Project:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage does include me  — Project:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPageJSON does not include me . The 6101 build uses the plain page for checking access rights. Build 12365 switched to checking for the JSON page before falling back to the plain page. The JSON page has not been updated since 2019-12-20. In passing — having rejected access, AWB 6102 opens AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage rather than the JSON version. Also, AutoWikiBrowser/History talks about this change, but there are otherwise no references anywhere to the existence of the JSON access control page or the need to update it . — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 17:50, 5 January 2021 (UTC)
 * please — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 18:56, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure how I got on this ping list, but it seems to me that we should pick either the wikitext checkpage or the JSON one, and delete the other one. JSON is checked on save, but wikitext allows extra comments and info. I suppose that's why the switch was made. Any administrator can update the JSON page, but I don't know what format it expects. Enterprisey (talk!) 23:06, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * You are one of the admins who have edited the checkpage — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 16:03, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Please can one of the AWB admins just fix this. If it would help, let me know and I will send you the replacement JSON — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 14:11, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Presumably the same applies to me - what is this "checkpage" of which you speak? Several pages mentioned above have the word "checkpage" in their names - which one do you refer to, and why do you think that I can assist in any capacity at all? -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 20:39, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
 * The "old" AWB (v6101 – dated 2019-09-17) uses the (plain) — AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage — to confirm who may use AWB for edits. Any newer versions of AWB (after build 12365 – 2019-12-19 – all called v6102) instead use the  — Project:AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPageJSON — to make this same check. New AWB users (such as myself and approx 206 others) were added to the wikitext checkpage but have not been added to the JSON checkpage. This means that editors added after 2019-12-19 cannot use the latest version of AWB and have to use the 2019-09-17 version — that is now 15 months old and does not have known problems resolved. So ... The  needs to be updated to include the same users as listed in the  and the two lists need to be kept in sync from now on or ... Delete the JSON checkpage — so that the new AWB will fail to find it and instead will switch back to use the old wikitext checkpage — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 23:06, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
 * belated ping — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 11:52, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't know why you keep pinging me, I have nothing to do with AWB development. And the one person you should be pinging,, has not been pinged. That being said: MusikAnimal, would you mind shifting your bot over from AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage so I can shift all of the related templates and scripts there as well? Primefac (talk) 20:17, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Since you edited the recently, I had assumed that you also had the access to edit the . Sorry if there is different access to the two pages. Now pinging  as you advise — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:45, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
 * There are two tasks effected here: 's PermClerk and 's AWBListMan. It's not a trivial amount of work to make them use the JSON page. Do I understand correctly that the old wikitext page still needs to be supported, too? How long will we have to support both?
 * I know the wikitext-based config page was a peculiar format for this sort of thing, but it worked just fine. Is it really worth having to maintain two configs, plus make all the necessary updates to the bots, templates and whatever else is still points to the old CheckPage? If we have the option to continue using the old one, I might recommend that just to save us the hassle. &mdash; MusikAnimal  talk  20:48, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
 * , I added you manually. We still need an actual solution to this, though. The joys of desktop applications: because people will keep using the old version indefinitely, we'll never be able to delete the wikitext checkpage (unless we want to break all the old installs, which I'm not enthusiastic about). But I think we can move the bot tasks over and otherwise forget the wikitext checkpage exists, so I think we'll just need to maintain one config (JSON)., is there any sort of schedule or planned release date for 6.1.0.2? (Apologies if you've already addressed that elsewhere.) Enterprisey (talk!) 22:49, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Zillions of thanks – my AWB is now allowed to edit — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 11:54, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll split this into its own section (re:JSON). Primefac (talk) 12:50, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll split this into its own section (re:JSON). Primefac (talk) 12:50, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

While we're in the "new build" phase, the issue below finally has an outcome, and it seems like a quick fix would solve problems for module-makers... Primefac (talk) 11:34, 30 November 2020 (UTC)
 * OK, don't update Variables.RetfPath if typolink is empty (as we lose the default path). In next snapshot/release that will allow fetching typos on en-wiki after being logged in as well as before.  Rjwilmsi  11:06, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Adding underlinked tag to articles using AWB
I would like to discuss the elimination of the AWB feature that adds Underlinked tags to articles. An active editor since 2007, I have never used AWB. In recent times, I have been working to reduce the list of underlinked articles that appears in the community portal. Thanks to the efforts of many people, this list has gone from 21,000 articles to around 3,000 articles.

Having worked on hundreds of articles, I have seen a huge number of stubs that have been incorrectly tagged as underlinked - maybe 25% of the total number of articles. For example, there were dozens and dozens of one-sentence articles on beetles that were marked as underlinked, but fully met the Wikipedia criteria for Wikilinks. Also well over a hundred articles on gene proteins, same problem. In these cases, the users accepted the judgment of AWB bots to make insignificant edits, which violates AWB policies. To fix all these articles, editors have to open and correct them manually - we not have a bot to assist us.

I find it ridiculous to expect any AWB algorithm to make an intelligent judgement on the needs for wikilinks in any article - it is always a subjective judgment. I therefore suggest we get rid of this feature entirely. Thank you for listening. I welcome any factual corrections to statements I have made here. Rogermx (talk) 17:15, 23 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi . Do you have any examples to hand?  I use AWB quite a lot (in my other self as user:Kahtar), and i would hate to think that i've been generating extra work for anyone.  If you can show an example or two, i can take a look at your point and ensure i try and act responsibly and not leave that tag unnecessarily going forward.
 * As to your point of changing AWB, i have no opinion ~ that's beyond my pay grade; happy days, LindsayHello 20:02, 23 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi Lindsay, thank you for adding your comments and expressing your concern. I do have some examples from this month:


 * The Cliks (album)
 * Out of Here (Departure Lounge album)
 * The Holy Ground (Mary Black album)
 * Statistics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
 * Statistics of the COVID-19 pandemic in India
 * Strangers in the First Place
 * Keine ruhige Minute
 * Kyo (album)
 * Lilás
 * Something Simple

Thank you again Rogermx (talk) 17:20, 24 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Just a note that the exact same discussion took place about three months ago and a very similar one took place two months ago two months ago. --Muhandes (talk) 18:53, 24 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Forgive me, but i think both your links,, go to the same place. And i'm interested to see that Rogermx started that conversation, too.
 * My thought, for what it's worth,, is that in the linked discussion from last October/November there probably isn't sufficient consensus to mandate a change in AWB. Certainly, those of us who use it can be careful as we do so ~ i'd like to think we already are; i have to say, however, that of the random articles i clicked in your list, yeah, the tag isn't out of place:  One, i didn't see any links, another had five, but three went to the same target, and three more had but one each; happy days, LindsayHello 20:16, 24 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi Lindsay, I was unaware that a discussion actually took place last fall. I respectfully disagree with with your judgment on the examples I provided. In all these cases, I think that adding wikilinks would be considered as insignificant edits to be avoided.


 * There are some people using AWB who seem totally oblivious to checking if underlinked tags are needed. My opinion is that they are too consumed with racking up statistics on the number of articles they edit in a given period of time. However, if this is a dead issue with the community, I will not pursue it any further. Thank you for reading and responding to my comments, I really do appreciate it. Rogermx (talk) 20:34, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Weird diacritic removal
Is that a genfix? 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 15:34, 24 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Interesting - I can duplicate the removal on Help talk:IPA/Serbo-Croatian even if I turn off general fixes and typo fixes and everything else. GoingBatty (talk) 04:43, 27 January 2021 (UTC)
 * The original text consists of a combining character followed by a main character. Most browsers handle this case by pairing them, but the Unicode specification requires the main character to come first.  Strictly speaking, the text consists of an illegally placed combining character followed by a main character with no following modifiers, and any software based on that view will simply discard the stray diacritic. Certes (talk) 11:35, 27 January 2021 (UTC)
 * But AWB shouldn't edit other people's comments, even in this case. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 11:43, 27 January 2021 (UTC)
 * If the talk page needs to preserve the use of UTF-8 characters contrary to the UTF specification then this is an example of where I think the pragmatic answer is to use the  template on the page. I suspect that the UTF-8 change is within the core .NET libraries parsing UTF-8, so the other option may well be to have AWB skip pages containing such characters, which is more effort but the same result of putting the template on the page.  Rjwilmsi  12:27, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

AWB on Chrome
Greetings. Directed here from WP:HELPDESK. Will AWB work on devices that use Chrome OS/Android? Thanks. —Sangdeboeuf (talk) 23:44, 20 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Probably not, unless you can get Wine running. Reedy (talk) 04:09, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
 * An alternative you could use is JWB, which is based on Javascript and will install as a userscript. Its user interface is very similar to that of AWB. Silikonz (alternate account)  ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 00:54, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Connect to another site
I tried to change the site name in preferences to https://jewiki.org.il/w/, and it did not work (Error connecting to wiki). How do I solve the problem? Thanks in advance, עמד (talk) 19:17, 31 January 2021 (UTC)
 * It may be that that wiki has a very old version of mediawiki on it, it will be end-of-life in a few months. You could try using an old AWB version (perhaps from 2018). —  xaosflux  Talk 20:06, 8 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you! You helped me a lot! עמד (talk) 10:28, 10 February 2021 (UTC)

