XWiki Syntax Guide
XWiki Syntax 2.1
XWiki Syntax 2.1: All
General
Introduction
2.1 Introduction
The XWiki Syntax 2.0 has proven to be quite useful and robust in general; however since its introduction a few shortcomings have been found. The corresponding improvements have been consolidated in XWiki Syntax 2.1. Some new features of this syntax are:
- Homogenize the link and image syntax for better clarity, consistency and extensibility.
- Added ability to display icons, to embed images via the Data URI scheme, to link to files using the UNC notation and to link to relative URLs.
General Remarks
2.0 General Remarks
XWiki Syntax 2.1 corrects some errors or ambiguous syntax entered by the user as shown in the examples in the table below.
Description | Example of invalid or ambiguous syntax | Fixed XWiki Syntax 2.1 |
---|---|---|
Unclosed text styles | **bold | **bold** |
Two standalone elements not separated by 2 new lines | | table cell * list item | | table cell * list item |
Two standalone elements not separated by 2 new lines | paragraph ---- paragraph | paragraph ---- paragraph |
Ignored new line at beginning of document | <new line at beginning of document> paragraph | paragraph |
Not closed heading syntax | === heading | === heading === |
Other Syntaxes
1.0 Other Syntaxes
Other syntaxes are also available.
Editing
Paragraphs
2.0 Paragraphs
Paragraphs are text elements separated by 2 or more new lines.
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Simple paragraph | This is a paragraph | This is a paragraph |
Paragraph on multiple lines | Paragraph on multiple lines | Paragraph on multiple lines |
Two paragraphs | Paragraph one Paragraph two | Paragraph one Paragraph two |
Parametrized paragraph | (% style="text-align:center;color:blue" %) Centered and blue paragraph | Centered and blue paragraph |
Different style on some portion of the paragraph content | paragraph with (% style="color:red" %)red(%%) different style inside | paragraph with red texte inside |
Headings
2.0 Headings
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Standard headings | = level 1 = == level 2 == === level 3 === ==== level 4 ==== ===== level 5 ===== ====== level 6 ====== | level 1
level 2level 3level 4level 5level 6 |
Parameterized headings | (% style="color:blue" %) = heading = | heading |
Headings with XWiki Syntax | === Heading with **bold** === | Heading with bold |
Text Formatting
2.0 Text Formatting
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Bold | **bold** | bold |
Underline | __underline__ | underline |
Italics | //italic// | italic |
Striked out | --strike-- | |
Monospace | ##monospace## | monospace |
Superscript | some ^^superscript^^ | some superscript |
Subscript | some ,,subscript,, | some subscript |
Horizontal Line
2.0 Horizontal Line
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Simple horizontal line | ---- | |
Parametrized horizontal line | (% style="border-color:blue" %) ---- |
Lists
2.0 Lists
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Bulleted list | * item 1 ** item 2 *** item 3 * item 4 |
|
Numbered list | 1. item 1 11. item 2 111. item 3 1. item 4 |
|
Mixed list | 1. item 1 1*. item 2 1*. item 3 1. item 4 |
|
Square list | (% style="list-style-type: square" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Disc list | (% style="list-style-type: disc" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Lowercase Alphabetical list | (% style="list-style-type: lower-alpha" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Uppercase Alphabetical list | (% style="list-style-type: upper-alpha" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Lowercase Roman list | (% style="list-style-type: lower-roman" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Uppercase Roman list | (% style="list-style-type: upper-roman" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Lowercase Greek list | (% style="list-style-type: lower-greek" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Uppercase Greek list | (% style="list-style-type: upper-greek" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Hiragana list | (% style="list-style-type: hiragana" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Hiragana Iroha list | (% style="list-style-type: hiragana-iroha" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Katakana list | (% style="list-style-type: katakana" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Katakana Iroha list | (% style="list-style-type: katakana-iroha" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Armenian list | (% style="list-style-type: armenian" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Hebrew list | (% style="list-style-type: hebrew" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Georgian list | (% style="list-style-type: georgian" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
CJK ideographic list | (% style="list-style-type: cjk-ideographic" %) * item 1 * item 2 |
|
Definition Lists
2.0 Definition Lists
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Standard definition | ; term : definition |
|
Nested definitions | ; term 1 : definition 1 :; term 2 :: definition 2 |
|
Parametrized definition | (% style="color:blue" %) ; term : definition |
|
New Line/Line Breaks
2.0 New Line Line Breaks
A new line is a carriage return. A line break is a forced new line that can appear anywhere in the text.
