Template:Redirect category shell/doc

This template may be used to add one or more appropriate redirect category (rcat) templates, along with their parameters, to redirects. Additionally, this template automatically senses, describes and categorizes protection levels. A third important function is to help editors learn more about redirect categorization by use of the. For more information, see the page below and follow the boldface category link above.

Purpose
This template supplements the redirect categorization done by the This is a redirect template or by adding rcats individually to redirects. It is the direct result of discussions about the benefits and the shortcomings of the This is a redirect template.

As with the This is a redirect template, this template is based on a proposal to standardize redirect templates (rcats). Its basic purpose is to simplify the process of tagging and categorizing redirects.

Protection levels are automatically detected by this template by use of pp-protected and pp-move. When edit protection or move protection (or both) is applied to a redirect that has been tagged with this template, the protection level is automatically detected, and the redirect will be tagged with a protection rcat and sorted to the appropriate protection-related category(ies). When protection is altered or removed, then the protection-related rcats and category(ies) will also be (automatically) changed or removed from the redirect.

This template can categorize and display the text (with parameters) of any number of rcats that are needed (usually from one to seven).

Usage
Used by itself with no parameters, for example,, the template will appear as it does at the top of this page, and the redirect will populate. That category will also be populated if the first parameter is left empty while rcats occupy the second parameter. This is useful when an editor adds rcats and yet feels unsure that there may be at least one other rcat with category that may be used to tag the redirect. Monitors of the Miscellaneous redirects category will then help decide if another rcat(s) is needed. Then the empty first parameter may be excluded by removing either the first or second pipe. That will remove the redirect from Category:Miscellaneous redirects. See below for more information.

This template may hold any number of different redirect category (rcat) templates, usually from one to seven. The choices for editors are listed at Template messages/Redirect pages both alphabetically and by function. Any of those rcats may be used either with their full template name, e.g., R from alternative language, or with an alias (shortcut redirect), which may be found in each rcat's documentation.

An unnamed parameter, 1, has been introduced in this template and works as follows:

...or more simply:

As with all templates that have unnamed (numbered) parameters, the numbers and equal signs may be omitted.

"N" represents the highest number of rcats that can be used in this template, and at this point the only limit would be any wikimarkup ceiling that may exist. Usually, from one to seven rcats suffice; however, more rcats can be used if required.

The actual sequence of rcats is left to editors – there is no priority as to which rcat should be "first" and which rcats should "follow" in any particular order.

A second unnamed parameter, 2, has also been introduced. This gives this template the same "help" functionality that is used in the This is a redirect template. If a second pipe is placed directly after the first pipe, then will be populated:

Note the double pipe after the word "shell" above, which indicates an empty first parameter. Editors who monitor the Miscellaneous redirects category will come to the redirect and check, add or remove rcats as needed.

Also, when used by itself this template will appear as it does at the top of this page and populate the Miscellaneous redirects category:

This template may be added to a redirect page in the following manner:
 * 1) REDIRECT (target page name)


 * Again, note the double pipe after "shell" above, which indicates an empty first parameter. Leave the first parameter empty to sort a redirect to  in addition to the categories of the rcats that are used.  In this case the  and  categories will also be populated.  Monitors of the "Miscellaneous redirects" category will help editors when needed.

Generally for good readability on the edit screen, this template is placed beginning on the third line of that screen as follows: Line 1: #REDIRECT (target page name) Line 2: Line 3:
 * See also: section titled Mbox note below.

Parameters
In addition to the unnamed 1 and 2 parameters, there is a "hatnote" parameter, h, which provides an italicized TOP note when needed. For example:

...uses the rcat R from airport code and produces:


 * An error box appears that illustrates what happens if an editor uses an rcat in the wrong namespace. Correct namespaces are found on individual rcat documentation pages.  In addition to the error box, the redirect will not be sorted to the rcat's category; instead it will populate ! If an error box appears when an edit is previewed, then appropriate changes can be made before'' the redirect page is actually saved.

Rcat parameters
In addition to this template's ability to act as a shell template for rcats, it accepts all of the parameters that rcats accept. Rcat parameters, when needed, will work in this template as follows:

This subdues the category to which R from plural defaults and populates the  category instead. The position an rcat holds will have no effect on the parameters of other rcats that are used to tag a redirect:



In the above example, R from plural is the sixth rcat, and its first parameter is used to change from "unprintworthy" to "printworthy". R from alternative language) holds the 4th position, and its first parameter is used to house the ISO 639 code of the source language, in this case   for English. It does not matter if the relative position of these rcats changes for any reason, their individual parameters will continue to be effective.

If more rcat parameters are used, then they work the same way. For example, if a redirect exists that is a misspelling of a title, it can be tagged with R from misspelling in the following manner:

In this case, the rcat's 1 parameter is the correct spelling (used only if the target of the redirect is not the correct spelling). The rcat's 2 parameter can be used to change from the default "unprintworthy" categorization. Some misspellings may be helpful in a printed version of Wikipedia, so the second parameter in R from misspelling above is used to subdue its default "unprintworthy" category sort, and the redirect will populate instead. In this shell template, the order of the rcats will not affect the rcats' parameters. If an editor checks the page history and finds that the above redirect is also the result of a page move and inserts R from move at the top of the order:

...the parameters of the R from misspelling rcat template will not be affected, as they may be when used in the This is a redirect template.

An example of a "printworthy misspelling" can be found at template R from misspelling.

Another example:

The above code will sort the redirect into three categories:
 * (ja),
 * (es) and

See List of ISO 639-1 codes for other language codes that can be used this way.

When used alone
There are two ways to sort a redirect into the category. When this template is used without any rcats, it will perform the miscellaneous sort:

...

Also, if one or more rcats are known, but an editor is unsure that there might be one or more other rcats that are needed, then leave the first parameter blank (type two pipes together → ):

Monitors of the Miscellaneous redirects category will check the redirect, add other rcats if needed and then remove the empty first parameter.

Comparison
Template:This is a redirect/Comparison shows the difference in the appearance of text between when individual rcats are used and when this template is used.

Other templates
This template may also carry and hold other templates within it. Even the DEFAULTSORT magic word and a sort key may be used either inside this template or below it. Another template commonly used within the Rcat shell template is Italic title and its shortcut ital to format titles in italics. Some rcats such as R from book and R from film automatically format the redirect names in italics. Any appropriate template may be used within this shell template in the following manner: