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TWiki Variables

Special text strings expand on the fly to display user data or system info

TWikiVariables are text strings - %VARIABLE% or %VARIABLE{ parameter="value" }% - that expand into content whenever a topic is rendered for viewing. There are two types of variables:

  1. Preferences variables: Can be defined and changed by the user
  2. Predefined variables: Defined by the TWiki system or by Plugins (for example, the SpreadSheetPlugin introduces a %CALC{}% variable)

Using Variables

To use a variable type its name. For example,

  • type %T% to get TIP (a preferences variable)
  • type %TOPIC% to get TWikiVariables (a predefined variable)
  • type %CALC{ "$UPPER(Text)" }% to get TEXT (a variable defined by Plugin)

Note:

  • To leave a variable unexpanded, precede it with an exclamation point, e.g. type !%TOPIC% to get %TOPIC%
  • Variables are expanded relative to the topic they are used in, not the topic they are defined in
  • Type %ALLVARIABLES% to get a full listing of all variables defined for a particular topic

Variable Names

Variable names must start with a letter. The following characters can be letters, numbers and the underscore '_'. You can use both upper-case and lower-case letters and you can mix the characteres. E.g. %MYVAR%, %MyVar%, %My2ndVar%, and %My_Var% are all valid variable names. Variables are case sensitive. %MyVAR% and %MYVAR% are not the same variable.

By convention all settings, predefined variables and variables used by plugins are always UPPER-CASE.

Preferences Variables

Unlike predefined variables, preferences variables can be defined by the user in various places.

Setting Preferences Variables

You can set variables in all the following places:
  1. local site level in TWiki.TWikiPreferences
  2. local site level in Main.TWikiPreferences
  3. user level in individual user topics in Main web
  4. web level in WebPreferences of each web
  5. topic level in topics in webs
  6. plugin topics (see TWikiPlugins)
  7. session variables (if sessions are enabled)

Settings at higher-numbered levels override settings of the same variable at lower numbered levels, unless the variable was included in the setting of FINALPREFERENCES at a lower-numbered level, in which case it is locked at the value it has at that level.

The syntax for setting Variables is the same anywhere in TWiki (on its own TWiki bullet line, including nested bullets):
[multiple of 3 spaces] * [space] Set [space] VARIABLENAME [space] = [space] value

Examples:
  • Set VARIABLENAME = value
    • Set VARIABLENAME = value
Spaces between the = sign and the value will be ignored. You can split a value over several lines by indenting following lines with spaces - as long as you don't try to use * as the first character on the following line.
Example: 
   * Set VARIABLENAME = value starts here
     and continues here

Whatever you include in your Variable will be expanded on display, exactly as if it had been entered directly.

Example: Create a custom logo variable
  • To place a logo anywhere in a web by typing %MYLOGO%, define the Variable on the web's WebPreferences topic, and upload a logo file, ex: mylogo.gif. You can upload by attaching the file to WebPreferences, or, to avoid clutter, to any other topic in the same web, e.g. LogoTopic. Sample variable setting in WebPreferences:
    • Set MYLOGO = %PUBURL%/%WEB%/LogoTopic/mylogo.gif

You can also set preferences variables on a topic by clicking the link Edit topic preference settings under More topic actions. Preferences set in this manner are not visible in the topic text, but take effect nevertheless.

Access Control Variables

These are special types of preferences variables to control access to content. TWikiAccessControl explains these security settings in detail.

Local values for variables

Certain topics (a users home topic, web site and default preferences topics) have a problem; variables defined in those topics can have two meanings. For example, consider a user topic. A user may want to use a double-height edit box when they are editing their home topic - but only when editing their home topic. The rest of the time, they want to have a normal edit box. This separation is achieved using Local in place of Set in the variable definition. For example, if the user sets the following in their home topic: 
   * Set EDITBOXHEIGHT = 10
   * Local EDITBOXHEIGHT = 20
Then when they are editing any other topic, they will get a 10 high edit box. However when they are editing their home topic, they will get a 20 high edit box. Local can be used wherever a preference needs to take a different value depending on where the current operation is being performed.

Use this powerful feature with great care! %ALLVARIABLES% can be used to get a listing of the values of all variables in their evaluation order, so you can see variable scope if you get confused.

Frequently Used Preferences Variables

The following preferences variables are frequently used. They are defined in TWikiPreferences#Miscellaneous_Settings:

  • %BR% - line break
  • %BULLET% - bullet sign
  • %BB% - line break and bullet combined
  • %BB2% - indented line break and bullet
  • %RED% text %ENDCOLOR% - colored text (also %YELLOW%, %ORANGE%, %PINK%, %PURPLE%, %TEAL%, %NAVY%, %BLUE%, %AQUA%, %LIME%, %GREEN%, %OLIVE%, %MAROON%, %BROWN%, %BLACK%, %GRAY%, %SILVER%, %WHITE%)
  • %H% - HELP Help icon
  • %I% - IDEA! Idea icon
  • %M% - MOVED TO... Moved to icon
  • %N% - NEW New icon
  • %P% - REFACTOR Refactor icon
  • %Q% - QUESTION? Question icon
  • %S% - PICK Pick icon
  • %T% - TIP Tip icon
  • %U% - UPDATED Updated icon
  • %X% - ALERT! Alert icon
  • %Y% - DONE Done icon

There are additional useful preferences variables defined in TWikiPreferences, in Main.TWikiPreferences, and in WebPreferences of every web.

Predefined Variables

Most predefined variables return values that were either set in the configuration when TWiki was installed, or taken from server info (such as current username, or date and time). Some, like %SEARCH%, are powerful and general tools.

  • ALERT! Predefined variables can be overridden by preferences variables
  • ALERT! Plugins may extend the set of predefined variables (see individual Plugins topics for details)
  • TIP Take the time to thoroughly read through ALL preference variables. If you actively configure your site, review variables periodically. They cover a wide range of functions, and it can be easy to miss the one perfect variable for something you have in mind. For example, see %INCLUDINGTOPIC%, %INCLUDE%, and the mighty %SEARCH%.

This version of TWiki - TWiki-4.0.4-3, Wed, 06 Jul 2006, build 10807 - predefines the following variables:

ACTIVATEDPLUGINS -- list of currently activated plugins

ALLOWTOPICVIEW, ALLOWTOPICCHANGE, ALLOWTOPICRENAME -- access control for topics

These variables define lists of users and groups who may view or edit topics, or move them around.

ALLOWWEBVIEW, ALLOWWEBCHANGE, ALLOWWEBRENAME -- access control for webs

These variables define lists of users and groups who may view or edit topics in a web, or move them around. They must be defined in a web's WebPreferences topic and are ignored in other topics.

ALLVARIABLES -- list of currently defined TWikiVariables

  • Syntax: %ALLVARIABLES%
  • Expands to: a table showing all defined TWikiVariables in the current context

AQUA -- preference value for colored text

AQUA is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %AQUA% aqua text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: aqua text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

ATTACHEDIMAGEFORMAT -- default value for attachment link

Format of images when the link check box is checked.

  • HELP NOTE: Keyword $name gets expanded to filename; $comment to comment; $size to width="..." height="..." attribute of img tag; \t to tab and \n to linefeed (3 spaces for bullets).
  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: ATTACHEDIMAGEFORMAT = \n * $comment:
    $name

ATTACHFILESIZELIMIT -- installation logo image

Maximum size of FileAttachments in KB, 0 for no limit.