Check Page
Apparently the version/snapshot of AWB uses AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPageJSON for access, while the older versions (and the bot that maintains the list) uses AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage. MusikAnimal has stated above that it is somewhat problematic to use the new list and/or maintain both lists:

To be honest, I agree with their assessment of the situation; if we're going to have two versions out at the same time, and not require people to upgrade, then it makes little sense to try and force admins like me who clerk WP:PERM/AWB to remember to add a user to both check pages, never mind the maintenance overhead for the bot operator, who now has to make sure two pages are in sync with the two bot-clerking tasks. Primefac (talk) 12:55, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Is this really needed? Assuming this is going to be a much larger problem then our problem too - does EVERY project need to change to a new page too?? —  xaosflux  Talk 15:58, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * The intention is to move over to the JSON one. And when there is a formal release of a version that uses that page by default... We can drop older releases, and mostly stop maintaining those older pages. There's literally no way to transition from one format to the other, without some overlap for some tiem. Obviously this has only been widely noticed after the more wider usage of the snapshot release, and people who are newer to AWB. Noting, a snapshot is not a format release. 2020 has been a stressful and busy year for many reasons, so I've not had the time to work on it that I expected. The JSON format makes it a lot easier to move configuration etc onwiki (later), rather than hacking around with HTML comments and wikitext on the checkpage like we have currently. I created (most) of the pages automatically on Wikimedia wikis around the time I was working on it. Reedy (talk) 04:08, 21 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll do a round of updating the pages where applicable "tomorrow" (ie after I've had some sleep). Reedy (talk) 04:10, 21 January 2021 (UTC
 * And/or.. It's possible to just disable the use of the JSON checkpage in another snapshot, and/or only use them in DEBUG builds of the software. Both are trivial enough to do. But a proper release is overdue. Reedy (talk) 04:55, 21 January 2021 (UTC)


 * The JSON checkpage is not being updated in sync... — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 19:36, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * If Reedy doesn't get to it sometime this week, I'll do a one-time sync. (I will want two monitors for it.) --Izno (talk) 18:57, 8 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Bots are up to date a priori. One minute while I sort the casual users. --Izno (talk) 19:14, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Updated now. --Izno (talk) 19:28, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

Kingbotk Plugin
I use Kingbotk Plugin and it is very useful but it has one annoying feature. It keeps on adding this: instead of being in the same line like this. Does anyone know how to fix this? CAPTAIN MEDUSA  talk  18:30, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

Double monitor photo's caption
cc

This seems like a fairly trivial issue, I feel a little embarrassed making a talk page heading about it. Currently there is a 2 (Tom.Reding & me) to 1 (Silikonz) consensus to keep the old caption of the double monitor photo. But it got reverted to the new caption again today. Can we get a couple more opinions on this so that we can prevent more reverting?

Old caption: "A good screen arrangement for more complex AWB diffs"

New caption: "A double monitor screen arrangement for viewing AWB diff pages"

I am in favor of the old caption. The photo and caption seem witty and humorous to me. Since this is not mainspace, I think humor and wit are fine here.

Thank you. – Novem Linguae (talk) 11:15, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * A) I don't see the humour here. B) The new caption is more descriptive (I personally don't think that's a good screen arrangement). I do realize that since we're not in the article space we don't necessarily have to be "true neutral", but even then personal preference should be left out of it. Primefac (talk) 11:27, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Problems with the new: 1) it's pretty overkill for simple diffs, 2) 'monitor screen' is redundant, 3) I'm ok, I guess, with just removing the word 'good' from the old caption and/or replacing it with something other than 'valid'. Courtesy ping to (sorry) .   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  12:17, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I could get behind 3. Primefac (talk) 13:26, 1 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Remove "good". It is not so good — the coffee cup Fellowship of the Rings coffee mug is in the way. Maybe "An arrangement of two screens for more complex AWB diffs". Maybe "A possible arrangement ..." — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 12:58, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * As a 44-year alum of the computer industry and proud owner of one laptop and one old all-in-one, I hate the picture, because it's quite frankly bragging. I suggest (a) a formal survey of AWB users to see how many have the double-tall setup (b) clarity in the caption that it's meant to be humor. (a) is meant to be humor. David Brooks (talk) 14:23, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * How about instead of going back and forth between humorous and descriptive, we make it instructive instead? Something like "By using X setting, AWB can be configured to utilize a double monitor setup when undertaking a run of complex edits that may require manual adjusting". VanIsaacWS<sup style="margin-left:-3.0ex">cont 15:44, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * That's a fair point, though I'll note that this is really just stretching the window so that it covers both screens. I've got a more traditional dual-monitor setup (side-by-side) and I could drag it horizontally to fill both screens if I wanted to (which I don't, though I'll often have my Module on the second monitor so that I can see the diffs and edit the code more easily). Primefac (talk) 15:52, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Sorry for being so late! For some reason, the ping didn't work correctly, and I didn't receive a notification about your thread here. I was just wondering if any of you've started one, so I came over to check. And here we are!
 * I'm just fine with anything that doesn't contain a personal opinion (good and complex were the words that led me to change the caption). If it's informative, that's fine. But just without the opinion.
 * Restating here, I just don't want a caption that expresses a personal opinion, since this information here is for everybody who's using AWB.
 * I actually do agree with to some extent in that the picture (in my opinion) does seem to be kind of bragging. And also, what's the point of having humour here? Thanks.  Silikonz (alternate account)  ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 22:46, 2 December 2020 (UTC)
 * You called? I personally have no problem with a little levity, but if the caption is humorous I find it a little...dry. It's also a great illustration of how bad AWB looks on a super-tall monitor - there would be room for a much larger edit/actions area! David Brooks (talk) 00:15, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, of course. Agreed. And though I don't use AWB, I echo your thoughts of 'how bad AWB looks on a super tall monitor' based on what's displayed in the image. Hmm. What was the original intention? I have yet to know. Silikonz (alternate account)  ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 01:05, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I've just looked at the image more closely; I now notice it's just one big AWB window stretched across two displays. I think what this means is that it isn't a native setting on AutoWikiBrowser to make use of double displays but rather someone bragging to show they can make it possible. Though I don't use AWB, I have a strong suspicion this is the case. Thoughts,  Silikonz (alternate account)  ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 01:07, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, would be the one to ask, surely. By the way, the image in the infobox has the opposite problem... David Brooks (talk) 05:30, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * You can use any caption you like, the arrangement is one I use primarily for editing code in separate monitor width windows, which struck me as useful for AWB (less scrolling required than the normal arrangements). Bragging was mentioned three times, so I should point out there's nothing particularly clever about it, the monitors don't belong to me and the LOTR mug has a punctuation error, which AWB can't correct.
 * Thanks for the ping.
 * All the best: Rich Farmbrough 19:26, 6 December 2020 (UTC).


 * Hi since you're already here and you use AWB, could you just state if there's a native setting to configure double monitors? If not, I really don't think there's any point in putting the image there. Thanks.  Silikonz  ( 💬  &#124;  🖋 ) 05:33, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
 * There is no setting that I'm aware of.  I do think that screen layout is useful, if you have two monitors on arms, as is often the case these days, you will find a side-by-side portrait mode more useful than a side-by-side landscape mode for examining diffs.  This no longer works for me as my screens are not a matched pair and one is not rotatable.
 * All the best: Rich Farmbrough 22:25, 12 December 2020 (UTC).