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Line break | Line\\New line | Line New line |
New line | Line New line | Line New line |
Links
2.1 Links
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Absolute link to page PageB located in PageA | [[PageA.PageB]] | PageB |
Relative link to page PageA from the current page | [[PageA]] or [[.PageA]] | PageA |
Relative link to page PageB in PageA from the current page | [[.PageA.PageB]] | PageB |
Link with a label | [[label>>PageA]] | label |
Link with wiki syntax in the label | [[**bold label**>>PageA]] | bold label |
Link on an image | [[image:PageA@img.png>>PageA]] | |
Absolute link to page PageB located in PageA in wiki WikiA | [[WikiA:PageA.PageB]] | PageB |
Link that opens in a new window | [[PageA||target="_blank"]] | PageA |
Implicit link to a URL | This is a URL: https://xwiki.org | This is a URL: https://xwiki.org |
Explicit link to a URL | [[https://xwiki.org]] | https://xwiki.org |
Explicit link to a URL with a label | [[XWiki>>https://xwiki.org]] | XWiki |
Link to an email address | [[john@smith.net>>mailto:john@smith.net]] | john@smith.net |
Link to an attachment on the current page | [[attach:img.png]] | img.png |
Link to an attachment in a different page | [[attach:PageA.PageB@img.png]] | img.png |
Link to an Anchor in a page | [[PageA.PageB||anchor="anchor"]] | PageB |
Link to a Heading in a page | [[PageA.PageB||anchor="HMyheading"]] | PageB |
Link to an anchor in the current page | [[label>>||anchor="anchor"]] | label |
Link to a page with a query string | [[PageA.PageB||queryString="param1=value1¶m2=value2"]] | PageB |
Link to the current page with a query string | [[label>>||queryString="param1=value1¶m2=value2"]] | label |
XWiki Syntax 2.1 Link Specification
The full format of a link is [label>>] (resource) [||parameters]
- label: An optional string which will be displayed to the user as the link name when rendered. The label may contain XWiki Syntax. If no label is specified a default label will be generated. The generation pattern can be changed, see the Admin Guide. Example: My Page
- resource: A required string with the link reference in one of the following forms
- URL: Any URL in the form of [url:](protocol://path). Examples: http://xwiki.org, url:https://svn.xwiki.org/
- url: An optional string identifying the resource as an URL.
- protocol://path: The URL itself
- Wiki page: A reference in the form page:[(wikiName):](pageNameList). Examples: page:Page, page:myxwiki:Page, page:ParentPage.ChildPage.SubChildPage, page:../SiblingPage, page:./ChildPage
- page: A required string identifying the resource as an XWiki page. The same reference can be used for either a terminal or non-terminal page, if both exist it will lead to the non-terminal page.
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The link will point to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki
- pageNameList: A required list of slash-separated wiki Pages names pointing to the final linked wiki Page syntax. It's also possible to use . and .. to indicate current or parent page/wiki. Examples: Main, A/B, A/B/C, ../Sibling, ./Child
- Wiki document: A reference in the form [doc:][[(wikiName):](spaceNameList).](documentName). Examples: doc:Welcome, doc:Main.Welcome, doc:mywiki:Main.Welcome, Welcome
- doc: An optional string identifying the resource as an XWiki terminal page. A non-terminal page can also be referenced this way, but it must append its .WebHome part (e.g. doc:Sandbox.WebHome).
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The link will point to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki.
- spaceNameList: An optional dot-separated list of wiki Space names. If no space is specified the current space is used. Examples: Main, A.B, A.B.C
- documentName: A required string containing the name of the linked wiki page. Example: Welcome
- Wiki space: A reference in the form space:[(wikiName):](spaceNameList). Examples: space:Main, space:mywiki:Main, space:A.B.C
- space: A required string identifying the resource as an XWiki non-terminal page (i.e. a space).
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The link will point to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki
- spaceNameList: A required list of dot-separated wiki Space names pointing to the final linked wiki Space (or non-terminal page). Examples: Main, A.B, A.B.C
- InterWiki page: A reference in the form interwiki:[(interWikiAlias):](pageName). Example: interwiki:wikipedia:XWiki
- interwiki: A required string identifying the resource as an InterWiki link.