ATTACHLINKBOX -- default value for attachment link checkbox

Default state of the link check box in the attach file page. Checkbox is initially checked if Set ATTACHLINKBOX = checked="checked", or unchecked if empty (Set ATTACHLINKBOX =). If checked, a link is created to the attached file at the end of the topic.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable - TWikiUserSetting. Can be customized for a site in Main.TWikiPreferences, for each web in their WebPreferences topics and by individual TWikiUsers in their home topics.
  • Current value: ATTACHLINKBOX =

ATTACHURL -- full URL for attachments in the current topic

ATTACHURLPATH -- path of the attachment URL of the current topic

AUTHREALM -- authentication realm

BASETOPIC -- base topic where an INCLUDE started

  • The name of the topic where a single or nested INCLUDE started - same as %TOPIC% if there is no INCLUDE
  • Syntax: %BASETOPIC%
  • Related: BASEWEB, INCLUDINGTOPIC, INCLUDE, TOPIC

BASEWEB -- base web where an INCLUDE started

  • The web name where the includes started, e.g. the web of the first topic of nested includes. Same as %WEB% in case there is no include.
  • Syntax: %BASEWEB%
  • Related: BASETOPIC, INCLUDINGWEB, INCLUDE, WEB

BB, BB2, BB3, BB4 -- bullets with different levels of indentation

Line break and bullet with different levels of indentation.

  • Type: Preference variable - TWikiRenderingShortcut.
  • Current value: BB =
    •
  • Current value: BB2 =
      •
  • Current value: BB3 =
        •
  • Current value: BB4 =
          •

BLACK -- preference value for colored text

BLACK is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %BLACK% black text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: black text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

BLUE -- preference value for colored text

BLUE is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %BLUE% blue text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: blue text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

BR -- shortcut for line break

BROADCASTMESSAGE -- message shown at page top

Broadcast message for skins supporting a %BROADCASTMESSAGE% at the top of the page (IMPORTANT: Set to empty message if not used; #Comment out unused messages).

BROWN -- preference value for colored text

BROWN is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %BROWN% brown text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: brown text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

BULLET -- bullet character

COMPOSER -- select WYSIWYG editor

Some skins have two editors available; the default editor, and a second editor which is usually a WYSIWYG editor (the second editor is used by hitting the WYSIWYG link in pattern or classic skins). If COMPOSER is not set, the second editor will work the same as the default editor. If the WysiwygPlugin is installed and it is set to 'kupu' (the default), then the Kupu WYSIWYG editor will be enabled. You can change the setting to use any editor that is enabled by setting the cover parameter on the edit URL.

DATE -- signature format date

DENYTOPICVIEW, DENYTOPICCHANGE, DENYTOPICRENAME -- access control for topics

These variables define lists of users and groups who may not view or edit topics, or move them around.

DENYWEBVIEW, DENYWEBCHANGE, DENYWEBRENAME -- access control for webs

These variables define lists of users and groups who may not view or edit topics in a web, or move them around. Must be defined in a web's WebPreferences topic and is ignored in other topics.

DISPLAYTIME -- display time

DISPLAYTIME{"format"} -- formatted display time

  • Formatted time - either GMT or Local server time, depending on setting in configure. Same format qualifiers as %GMTIME%
  • Syntax: %DISPLAYTIME{"format"}%
  • Example: %DISPLAYTIME{"$hou:$min"}% expands to 06:12
  • Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME

DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX -- suppress email notification after editing

Default state of the Minor Changes, Don't Notify (DontNotify) check box in preview. Check box is initially checked if Set DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX = checked="checked", or unchecked if empty.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable - TWikiUserSetting. Can be customized for a site in Main.TWikiPreferences, for each web in their WebPreferences topics and by individual TWikiUsers in their home topics.
  • Current value: DONTNOTIFYCHECKBOX =

EDITBOXWIDTH, EDITBOXHEIGHT, EDITBOXSTYLE -- show / hide meta data for links

These variables control the layout of the edit box. The current values are:

  • EDITBOXWIDTH = 70
  • EDITBOXHEIGHT = 20
  • EDITBOXSTYLE = width: 99%
  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable - TWikiUserSetting. Can be customized for a site in Main.TWikiPreferences, for each web in their WebPreferences topics and by individual TWikiUsers in their home topics.

ENCODE{"string"} -- encodes a string to HTML entities

  • Encode "special" characters to HTML numeric entities. Encoded characters are:
    • all non-printable ASCII characters below space, except newline ("\n") and linefeed ("\r")
    • HTML special characters "<", ">", "&", single quote (') and double quote (")
    • TWiki special characters "%", "[", "]", "@", "_", "*", "=" and "|"
  • Syntax: %ENCODE{"string"}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "string" String to encode required (can be empty)
    type="entity" Encode special characters into HTML entities, like a double quote into &#034; URL encoding
    type="url" Encode special characters for URL parameter use, like a double quote into %22 (this is the default)
  • Example: %ENCODE{"spaced name"}% expands to spaced%20name
  • ALERT! Note: Values of HTML input fields must be entity encoded, for example:
    <input type="text" name="address" value="%ENCODE{ "any text" type="entity" }%" />
  • Related: URLPARAM

ENDSECTION{"name"} -- marks the end of a named section within a topic

  • Syntax: %ENDSECTION{"name"}%
  • Syntax: %ENDSECTION{type="include"}%
  • Supported parameter:
    Parameter: Description:
    "name" Name of the section.
    type="..." Type of the section being terminated; supported types "section", "include", "templateonly".
  • If the STARTSECTION is named, the corresponding ENDSECTION must also be named with the same name. If the STARTSECTION specifies a type, then the corresponding ENDSECTION must also specify the same type. If the section is unnamed, ENDSECTION will match with the nearest unnamed %STARTSECTION% of the same type above it.
  • Related: STARTSECTION

FAILEDPLUGINS -- debugging for plugins that failed to load, and handler list

FAVICON -- default favicon

This variable can be used in skin templates to provide a icon.

FINALPREFERENCES -- list of preferences which must not be overridden

A comma separated list of preference variables which must not be overridden in subordinate settings.

TWiki preferences get their values from a hierarchy of sources:

  1. An distribution default may be defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences.
  2. A site customisation in Main.TWikiPreferences may override that value.
  3. Per-web customisation in individual WebPreferences topics can override that.
  4. Finally, per-user and per-topic settings can override that.

With a FINALPREFERENCES setting at one of the stages, any settings in the following stages will be ignored. Consider, for example, a Main.TWikiPreferences containing the following setting: 

   * Set FINALPREFERENCES = WIKIWEBMASTER
In this case none of the WebPreferences topics can override that, WIKIWEBMASTER is a global setting for that site.

