Template:Refbegin/doc

{{refbegin}} and its complementary closing template {{refend}} are used to apply any of several optional styles or presentational choices for bibliographies or reference lists—that is, lists of fully-specified references, sources, or works cited, sorted alphabetically by author or contributor—that appear in Wikipedia articles.

These bibliographies or reference lists frequently appear in dedicated sections within an article, variously titled ==References==, ==Works cited==, ==Bibliography==, ==Further reading==, ==Published works==, and so on.

The formatting options provided by this template are:

refbegin template options/parameters

Option	How to get it	Notes
default display	{{refbegin}}	no parameters needed, default fontsize is 90% of standard fontsize
display list in multiple columns	{{refbegin|30em}}	where 30em determines the width of columns based on the browser's screen width. Can be any value generally (e.g. 20em, 50em, etc.).
apply hanging indent	{{refbegin|indent=yes}}	will apply hanging indent if an individual reference wraps over more than one line in the browser's display window

Each use of {{refbegin}}, with or without parameters, needs an accompanying {{refend}} closing template to 'turn off' the formatting; refend does not need any parameters.

Font size reduction is applied by default. Multi-columns and hanging indent may be applied separately or combined.

Usage

This template is used only for references—it should not be used to create lists of text which are smaller, in columns, or which have other style data associated with them.

With all (optional) parameters shown:

==References==
{{refbegin |30em |indent= }}
* list of bibliography/references entries..
...
{{refend}}

Placement

The {{refbegin}} is placed immediately below the header of the bibliography/references section its formatting will be applied to. The closing {{refend}} template is placed within the same section, at the end of the bibliography/references list content.

When used, each occurrence of {{refbegin}} should always be paired with a corresponding closing {{refend}} template:

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* 1st entry in the bibliography/references list..
* 2nd entry in the bibliography/references list..
...
* last entry in the bibliography/references list..
{{refend}}

The formatting provided by {{refbegin}} is "turned on" at the location where the template is placed, and is applied to all text after and below it, until it is "turned off" by a closing {{refend}} template (or </div> tag). Failing to provide a closing {{refend}} may produce unwanted effects in other sections that may appear below the 'References', 'Bibliography' etc. section, such as 'External links' sections that are usually placed at or near the article's end.

If there is a bibliography/references list but no footnoted citations (e.g. in general references or parenthetical referencing systems) then use {{refbegin}} and {{refend}} like so:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">

Template data

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools.

TemplateData for Refbegin

This template is used to start formatting for a reference list or bibliography.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Column width/Columns	1	Width for the reference list columns in units of em. For example: '30em'. If spaced as '30 em', it will not be recognized. Secondary mode (deprecated): integer number of fixed columns. Default 1 Example 30em	String	suggested
Column width	colwidth	Width of columns, for example, '25em'. The default is '30em'. Default 30em	String	optional
Hanging indentation	indent	Set to "yes" to use hanging indents for the contained references.	String	optional

See also

• BattleTechWiki:Citing sources – Citation guideline
• BattleTechWiki:Footnotes – Reference guideline
• {{reflist}} – Auto-generated listing of footnotes and inline citations