Template:Colon/doc

From Wikimania

Usage[edit source]

Use it to generate the language-dependant punctuation signs that is used like an English colon, for example between an introducing sentence or label and a complement such as one or more values or a detailing sentence.

  • By default, it is rendered according to the content language of the current page (see {{CURRENTCONTENTLANGUAGE}}) so it will work in translated subpages.
  • If you want to use it in a multilingual page, you'll need to specify the language code in parameter 1 (or uselang).
  • If you use this template to display a plain ASCII colon (:) that you don't want to be interpreted by MediaWiki as a definition list item (or indented block), specify the "en" language code in parameter 1. (Note that this colon will be returned followed by an ASCII space.)

Examples[edit source]

  • In English, German{{colon|en}}Spanish{{stop|en}} gives
    German: Spanish.
  • In French, allemand{{colon|fr}}espagnol{{stop|fr}} gives
    allemand : espagnol.
  • In Arabic, الألمانية{{colon|ar}}الإسبانية{{stop|ar}} gives
    الألمانية: الإسبانية.
  • In Armenian, գերմաներեն{{colon|hy}}իսպաներեն{{stop|hy}} gives
    գերմաներեն. իսպաներեն։
  • In Khmer, អាល្លឺម៉ង់{{colon|km}}អេស្ប៉ាញ{{stop|km}} gives
    អាល្លឺម៉ង់៖ អេស្ប៉ាញ.
  • In Chinese, 德语{{colon|zh}}西班牙语{{stop|zh}} gives
    德语:西班牙语 。

Warnings[edit source]

  • Don't insert any space after it (this template will insert the word separator conditionally, but the colon returned in Chinese is a wide version and requires no extra space after it). Some languages also don't want any space in the same paragraph (they don't separate words by spaces).
  • ASCII colons not followed by a space are used in Swedish in the middle of words, in a way similar to the apostrophe for English genitives.
  • Be careful in Armenian, because the ASCII colon followed by a space is interpreted as a full stop terminating the sentence, but not introducing one or more values or another sentence (the roles of full stop and colons are swapped in Armenian!).
  • Also in Khmer which has signs combining to the left of letters or at end of words, looking like a regular English colon but playing a different role in Khmer.

See also[edit source]