FORCENEWREVISIONCHECKBOX -- default value for new revisions after editing

Default state of the Force New Revision (ForceNewRevision) check box in preview. Check box is initially checked if Set FORCENEWREVISIONCHECKBOX = checked="checked", or unchecked if empty.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable - TWikiUserSetting. Can be customized for a site in Main.TWikiPreferences, for each web in their WebPreferences topics and by individual TWikiUsers in their home topics.
  • Current value: FORCENEWREVISIONCHECKBOX =

FORMFIELD{"fieldname"} -- renders a field in the form attached to some topic

  • Syntax: %FORMFIELD{"fieldname"}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "fieldname" The name of a TWiki form field required
    topic="..." Topic where form data is located. May be of the form Web.TopicName Current topic
    format="..." Format string. $value expands to the field value, and $title expands to the field title "$value"
    default="..." Text shown when no value is defined for the field ""
    alttext="..." Text shown when field is not found in the form ""
  • Example: %FORMFIELD{"ProjectName" topic="Projects.SushiProject" default="(not set)" alttext="ProjectName field found"}%
  • Related: SEARCH

GMTIME -- GM time

GMTIME{"format"} -- formatted GM time

  • Syntax: %GMTIME{"format"}%
  • Supported variables:
    Variable: Unit: Example
    $seconds seconds 59
    $minutes minutes 59
    $hours hours 23
    $day day of month 31
    $wday day of the Week (Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Thu
    $dow day of the week (Sun = 0) 2
    $week number of week in year (ISO 8601) 34
    $month month in ISO format Dec
    $mo 2 digit month 12
    $year 4 digit year 1999
    $ye 2 digit year 99
    $tz either "GMT" (if set to gmtime), or "Local" (if set to servertime) GMT
    $iso ISO format timestamp 2010-03-15T06:12:12Z
    $rcs RCS format timestamp 2010/03/15 06:12:12
    $http E-mail & http format timestamp Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:12:12 GMT
    $epoch Number of seconds since 00:00 on 1st January, 1970 1268633532
  • Variables can be shortened to 3 characters
  • Example: %GMTIME{"$day $month, $year - $hour:$min:$sec"}% expands to 15 Mar, 2010 - 06:12:12
  • ALERT! Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
  • Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME

GRAY -- preference value for colored text

GRAY is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %GRAY% gray text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: gray text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

GREEN -- preference value for colored text

GREEN is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %GREEN% green text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: green text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

GROUPS -- a formatted list of groups

H -- help icon

HOMETOPIC -- home topic in each web

HTTP -- get HTTP headers

  • Called with the name of an HTTP header field, returns its value. Capitalization and the use of hyphens versus underscores are not significant.
  • Syntax: %HTTP%
  • Syntax: %HTTP{"Header-name"}%
  • Examples:
    %HTTP%  
    %HTTP{"Accept-language"}% en-us,en;q=0.5
    %HTTP{"User-Agent"}% CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html)
  • ALERT! Note: You can see the HTTP headers your browser sends to the server on a number of sites e.g. http://www.ericgiguere.com/tools/http-header-viewer.html
  • Related: HTTPS, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_PORT, REMOTE_USER

HTTP_HOST -- environment variable

HTTPS -- get HTTPS headers

  • The same as %HTTP% but operates on the HTTPS environment variables present when the SSL protocol is in effect. Can be used to determine whether SSL is turned on.
  • Syntax: %HTTPS%
  • Syntax: %HTTPS{"Header-name"}%
  • Related: HTTP, REMOTE_ADDR, REMOTE_PORT, REMOTE_USER

_EQUIV_ON_EDIT _EQUIV_ON_PREVIEW _EQUIV_ON_VIEW

HTTP_EQUIV_ON_EDIT, HTTP_EQUIV_ON_PREVIEW, HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW -- Extra HEAD elements

Extra element(s) to be included in the HTML head section for the various scripts. Note that the values are not displayed in normal view mode since they consist of HTML elements which should appear in the head only.

  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: HTTP_EQUIV_ON_VIEW = * Current value: HTTP_EQUIV_ON_EDIT = * Current value: HTTP_EQUIV_ON_PREVIEW =

I -- idea icon

ICON{"name"} -- small documentation graphic or icon of common attachment types

  • Generates the HTML img tag of a small graphic image attached to TWikiDocGraphics. Images typically have a 16x16 pixel size. You can select a specific image by name, or you can give a full filename, in which case the type of the file will be used to select one of a collection of common file type icons.
  • Syntax: %ICON{"name"}%
  • Examples:
    • %ICON{"flag-gray"}% returns flag-gray
    • %ICON{"pdf"}% returns pdf
    • %ICON{"smile.pdf"}% returns pdf
    • %ICON{"/dont/you/dare/smile.pdf"}% returns pdf
    • %ICON{"http://twiki.org/doc/xhtml.xsl"}% returns xsl
  • Graphic samples: arrowbright arrowbright, bubble bubble, choice-yes choice-yes, hand hand
  • File type samples: bmp bmp, doc doc, gif gif, hlp hlp, html html, wav mp3, pdf pdf, ppt ppt, txt txt, xls xls, xml xml, zip zip
  • Related: ICONURL, ICONURLPATH, TWikiPreferences, FileAttachments, TWikiDocGraphics

ICONURL{"name"} -- URL of small documentation graphic or icon

  • Generates the full URL of a TWikiDocGraphics image, which TWiki renders as an image. The related %ICON{"name"}% generates the full HTML img tag. Specify image name or full filename (see ICON for details on filenames.)
  • Syntax: %ICONURL{"name"}%
  • Examples:
    • %ICONURL{"arrowbright"}% returns http://www.cleaver.org/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/arrowbright.gif
    • %ICONURL{"novel.pdf"}% returns http://www.cleaver.org/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/pdf.gif
    • %ICONURL{"/queen/boheme.mp3"}% returns http://www.cleaver.org/twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/mp3.gif
  • Related: ICONURLPATH, ICON, TWikiPreferences, FileAttachments, TWikiDocGraphics

ICONURLPATH{"name"} -- URL path of small documentation graphic or icon

  • Generates the URL path of a TWikiDocGraphics image, typically used in an HTML img tag. Specify image name or full filename (see ICON for details on filenames.)
  • Syntax: %ICONURLPATH{"name"}%
  • Examples:
    • %ICONURLPATH{"locktopic"}% returns /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/locktopic.gif
    • %ICONURLPATH{"eggysmell.xml"}% returns /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/xml.gif
    • %ICONURLPATH{"/doc/xhtml.xsl"}% returns /twiki/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/xsl.gif
  • Related: ICONURL, ICON, TWikiPreferences, FileAttachments, TWikiDocGraphics

IF{"condition" ...} -- simple conditionals

  • Evaluate a condition and show one text or another based on the result. See details in IfStatements
  • Syntax: %IF{"CONDITION" then="THEN" else="ELSE"}% shows "THEN" if "CONDITION" evaluates to TRUE, otherwise "ELSE" will be shown
  • Example: %IF{"defined FUNFACTOR" then="FUNFACTOR is defined" else=" is not defined"}% renders as ==
  • Related: $IF() of SpreadSheetPlugin