 * Hey all (among others) as per the previous reply made by Rich Farmbrough, what are your thoughts on possibly removing the image?  Silikonz  ( 💬 &#124;  🖋 ) 08:43, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Don't really care either way. Primefac (talk) 11:40, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * If you are or want to be serious about AWB time efficiency, or you just don't like scrolling many/most/all of your diffs, depending on the task, then this is indeed a useful arrangement & a good suggestion.  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  11:49, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Keep image, keep old caption. – Novem Linguae (talk) 11:55, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm neutral on both the Farmbrough photo and the infobox micro-image, but I strongly feel there should be an additional or replacement image—photo or screenshot—that shows a typical fullscreen editing session on a single landscape screen with the resolution of a fairly modern laptop or desktop. I may be extrapolating from a sample of one, but I feel that would resonate with most new users; aren't they the audience here? David Brooks (talk) 16:56, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I agree. But since I don't use AWB, I can't do that.  Silikonz  ( 💬 &#124;  🖋 ) 08:57, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Break 1

 * and, what do you think the image would be useful for if it was kept on the AWB page? Just a small question; I can't think of any reason if spreading AWB across two monitors isn't a native feature.  Silikonz  ( 💬 &#124;  🖋 ) 02:41, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I think it's useful as-is; and not in spite of it being non-native, but because of that, showing editors how it can be used if the editor "thinks outside the box".  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  02:49, 17 January 2021 (UTC)
 * In my experience and opinion, that can be applied nearly everywhere. This AWB page maybe doesn't have to explicitly state this by putting an image here.  Silikonz  ( 💬 &#124;  🖋 ) 04:57, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * , you haven't responded yetwhat are your thoughts? Just wanted to know. Silikonz (alternate account)  ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 00:57, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm in favor of the old caption. – Novem Linguae (talk) 01:20, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I haven't made myself clear. I mean my earlier comment - the

"and, what do you think the image would be useful for if it was kept on the AWB page? Just a small question; I can't think of any reason if spreading AWB across two monitors isn't a native feature. Silikonz  ( 💬 &#124;  🖋 ) 02:41, 17 January 2021 (UTC)". Thanks. Silikonz (alternate account) ( 💬 │ 🖋 ) 02:38, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * It neither is nor isn't a feature of AWB. It's how Windows renders any Win32 app when stretched across multiple monitors. Because the AWB "diffs" window is designed with a 50% split, it gives the impression of separate frames in this case, but I bet the Preview looks unpleasant. I still think a typical novice's single-window view would be better. David Brooks (talk) 18:20, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Offering File:Sample AWB screenshot.png and File:Sample AWB photo.jpg for your consideration (in addition to, or instead of, the double-monitor photo). David Brooks (talk) 18:52, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I boldly added my screenshot and tweaked the Farmbrough caption. David Brooks (talk) 16:35, 30 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Great, WP:BOLD. I think we don't need to discuss further about this issue; the caption probably isn't a problem anymore in this case.  Silikonz  ( 💬 &#124;  🖋 ) 23:36, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Bots deny=GenFixes ?
Is there any community support for having AWB acknowledge, in addition to the currently-acknowledged, but more aggressive, ? There are some problems with WP:GenFixes, i.e., and possibly others, that are hard to spot. Also, there are some legitimate changes WP:GenFixes makes that some object to (mostly WP:LISTGAP-associated reversions from my experience). All of these circumstances would be served by allowing AWB, but with WP:GenFixes turned off. If anyone can add to this list of circumstances, please do. ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 13:09, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

Is the guide "Customised General Fixes" still up to date?
Is this "Customised General Fixes" guide still up to date? At least the instruction "Leave language at C# 2.0" should probably be updated to "C# 3.5". But is that guide's code of "AWB version 5.4.0.1 / SVN" still up to date and safe to use? Just making sure before using it because it seems that last time it got an update was in 2016. 87.95.206.253 (talk) 13:32, 20 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Just noticed that this "Customised General Fixes" seems to interrupt your own advanced/normal "search and replace" edits whereas the normal "Apply general fixes" setting doesn't. Ping User:Reedy (who added the guide a decade ago) if they have time to take a look at this. 87.95.206.253 (talk) 17:53, 27 February 2021 (UTC)

Template:In use has been nominated for merging
I noticed from Wikipedia talk:Twinkle that In use has been nominated for merging. Since the AWB source code mentions this template, I'm notifying here. This template is caught by the "Page is in use" checkbox on the "Skip" tab. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:19, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * You can ignore this; the nomination has already been closed as unsuccessful. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:08, 28 February 2021 (UTC)

Not able to log in despite providing 100% correct username/password
Hello, I am trying to log in to AWB and am not able to. The username/password I type in are 100% correct, as I am copying them directly from the web login screen, where I have the password saved. The error that appears: "Login failed" "Failed" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joker876PL (talk • contribs) 09:33, 9 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure that you can copy text out of the password box of the web login screen - it didn't work for me. Have you tried pasting from there into a text document to see if it looks like your password? -- John of Reading (talk) 09:48, 9 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, it looks good. You can't copy when the password is hidden (that is: the dots), but when you show it you can copy it. Joker876PL (talk) 10:11, 9 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Do you use 2FA by any chance? For that you'll need Using AWB with 2FA. Otherwise I'm stuck, and one of the other AWB regulars will have to help you. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:15, 9 March 2021 (UTC)
 * If you are trying to use AWB on this wiki, the problem may be that you are not listed on AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage. The manual approval process is here but normally requires a longer editing history than yours.  If you are trying to use AWB on some other wiki, is AWB trying to log you in to the right wiki, i.e. the same one as the web login screen?  It may be trying to log you in to this wiki instead. Certes (talk) 11:23, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Is my rule/subrule bad, or do subrules not actually act as subrules?
I have the following rule: Find, Replace:  ; and subrule: Find:  , Replace. Yet in this revision of User:49ersBelongInSanFrancisco, the subrule triggers without the rule obviously triggering. Am I missing something? I'm using the recent release snapshot that fixed the short description handling on Win 10. --Izno (talk) 03:01, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I have to be honest, I don't see the word NavContent in this revision (it was there briefly in December 2013). Did you mean to put the "?" after the ")". Done that myself sometimes. David Brooks (talk) 04:18, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * No, that made the + metacharacter not-greedy in the same way as the * meta character. (Which I was somewhat surprised by.)
 * The point is indeed that the NavContent word is not there. So the subrule shouldn't run. --Izno (talk) 04:34, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Ah, got it. Thanks for explaining. David Brooks (talk) 21:42, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I only just got around to using Advanced settings for the first time, and indeed in a simple case the subrule triggers even if its parent rule doesn't. I guess the workaround for now would be to put something appropriate in the Not Contains section of the "If" tab of the subrule. David Brooks (talk) 21:53, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

Making alerts more visible?
Is there any way I can make the alerts more visible, like by having a popup alerts window to pop up somewhere on top of the diff/preview area as an alert is triggered? Or have the same "highlight errors" feature also available on the diff/preview area. Or something similar - tips are welcome. When editing with AWB, my eyes are focused on the diff/preview area. Now I miss 99.9% of the alerts due to my way editing with AWB, because when making hundreds of edits in a row, it gets exhausting fast to first keep your sight focused on the alerts area, and then move your sight to diff/preview area, or vice versa. 85.76.140.34 (talk) 20:49, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

Can't get past error
I'm currently trying to use AutoWikiBrowser to edit a fandom but cannot get it to link up with my fandom via the site preferences. Someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. I am swapping it over to fandom and putting a valid url in (harvestmoon.fandom.com). "An error occured while connecting to the server or loading X project information from it. Please make sure that your internet connection works and such combination of project/language exist. Enter the URL in the format "en.wikipedia.org/w/" (including path where index.php and api.php reside). Error description: Root element is missing." 24.154.206.237 (talk) 06:05, 4 April 2021 (UTC)

False positive
Moved. ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 17:28, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

Removing items from list
How do I filter out pages that contain a specific thing? For example, if I wanted to add a template to a page that doesn't have a template, how would I remove all instances of the page that have the template in the list? Noah 💬 17:33, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't know if you can do it within AWB, but you can generate an article list using Petscan. Here's a sample search that finds articles in both of two categories. You can click on the "Templates&links" tab to include or exclude specific templates, then run the search again. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:35, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Here's one way how:
 * Create your list in AWB, and then click Tools > List Comparer.
 * When asked if you want to copy your list into the List Comparer, click Yes, so it will appear in List 1.
 * For List 2, select Source "What transcludes page" and What embeds: "Template:Whatever" and click Make List.
 * When it's made the list, click the Compare button, and you'll generate three lists on the right of the List Comparer window.
 * In the main AWB window, click List > Clear Current List.
 * In the List Comparer window, click the Use list button under the "Unique in List 1" results.
 * Close the List Comparer window.
 * Another option is to go to the Skip tab and set AWB to skip the page if it Contains: - Happy editing!  GoingBatty (talk) 18:54, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

Help installing SharpDevelop?
Could someone help me with instructions on how to install SharpDevelop so I can compile an updated version of AWB? I've downloaded the file from https://github.com/icsharpcode/SharpDevelop and unzipped it, but don't know how to proceed from there. Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 22:22, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

P.S. Should Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Sources and Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser/Technical redirect here? Posts there haven't received responses recently. Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 22:22, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

AWB bot starts blanking pages
As reported on User talk:BattyBot, BattyBot started blanking talk pages today before it was stopped. I'm using Version 6.1.0.2 SVN 12432, module User:Magioladitis/WikiProjects, general fixes, and a few find/replace rules. I was sleeping when the issue started, so there wasn't any changes in the configuration. I closed AWB, reopened it, and ran it against the same pages, and it's working fine. Any clue what could have caused the issue, or any ideas on how to prevent it from happening in the future? Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 14:33, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
 * My bot has run into that before, I think it has to do with lag on the server or something. GreenC set me straight. Couldn't tell you if the discussion is here, at BOTN, or at my talk page archives (most likely the latter). I'm about ten seconds from sleep but if I don't return to this in a day or two (or someone else doesn't reply in more detail) ping me. Primefac (talk) 01:12, 10 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Ping per your request. GoingBatty (talk) 18:44, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Found it. Thanks. Primefac (talk) 16:07, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

This is bug?

