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<languages/>
''For information oriented towards site admins and developers, see {{ll|Manual:Redirects}} instead''

{{PD Help Page}}
Redirects are used to forward users from one page name to another.
They can be useful if a particular article is referred to by multiple names, or has alternative punctuation, capitalization or spellings.

== Types of redirects ==

Two types of redirections exist:

* Hard redirection: Readers navigating to the redirect page are taken directly to the target page (usually other pages of the same wiki). When a page is a redirect, you can no longer get to that page by using its name or by any link using that name. Only hard redirection is described in this article.
* Soft redirection: Readers are left on the redirect page but given the option of clicking the link to the target page. Usually this is achieved via a template; see corresponding [[m:Special:MyLanguage/Soft redirect|article on Meta]].

{{note|1=In wikis with {{ll|Manual:$wgDisableHardRedirects|$wgDisableHardRedirects}} enabled (such as most public Wikimedia projects), it's not possible to create a hard redirect to special pages (e.g. Special:MyLanguage) or pages located on another wiki; they will be automatically "softened".}}

== Appearance ==

=== Following a redirect ===

When a hard redirect is followed, the target page is immediately displayed, with a small notice below the page title to indicate you arrived here indirectly.

<blockquote style="background-color: var(--background-color-base, white); color: var(--color-base, black); border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
{{fake heading|level=1|Help:Redirects}}
<div id="siteSub">{{int|Tagline}}</div>
<div id="contentSub">{{int|Redirectedfrom|[[Special:MyLanguage/Help:Redirect|Help:Redirect]]}}</div>
</blockquote>

You can use the link in this notice to view the redirect page.
This link adds the <code>&redirect=no</code> [[Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Parameters to index.php|URL parameter]].

=== Viewing a redirect ===

When a redirect page is displayed, the small notice below the page title indicates this, and the link after the arrow icon displays the target of the redirect.

<blockquote style="background-color: var(--background-color-base, white); color: var(--color-base, black); border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
{{fake heading|level=1|Help:Redirect}}
<div id="siteSub">{{int|Tagline}}</div>
<div id="contentSub">{{int|redirectpagesub}}</div>
[[File:Redirectltr.png]] <span class="redirectText" style="font-size:140%">[[Special:MyLanguage/Help:Redirects|Help:Redirects]]</span>
</blockquote>

Once you view it, you can do all the things with the redirect page that any wiki page allows.
You can go to the associated discussion page to discuss the redirect.
You can view the history of the page, including a record of the redirect.
You can edit the page if the redirect is wrong, and you can revert to an older version to remove the redirect.

== Creating a redirect ==

When a page is [[Special:MyLanguage/Help:Moving a page|moved]], a redirect from the old to the new page name is automatically created.

Users with the "<code>suppressredirect</code>" [[Special:MyLanguage/Manual:User rights|right]] may move a page without creating a redirect.
By default this right is assigned to sysops and bots.

You may start a new page with the name you want to direct from (see {{ll|Help:Starting a new page}}).
You can also use an existing page that you are making inactive as a page by going to that page and using the "edit" tab at the top.
In either case, you will be inserting the following code at the very first text position of the Edit window for the page:

<nowiki>#REDIRECT [[</nowiki>''pagename''<nowiki>]]</nowiki>

where ''pagename'' is the name of the destination page.
The word "redirect" is not case-sensitive, but there must be no space before the "<code>#</code>" symbol.
If any text is present before this line, it will disable the redirect.
However, text or other content may appear after this line.
This is often used to add redirects to categories.

Redirections can be simple page names or specified using a namespace.
They can be suffixed with a section name if you have the corresponding anchor defined on the target page.

Examples of valid operational redirections:

* <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT[[Help:Magic_words#Page_names]]</nowiki></code>
* <code><nowiki>#redirect [[Help:Magic_words#URL_encoded_page_names]]</nowiki></code>
* <code><nowiki>#Redirect [[Manual:$wgConf]]</nowiki></code>
* <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[MediaWiki/fr]]</nowiki></code>

You should 'preview' (using the button below the Edit window, or use {{Key press|Alt|P}}) to check that you have entered the correct destination page name.

When the redirect is valid, it will appear in preview as shown in the [[#Viewing a redirect|"Viewing a redirect"]] section above.

When the redirect is not valid, it will appear in preview like a numbered list item:

<blockquote style="background-color: var(--background-color-base, white); color: var(--color-base, black); border: 1px solid black; padding: 1em;">
# REDIRECT <span style="color:var(--color-progressive, #36c)">''pagename''</span>
</blockquote>

If the ''pagename'' as you typed it is not a valid page, it will show in red.
If there is no valid destination page, you should not create the redirect.