INCLUDE{"page"} -- include other topic or web page

  • Syntax: %INCLUDE{"page" ...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "SomeTopic" The name of a topic located in the current web, i.e. %INCLUDE{"WebNotify"}%  
    "Web.Topic" A topic in another web, i.e. %INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}%  
    "http://..." A full qualified URL, i.e. %INCLUDE{"http://twiki.org:80/index.html"}%. Supported content types are text/html and text/plain.
    IDEA! if the URL resolves to an attachment file on the server this will automatically translate to a server-side include.     		 
    pattern="..." A RegularExpression pattern to include a subset of a topic or page none
    rev="2" Include a previous topic revision; N/A for URLs top revision
    raw="on" When a page is included, normally TWiki will process it, doing the following: 1) Alter relative links to point back to originating host, 2) Remove some basic HTML tags (html, head, body, script) and finally 3) Remove newlines from HTML tags spanning multiple lines. If you prefer to include exactly what is in the source of the originating page set this to on.
    raw="on" is short for disableremoveheaders="on", disableremovescript="on", disableremovebody="on", disablecompresstags="on" and disablerewriteurls="on".     		disabled
    disableremoveheaders="on" Bypass stripping headers from included HTML (everything until first </head> tag) disabled
    disableremovescript="on" Bypass stripping all <script> tags from included HTML disabled
    disableremovebody="on" Bypass stripping the </body> tag and everything around over and below it disabled
    disablecompresstags="on" Bypass replacing newlines in HTML tags with spaces. This compression step rewrites unmatched <'s into &lt; entities unless bypassed disabled
    disablerewriteurls="on" Bypass rewriting relative URLs into absolute ones disabled
    warn="off" Warn if topic include fails: Fail silently (if off); output default warning (if set to on); else, output specific text (use $topic for topic name) %INCLUDEWARNING% preferences setting
    section="name" Includes only the specified named section, as defined in the included topic by the STARTSECTION and ENDSECTION variables  
    PARONE="val 1"
    PARTWO="val 2"         		Any other parameter will be defined as a variable within the scope of the included topic. The example parameters on the left will result in %PARONE% and %PARTWO% being defined within the included topic.  
  • Note: JavaScript in included webpages is filtered out as a security precaution per default (disable filter with disableremovescript parameter)
  • Examples: See IncludeTopicsAndWebPages
  • Related: BASETOPIC, BASEWEB, INCLUDINGTOPIC, INCLUDINGWEB, STARTINCLUDE, STOPINCLUDE, STARTSECTION, ENDSECTION

INCLUDEWARNING -- allow includes to fail silently

Warn if an %INCLUDE{}% fails: Fail silently if empty or off. Output warning message (defined in templates/oopsalerts.tmpl) if set to on. Otherwise output specific text (use $topic for topic). You can override this by using a warn="..." parameter with %INCLUDE{}%

INCLUDINGTOPIC -- name of topic that includes current topic

  • The name of the topic that includes the current topic - same as %TOPIC% in case there is no include
  • Syntax: %INCLUDINGTOPIC%
  • Related: BASETOPIC, INCLUDINGWEB, INCLUDE, TOPIC

INCLUDINGWEB -- web that includes current topic

  • The web name of the topic that includes the current topic - same as %WEB% if there is no INCLUDE.
  • Syntax: %INCLUDINGWEB%
  • Related: BASEWEB, INCLUDINGTOPIC, INCLUDE, WEB

LANGUAGE -- current user's language

  • Returns the language code for the language used as the current user. This is the language actually used by TWiki Internationalization (e.g. in user interface).
  • The language is detected from the user's browser, unless some site/web/user/session-defined setting overrides it:
    • If the LANGUAGE preference is set, it's used as user's language instead of any language detected from the browser.
    • Avoid defining LANGUAGE at a non per-user way, so each user can choose his/her preferred language.
  • Related: LANGUAGES

LANGUAGES -- list available TWiki languages

  • List the languages available (as PO files) to TWiki. Those are the languages in which TWiki's user interface is available.
  • Syntax: %LANGUAGES{...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    format format for each item. See below for variables available in the format string. "   * $langname"
    separator separator between items. "\n" (newline)
    marker="selected" Text for $marker if the item matches selection "selected"
    selection="%LANGUAGE%" Current language to be selected in list (none)
  • format variables:
    Variable Meaning
    $langname language's name, as informed by the translators
    $langtag language's tag. Ex: en, pt-br, etc.
  • Example: <select>%LANGUAGES{format="<option $marker value='$langtag'>$langname</option>" selection="%LANGUAGE%"}%</select> creates an option list of the available languages with the current language selected

LIME -- preference value for colored text

LIME is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %LIME% lime text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: lime text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

LINKTOOLTIPINFO -- show / hide meta data for links

This preference variable controls the display of tool-tip topic info on mouse-over of WikiWord links. Setting can be on, off, or customized. An empty setting or off setting disables the tool-tips (for better performance). The setting can contain $summary to show the topic summary, $date for the last change date, $rev for the revision, $username for the login name of the last editor, $wikiname for the WikiName, $wikiusername for Main.WikiName, $topic for the topic name, and $web for the web name.

LOCALSITEPREFS -- web.topicname of site preferences topic

  • The full name of the local site preferences topic. This topic is read for preferences before TWiki.%TWIKIPREFSTOPIC% is read.
  • Syntax: %LOCALSITEPREFS%
  • Expands to: Main.TWikiPreferences, renders as TWikiPreferences

LOGIN -- present a full login link

LOGOUT -- present a full logout link

M -- moved to... icon

MAILTHISTOPIC, MAILTHISTOPICTEXT -- mail a link to a TWiki topic

'Mail this topic' mailto: link - can be included in topics, templates or skins. It consists of two separate variables making up the link and the link text.

MAINWEB -- name of Main web

MAKETEXT -- creates text using TWiki's I18N infrastructure

  • Syntax: %MAKETEXT{"string" args="..."}
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter Description Default
    "text" or string="text" The text to be displayed. none
    args="param1, param2" a comma-separated list of arguments to be interpolated in the string, replacing the [_N] placeholders in it. none
  • Examples:
    • %MAKETEXT{string="Notes:"}%
      expands to
      Notes:
    • %MAKETEXT{"If you have any questions, please contact [_1]." args="%WIKIWEBMASTER%"}%
      expands to
      If you have any questions, please contact Martin@Cleaver.org.
    • %MAKETEXT{"Did you want to [[[_1]][reset [_2]'s password]]?" args="%TWIKIWEB%.ResetPassword,%WIKIUSERNAME%"}%
      expands to
      Did you want to reset Main.TWikiGuest's password?
  • Notes:
    • TWiki will translate the string to the current user's language only if it has such string in its translation table for that language.
    • Amperstands (&) followed by one letter (one of a...z, A...Z) (say, X) in the translatable string will be translated to <span class='twikiAccessKey'>X</span>. This is used to implement access keys. If you want to write an actual amperstand that stays just before a letter, write two consecutive amperstands (&&): they will be transformed in just one.
    • translatable string starting with underscores (_) are reserved. You cannot use translatable phrases starting with an underscore.
    • Make sure that the translatable string is constant. Specially, do not include %VARIABLES% inside the translatable strings (since they will get expanded before the %MAKETEXT{...}% itself is handled).

MAROON -- preference value for colored text

MAROON is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %MAROON% maroon text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: maroon text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

META -- displays meta-data

  • Provided mainly for use in templates, this variable generates the parts of the topic view that relate to meta-data (attachments, forms etc.) The formfield item is the most likely to be useful to casual users.
  • Syntax: %META{ "item" ...}%
  • Parameters:
    Item Options Description
    "formfield" name="..." - name of the field. The field value can be shortened as described in FormattedSearch for $formfield Show a single form field
    "form" none Generates the table showing the form fields. See Form Templates
    "attachments" all="on" to show hidden attachments Generates the table showing the attachments
    "moved" none Details of any topic moves
    "parent" dontrecurse="on": By default recurses up tree, this has some cost.
    nowebhome="on": Suppress WebHome.
    prefix="...": Prefix that goes before parents, but only if there are parents, default "".
    format="...": format string used to display each partent topic, default "[[$web.$topic][$topic]]"
    suffix="...": Suffix, only appears if there are parents, default "".
    separator="...": Separator between parents, default " > ".     		Generates the parent link
  • Related: METASEARCH

