Help:Extension:CodeMirror
The CodeMirror extension provides syntax highlighting in wikitext editors. This can make editing easier by using colors and shading to visually separate plain text from links, templates, and other wikitext markup.
Usage
Enabling
CodeMirror can be enabled by setting "Enable syntax highlighting for wikitext" in your preferences. In WikiEditor (also known as the 2010 editor, enabled with the "Enable the editing toolbar" preference), it can also be toggled on and off using the highlighter button " Syntax" in the toolbar. In the 2017 editor, you can toggle CodeMirror by clicking the "Page options" button in the toolbar, then selecting "Syntax highlighting".
Keyboard shortcuts
Shortcut | Shortcut (macOS) | Description |
---|---|---|
Alt+← | Ctrl+← | Move the cursor one word to the left. |
Alt+→ | Ctrl+→ | Move the cursor one word to the right. |
Alt+↑ | Alt+↑ | Move the selected lines up one line. |
Alt+↓ | Alt+↓ | Move the selected lines down one line. |
⇧ Shift+Alt+↑ | ⇧ Shift+Alt+↑ | Duplicate the selected lines and keep the selection on the top copy. |
⇧ Shift+Alt+↓ | ⇧ Shift+Alt+↓ | Duplicate the selected lines and keep the selection on the bottom copy. |
Escape | Escape | Reduce multiple selections to the main range, or to a cursor if there is only one selection. |
Ctrl+↵ Enter | ⌘ Command+↵ Enter | Insert a blank line below the current line. |
Ctrl+[ | ⌘ Command+[ | Remove indentation from the selected lines. |
Ctrl+] | ⌘ Command+] | Add indentation to the selected lines. |
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+[ | ⌘ Command+Alt+[ | Fold the currently selected templates. |
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+] | ⌘ Command+Alt+] | Unfold the any folded templates in the selection. |
Ctrl+Alt+[ | Ctrl+Alt+[ | Fold all templates on the page. |
Ctrl+Alt+] | Ctrl+Alt+] | Unfold all templates that are currently folded. |
Ctrl+f | ⌘ Command+f | Open the search panel. |
Ctrl+g | ⌘ Command+g | Find the next occurrence of the search string. |
⇧ Shift+Ctrl+g | ⇧ Shift+⌘ Command+g | Find the previous occurrence of the search string. |
Ctrl+d | ⌘ Command+d | Select the next occurrence of the current selection or word, creating multiple selections. |
Ctrl+click | ⌘ Command+click | Add an additional cursor or selection to the area clicked. |
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+X | ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+X | Toggle viewing the editor in right-to-left and left-to-right. |
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+, | ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+, | Open the CodeMirror preferences panel. |
Features
CodeMirror preferences
MediaWiki version: | ≥ 1.44 |
Most features documented here can be disabled or enabled by individual users. To open the preferences panel, press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+, (or ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+, on MacOS). If you use WikiEditor , you can also get to your CodeMirror preferences by clicking on the button in the "Advanced" section of the toolbar. Your CodeMirror preferences will be remembered across different devices and sessions.
Bracket matching
This feature highlights the innermost pair of brackets when the cursor lies between any bracket pair. When the cursor lies directly next to a bracket, the feature highlights the corresponding matching bracket.
Template folding
MediaWiki version: | ≥ 1.43 |
Template folding is a form of code folding for templates in wikitext. It allows you to hide all parameters and their values, showing only the template name. This can make managing large, complex templates considerably easier.
Usage
When a cursor or selection covers any part of template syntax, a tooltip icon will appear just above the text. Clicking it will fold all parameters and values of the template, leaving only the template name.
Folded templates will have the template name followed by the ellipsis icon . Clicking on it will unfold the template back to its original state.
Shortcut | Shortcut (macOS) | Description |
---|---|---|
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+[ | ⌘ Command+Alt+[ | Fold the currently selected templates. |
Ctrl+⇧ Shift+] | ⌘ Command+Alt+] | Unfold the any folded templates in the selection. |
Ctrl+Alt+[ | Ctrl+Alt+[ | Fold all templates on the page. |
Ctrl+Alt+] | Ctrl+Alt+] | Unfold all templates that are currently folded. |
Customization
If you'd like to keep the keyboard shortcut for folding templates, but hide the visual component, you can do so by adding the following to your personal CSS:[1]
.cm-tooltip-fold {
display: none;
}
Autocompletion
MediaWiki version: | ≥ 1.44 |
This feature provides autocompletion of magic words , parser extension tags , and URL protocols.