 * My bot account

Hello? I'm trying to remove non-existent template with a bot in bulk. I checked the list of non-existent template with Special:Wantedtemplates of the wiki, and added the non-existent frames to AWB's Find and replace.

https://archive.org/details/20210416AutoWikiBrowser2 https://archive.org/details/20210416AutoWikiBrowser2/27.JPG https://archive.org/details/20210416dcinside

I set it as above with the Normal settings function of Find and Replace. For testing, I added a document containing, , and , a template that doesn't exist in the 디시위키:연습장. The upper template has been added to the 'Find' part. And when I clicked the 'Start' button, the upper template were not removed.

https://archive.org/details/20210416AutoWikiBrowser2/26.JPG https://archive.org/details/20210416AutoWikiBrowser2/28.JPG

I set the same with the Advanced settings function. Didn't work.

In my memory, apparently in October 2020, with the Advanced settings feature, I did the template removal with the same settings I had previously, and it worked without any problems. I've been building bots since Monday, and a few days ago, even yesterday, I deleted a few template with the Normal settings feature. However, only some of the template were deleted at that time. But today none of the uninstall functions work.

What should I do? Is this a bug or am I not sure how to use AWB? please answer about my question. Thank you. GTX1060 (talk) 06:44, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

AWB removes sort key
Using AWB 6.1.0.1, it broke the sort key in these three edits, changing the sort key from "/" to a space.

The slash sort key is widely used to group establishment and disestablishment categories. Why is AWB removing it? -- Brown HairedGirl  (talk) • (contribs) 14:04, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

Creating a list from multiple pages
I'm redirecting Turkish village/neighborhood stubs to a list at the district page (Balâ, Ankara for example). The redirect itself is a straightforward find-and-replace, and I've been creating the lists by exporting to a text file and copy-pasting to the district article which is clunky but workable. However, editors have asked me to include coordinates as well, which some (but not all) of the stubs have. Is there a way to pull the template from multiple stubs and add them to the list? –dlthewave ☎ 12:44, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * You may be able to subst a string of Template parameter value calls for each village, or adapt [the module behind] that template to extract the whole coord template. Certes (talk) 13:11, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

@dlthewave: where is discussion which led to this mass redirection? -- Brown HairedGirl  (talk) • (contribs) 14:07, 26 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Administrators noticeboard, which stemmed from discussions at ANI, AfD and Wikiproject Turkey. –dlthewave ☎ 02:43, 27 April 2021 (UTC)

Creating a list from uncategorized areas
Hello! I was wondering if there was a way to create a list of specifically uncategorized files in order to get them properly categorized? I'm aware of the page Special:UncategorizedFiles but was hoping there was a way the bot could do that? If not, is there a way to create a list of all files? Special -> AllFiles seems to just be bringing up a list of pages for me for some reason. 24.154.206.237 (talk) 16:01, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

New build please
The downloadable version is now well over a year old and still causing hatnote shuffling problems — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 08:46, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing this out, GITM. The bug was reported here, all versions since rev 12363 have had the fix. I downloaded the development version (v6.1.0.2 rev 12432) and confirmed it no longer has the bug. I've used the newer version to clean up my recent AWB activity that did not obey MOS:ORDER. I estimate about 10% of my edits were affected. — hike395 (talk) 15:22, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Can the replacement text have newline (line break) characters?
I can make a rule to create a flat list like this: * Butcher* baker* candlestick maker, but then I need to manually break before each asterisk to make new lines. Is there a way for the replacement text to make the breaks? Chris the speller  yack  21:11, 5 May 2021 (UTC)
 * If you're talking about the "Find and Replace"/"Normal Settings" dialog, then just use \n in the replacement text. Or am I missing a complication? David Brooks (talk) 03:40, 6 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that answer, which I thought I had tried without success, along with CHAR(10) and U+ codes. Yes it's working 100% now, which is more than I can say for my brain. Chris the speller   yack  13:53, 6 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Glad it worked for you. On Windows, my brain can never remember where to put \n and where \r\n, so I always have to experiment (and please don't mention the git interface). Sadly I'm old enough to remember when line-feed and carriage-return actually meant two different rows in the paper tape and two different noises. David Brooks (talk) 17:31, 6 May 2021 (UTC)

do not duplicate templates added from other templates
this edit https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shizuka_(band)&oldid=1022518544 added a duplicated template:authority control on Shizuka (band) when one was already included indirectly with the inclusion of template:Shizuka/Section/External links. talk &#64; TRANSviada 03:42, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
 * This edit was not a built-in function of the software, so you should discuss the matter with the editor who made the edit. (Courtesy ping ). In general, moving standard article content into templates will confuse many editors and processes. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:50, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
 * thought this could an issue with the software. ill just move the authority control to the articles directly. talk &#64; TRANSviada  10:02, 12 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm trying to think of a reason why I shouldn't send Template:Shizuka/Module/Navboxes, Template:Shizuka/Section/External links and Template:Shizuka/Section/Further reading to WP:TFD. -- Red rose64 &#x1f339; (talk) 22:06, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

Task ideas
Hola. I just got AWB access. What are some good tasks for me to work on? Are there any reports or queues I should be aware of / get ideas from? Thanks. – Novem Linguae (talk) 07:19, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * WP:AWBTASKS get quite a few requests and there's basically always some AWB tasks at WP:TFDH. The Olympic links would be the simplest one right now. --Trialpears (talk) 07:25, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

AWB default setting
Could it please be confirmed to me (as non-AWB knowledgeable) if in this edit the AWB function is set to add 🇬🇧 GBR ? Or would this be a manual addition? Thank you.--Rocknrollmancer (talk) 23:40, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I've never seen AWB suggest a change like that when I've been using it, so this must have been a manual edit or part of that editor's own AWB configuration. The edit was made in 2015, so perhaps not worth worrying about now? -- John of Reading (talk) 07:52, 17 May 2021 (UTC)
 * - thanq, that's what I surmised, it's background research for what was an ongoing RfC that I initially suggested, kindly actioned by another editor, see Template talk:Infobox racing driver, which I now find has been unexpectedly closed (16 May) due to changes mid-stream 16 May, (then the changes were reverted, 17 May!). Also I noted in the 2015 AWB query that spaces were removed that I mentioned in a slightly different aspect at Village Pump Technical.--Rocknrollmancer (talk) 13:45, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

Couple of questions
– Novem Linguae (talk) 12:07, 17 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Is there a way to find text / jump around within the wikicode of the single page currently loaded?
 * Is there MOS:ORDER detection somewhere? For example, easily adding a navbox in the right place.
 * I prepended a CFD notice to a couple hundred pages and it got a little repetitive. What are the rules for automating submission of simple edits like that? Do you need a bot flag? Can you write a script? I wouldn't mind sitting there watching it so that it remains "semi-automated", but it gets tiring to keep clicking / typing ctrl-s.
 * On the Start tab, you can use the "Find" box.
 * Yes, see AutoWikiBrowser/General fixes
 * To automate a process, you'll need bot approval - see WP:BOTAPPROVAL. You could try prepending the template or creating a custom module (see examples at AutoWikiBrowser/Custom Modules.
 * Hope this helps! GoingBatty (talk) 14:41, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * , very helpful, thank you. Quick follow up to answer #2. Let's say I want to insert a navbox into an article in the correct spot (after external links section but before authority control). Is there a way to configure AWB to do this? I read your link on GenFixes, but if I'm reading it correctly, that is something slightly different. – Novem Linguae (talk) 14:56, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * - AWB's general fixes don't completely get the order correct - see the Position of appended navboxes section above. I presume that's because AWB can't tell that a particular template is a navbox.  GoingBatty (talk) 15:32, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * If I understand your workflow right, genfixes only come into action when a page is loaded; there's nothing it can do dynamically with the text being edited. You might want to bring up MOS:ORDER in a separate window. David Brooks (talk) 15:41, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * If I understand your workflow right, genfixes only come into action when a page is loaded; there's nothing it can do dynamically with the text being edited. You might want to bring up MOS:ORDER in a separate window. David Brooks (talk) 15:41, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Position of appended navboxes
MOS:ORDER says:
 * 1) End matter
 * 2) Succession boxes and geography boxes
 * 3) Other navigation footer templates (navboxes) (navbars above Portal bar)
 * 4) Authority control templates (taxonbar above Authority control)
 * 5) Geographical coordinates (if not in Infobox) or coord missing
 * 6) Defaultsort
 * 7) Categories
 * 8) Stub templates