METASEARCH -- special search of meta data

  • Syntax: %METASEARCH{...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    type="topicmoved" What sort of search is required?
    "topicmoved" if search for a topic that may have been moved
    "parent" if searching for topics that have a specific parent i.e. its children
    "field" if searching for topics that have a particular form field value (use the name and value parameters to specify which field to search)     		required
    web="%WEB%" Wiki web to search: A web, a list of webs separated by whitespace, or all webs. current web
    topic="%TOPIC%" The topic the search relates to, for topicmoved and parent searches current topic
    name form field to search, for field type searches. May be a regular expression (see SEARCH).  
    value form field value, for field type searches. May be a regular expression (see SEARCH).  
    title="Title" Text that is prefixed to any search results empty
    default="none" Default text shown if no search hit empty
  • Example: %METASEARCH{type="topicmoved" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="This topic used to exist and was moved to: "}%
  • Example: You may want to use this in WebTopicViewTemplate and WebTopicNonWikiTemplate:
    %METASEARCH{type="parent" web="%WEB%" topic="%TOPIC%" title="Children: "}%
  • Example: %METASEARCH{type="field" name="Country" value="China"}%
  • Related: SEARCH, META

N -- "new" icon

NAVY -- preference value for colored text

NAVY is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %NAVY% navy text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: navy text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

NEWTOPICBGCOLOR, NEWTOPICFONTCOLOR -- styles for nonexisting topics

Background and font color for a non existing topic.

NOAUTOLINK -- do not autolink WikiWords and acronyms

If set to on in a web's WebPreferences, automatic linking of WikiWords and acronyms is prevented for this web.

Note: Use the [[...][...]] syntax to link topics in case you disabled WikiWord linking. The <noautolink> ... </noautolink> syntax can be used to prevents links within a block of text.

NOP -- template text not to be expanded in instantiated topics

  • Syntax: %NOP%
    • In normal topic text, expands to <nop>, which prevents expansion of adjacent variables and wikiwords
    • When the topic containing this is used as a template for another topic, it is removed.
  • Syntax: %NOP{...}% deprecated
    • In normal topic text, expands to whatever is in the curly braces (if anything).
    • ALERT! Note: This is deprecated. Do not use it. Use %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% .. %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}% instead (see TWikiTemplates for more details).
  • Related: STARTSECTION, TWikiTemplates

NOSEARCHALL -- exclude a web from a web=all search deprecated

If set to on in a web's WebPreferences, this web is excluded from a search with a web=all attribute. This variable is not intended to be expanded in any topic.

Note: it is much better to use TWikiAccessControls in individual webs to control who can and can't view the contents of a web. NOSEARCHALL is retained for compatibility, but you should avoid using it.

NOTIFYTOPIC -- name of the notify topic

OLIVE -- preference value for colored text

OLIVE is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %OLIVE% olive text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: olive text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

ORANGE -- preference value for colored text

ORANGE is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %ORANGE% orange text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: orange text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

P -- pencil icon

PINK -- preference value for colored text

PINK is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %PINK% pink text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: pink text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS -- list of plugin descriptions

  • Syntax: %PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%
  • Expands to:
    • SpreadSheetPlugin (any TWiki, 10197): Add spreadsheet calculation like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics.
    • AliasPlugin (1.32, 9302): Define aliases which will be replaced with arbitrary strings automatically
    • BatchUploadPlugin (1.1, 9189): Plugin for attaching all files in a ZIP instead of the zip itself
    • BlogPlugin (0.94, $Rev$): Basic blogging features used to implement the BlogUp TWikiApplication
    • CommentPlugin (Dakar, 8164): Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle.
    • DBCachePlugin (1.22, $Rev$): Lightweighted frontend to the DBCacheContrib
    • EditTablePlugin (Dakar, 8154): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
    • ExtendedSelectPlugin (1.1): Adds options to the select type in forms
    • FilterPlugin (0.94, $Rev$): Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions
    • GluePlugin (1.5, $Rev$): Enable TWikiML to span multiple lines
    • HeadlinesPlugin (2.10, 9915): Build news portals that show headline news based on RSS news feeds from news sites.
    • IfDefinedPlugin (v0.91, $Rev$): Render content conditionally
    • InterwikiPlugin (Dakar, $Rev$): Link ExternalSite:Page text to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic
    • NatSkinPlugin (2.9997, $Rev$): Supplements the bare bones NatSkin theme for TWiki
    • PreferencesPlugin (Dakar, 9839): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
    • RedDotPlugin (1.33, $Rev$): Renders edit-links as little red dots
    • SlideShowPlugin (Dakar, $Rev$): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
    • SmiliesPlugin (Dakar, 8154): Render smilies as icons, like  :-) for smile or  :cool: for :cool:
    • TablePlugin (Dakar, 8154): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
    • TagCloudPlugin (v0.30, $Rev$): Renders a tag cloud given a list of terms
    • TimeSincePlugin (1.00, $Rev$): Display time difference in a human readable way.
    • TwistyPlugin (Dakar, $Rev$): Twisty section javascript library to open/close content dynamically
    • UserInfoPlugin (1.53, 10521): Render information about users on your TWikiSite
    • WysiwygPlugin (Dakar, 9565): Translator framework and WYSIWYG editor for TWiki topics
  • Related: ACTIVATEDPLUGINS, FAILEDPLUGINS, PLUGINVERSION

PLUGINVERSION -- the version of a TWiki Plugin, or the TWiki Plugins API

PREVIEWBGIMAGE -- preview background image

PUBURL -- the base URL of attachments

PUBURLPATH -- the base URL path of attachments

PURPLE -- preference value for colored text

PURPLE is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %PURPLE% purple text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: purple text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

Q -- question icon

QUERYSTRING -- full, unprocessed string of parameters to this URL

  • String of all the URL parameters that were on the URL used to get to the current page. For example, if you add ?name=Samantha;age=24;eyes=blue to this URL you can see this in action. This string can be appended to a URL to pass parameter values on to another page.
  • ALERT! Note: URLs built this way are typically restricted in length, typically to 2048 characters. If you need more space than this, you will need to use an HTML form and %URLPARAM{}%.
  • Syntax: %QUERYSTRING%
  • Expands to:
  • Related: URLPARAM

RED -- preference value for colored text

RED is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %RED% red text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: red text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

REMOTE_ADDR -- environment variable

REMOTE_PORT -- environment variable

REMOTE_USER -- environment variable

REVINFO -- revision information of current topic

REVINFO{"format"} -- formatted revision information of topic

  • Syntax: %REVINFO{"format"}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "format" Format of revision information, see supported variables below "r1.$rev - $date - $wikiusername"
    web="..." Name of web Current web
    topic="..." Topic name Current topic
    rev="1.5" Specific revison number Latest revision
  • Supported variables in format:
    Variable: Unit: Example
    $web Name of web Current web
    $topic Topic name Current topic
    $rev Revison number. Prefix r1. to get the usual r1.5 format 5
    $date Revision date 11 Jul 2004
    $time Revision time 23:24:25
    $username Login username of revision jsmith
    $wikiname WikiName of revision JohnSmith
    $wikiusername WikiName with Main web prefix Main.JohnSmith
  • Example: %REVINFO{"$date - $wikiusername" rev="1.1"}% returns revision info of first revision
  • Related: REVINFO

S -- red star icon

SCRIPTNAME -- name of current script

  • The name of the current script is shown, including script suffix, if any (for example viewauth.cgi)
  • Syntax: %SCRIPTNAME%
  • Expands to: view
  • Related: SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH

SCRIPTSUFFIX -- script suffix

  • Some TWiki installations require a file extension for CGI scripts, such as .pl or .cgi
  • Syntax: %SCRIPTSUFFIX%
  • Expands to:
  • Related: SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH

SCRIPTURL -- base URL of TWiki scripts

SCRIPTURL{"script"} -- URL of TWiki script

  • Syntax: %SCRIPTURL{"script"}%
  • Expands to: http://www.cleaver.org/twiki/bin/script
  • Example: To get the authenticated version of the current topic you can write %SCRIPTURL{"viewauth"}%/%WEB%/%TOPIC% which expands to http://www.cleaver.org/twiki/bin/viewauth/TWiki/TWikiVariables
  • ALERT! Note: In most cases you should use %SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}% instead, as it works with URL rewriting much better
  • Related: PUBURL, SCRIPTNAME, SCRIPTSUFFIX, SCRIPTURL, SCRIPTURLPATH, SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"}

SCRIPTURLPATH -- base URL path of TWiki scripts

SCRIPTURLPATH{"script"} -- URL path of TWiki script

SEARCH{"text"} -- search content

  • Inline search, shows a search result embedded in a topic
  • Syntax: %SEARCH{"text" ...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "text" Search term. Is a keyword search, literal search or regular expression search, depending on the type parameter. SearchHelp has more required
    search="text" (Alternative to above) N/A
    web="Name"
    web="Main, Know"
    web="all"     		Comma-separated list of webs to search. You can specifically exclude webs from an all search using a minus sign - for example, web="all,-Secretweb". The special word all means all webs that do not have the NOSEARCHALL variable set to on in their WebPreferences. Note that TWikiAccessControls are respected when searching webs; it is much better to use them than NOSEARCHALL. Current web
    topic="WebPreferences"
    topic="*Bug"     		Limit search to topics: A topic, a topic with asterisk wildcards, or a list of topics separated by comma. Note this is a list of topic names and must not include web names. All topics in a web
    excludetopic="Web*"
    excludetopic="WebHome, WebChanges"     		Exclude topics from search: A topic, a topic with asterisk wildcards, or a list of topics separated by comma. Note this is a list of topic names and must not include web names. None
    type="keyword"
    type="literal"
    type="regex"     		Do a keyword search like soap "web service" -shampoo; a literal search like web service; or RegularExpression search like soap;web service;!shampoo %SEARCHVAR- DEFAULTTYPE% preferences setting (literal)
    scope="topic"
    scope="text"
    scope="all"     		Search topic name (title); the text (body) of topic; or all (both) "text"
    order="topic"
    order="created"
    order="modified"
    order="editby"
    order=
     "formfield(name)"         		Sort the results of search by the topic names, topic creation time, last modified time, last editor, or named field of TWikiForms. The sorting is done web by web; if you want to sort across webs, create a formatted table and sort it with TablePlugin's initsort. Note that dates are sorted most recent date last (i.e at the bottom of the table). Sort by topic name
    limit="all"
    limit="16"     		Limit the number of results returned. This is done after sorting if order is specified All results
    date="..." limits the results to those pages with latest edit time in the given TimeInterval. All results
    reverse="on" Reverse the direction of the search Ascending search
    casesensitive="on" Case sensitive search Ignore case
    bookview="on" BookView search, e.g. show complete topic text Show topic summary
    nonoise="on" Shorthand for nosummary="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" zeroresults="off" noheader="on" noempty="on" Off
    nosummary="on" Show topic title only Show topic summary
    nosearch="on" Suppress search string Show search string
    noheader="on" Suppress search header
    Topics: Changed: By:     		Show search header, unless seach is inline and a format is specified (Cairo compatibility)
    nototal="on" Do not show number of topics found Show number
    zeroresults="off" Suppress all output if there are no hits zeroresults="on", displays: "Number of topics: 0"
    noempty="on" Suppress results for webs that have no hits. Show webs with no hits
    header="..."
    format="..."     		Custom format results: see FormattedSearch for usage, variables & examples Results in table
    expandvariables="on" Expand variables before applying a FormattedSearch on a search hit. Useful to show the expanded text, e.g. to show the result of a SpreadSheetPlugin %CALC{}% instead of the formula Raw text
    multiple="on" Multiple hits per topic. Each hit can be formatted. The last token is used in case of a regular expression ";" and search Only one hit per topic
    nofinalnewline="on" If on, the search variable does not end in a line by itself. Any text continuing immediately after the search variable on the same line will be rendered as part of the table generated by the search, if appropriate. off
    recurse="on" Recurse into subwebs, if subwebs are enabled. off
    separator=", " Line separator between search hits "$n" (Newline)
    newline="%BR%" Line separator within a search hit. Useful if the format="" parameter contains a $pattern() that captures more than one line, i.e. contents of a textfield in a form. "$n" (Newline)
  • Example: %SEARCH{"wiki" web="Main" scope="topic"}%
  • Example with format: %SEARCH{"FAQ" scope="topic" nosearch="on" nototal="on" header="| *Topic: * | *Summary: * |" format="| $topic | $summary |"% (displays results in a table with header - details)
  • HELP Hint: If the TWiki:Plugins.TablePlugin is installed, you may set a %TABLE{}% variable just before the %SEARCH{}% to alter the output of a search. Example: %TABLE{ tablewidth="90%" }%
  • Related: METASEARCH, TOPICLIST, WEBLIST, FormattedSearch

SEARCHDEFAULTTTYPE -- default type for search

Default type for search, one of: keyword (for search engine like syntax), regex (for RegularExpression search), or literal (for verbatim search). Note that the variable name has three consecutive 'T'. This is a typo and ought to be fixed, but at the moment that is the name the code is using and maybe a couple of installations have been using it for customisation.

SEARCHSTOPWORDS -- words to exclude from search

Stop words, e.g., common words and characters to exclude from a keyword search

  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: SEARCHSTOPWORDS = a, all, am, an, and, any, as, at, b, be, by, c, d, e, for, from, g, h, how, i, i'm, i.e., in, is, isn't, it, it's, its, j, k, l, m, n, o, of, on, or, p, q, r, s, t, that, that's, the, this, to, u, v, w, was, wasn't, what, what's, when, where, who, who's, will, with, x, y, z

SEARCHVARDEFAULTTYPE -- default type for search

Default type for search by %SEARCH{}% variable, one of: keyword (for search engine like syntax), regex (for RegularExpression search), or literal (for verbatim search)

SERVERTIME -- server time

SERVERTIME{"format"} -- formatted server time

  • Same format qualifiers as %GMTIME%
  • Syntax: %SERVERTIME{"format"}%
  • Example: %SERVERTIME{"$hou:$min"}% expands to 01:12
  • ALERT! Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
  • Related: DISPLAYTIME, GMTIME, SERVERTIME

SESSIONID -- unique ID for this session

SESSIONVAR -- name of CGI and session variable that stores the session ID

SESSION_VARIABLE -- get, set or clear a session variable

SILVER -- preference value for colored text

SILVER is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %SILVER% silver text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: silver text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

SITEMAPLIST, SITEMAPWHAT, SITEMAPUSETO -- control TWiki.SiteMap appearance

The variables SITEMAPLIST, SITEMAPWHAT, and SITEMAPUSETO together control the appearance of the SiteMap. They are initialized when a web is created (see ManagingWebs), stored in the WebPreferences topic of each web and used only in the SiteMap.

SKIN -- how your TWiki looks like

Skin overriding the default TWiki templates. See TWikiSkinBrowser for currently installed skins.

SPACEDTOPIC -- topic name, spaced and URL-encoded deprecated

  • The current topic name with added URL-encoded spaces, for use in regular expressions that search for backlinks to the current topic
  • Syntax: %SPACEDTOPIC%
  • Expands to: Var%20*SPACEDTOPIC
  • ALERT! Note: This is a deprecated variable. It can be duplicated with %ENCODE{%SPACEOUT{"%TOPIC%" separator=" *"}%}%
  • Related: SPACEOUT, TOPIC, ENCODE

SPACEOUT{"string"} -- renders string with spaces inserted in sensible places

  • Inserts spaces after lower case letters that are followed by a digit or a capital letter, and after digits that are followed by a capital letter.
  • Useful for spacing out WikiWords
  • Syntax: %SPACEOUT{ "%TOPIC%" }%
  • Expands to: TWiki Variables
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    separator The separator to put between words e.g. %SPACEOUT{"DogsCatsBudgies" separator=", "}% -> Dogs, Cats, Budgies ' '
  • TIP Hint: Spaced out WikiWords are not automatically linked. To SPACEOUT a WikiWord but preserve the link use "double bracket" format. For example, [[WebHome][%SPACEOUT{"WebHome"}%]] expands to Web Home
  • Related: SPACEDTOPIC, $PROPERSPACE() of SpreadSheetPlugin

STARTINCLUDE -- start position of topic text if included

  • If present in included topic, start to include text from this location up to the end, or up to the location of the %STOPINCLUDE% variable. A normal view of the topic shows everything exept the %STARTINCLUDE% variable itself.
  • Note: If you want more than one part of the topic included, use %STARTSECTION{type="include"}% instead
  • Syntax: %STARTINCLUDE%
  • Related: INCLUDE, STARTSECTION, STOPINCLUDE

STARTSECTION -- marks the start of a section within a topic

  • Section boundaries are defined with %STARTSECTION{}% and %ENDSECTION{}%.
  • Sections may be given a name to help identify them, and/or a type, which changes how they are used.
    • type="section" - the default, used for a generic section, such as a named section used by INCLUDE.
    • type="include" - like %STARTINCLUDE% ... %STOPINCLUDE% except that you can have as many include blocks as you want (%STARTINCLUDE% is restricted to only one).
    • type="templateonly" - start position of text to be removed when a template topic is used. This is used to embed text that you do not want expanded when a new topic based on the template topic is created. See TWikiTemplates for more information.
  • Syntax: %STARTSECTION{"name"}% ................ %ENDSECTION{"name"}%
  • Syntax: %STARTSECTION{type="include"}% ........ %ENDSECTION{type="include"}%
  • Syntax: %STARTSECTION{type="templateonly"}% ... %ENDSECTION{type="templateonly"}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default
    "name" Name of the section. Must be unique inside a topic. Generated name
    type="..." Type of the section; type "section", "include" or "templateonly" "section"
  • ALERT! Note: If a section is not given a name, it will be assigned one. Unnamed sections are assigned names starting with _SECTION0 for the first unnamed section in the topic, _SECTION1 for the second, etc..
  • ALERT! Note: You can define nested sections. It is not recommended to overlap sections, although it is valid in TWiki. Use named sections to make sure that the correct START and ENDs are matched. Section markers are not displayed when a topic is viewed.
  • Related: ENDSECTION, INCLUDE, NOP, STARTINCLUDE, STOPINCLUDE

STATISTICSTOPIC -- name of statistics topic

STOPINCLUDE -- end position of topic text if included

  • If present in included topic, stop to include text at this location and ignore the remaining text. A normal view of the topic shows everyting exept the %STOPINCLUDE% variable itself.
  • Syntax: %STOPINCLUDE%
  • Related: INCLUDE, STARTINCLUDE

T -- tip icon

TEAL -- preference value for colored text

TEAL is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %TEAL% teal text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: teal text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

TOC -- table of contents of current topic

TOC{"Topic"} -- table of contents

  • Table of Contents. Shows a TOC that is generated automatically based on headings of a topic. Headings in WikiSyntax ("---++ text") and HTML ("<h2>text</h2>") are taken into account. Any heading text after "!!" is excluded from the TOC; for example, write "---+!! text" if you do not want to list a header in the TOC
  • Syntax: %TOC{"SomeTopic" ...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "TopicName" topic name Current topic
    web="Name" Name of web Current web
    depth="2" Limit depth of headings shown in TOC 6
    title="Some text" Title to appear at top of TOC none
  • Example: %TOC{depth="2"}%
  • Example: %TOC{"TWikiDocumentation" web="TWiki" title="Contents:"}%
  • Example: see TWiki:Sandbox.TestTopicInclude
  • TIP Hint: TOC will generate links to the headings, so when a reader clicks on a heading it will jump straight where that heading is anchored in the text. If you have two headings with exactly the same text, then their anchors will also be identical and they won't be able to jump to them. To make the anchors unique, you can add an invisible HTML comment to the text of the heading. This will be hidden in normal view, but will force the anchors to be different. For example, ---+ Heading <!--5-->.
  • Related: TOC

TOPIC -- name of current topic

TOPICLIST{"format"} -- topic index of a web

  • List of all topics in a web. The "format" defines the format of one topic item. It may include variables: The $name variable gets expanded to the topic name, $qname to double quoted name, $marker to marker parameter where topic matches selection, and $web to the name of the web.
  • Syntax: %TOPICLIST{"format" ...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "format" Format of one line, may include $web (name of web), $name (name of the topic), $qname (name of topic in double quotes), $marker (which expands to marker for the item matching selection only) "$name"
    format="format" (Alternative to above) "$name"
    separator=", " line separator "$n" (new line)
    marker="selected" Text for $marker if the item matches selection "selected"
    selection="TopicA, TopicB" Current value to be selected in list (none)
    web="Name" Name of web Current web
  • Example: %TOPICLIST{"   * $web.$name"}% creates a bullet list of all topics
  • Example: %TOPICLIST{separator=", "}% creates a comma separated list of all topics
  • Example: %TOPICLIST{" <option>$name</option>"}% creates an option list (for drop down menus)
  • Example: <select>%TOPICLIST{" <option $marker value='$name'>$name</option>" separator=" " selection="%TOPIC%"}%</select> creates an option list of web topics with the current topic selected
  • Related: SEARCH, WEBLIST

TOPICURL -- shortcut to viewing the current topic

This variable always expands to an url pointing to the current base topic.

TWIKICOLORSURL -- location of custom colors style sheet

Location of the colors style sheet, for use in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Current value: TWIKICOLORSURL = /twiki/pub/TWiki/PatternSkin/colors.css

TWIKILAYOUTURL -- location of layout style sheet

Location of the layout style sheet, for use in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: TWIKILAYOUTURL = /twiki/pub/TWiki/PatternSkin/layout.css

TWIKISTYLEURL -- location of styles style sheet

Location of the styles style sheet, for use in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Current value: TWIKISTYLEURL = /twiki/pub/TWiki/PatternSkin/style.css

TWIKIWEB -- name of TWiki documentation web

  • The web containing all documentation and site-wide preference settings for TWiki
  • Syntax: %TWIKIWEB%
  • Expands to: TWiki
  • Related: MAINWEB

