Note:
When you edit this page, you agree to release your contribution under the
CC0
. See
Public Domain Help Pages
for more info.
Special pages
are pages that are created by the software on demand.
They are located in their own
namespace
Special
) and are not editable directly as other pages.
Some special pages depend on the
preferences
that have been set by a user, e.g., the number of titles which is displayed on a user's
watchlist
Special pages also take parameters, e.g.,
Special:Log/block
takes you to the log of block users.
To view a directory of all special pages, use
Special:SpecialPages
Editing Special namespace pages
The
Special:
namespace stands for special pages generated by MediaWiki. There is no matching talk space. The special pages are not made up of wikitext and are therefore not editable like other pages might be.
They usually contain
system messages
from MediaWiki namespace, which are editable by
interface administrators
The ampersand character (
) is not allowed.
Linking, transcluding, or redirecting to a special page
You can
link
a special page as you would do for any other internal page; e.g.
[[Special:Diff|see diff page]]
Some special pages can take a parameter value after a slash character; e.g.
[[Special:Diff/6372234]]
takes a user to the 6372234 revision ID of this page.
Some special pages are
transcludable
, and some other ones are not.
For example, you may transclude the list of
recent changes
with
{{Special:RecentChanges}}
But, transcluding
{{Special:Random}}
gives
Special:Random
You cannot create a
redirection
towards a special page: it will display a link towards the page instead of a direct redirect to it.
However, some special pages have
built-in aliases which redirect to them
Links containing URL query strings
Since the ampersand (
) is not allowed, you can't create a standard link with
&action=edit
or
&redirect=no
in the URL query string.
Page name alias and localization
Unlike other namespaces, the first heading of pages in the
Special:
namespace is not consistent with the page name in the URL.
The
Special:
prefix is not displayed, and the heading text may vary a bit from the page name.
Each special page has a default English name, but it may also have aliases, i.e. other special page names which redirect to it.
Besides, on non-English wikis (i.e.
$wgLanguageCode
different from “en”), special page names are localized, and English names are aliases which redirect to the localized page name.
The localized aliases only work in one language per wiki, in addition to English ones; e.g. Italian special page names only work on Italian wikis. Multilingual wikis with
Translate extension
only support English names.
The
Special:
namespace prefix itself may be localized depending on the wiki content language.
For example, in each project's language, the word used for "Special" in special page names like
Special:Statistics
is different. Here is the equivalent term in each language:
German:
Spezial:Statistik
Spanish:
Especial:Estadísticas
French:
Spécial:Statistiques
Dutch:
Speciaal:Statistieken
List of special pages
Special:SpecialPages
shows a list of almost all special pages on a wiki. It is often linked in the
toolbox
on the side panel.
This list:
view
talk
edit
This list only includes special pages provided by MediaWiki core itself.
Special pages provided by extensions are documented on the extension page.
By role
General information
Lists of pages
Special:AllPages
– Lists all MediaWiki pages in a specified namespace from a given starting point. A user can specify a starting point as a parameter, like
Special:AllPages/T
(for pages in the main namespace starting with "T"), or
Special:AllPages/Template:
(for pages in the Template namespace starting from the beginning). The listing order follows alphabetical order.
Special:Categories
– This shows an alphabetical list of categories and the number of pages in each.
Special:ListFiles
– This special page shows all uploaded files.
Special:ListRedirects
– This lists all redirect pages.
Special:PagesWithProp
– This lists the pages that make use of a certain page property.
Special:PrefixIndex
– This lists all pages in a specified namespace that start with a given prefix. It's useful for finding subpages. For example,
Special:PrefixIndex/User:Example
Special:ProtectedPages
This page lists all protected pages on the wiki.
Pages may be protected against editing, moving or both. Pages may be
semi protected
, in which case the protection blocks all unregistered users, or
fully protected
which blocks all users except sysops. Some pages may have
cascading
protection applied, which means that any templates, images or other pages that are included within the page are also protected in the same way. Non-existant pages that are protected against creation are listed separately on
Special:Protectedtitles
Special:ProtectedTitles
This page lists all page titles that are blocked from creation.
Pages may be blocked from creation by unregistered users (
semi protected
) or by all non-sysop users (
fully protected
). Existing pages that are blocked for editing/moving are listed on
Special:Protectedpages
. See
Project:Protected titles
for more information.
Latest changes made
Special:Log
– A combined display of various public logs. The log type, user, and page can be specified. Supported parameters are "block", "delete", "protect", and "upload". For example,
Special:Log/block
displays the entire block log.
Special:NewFiles
– A gallery of recently added files.
Special:NewPages
– This displays new pages with creation date, time, size, creator, and first edit summary.
Special:RecentChanges
– Track the most recent changes to the wiki on this page.
Special:RecentChangesLinked
– Enter a page name to see changes on pages linked to or from that page. (To see members of a category, enter Category:Name of category). Changes to pages on
your watchlist
are in
bold
Special:Tags
– A list of tags that edits can be marked with.
Users
Personal
Maintenance
Miscellaneous
Restricted
The below pages are accessible only to users with a particular privilege level.
By alphabetical order
Special:PageHistory
– Redirects to ?action=history, which displays the history of a specific page. For example,
Special:History/Example
shows the history of the page named "Example".
Special:PageInfo
– Provides information for a page.
Special:PasswordReset
– Allows users to reset their password.
Special:PermanentLink
– Provides a link to a specific version of a wiki page.
Special:Preferences
– Accesses user preferences.
Special:PrefixIndex
– This lists all pages with a given prefix.
Special:ProtectedPages
This page lists all protected pages on the wiki.
Pages may be protected against editing, moving or both. Pages may be
semi protected
, in which case the protection blocks all unregistered users, or
fully protected
which blocks all users except sysops. Some pages may have
cascading
protection applied, which means that any templates, images or other pages that are included within the page are also protected in the same way. Non-existant pages that are protected against creation are listed separately on
Special:Protectedtitles
Special:ProtectedTitles
This page lists all page titles that are blocked from creation.
Pages may be blocked from creation by unregistered users (
semi protected
) or by all non-sysop users (
fully protected
). Existing pages that are blocked for editing/moving are listed on
Special:Protectedpages
. See
Project:Protected titles
for more information.
Special:Purge
– Refreshes a page.
Special:Tags
– This displays tags that the software may mark an edit or logged action with, and their meanings.
Special:TrackingCategories
– This page lists tracking categories which are automatically populated by the MediaWiki software. Their names can be changed by altering the relevant system messages in the MediaWiki namespace.
Special:Version
– This displays the version of MediaWiki in use, installed extensions, authors, and other relevant information.
Misc
The following special pages are not listed above.
They may also be an alias of one of the special pages listed above.
See also