If you select "More...", "Append", "Sort meta data after" to add a navbox like Indian Air Force with AWB then it's placed after Portal bar and after Authority control. They are used in 90,000 and 1,8 million articles so Authority control is more important. Could something be done to add navboxes earlier, either automatically or if the user selects one more option? Navboxes is in 47,000 articles. It would be ideal if a navbox could also automatically be added inside an existing Navboxes in the  or   parameter. Pinging BrownHairedGirl who made the diffs. PrimeHunter (talk) 12:26, 3 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I tried adding some extra regexes to my AWB to achieve some of this, but that didn't work because the replacements are done later in AWB's cycle of tasks.
 * I agree with @PrimeHunter that it would be great if AWB could have built-functionality to handle this per the MOS.
 * Meanwhile, I intend that when I have finished this navbox work I will take another AWB pass over these articles with a custom module which will ensure that portalbar, taxonbar, Authority control, Coord and Defaultsort are immediately above the categories.   I can't see any reliable way in which AWB can identify a navbox, so I'm not going to try putting them inside navbox.
 * BTW, the reason I am doing these edits is that I found that on Indian articles, there was widespread deviation from the bidirectionality principle of WP:NAVBOX, which I am trying to fix. The worst so far was Indian National Congress, which has links to 147 articles.  About half those articles did not transclude the navbox, while over 1200 articles did transclude the navbox despite not being linked from it.  I have some ideas for how a bot could help identify such cases. --  Brown HairedGirl  (talk) • (contribs) 15:18, 3 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Have you recorded this as a bug or feature request on the Phabricator page? (See Before you post section above).  GoingBatty (talk) 15:30, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
 * No. I don't know which button is referred to in "Please use the feature request button to add new feature requests." PrimeHunter (talk) 00:05, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Click on the "filing a new task" link to go to the Phabricator AutoWikiBrowser workboard, then click the pencil icon at the top of the "Backlog" column, and click "New Task". GoingBatty (talk) 00:15, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Romani people in Poland
Hi! I saw that you posted a template on the 'Romani people in Poland' article, I took note of the incomplete references and fixed everything up! I consequently deleted the hatnote as I complied with the required changes is that ok? RimaB99 (talk) 17:55, 31 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Are you referring to the bareurls template? If so, it was added in  by an IP user who was not using AWB.  Thanks for improving the article - I'll make a few more improvements!  GoingBatty (talk) 20:48, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Oh ok, I was just a bit confused, thanks for your help! RimaB99 (talk) 03:51, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Inappropriate automatic additions of Template:Underlinked
I've noticed that AWB has been adding by default a lot of instances of underlinked to short stub pages, like Association for the Recovery of the Fallen in Eastern Europe, Bride Wannabes, and Miramar Huang family. These pages aren't really underlinked, they're just very short overall. Given that underlinking isn't the most dire problem a page can have, this behavior from AWB seems very tagbomby; could we turn it off? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 08:21, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Does anyone wish to comment on this? If not, I am going to move per WP:SILENCE to have AWB stop adding this tag. It is unacceptable to have AWB be suggesting inappropriate tags at mass scale. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 20:38, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm just a user of AWB, not a maintainer, but I agree with removal of Underlinked. It's also an issue with certain animal/plant taxonomy articles, where links may not be useful.--Rsjaffe (talk) 20:49, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I am generally skeptical of underlinked and orphan templates and definitely agree with this. --Trialpears (talk) 20:56, 29 May 2021 (UTC)
 * How about proposing that the underlinked template doesn't get added if the article has a stub template? GoingBatty (talk) 01:41, 30 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd likely be open to that if we figure out what the code is that's being used to determine when an underlinked template is suggested and confirm that it's an issue that only affects stubs. Until then, though, we can't be sure, and the safer course of action is to turn it off for all pages. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 01:59, 30 May 2021 (UTC)
 * It's part of the Tagger general fixes, so I found that it's in Tagger.cs, starting at line 499. GoingBatty (talk) 05:40, 30 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Hmm, it looks like any page with less than three links is automatically tagged, which is definitely not an ideal algorithm. I'll go ahead and file a phab ticket requesting it be deactivated based on the consensus here. One potential issue with relying on the stub tag is that I'm not sure all stub pages are properly tagged as such. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 02:06, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, there are a number of exceptions to the "less than three and not a dab" rules in the code that cited, including a page length <= 400 and various categories of page (notably many specific index pages), but the general comment is still true. It'd be good to have a smarter algorithm. David Brooks (talk) 15:17, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Updater FAILED


Hi. Today, I installed AWB v6.1.0.1 SVN 12353 (2019-09-17 21:16:42), and it reports that it is working with "Internet Explorer version: 11.0.19041.985, .NET version: 4.0.30319.42000, Windows version: 6.2". When I run AWB Updater v2.3.0.0, after "Getting current AWB and Updater versions", it reports "Retrieving current version...FAILED". See the thumbnail at right. — Jeff G. ツ 00:51, 5 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Yep, that's a known issue; I and others have reported it here before. I know there's a limited number of AWB maintainers who are all volunteers, but I really hope this gets fixed soon so that the community doesn't continue expending our energy reporting the same bugs over and over. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 02:49, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks!  — Jeff G. ツ 23:49, 7 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Is there a bug report in Phabricator for this? GoingBatty (talk) 03:03, 8 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd guess probably, but I'm not really sure. If there is, it'd be good to comment on it to give whoever might want to work on it a nudge. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 03:13, 8 June 2021 (UTC)
 * There is now, T284525. I'm sorry, I assumed someone else had filed it.  — Jeff G. ツ 04:04, 8 June 2021 (UTC)
 * It's not a known issue if no one has actually reported a bug in the proper place for bugs. A quick look at the last 500 changes to this page (for example), doesn't show any obvious discussion title to this extent. Reedy (talk) 13:17, 8 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Something else has changed between yesterday (June 7) and today. I've been running a 6.1.0.2 SVN version 12465 (from February). On startup, it now says "this version of AWB is not enabled, please download the latest version", resulting in the error dialog shown here. Then I noticed this morning's bunch of edits; I updated to SVN 12474 and rebuilt resulting in a working AWB version 6.2.0.1 (thanks!) but the download page still offers 6.1.0.1. Is that in the process of being updated? Of course, this is the programmer-with-VS way of updating; I agree the updater itself is broken. David Brooks (talk) 21:23, 8 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Ditto, dead in the water. Sam Reed has been updating., would you please make your 6.2.0.1 available. Thanks. Neils51 (talk) 00:28, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Courtesy ping. GoingBatty (talk) 01:56, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

This has now been resolved - download version 6.2.0.0 from here. GoingBatty (talk) 02:28, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * (sorry, just saw the ping) As the new version (the blue link, not the green button) is advertised as 6.2.0.0 I assume it's from SVN 12469, and the 6.2.0.1 changes up to 12474, to the CheckPage mechanism, aren't critical. So I'll just leave it at that. David Brooks (talk) 03:36, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

6.2.0.0 went up yesterday. It was available under the list of downloads on (as per GoingBatty's link), but I forgot to mark it as the default download for all OS, which meant on the other pages it said "Looking for the latest version? Download AutoWikiBrowser6101.zip (1.1 MB)" rather than "Looking for the latest version? Download AutoWikiBrowser6200.zip (1.1 MB)". GitHub does similar, you can publish a release, but unless you poke the right things, it's not always obvious its the latest. But if you click around a little, you can find out.

As for 6.1.0.2 being marked disable, well, that's standard practice when a newer release is made and the dev version bumped. If you've built one release (or are using snapshots), you're probably more than able to build a newer release.

The CheckPage stuff isn't in AWB itself (other than the ApiEdit addition), and was me just trying to optimise my script to try and make sure all JSON checkpages were up to date on all wikis.

Reedy (talk) 12:45, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Peeking at the latest changes... are you planning a switch to Git? (that would be a yay from me). David Brooks (talk) 22:09, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * It's been talked on and off for a while. I've been maintaining a mirror on GitHub at for years, but never got enough traction to make it the canonical. I do informally take PR from there and turn them into svn commit (obviously losing proper ownership info). It really should be re-visited though. See also  Reedy (talk) 22:42, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

New version out
I just noticed the stable release version is updated—hurrah! I look forward to being able to use GENFIXes again if this resolves the short description bug. It looks like @Reedy changed the page here, so thanks for that and thanks to everyone who got it done.