- interWikiAlias: An optional Inter Wiki alias as defined in the InterWiki Map (see the Admin Guide). Example: wikipedia
- pageName: A required string containing the name of the linked page. Example: XWiki
- Attachment: A reference in the form attach:{{{(wikiName):}(spaceNameList).}(pageName)@}(imageName)
- attach: A required string identifying the reference as an XWiki Document attachment.
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The image reference will point to an image attached to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki.
- spaceNameList: An optional dot-separated list of wiki Space names. If no space is specified the current space is used. Examples: Main, A.B, A.B.C
- pageName: An optional string containing the name of the wiki page to which the referenced image is attached. Example: Welcome
- attachmentName: Name of the attachment as it is stored in the wiki. Example: photo.png
- Page Attachment: A reference in the form pageAttach:{{{(wikiName):}(pageNameList)/}(imageName)
- pageAttach: An required string identifying the reference as an XWiki Page attachment.
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The image reference will point to an image attached to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki.
- pageNameList: An optional dot-separated list of wiki page names. If no page is specified the current page is used. Examples: Main, A/B, A/B/C
- attachmentName: Name of the attachment as it is stored in the wiki. Example: photo.png
- Email address: A reference in the form mailto:(emailAddress) (#anchor is not valid). Example: mailto:john@smith.com
- mailto: A required string identifying the resource as email.
- emailAddress: Targeted email address. Example: john@smith.com
- Relative path: A reference on the server in the form path:(relPath). Example: path:$doc.getURL('reset') produces target address http://server.domain.com/xwiki/bin/reset/Space/Page where /xwiki/bin/reset/Space/Page is produced by $doc.getURL('reset').
- path: A required string identifying the resource as a relative path.
- relPath: A required string containing the relative path of the resource on the server that shall be linked.
- UNC (Windows Explorer): A reference in the form unc:(path). The link is rendered as a file:// link. Examples: unc:C:\Windows\, unc:\\myserver\path\img.png, unc:home/user/somefile
- unc: A required string identifying the resource as a UNC (Windows Explorer) path.
- path: A required string containing the local path of resource accessible by the user. Examples: C:\Windows\, \\myserver\path\img.png, home/user/somefile
- Untyped: If none of the above-mentioned resource types are specified (i.e. no type: resource prefix was specified in the link), then the link will be treated as a link to an XWiki terminal or non-terminal page using the following algorithm:
- Terminal page in the current space, only if it exists. Example: [[A]] is resolved to the equivalent of [[doc:currentSpace.A]]
- Non-terminal page in the current space. Example: [[A]] is resolved to the equivalent of [[space:currentSpace.A]], which is the equivalent of [[doc:currentSpace.A.WebHome]]
- If the current page is non-terminal and the previous 2 checks above did not find an existing page, 2 additional checks are made:
- Terminal page as sibling in the parent space, only if it exists. Example: The [[B]] link inside the non-terminal page A.C is resolved to the equivalent of [[doc:A.B]]
- Non-terminal page as sibling in the parent space, regardless if it exists or not. Example: The [[B]] link inside the non-terminal page A.C is resolved to the equivalent of [[space:A.B]], which is the equivalent of [[doc:A.B.WebHome]]
- Note1 - Absolute links: If the untyped link has 2 or more dot-separated components specified (i.e. that look like a space name and a page name), the above algorithm will resolve the page relative to the current wiki, and not the current space. Example: [[A.B]] can be resolved to either [[doc:currentWiki:A.B]] (if it exists) or to [[space:currentWiki:A.B]] (equivalent of [[doc:currentWiki:A.B.WebHome]]) and not to [[doc:currentWiki:currentSpace.A.B]] or [[doc:currentWiki:currentSpace.A.B.WebHome]].
- Note2 - Special handling of .WebHome: If the untyped link ends in .WebHome, it will always be handled as a terminal page. Example: [[A.WebHome]] will always be resolved to the equivalent of [[doc:A.WebHome]] and not to [[doc:A.WebHome.WebHome]].