U -- "updated" icon

URLPARAM{"name"} -- get value of a URL parameter

  • Returns the value of a URL parameter.
  • Syntax: %URLPARAM{"name"}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "name" The name of a URL parameter required
    default="..." Default value in case parameter is empty or missing empty string
    newline="<br />" Convert newlines in textarea to other delimiters no conversion
    encode="entity" Encode special characters into HTML entities. See ENCODE for more details. no encoding
    encode="url" Encode special characters for URL parameter use, like a double quote into %22 no encoding
    multiple="on"
    multiple="[[$item]]"     		If set, gets all selected elements of a <select multiple="multiple"> tag. A format can be specified, with $item indicating the element, e.g. multiple="Option: $item" first element
    separator=", " Separator between multiple selections. Only relevant if multiple is specified "\n" (new line)
  • Example: %URLPARAM{"skin"}% returns print for a .../view/TWiki/TWikiVariables?skin=print URL
  • ALERT! Note: URL parameters passed into HTML form fields must be entity ENCODEd
  • ALERT! Note: When used in a template topic, this variable will be expanded when the template is used to create a new topic. See TWikiTemplates#TemplateTopicsVars for details.
  • ALERT! Note: There is a risk that this variable could be misused for cross-site scripting.
  • Related: ENCODE, SEARCH, FormattedSearch, QUERYSTRING

USERCOLORSURL -- location of custom colors style sheet

Location of the custom colors style sheet, for overriding colors in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: USERCOLORSURL =

USERINFO - retrieve details about a user (by default the logged-in user)

  • Syntax: %USERINFO%
  • Expands to: =guest, TWikiGuest, =
To format that information differently:
  • Syntax: %USERINFO{format="$username is really $wikiname"}%
  • Expands to: guest is really TWikiGuest.
    • The tokens $emails, $username, $wikiname, $wikiusername, and $groups are available for use in the format string .By default, the info will be formatted as a comma-separated list of the username, wikiusername, and emails.
To get information about another user:
  • Syntax: %USERINFO{"TWikiGuest" format="$username is really $wikiname"}%
  • Expands to: guest is really TWikiGuest
    • The parameter should be the wikiname of a user. You can only get information about another user if the {AntiSpam}{HideUserDetails} configuration option is not enabled, or if you are an admin. (User details are hidden in this TWiki)

USERLAYOUTURL -- location of custom layout style sheet

Location of the custom layout style sheet, for overriding layout elements in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: USERLAYOUTURL =

USERNAME -- your login username

USERSTYLEURL -- location of custom styles style sheet

Location of the custom styles style sheet, for overriding styles in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: USERSTYLEURL =

VAR{"NAME" web="Web"} -- get a preference value from another web

  • Syntax: %VAR{"NAME" web="Web"}%
  • Example: To get %WEBBGCOLOR% of the Main web write %VAR{"WEBBGCOLOR" web="Main"}%, which expands to #FFEFA6
  • Related: WEBPREFSTOPIC

WEB -- name of current web

WEBBGCOLOR -- background color for a web

This variable can be used in skin templates or style declarations to provide a background color in standard HTML/CSS syntax ('#' followed by six hex digits).

When creating a new web this variable can be set.

WEBCOPYRIGHT -- shortcut for a web's copyright message

This variable can be used as a simple shortcut for a copyright message.

WEBFORMS -- list of forms which can be used

A comma separated list of forms that can be attached to topics in a web. Usually defined in a WebPreferences topic.

WEBHEADERART, WEBHEADERBGCOLOR -- header art

Location of an image and background color for the header, for use in a skin.

  • Usage: Evaluated by TWiki skins/templates and not intended to be expanded in any topic.
  • Type: Preference variable defined in TWiki.TWikiPreferences. Can be customized for a TWiki site in Main.TWikiPreferences, and for each web in their WebPreferences topics.
  • Current value: WEBHEADERART = /twiki/pub/TWiki/WebPreferences/Dakar.gif
  • Current value: WEBHEADERBGCOLOR = #ffffff

WEBLIST{"format"} -- index of all webs

  • List of all webs. Obfusticated webs are excluded, e.g. webs with a NOSEARCHALL = on preference variable. The "format" defines the format of one web item. The $name variable gets expanded to the name of the web, $qname gets expanded to double quoted name, $marker to marker where web matches selection.
  • Syntax: %WEBLIST{"format" ...}%
  • Supported parameters:
    Parameter: Description: Default:
    "format" Format of one line, may include $name (the name of the web), $qname (the name of the web in double quotes), $indentedname (the name of the web with parent web names replaced by indents, for use in indented lists), and $marker (which expands to marker for the item matching selection only) "$name"
    format="format" (Alternative to above) "$name"
    separator=", " line separator "$n" (new line)
    webs="public" comma separated list of webs, public expands to all non-hidden "public"
    marker="selected" Text for $marker if the item matches selection "selected"
    selection="%WEB%" Current value to be selected in list section="%WEB%"
  • Example: %WEBLIST{"   * [[$name.WebHome]]"}% creates a bullet list of all webs.
  • Example: %WEBLIST{"<option $marker value=$qname>$name</option>" webs="Trash, public" selection="TWiki" separator=" "}% creates a dropdown of all public webs + Trash web, with the current web highlighted.
  • Related: TOPICLIST, SEARCH

WEBLOGOIMG, WEBLOGOURL, WEBLOGOALT -- default web logo image

The variables WEBLOGOIMG, WEBLOGOURL, and WEBLOGOALT together define a logo.

WEBPREFSTOPIC -- name of web preferences topic

WEBRSSCOPYRIGHT -- shortcut for a web's RSS copyright message

This variable can be used as a simple shortcut for a copyright message to be used in RSS. Don't use any special characters, html tags, entities, wiki markup or WikiWords.

WEBTOPICLIST -- standard navigation links

This variable is intended to be used in skin templates to provide a set of standard navigation links.

WHITE -- preference value for colored text

WHITE is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %WHITE% white text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: white text  (shown with a gray background here)
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

WIKIHOMEURL -- site home URL deprecated

WIKILOGOIMG, WIKILOGOURL, WIKILOGOALT -- installation logo image

Image, URL and alternate tooltip text of the logo for this installation: you should change these settings for your site, or they can be overwridden in WebPreferences for individual webs by defining these variables there. logo.

WIKINAME -- your Wiki username

WIKIPREFSTOPIC -- name of site-wide preferences topic

WIKITOOLNAME -- name of your TWiki site

WIKIUSERNAME -- your Wiki username with web prefix

WIKIUSERSTOPIC -- name of topic listing all registers users

  • Syntax: %WIKIUSERSTOPIC%
  • Expands to: TWikiUsers, with Main prefix renders as TWikiUsers
  • Related: WIKIUSERNAME

WIKIVERSION -- the version of the installed TWiki engine

WIKIWEBLIST -- static list of webs

List of TWiki webs - on the first line of the upper toolbar (to add a new web, see ManagingWebs and SiteMap)

WIKIWEBMASTER, WIKIWEBMASTERNAME -- web master address and name

TWiki administrator e-mail address and name. Will be used for sending mails, so it is required to change the distribution default during installation by providing a correct value in Main.TWikiPreferences.

X -- warning icon

Y -- "yes" icon

YELLOW -- preference value for colored text

YELLOW is one of the rendering shortcut settings predefined in TWikiPreferences. See the section Rendering Shortcut Settings in that topic for a complete list of colors.

  • Syntax: %YELLOW% yellow text %ENDCOLOR%
  • Expands to: yellow text
  • Note: %<color>% text must end with %ENDCOLOR%. If you want to switch from one color to another one you first need to end the active color with %ENDCOLOR%, e.g. write %RED% some text %ENDCOLOR% %GREEN% more text %ENDCOLOR%.
  • Related: ENDCOLOR, TWikiPreferences, StandardColors

Related Topics: UserDocumentationCategory

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