Looking at https://sourceforge.net/projects/autowikibrowser/, which is linked from this page, clicking the big green download button still seems to download the old version; do we know how to get that pointing to the new version? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 02:49, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't know how to update the big green download button, but you can download version 6.2.0.0 from here. Happy editing!  GoingBatty (talk) 05:09, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Yep, I already have, but just looking to make sure it gets distributed as widely as possible. That's going to be a challenge, given that the updater is broken in 6.1. But we don't want to get in a situation where an article's short description was moved from below to the top in 2019 after the policy change, then back below due to 6.1, then back above from someone with 6.2, then back below again from someone who hasn't updated, then back above again, etc. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 05:13, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Disabling old versions always results in complaining, it just does. Which is one reason I left the older version enabled, and added specific targetted messages to those versions (yay for past me for improving that feature) If people are running 6.2.0.0 and it seems to mostly work fine, I'm happy to disable the old version; it's probably well overdue. The "worst" that happens is that people will have to manually grab it from SF. Should be a little easier now I've also updated the default release, so you don't need to click around to find it. Reedy (talk) 12:48, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * If a bot were making the short description layout error, it would be blocked, so I see no issue with disabling the old version (maybe wait a week or so). That's a little different than changing the green button, though. The primary download link should always guide people to the latest stable release. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 14:21, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * As I say, the amount of times I've had people complain (quite angrily) when I disable old versions, for various reason over the last 10+ years. The GUI of SF sucks, so it was an oversight when I made a release (whilst busy in a training session for multiple hours) and uploaded the zip. I'm not sure why you're continuing to make reference to this, it is helping no one. The download was available. Reedy (talk) 22:25, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Oh sorry, I was on mobile this morning and didn't realize you had already updated the green button. I'm also still a little confused about some of the technical parts of this, so apologies if there's some miscommunication happening from that. Overall, thank you for implementing the desperately needed update—myself (and I'm sure many others) are grateful to see it. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 22:31, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
 * SF download working fine, thanks all. Neils51 (talk) 22:46, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

Updater requires .NET Framework 3.5
Trying to launch the updater on Windows 10 that was originally installed only about a year old and I got "An app on your PC needs the following Windows feature: .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)". Maybe along with updating the updater we should require (or at least allow for) a new version of .NET for the updater (AWB.exe already requires .NET [Framework?] 4.5)... Izno (talk) 19:59, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * See the latest release of the Updater. Reedy (talk) 21:19, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Ok, that's what I thought the patch note meant. Izno (talk) 21:31, 10 June 2021 (UTC)

Searching rendered text
Is it possible to search the rendered text instead of the wikitext? My AWB settings are currently on the conservative side to avoid dealing with that problem, but I fear that some fixes are slipping through the cracks as a result. Sdrqaz (talk) 19:15, 11 June 2021 (UTC)

Language management for Fandom wikis
Hello,

Currently, the "fandom" project option only allow to create a connection to English communities, for example by setting "jojo" to create a connection to jojo.fandom.com. But, if you want to create a connection to the French counterpart of this project, you can't define the language code "fr", and you have to create a "custom" connection and then set "jjba.fandom.com/fr".

Additionally, when activating the option "Regex typo fixing", the warning message indicates "The newest typos will now be downloaded from https://jjba.fandom.com/wiki/Wiki_Jojo's_Bizarre_Encyclopédie:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos when you press OK", the language code "fr" is missing in the URL, which may confuse users wanting to activate some TypoFixes.

Celdrøn (talk) 16:28, 12 June 2021 (UTC)

Migrate over to the JSON checkpage
The latest version of AWB uses the JSON checkpage to verify if users have access which has caused issues with the lists being out of sync. I would suggest that we work towards moving away from the old checklist to avoid this issue in the future. Before this can happen though MusikBot, User:MusikAnimal/userRightsManager and Rfplinks has to be updated to work with the new page (ping to ). Dropping the old checkpage would mean that older versions of AWB would not be usable. I don't think this should be a major concern though as we want the latest version to be used anyway. I would expect we get a decent amount of people asking why it has stopped working if we do it though. --Trialpears (talk) 08:35, 22 June 2021 (UTC)


 * @Trialpears I suppose the time has come. I should be able to get MusikBot up to snuff very soon, if we're ready. Quite frankly, I think the easiest solution on my end is to let the bot continue to patrol the old checkpage, then copy over the list to the new JSON checkpage. So admins would have to continue to manage the old one, and let MusikBot handle the new one. That would also give people more time to upgrade to the new version before we do a full migration. How does that sound?
 * As for userRightsManager, I don't think it has proper support for the AWB checkpage, does it? However, if/when we do a full migration to the JSON page, it would be much simpler to make userRightsManager support it :) &mdash; MusikAnimal  talk  03:49, 25 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Sounds good! Admins will have to update both check pages when adding new users but that isn't a major issue though assuming the bot is quick enough. Will add so we have both links in the template as well. Perhaps the script would be completely unaffected as well the check page support is definitely not finished in any case. --Trialpears (talk) 06:58, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Turkish letter replaced with Latin, breaking link
Bug report filed at T285941. -- Brown HairedGirl  (talk) • (contribs) 12:12, 1 July 2021 (UTC)

Preview using IE is getting annoying
With the latest Windows updates, and MS trying hard to get everyone off Internet Explorer, opening links from the Preview function (right click, open in new window) is even more annoying. Now, IE opens, reloads the page in Edge, and blasts out various "Hey, upgrade" messages even when Edge is my default browser. I understand that the HTML viewer under Windows Forms is restricted to the IE engine (still Trident?); is there any other way of getting it to use Chromium? David Brooks (talk) 14:57, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Preview etc should open your default browser though.... I think. I've not looked at that code in a while, maybe we should look at it. It does look like newer .NET and such may have something in it we can use, and it's mostly a drop in repalcement - . Unfortunately it looks like it means more install dependancies, which may be a necessary downside. I don't know if this will cause more (or less?) problems for non Windows users. Reedy (talk) 15:13, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I was just looking if any discussion on this topic existed... And here it is. Clicking the external link from preview curently does nothing except for coloring the link as 'visited' (tested on Win8 and Win10 machines with different default browser settings.) Would you suggest reporting this as a bug? --BlameRuiner (talk) 13:24, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
 * The procedure is right-click (or long-press) on the link, and select "Open in New Window". And the annoying popups seem to have died down; perhaps it only happens immediately after each significant Windows update? As to bug reporting, MS is no longer actively supporting Windows.Forms - there are two newer technologies since. Yes, there is a replacement that helps Forms use Chromium, but it is a big life in terms of using a separate module. David Brooks (talk) 14:04, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
 * But "Open in New Window" action uses IE. I don't see any option to use Chrome or FF (I'm speaking only about opening external links, not the preview itself). --BlameRuiner (talk) 14:22, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Exactly my point. The Windows Forms web viewer uses the IE engine internally (Trident if I'm not mistaken) with no alternative offered. There's an add-on that referred to but it's a hack as Forms isn't being maintained. BTW he reason I use the popup feature, just occasionally, to check my edit is wikilinking to the right page. David Brooks (talk) 15:51, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Non-Windows users may not be using Preview much anyway. For me at least (Ubuntu 16.04, Wine 5.0.3), Preview crashes AWB on about 50% of pages.  However, the rest of AWB works well and I upgraded to 6.2.0.0 with no problems.  Thanks for making the new version available.  Certes (talk) 15:25, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * It occurred to me later that the question would be more apprporiately addressed to [my ex-colleagues] the .NET developers. I think they're not maintaining Windows Forms much today, but it is open-source... David Brooks (talk) 16:40, 10 June 2021 (UTC)

For right-click 'open in new window' in Preview, override newWindow event to open URL in system default browser (rather than always IE). Note this doesn't work under Wine, as before this change the 'open in new window' didn't do anything. Rjwilmsi 10:07, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Verified. Awesome - thanks! David Brooks (talk) 15:48, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Perhaps that's my problem: I'm trying to open a page in IE, which I don't have on Linux. Sorry to be stupid, but what exactly do I right click on to change this? Certes (talk) 17:58, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * You can't change it and I don't know what happens on Linux. To rewind in case the context has been lost: this is solely about the Preview function, which on Windows (because it uses the legacy Windows Forms toolset) renders the page in the top pane using the obsolete Trident rendering engine, originally designed for Internet Explorer in 1997. It'd be nice to switch to Chromium, the modern rendering engine in Edge and Chrome, but Forms can't do that natively and the new add-on that inserts itself into Forms is a complex deploy. If you right-click on the Preview text, Trident captures the click and pops up its context menu. If you're on a hyperlink, "Open in new window" is an option in that menu; if you select that, Trident thinks "I need to open the link using the only browser I know about, which is IE."