- URL: Any URL in the form of [url:](protocol://path). Examples: http://xwiki.org, url:https://svn.xwiki.org/
- parameters: An optional list of space-separated parameters passed to the link. Example: queryString="mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello" anchor="HTableOfContents" target="_blank"
- queryString: An optional query string for specifying parameters that will be appended to the link target address and used in the rendered URL. Example: url:http://domain.com/path||queryString="mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello" produces target address http://domain.com/path?mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello
- anchor: An optional anchor name pointing to an anchor defined in the referenced link. Note that in XWiki anchors are automatically created for headings and images. Example: url:http://domain.com/path||anchor="HTableOfContents" produces target address http://domain.com/path#HTableOfContents
- target: An optional parameter that allows to open link target in new window. Example: target="_blank"
Tables
2.0 Tables
Allows to easily create content in table format. Parameters for table, row or cell are also supported in XWiki Syntax 2.1.
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard table | |=Title 1|=Title 2 |Word 1|Word 2 !=Title 1!=Title 2 !!Word 1!!Word 2 |
| ||||||
Parametrized table | (% style="background-color:red;text-align:center" %) |=Title 1|=(% style="background-color:yellow" %)Title 2 |Word 1|Word 2 |
| ||||||
Filterable Sortable table | {{velocity}} $xwiki.ssfx.use("js/xwiki/table/table.css") $xwiki.jsfx.use("js/xwiki/table/tablefilterNsort.js", true) {{/velocity}} (% class="grid sortable filterable doOddEven" id="tableid" %) (% class="sortHeader" %)|=Title 1|=Title 2 |Cell 11|Cell 12 |Cell 21|Cell 22 |
|
Images
2.1 Images
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Image from attachment on current page | image:img.png | |
Image from attachment on another page | image:PageA.PageB@img.png | |
Image with parameters | [[image:img.png||width="25" height="25"]] | |
Image with caption | [[~[~[XWiki~>~>https://www.xwiki.org~]~] supports captions.>>image:img.png]] | |
Images located at URL | image:https://some/url/img.png | |
Prepackaged Icons | image:icon:accept |
XWiki Syntax 2.1 Image Specification
The full format of an image is either image: (reference) or [[{caption>>}image: (reference) {||parameters}]]
- caption: An optional caption. May contain arbitrary XWiki 2.1 syntax but nested link syntax must be escaped using ~. The caption is only supported when the image syntax is the only content of a paragraph. The captioned image may also be wrapped in a link. In this case, the link will contain the image but not the caption.
- image: A required string identifying the resource as image.
- reference: The reference to the image that shall be displayed in one of the following forms:
- URL: Any URL to an image in the form of [url:](protocol://path/imageName). Example: http://domain.org/path/img.png
- url: An optional string identifying the image as an URL.
- protocol://path/imageName: The URL to the image
- Attachment: A reference in the form [attach:]{{{(wikiName):}(spaceNameList).}(pageName)@}(imageName)
- attach: An optional string identifying the reference as an XWiki Document attachment.
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The image reference will point to an image attached to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki.
- spaceNameList: An optional dot-separated list of wiki Space names. If no space is specified the current space is used. Examples: Main, A.B, A.B.C
- pageName: An optional string containing the name of the wiki page to which the referenced image is attached. Example: Welcome
- imageName: A required string containing the name of the image attached to a page as it is stored in the wiki. Example: myImage.png
- Page Attachment: A reference in the form pageAttach:{{{(wikiName):}(pageNameList)/}(imageName)
- pageAttach: An required string identifying the reference as an XWiki Page attachment.
- wikiName: An optional string containing the name of a wiki. The image reference will point to an image attached to a page inside that wiki. If no wiki is specified, the current wiki is used. Example: mywiki.
- pageNameList: An optional dot-separated list of wiki page names. If no page is specified the current page is used. Examples: Main, A/B, A/B/C
- imageName: A required string containing the name of the image attached to a page as it is stored in the wiki. Example: myImage.png
- Icon: A reference in the form icon:(iconName). Example: icon:accept
- icon: A required string identifying the image reference as an icon from the XWiki Icon Set.
- iconName: A required string identifying the icon referenced. Example: accept
- Data URI: A reference in the form (data:)(content). Example: data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P4//8/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
- data: A required string identifying the image as being specified inline using the Data URI scheme.
- content: The encoded image. Example: image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P4//8/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
- URL: Any URL to an image in the form of [url:](protocol://path/imageName). Example: http://domain.org/path/img.png
- parameters: An optional list of space-separated parameters passed to the image. Example: width="800" height="600" alt="img.png" title="My nice image"
- HTML attributes: All attributes defined by the HTML standard will be added to the rendered HTML <img> tag.