If you enter {{#
, you should see a list of all parser functions that start with #
.
Similarly, typing double underscores (__
) will show a list of double-underscored magic words.
You can continue to type to narrow your search. Use the arrow keys to select the desired text, and hit the ↵ Enter or Tab ↹ key to make your selection.
Autocompletion does not work for templates, or for magic words or parser functions that do not begin with #
or __
.
Line numbering
When enabled, line numbers are automatically displayed in all editors. On the Wikimedia wikis, it is only enabled for specific namespaces of specific wikis.[2]
Line numbers will take into account any hidden lines, such as those through template folding.
Highlight the active line
MediaWiki version: | ≥ 1.44 |
In your CodeMirror preferences, you can select "⧼codemirror-prefs-activeline⧽" to enable this feature, which can make it easier to tell which line of text the cursor is on, especially on large pages.
Line wrapping
MediaWiki version: | ≥ 1.44 |
Line wrapping is the default behaviour in most editors. Sometimes you may want to disable this, especially when writing complex wikitext or other code. You can disable line wrapping in your CodeMirror preferences.
Multiple cursors and selections
You can add additional cursors or selections by holding the Ctrl key (or ⌘ Command on MacOS) and clicking on the desired content or cursor placement. After doing so, any changes you make will be applied to all the selections at the same time.
You can also press Ctrl+d (or ⌘ Command+d on MacOS) to select the next occurrence of the current selection or word, which create multiple selections. This can be useful as a quick find and replace feature.
Highlight special characters
By default, CodeMirror will highlight non-printable control characters and other characters such as non-breaking spaces. Control characters appear as a red dot, while non-breaking spaces are displayed as a faint gray dot. Hovering over these characters will show a tooltip stating which character it is.
If desired, you can disable this feature in your CodeMirror preferences.
Colorblind mode
For users who have difficulty distinguishing between colors, CodeMirror offers a colorblind-friendly mode. This feature can be activated on wikis with CodeMirror enabled with "Enable colorblind-friendly scheme for syntax highlighting when editing wikitext" in your preferences.
With the colorblind-friendly scheme active, the colors of the following page elements change:
Headings, symbols, signatures, section names, magic words | #E4A400 |
Templates | #9C3A00 |
HTML tags, references, mathematical expressions | #56B4E9 |
Variables | #009E73 |
In addition, background highlights and colors are removed from all text and objects. Bolding and underlining behavior remains unaffected.
Bidi isolation
On right-to-left pages, CodeMirror can isolate HTML and other tags as bidirectional text, which can improve readability. The standard algorithm for the layout of text places neutral punctuation characters between right-to-left text on the wrong side. With bidi isolation, we can correct this so it reads more legibly:
Color and style customization
The colors and styles used in CodeMirror can be overridden by defining your own styles for the classes in the table below in your personal CSS.[1] Please be aware that changing some things like the line height or font size may not work in the 2017 wikitext editor.
CSS class(es) | Element | CodeMirror styling |
---|---|---|
.cm-mw-skipformatting | leading space | foo bar |
.cm-mw-list | asterisk or number sign | * foo bar, # foo bar |
.cm-mw-signature, .cm-mw-hr |
signature, horizontal rule | ∼∼∼∼, ---- |
.cm-mw-indenting | colons | ::: foo bar |
.cm-mw-html-entity | HTML entities | & |
.cm-mw-comment | HTML comment | <!-- comment --> |
.cm-mw-apostrophes-bold, .cm-mw-apostrophes-italic |
bold and italic | '''bold''' ''italic'' |
Headings | ||
.cm-mw-section-1 | level 1 heading[3] | = Heading = |
.cm-mw-section-2 | level 2 heading[3] | == Heading == |
.cm-mw-section-3 | level 3 heading | === Heading === |
.cm-mw-section-4 | level 4 heading | ==== Heading ==== |
.cm-mw-section-5 | level 5 heading | ===== Heading ===== |
.cm-mw-section-6 | level 6 heading | ====== Heading ====== |
.cm-mw-section-header | equal signs | == |
Templates | ||
example | {{cite book|title=foo bar}} | |
.cm-mw-template | other template content | foo bar |
.cm-mw-template-name | template name | cite book |
.cm-mw-template-argument-name | template parameters | title= |
.cm-mw-template-delimiter | pipe | | |
.cm-mw-template-bracket | opening/closing brackets | {{ }} |
.cm-mw-template-ground .cm-mw-template2-ground .cm-mw-template3-ground |
whole template (the number is the level of nesting) |
{{foo|{{cite book|title=foo bar}}}} |
Variables | ||
example | {{{foo|bar}}} | |
.cm-mw-templatevariable | variable | bar |
.cm-mw-templatevariable-name | triple-braced variable name | foo |
.cm-mw-templatevariable-bracket | opening/closing brackets | {{{ }}} |
.cm-mw-templatevariable-delimiter | pipe | | |
Parser functions | ||
example | {{#assessment: A | High }} | |
.cm-mw-parserfunction | parser function parameters | High |
.cm-mw-parserfunction-name | parser function name | PAGENAME #invoke |
.cm-mw-parserfunction-bracket | opening/closing brackets | {{ }} |
.cm-mw-parserfunction-delimiter | delimiter | : |
Extension tags | ||
Note: Extension may use their own styles and rules for highlighting text within the extension tag. | ||
example | <poem style="padding: 1em;">string whole line string</poem> | |
.cm-mw-exttag | text inside tags | string |
.cm-mw-exttag-name, .cm-mw-ext-poem[4] |
tag name | poem |
.cm-mw-exttag-bracket | opening/closing brackets | < > |
.cm-mw-exttag-attribute | reference attributes | style="padding: 1em;" |
HTML tags | ||
example | <span style="foo">foo bar</span> | |
.cm-mw-htmltag-name | HTML tag | span |
.cm-mw-htmltag-bracket | opening/closing brackets | < > |
.cm-mw-htmltag-attribute | parameters and values | style="foo" |
superscript subscript |
foo<sup>bar</sup> foo<sub>bar</sub> | |
Pre-formatted text | ||
.cm-mw-tag-pre | pre-formatted text | <pre>foo bar</pre> |
.cm-mw-tag-nowiki | nowiki text | <nowiki>foo bar</nowiki> |
Internal links | ||
example | [[foo bar]] [[foo#section|bar]] | |
.cm-mw-link-pagename | internal link target | foo bar |
.cm-mw-link | # character | #section |
.cm-mw-link-tosection | characters after the # | #section |
.cm-mw-link-bracket | opening/closing brackets | [[ ]] |
.cm-mw-link-text | link label | (no additional formatting) |
.cm-mw-link-delimiter | pipe | | |
.cm-mw-pagename | internal link targets | foo bar |
External links | ||
example | https://www.example.org [https://www.example.org] [https://www.example.org example.org] | |
.cm-mw-extlink, .cm-mw-free-extlink |
external link target | www.example.org |
.cm-mw-extlink-protocol, .cm-mw-free-extlink-protocol |
protocol | https:// |
.cm-mw-extlink-text | link label | (no additional formatting) |
.cm-mw-extlink-bracket | opening/closing brackets | [ ] |
Tables | ||
example | {| class="wikitable" |- ! Header text !! Header text |- | Example || Example |} | |
.cm-mw-table-bracket | opening/closing brackets and pipe | {| |} |
.cm-mw-table-delimiter | row and column separators | | |- ! |
.cm-mw-table-definition | table classes and styles | class="wikitable" |
.cm-mw-table-caption | caption text | |+ |
Other | ||
.cm-mw-double-underscore | magic words | __TOC__ |
.cm-mw-list | semicolon (definition lists) | ;Foo:Bar |
.cm-special-char-nbsp | non-breaking space | · · |
.cm-specialChar | control characters | • |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Your personal CSS is at Special:MyPage/common.css. You can also make your changes take effect globally if GlobalCssJs is installed. On Wikimedia wikis, your global CSS is at meta:Special:MyPage/global.css.
- ↑
Controlled by the
$wgCodeMirrorLineNumberingNamespaces
configuration setting. See Extension:CodeMirror#Configuration for more information. - ↑ 3.0 3.1 The size is not changed in the 2017 wikitext editor.
- ↑ Where "poem" is the name of the tag.