 * There's nothing you could do with any kind of click to change that behavior. But in build 12501 has cleverly intercepted the "Open in new window" selection to pop up your default browser instead. The preview itself is still rendered with Trident. None of this should be confused with the "Open page in browser" feature in the editor pane, which also uses your default browser. David Brooks (talk) 01:44, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

Unresolved old XfD tagging routine
This request I filed 10 days ago to tag several categories in a bulk CfD remains unresolved. The CfD will need to be relisted as well. –<b style="color:#77b">Laundry</b><b style="color:#fb0">Pizza</b><b style="color:#b00">03</b> ( d c̄ ) 21:57, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

Unreachable page with AWB: ϗ
In the page list in AWB (version 6.2.0.0, Windows) I inserted the page ϗ (as in the Dutch Wikipedia we have a page about this character at ϗ), but the page list of AWB sees this character as Ϗ, which is a completely different character. The result is that the article of ϗ can't be visited with AWB. Romaine (talk) 22:20, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * ϗ is Unicode 03D7 GREEK KAI SYMBOL and Ϗ is 03CF GREEK CAPITAL KAI SYMBOL. They are lower and upper case versions of the same character.  Something is odd though: ϗ is a redlink on enwp but a search for it takes me straight to, which redirects to Kai (conjunction).  Typing Ϗ in the nlwp search box suggests ϗ and takes me straight to ϗ if I ignore the suggestion and try the search.  Certes (talk) 08:30, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

Help a user to upgrade
I'm in conversation with a very experienced Wikipedian who is running 6.1.0.1 (and therefore mis-ordering Short Descriptions) but the updater is not prompting him to move to 6.2.x. He says the download from Sourceforge is a "complicated thing to do". I didn't really follow the discussion above, but - is the 6.1.0.1 updater not going to help such a user? Or is it possible he didn't update the updater itself in the past? Would it be best to guide him through the Sourceforge download; presumably he did an ab initio download in the first place, but I don't know how he is configured, or indeed whether he's on Windows or another platform. David Brooks (talk) 19:16, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
 * One has to be careful at Sourceforge that they click the right link. I suggest they do the following:
 * Go to https://sourceforge.net/projects/autowikibrowser/files/autowikibrowser/
 * Click the green box labelled "Download Latest Version AutoWikiBrowser6200.zip (1.1MB)"
 * At the next screen, don't click anything - just wait a few seconds for the download to start
 * When the download is complete, unzip the file on your computer. Copy the new files to the directory where the existing AWB files are.
 * Run AWB as normal, and you're now running version 6.2.0.0
 * Hope this helps! GoingBatty (talk) 01:12, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, that worked for me. I renamed my AWB directory (folder) and reused its name for a new empty directory into which I unzipped the files.  That way there's a backup if things don't work, and any files which are no longer needed disappear.  Certes (talk) 08:14, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
 * The user followed my directions and it worked. There's another step before running the exe: you have to unblock the "unsafe" downloads either using the Properties page or clicking the Advanced link when the OS yells at you trying to execute. OK to add this to the instructions? David Brooks (talk) 16:27, 6 July 2021 (UTC) ETA: at least on some versions and configurations of Windows, I guess. David Brooks (talk) 16:35, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
 * There are lots of mini-steps within #4 before, depending on your operating system and unzip tool. I tried to keep it general because I didn't know what your Wikipedian was using.  GoingBatty (talk) 16:59, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

Guidance on the /config for non-WPs?
For those of us who need to set up AWB configuration on other wikis, especially those NOT in the Wikipedia sister group ... Thanks. — billinghurst  sDrewth  08:16, 22 June 2021 (UTC)
 * 1) Is there guidance on setting up a config file?
 * 2) Is there a a complete list of the parameters, or is WYSWYG?
 * Technically there is AutoWikiBrowser/CheckPage format, but it's not up to date for the JSON world just yet. Reedy (talk) 15:27, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Done for JSON now. Reedy (talk) 01:31, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

Hard limit on pages
Hi again. I am using AWB 6.2.0.0 with Internet Explorer version: 11.0.19041.1052, .NET version: 4.0.30319.42000, and Windows version: 6.2. On Commons, I am using it to make a list of what embeds c:Template:Flickr-change-of-license. The list (from "What transcludes page (all NS)") comes to exactly "25000 pages", while templatecount shows "39814 transclusion(s) found." How may I access all those transcluding pages? The underlying problem is that c:Category:Files from Flickr with changed licenses only has 24,378 files after 10 days, while I think it should have nearly 39,814 files. If that is a hard limit, may I have a volunteer to touch those transcluding pages, perhaps with touch.py? — Jeff G. ツ 20:30, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Seems that you're looking for the NoLimits plugin. GoingBatty (talk) 01:57, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but the NL sources aren't showing up. I have AWB logged in to Commons as JeffGBot. Plugin Manager lists that one plugin (in my AWB directory) under "Assemblies that failed to load", and clicking "Load Selected Plugin" appears to do nothing, as does trying to load it from the Plugins\NoLimitsPlugin directory (except adding another one of the "Assemblies that failed to load").  — Jeff G. ツ 20:47, 7 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Did you confirm that you have NoLimitsPlugin.dll in your AWB directory? My version is dated June 8, 2021.  GoingBatty (talk) 21:01, 7 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, created that day, and installed/modified on June 12th when I unzipped AutoWikiBrowser6200.zip. It is 12,288 bytes stored in 9,728 bytes with checksums as follows. Rebooting had no effect on the problem.  — Jeff G. ツ 22:31, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

CRC32: 599C0D38 CRC64: A59A63F13D44816E SHA256: 93676C12125902C1510D7AD8E7D72D73278F0BC6089DE9944836599457F6A7B9 SHA1: F9B8AC9440AE01340ECF2459710C5B4226D20009 BLAKE2sp: 330E365EE59CE8B4E4CDEC833E2EB14E79218497BA6EFEB522014A706FB555BD
 * I've just released 6.2.1.0... Doesn't change anything with that plugin, but is a clean build of the assembly. Reedy (talk) 14:28, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
 * The no-limits plugin does have a limit of 1M pages, though, and the number of templates transcluding > 1M pages is ever-growing. Are there any plans to raise the limit, or remove it for true no-limits?  ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  19:31, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I think we'd struggle for unlimited; but 2,147,483,647 as per the C# "Signed 32-bit integer" limit should be doable with minimal work. 2 billion would presumably keep people going for a few minutes, right? Reedy (talk) 01:10, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
 * [You risked triggering my decades-old rant about using signed integers to represent numbers that can only be ordinals. I blame Kernighan and Ritchie's first edition. Sorry. Back to your regularly-scheduled.] David Brooks (talk) 14:23, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
 * A bigger issue is more things like IEnumerable.Count being an int - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.linq.enumerable.count?view=net-5.0 Reedy (talk) 15:34, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
 * And String.Length, and String.IndexOf having an ambiguous return type...same in Java...Like I said, there's a full rant. David Brooks (talk) 17:35, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Actually, that did fix the problem, now using NoLimitsPlugin.dll created 7 July 2021 I have 10 ListMaker plugins.  — Jeff G. ツ 00:37, 14 July 2021 (UTC)

RegEx
I'm not sure how to get this rule: Replace  With:   to work (for stripping JavaScript comments). &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  16:04, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Not clear to me what you are trying to do. regex101.com suggests that the regex is invalid.
 * ——Trappist the monk (talk) 16:35, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * @Trappist the monk Oops, omitted . &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  19:09, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * regex101.com still considers the regex to be invalid. What are you trying to do?  Real life examples are a good thing.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 19:15, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * @Trappist the monk I think just  works (for removing comments); I was trying to keep 'comments' that have    before them, as in  . &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  19:29, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * That one works (sort of).   can span multiple lines.   Multiple, simple regexes are often easier to craft so perhaps you need two regexes: one for the multiline comment and one for the single line comment
 * – multiline
 * – single line
 * I'm still not clear how  fits in here are you saying:
 * or
 * or
 * or
 * or
 * something else
 * This is why real life examples are a good thing.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 19:57, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Possibly (and I'm just guessing), in which case it's the quoting rather than the https: prefix that marks // as not starting a comment.  Writing a regex to parse JavaScript perfectly is hard and probably impossible. Certes (talk) 23:56, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Using your example one might write:
 * replace with
 * Run this regex first then run the plain single-line comment removal regex then run the multiline.
 * But, I've got to ask, as one who believe wholeheartedly that most code is not anywhere near sufficiently commented, why remove comments? That just adds to obfuscation.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 00:43, 15 July 2021 (UTC)
 * @Trappist the monk Here's why. &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  06:53, 15 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, yeah, that's a mess, but you have already so tell us the real reason for this conversation.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:07, 15 July 2021 (UTC)
 * My alt has the same problem. &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  21:54, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * You can't just copy the one to the other as you did to create the alt? If not, edit the page and switch out of the code editor (the   button).  Then regex search and replace with the tool in the advanced menu of the toolbar:
 * 'Search for':  leave the 'Replace with' box blank.
 * This will also work with a regex capable editor like Notepad++ but will not work in the js code editor (won't find  or  ).
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 22:38, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * My alt has the same problem. &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  21:54, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * You can't just copy the one to the other as you did to create the alt? If not, edit the page and switch out of the code editor (the   button).  Then regex search and replace with the tool in the advanced menu of the toolbar:
 * 'Search for':  leave the 'Replace with' box blank.
 * This will also work with a regex capable editor like Notepad++ but will not work in the js code editor (won't find  or  ).
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 22:38, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