- style: CSS style information that should be applied to the image. Examples: style="float:right;height:50" (image on right side, height 50 px), style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;width:80%" (image centered, width 80% of block width), style="vertical-align:bottom" (text starts at bottom of picture)
- height: A parameter that defines the height of the displayed image. The value should be presented either in pixel (example: height="80") or in pixel related to the height of the block containing the image (example: height="40%").
- width: A parameter that defines the width of the displayed image. The value should be presented either in pixel (example: width="80") or in pixel related to the width of the block containing the image (example: width="40%").
- title: A parameter that defines the title the displayed image which will be visible when hovering the mouse trigger over the image, for instance. Example: title="My nice image"
- alt: A parameter that defines which text should be displayed if the browser is not able to display the image. Since this is a required HTML attribute XWiki will use the file name instead if the alt parameter is not defined. Example: alt="img.png"
- More: A more in depth explanation on the HTML <img> tag including more attributes can be reviewed in the HTML standard.
- queryString: Allows queries to be passed to the server when creating the download link for the referenced image. Example: queryString="width=100&height=800&keepAspectRatio=true" (keepAspectRatio=true will fail if the width and height parameters are specified in addition to queryString!)
- HTML attributes: All attributes defined by the HTML standard will be added to the rendered HTML <img> tag.
Advanced
Verbatim
2.0 Verbatim
Allow to enter content that will not be formatted (in other words the XWiki Syntax will not be taken into account).
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Verbatim inline | Some verbatim {{{**[[not rendered]]**}}} content | Some verbatim **[[not rendered]]** content |
Verbatim block | {{{ multi line **verbatim** content }}} | multi line **verbatim** content |
Quotations
2.0 Quotations
Allows to quote some text.
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Simple quote | > john said this I said ok |
I said ok |
Nested quotes | > john said this >> marie answered that I said ok |
I said ok |
Groups
2.0 Groups
Groups can be used to insert another document inline directly into the current document. This allows for example to insert complex elements or style inside a list item, inside a table cell or a paragraph. Groups are delimited by the following syntactic elements: (((...))). One Group can contain another Group and there is no limit of imbrication.
XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|=Header 1|=Header 2|=Header 3 |Cell One|((( = Embedded document = Some embedded paragraph. * list item one * list item two ** sub-item 1 ** sub-item 2 ))) | Cell Three Next paragraph in the top-level document |
Next paragraph in the top-level document | ||||||
(% class="myClass" style="color:blue" %)(((blue paragraphs inside myClass))) | blue paragraphs inside my group |
Escapes
2.0 Escapes
Allows to escape XWiki Syntax.
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Escape a character | This is not a ~[~[link~]~] | This is not a [[link]] |
Escape longer text (also see "Verbatim") | {{{ some **longer** text //without// formatting}}} | some **longer** text //without// formatting |
Parameters
2.0 Parameters
With XWiki Syntax 2.1 it's possible to pass parameters to the different syntax elements and also to blocks of text. This is used for example to style them. You can set any parameter key/value pair you want. The XHTML renderer will pass these parameters as XHTML attributes to the underlying XHTML representation of the different syntax elements.
XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Generated XHTML |
---|---|
(% class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId" %) = heading = | <h1 class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId">heading</h1> |
Programming
Macros
2.0 Macros
There is only one kind of macro in XWiki Syntax 2.1, which is called by the syntax: {{macroname param1="value1" ... paramN="valueN"}}...{{/macroname}}. For macros without content there's a short notation: {{macroname param1="value1" ... paramN="valueN"/}}
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|---|
Rendering Macro with a content | {{code language="java"}} System.out.println("Hello World!"); {{/code}} | System.out.println("Hello World!"); |
Rendering Macro without content | {{include reference="Space.Page"/}} | The referenced page is included in the current page |
Macros in this wiki
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HTML
2.0 HTML
XWiki Syntax 2.1 | Result |
---|---|
{{html}}<abbr title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr>{{/html}} | HTML |
Scripts
2.0 Scripts
Feature | XWiki Syntax 2.1 |
---|---|
Velocity script | {{velocity}} #set ($var = "whatever") {{/velocity}} |
Groovy script | {{groovy}} def var = "whatever" {{/groovy}} |