=== Limitations ===
A redirect target cannot depend on a variable, template, or parser function.
If that is the case, the browser will not be automatically redirected on visiting the page.

Example of redirection not allowed (not operational):
*<code><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[{{ll|Help:Magic_words#Page_names}}]]</nowiki></code> although <code><nowiki>{{ll|Help:Magic_words#Page_names}}</nowiki></code> is operational.

=== JavaScript page redirect ===
In order to avoid JavaScript functionality from breaking, all [[Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Interface/JavaScript#List of JavaScript pages|JavaScript pages]] have a different redirect syntax from regular pages.
This syntax allows for proper execution of the page by the browser's JavaScript engine, as well as being recognised by MediaWiki as a redirect.
To create a JavaScript page redirect, the format that must be used is as follows:

<syntaxhighlight lang="js">
/* #REDIRECT */mw.loader.load( "{{fullurl:Target.js|action=raw&ctype=text/javascript}}" );
</syntaxhighlight>

Where <code>Target.js</code> is the target page name.

== Deleting a redirect ==
There's generally no need to delete redirects.
They do not occupy a significant amount of database space.
If a page name is vaguely meaningful, there's no harm, and some benefit, in having it as a redirect to the more relevant or current page.

If you want to [[Special:MyLanguage/Help:Moving a page|move a page]] over a redirect that has only one edit in its history and targeted to the old page name, there is no need to delete the redirect: it is overwritten.
If the redirect has more than one history entry, or the redirect target is somewhere else, then it can only be deleted-and-moved by an administrator.

If you do need to delete a redirect, e.g. if the page name is offensive, or you wish to discourage people from referring to a concept by that name, then you simply go to the redirect page as mentioned above, and follow the procedures at {{ll|Help:Deletion and undeletion}}.

== Problematic redirects ==

=== Double redirects ===
A double redirect is a page redirecting to a page which is itself a redirect, and it will not work.
Instead, people will be presented with a view of the next redirect page.
This is a deliberate restriction, partly to prevent infinite loops, and partly to keep things simple.

However, you could look out for double redirects and eliminate them by changing them to be one-step redirects instead.
You are most likely to need to do this after a significant [[Special:MyLanguage/Help:Moving a page|page move]].
Use the <code>{{int|whatlinkshere}}</code> toolbox link to find double redirects to a particular page, or use [[Special:DoubleRedirects]] to find them throughout the whole wiki.

There is an option, {{wg|FixDoubleRedirects}}, to automatically fix double redirects with a [[Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Job queue|job queue]].
However, it tends to aggravate page move vandalism, so it is disabled by default.
The <nowiki>__STATICREDIRECT__</nowiki> [[Special:MyLanguage/Help:Magic words#Behavior switches|magic word]] can be used to skip the double-redirect fix on a particular page.

{{MW version|version=1.44|comment=and after|gerrit change=1090544}}
{{note|text=Since 1.44, MediaWiki shows a warning if you try to save a page that redirects to a target that is also a redirect.}}

=== Broken redirects ===
If the target page does not exist, the redirect is ''broken'': redirection will not occur.
You may find all broken redirects at [[Special:BrokenRedirects]].

{{MW version|version=1.44|comment=and after|gerrit change=1089205}}
{{note|text=Since 1.44, MediaWiki shows a warning if you try to save a page that redirects to an nonexistent page.}}

== Transcluding a redirect ==
When a page called for inclusion is a redirect page, the redirect target is included instead, with the same parameters, without any redirect message.
A double redirect does not work.

This allows to create several names for the same template.

== Links to redirect ==
An internal link to a redirect page has CSS class <code>mw-redirect</code>.
This can be useful to make them stand out, for clean-up work involving bypassing redirects.

== See also ==
* {{ll|Manual:Redirects}}
* {{ll|Template:soft redirect}} – for soft redirections.
* {{ll|Manual:redirect table}}
* {{method doclink |MediaWiki\Output\OutputPage |anchor=a9f70525b78a95a62073c2e5854665b8f |method=OutputPage::redirect()}} – for redirecting to arbitrary URLs from within PHP.
* {{ll|Category:Redirect extensions}}
* [[:w:Wikipedia:Redirects|Wikipedia guide on redirects]]
* [[Special:ListRedirects]] – see a listing of all current redirects
* [[:wikitech:Data_Platform/Data_Lake/Traffic/Pageviews/Redirects]] for how redirect data is collected and handled at WMF

[[Category:Help{{#translation:}}|Redirects]]
[[Category:Redirect{{#translation:}}]]

Help:Redirects/en - Revision history

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