The TypoScan plugin isn't working
When I try to use the plugin to create a list, it gives the error. &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  13:22, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I can replicate the issue. There have been similar reports at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject TypoScan, and an open bug request since 2015.  GoingBatty (talk) 15:38, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Dark mode?
Will AutoWikiBrowser ever (or does it) have a night/dark mode feature? — hueman1 ( talk •  contributions ) 13:27, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It does not currently have a dark mode feature. I don't see a current feature request for it, but you can submit one by using the link in the  section above.  GoingBatty (talk) 14:54, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It says I should click a button. Where's the button? — hueman1 ( talk •  contributions ) 15:14, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
 * In the section above, click on the See this MediaWiki wiki page link for instructions.  Be sure you tag your request with "AutoWikiBrowser".  GoingBatty (talk) 15:22, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your help! I'll file my request later. — hueman1 ( talk •  contributions ) 15:33, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

Bolding done unnecessarily
In this diff, AWB bolded what it thought was the first appearance of the article title (per General fixes#Bold titles (BoldTitle)). It failed to notice the first appearance of the subject nested within Template:Nihongo foot, which was already bolded. TarkusAB talk / contrib 09:57, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I can replicate this issue. I suggest you follow the instructions in the Before you post above and file a new task for the developers.  Thanks!  GoingBatty (talk) 12:47, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Excellent, thanks for verifying. Task opened. TarkusAB talk / contrib 13:26, 27 July 2021 (UTC)

AWB not removing all banned punctuation from generated DEFAULTSORT
According to WP:SORTKEY, all punctuation in title must be removed except for hyphens apostrophes and periods. AWB does fine for ampersand (changed to 'and') and n-dashes (changed to hyphens) but doesn't remove other punctuation like parentheses and commas. Could it be updated to remove all standard (ASCII) punctuation that is not hyphens apostrophes and periods? Unrealistic to expect it to remove all punctuation in Unicode but taking care of the ASCII punctuation will take care of 98% of the issues. As a bonus, could it change Mr. to Mister? That's also in the standard. Thanks.--Rsjaffe (talk) 00:18, 27 July 2021 (UTC)


 * And the rule for removed punctuation (other than &, n-dash, and m-dash) should be that one space will be the replacement unless another space already immediately adjoins that location. Rsjaffe (talk) 00:40, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I suggest you follow the instructions in the Before you post above and file a new task. I also suggest you provide some examples of articles where AWB does not suggest the proper DEFAULTSORT changes.  GoingBatty (talk) 01:30, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I tried posting a bug report. Hope I did it correctly. Rsjaffe (talk) 00:35, 28 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Looks good to me - thanks for the report! GoingBatty (talk) 00:50, 28 July 2021 (UTC)

%%basepagename%% gives rather than
I cannot say how long this has been happening, so it may be old, or it may be new. However, the use of %%basepagename%% does not function the same way that   instead it is acting as.

s:User:Billinghurst/Sandbox/Sandbox2/Sandbox3

Outside of enWP there can be the requirement to drop down three or four subpage levels. So it would be really good if we could align the magic words and the functionality of AWB with MW— billinghurst  sDrewth  03:48, 9 July 2021 (UTC) So am I to understand that: AWB %%basepagename%% != mediawiki BASEPAGENAME. From your test example, Mediawiki BASEPAGENAME would give  not => Mediawiki PAGENAME = BASEPAGENAME + SUBPAGENAME in mediawiki => AWB %%pagename%% DOES NOT EQUAL %%basepagename%% + %%subpagename%% => there is no equivalent AWB to mediawiki instead mediawiki ROOTPAGENAME is the equivalent to AWB %%basepagename%% — billinghurst  sDrewth  03:59, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It's not clear what the table is supposed to be showing... Reedy (talk) 12:28, 9 July 2021 (UTC)
 * The table was my attempt to show that %%basepagename%% does not give, and that it delivers  .  I am needing AWB to deliver BASEPAGENAME. — billinghurst  sDrewth  15:20, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It's not doing a very good job of that. Haha. the test vs mw:Help:Magic_words. Reedy (talk) 21:59, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I am not getting you here. I show that a AWB replacement of %%basepagename%% changes  to   at each level when I have a page sitting at the third level of subpage hierarchy. Emphasising that when I do a %%basepagename%% replacement that it does mediawiki ROOTPAGENAME replacement. Mediawiki at that point considers BASEPAGENAME to be.


 * I am guessing that from the silence that I basically need to suck this up and that there will not be equivalence between AWB and MW, and no means to capture .  At a place like Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/Title I/Subtitle D/Part IV where the preceding page is Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/Title I/Subtitle D/Part III and the succeeding page is Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act/Title I/Subtitle D/Part V and I want to capture and convert these to relative links to ../%%subpagename%% in the header there is no ready ability to capture , instead all I can do is capture &&basepagename%% and convert to billinghurst  sDrewth  08:00, 25 July 2021 (UTC)
 * - You can take that to mean that if you want. But I don't check these pages every day. It's clearly a bug, and my previous comment was showing the comparison of the MW docs and what AWB is apparently currently doing, as it wasn't particularly very obvious from your examples what was exactly wrong. Reedy (talk) 14:01, 26 July 2021 (UTC)
 * okay, excuse my confusion with interpreting your comment. I have created a bug report at T287541 — billinghurst  sDrewth  13:40, 29 July 2021 (UTC)

Popup - Login failed (Resolved)
Hello, this is the pop-up I received after downloading the latest version of AWB (AutoWikiBrowser6210.zip (1.1 MB)). I haven't been able to use it for quite some time, like last year and when I could use it, it was primarily my go-to to edit on Wikia (now FANDOM). The site preference is correct and I even redid the username and pass, but the results are this popup that is not giving me much to go on. Bunai (talk) 03:18, 30 July 2021 (UTC)


 * I found a topic on FANDOM about this error. Apparently it requires users to log-in using a generated pass given by the site's Special:BotPasswords page. While it worked I am now stuck on why my main account is the one doing the editing instead of my bot which has its own account.Bunai (talk) 03:48, 30 July 2021 (UTC)


 * Alright, I believe I figured everything out!
 * My mistake was not signing into the bot account and believe that the page wanted the name of the bot I used. Bunai (talk) 04:17, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

How can I contribute to the code?
Hi! I have expreiance with git but I have never used SVN or sourceforge before. Is there any guide how to make a commit? There are a lot of SVN tutorials on the internet, I can learn it from there. I just can't find the way to get write access to the project? Maybe there is a Pull request alternative here? --ԱշոտՏՆՂ (talk) 09:36, 25 July 2021 (UTC)


 * I haven't tried writing yet, but TortoiseSVN is a nice client if you're using a Windows machine. https://tortoisesvn.net/ I've cloned the project using it.  rsjaffe  talk  20:16, 29 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm using that software too but it doesn't let me commit because of permission issues. According to AutoWikiBrowser/Sources, it says that http://svn.code.sf.net/p/autowikibrowser/code/AWB only gives read access and that the read-write URLs are different. How can I find that URL?--ԱշոտՏՆՂ (talk) 08:06, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

RegEx?
Here, it seems only the first case is matched; is this a RegEx issue or a script issue? &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  13:38, 28 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Nevermind. &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  18:22, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Typos within links
I note that if an editor (unaware the first char is not case sensitive) has created a wiki link along the lines of abcxde and the second entry is a typo that AWB moves to 'abcde' then the result is abcde which is a candidate for abcde, however AWB (general fixes) doesn't perform the two actions, only the first. Could this be resolved by script reordering? - Neils51 (talk) 12:46, 30 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I believe I requested this in 2013. GoingBatty (talk) 00:31, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that's pretty much it. I did initially have a look at Phabricator however my search terms gave me hundreds of results. Looks like it's the workaround for now :-) - Neils51 (talk) 01:21, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Two questions, AWB not opening and typos list
I have the latest version of AWB and it's not opening on my computer. I pressed "run anyway" when presented with the option. Also, where is the list of common typos and how do I use it? Been mostly away for over a year. Cheers, Rubbish computer Ping me or leave a message on my talk page 15:24, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * @Rubbish computer To use the list (at AWB/Typos) tick . &#8213; Qwerfjkl talk  15:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

Thank you. Rubbish computer Ping me or leave a message on my talk page 15:30, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

Hi and everyone I think I've fixed my AWB not opening problem with help from my Dad. I keep accidentally making my computer hibernate. Rubbish computer Ping me or leave a message on my talk page 10:58, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

Fixed now, had to re-download it. Rubbish computer Ping me or leave a message on my talk page 15:29, 4 August 2021 (UTC)