Template:Cite web/Documentation

This template is used to cite online sources in Wikipedia articles. Cite news can also be used when citing a news source; for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:cite sources.

A general discussion of the use of templates for adding citation of open-source web content to Wikipedia articles is available at citation templates.

Common forms
 
 * Common form (with current date)

 
 * Using last, first and coauthor(s) (with current date)

 
 * Using author (with current date)

 
 * Using non-linked retrieved date, last, first

 
 * Using non-linked retrieved date, author

All parameters
When copying all parameters, in either horizontal or vertical layout, delete those you don't need.  
 * All parameters, horizontal layout


 * All parameters, vertical layout

Required parameters

 * url: URL of online item. Start the url with the communications protocol e.g. http://.
 * title: Title of online item.
 * Choose a date format from the following options that matches the main text of the article.
 * For producing a wikilinked date of retrieval:
 * accessdate: Full date when item was accessed, in ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, for example "accessdate = 2024-August-". Must not be wikilinked; it will be linked automatically. If the American/International date format is required for consistency within the article, use accessyear and accessmonthday or accessdaymonth, as American/International dates will not display correctly if used for accessdate.
 * For producing a non-wikilinked date of retrieval:
 * accessmonthday and accessyear: Month and day when item was accessed, for example "accessmonthday = May 10", and year when item was accessed, for example "accessyear = 2006". Produces: Retrieved on May 10, 2006.
 * accessdaymonth and accessyear: Month and day when item was accessed, for example "accessdaymonth= 10 May", and year when item was accessed, for example "accessyear = 2006". Produces: Retrieved on 10 May 2006.

Optional parameters

 * author: Author
 * last works with first to produce
 * authorlink works either with author or with last & first to link to the appropriate wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
 * coauthors: allows additional authors
 * date: Full date of publication in the same format as the main text of the article. If in ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2006-02-17, must not be wikilinked; it will be linked automatically.''
 * OR: year: Year of publication, and month: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, use date instead. Must not be wikilinked.
 * format: Format, e.g. PDF. HTML implied if not specified.
 * work: If this item is part of a larger "work", such as a book, periodical or website, write the name of that work.
 * publisher: Publisher, if any—for example if the website is hosted by a government service, educational institution, or company
 * pages: pp. 5–7: first page and optional last page. This is for listing the pages relevant to the citation, not the total number of pages in the book.
 * language: language of publication (don't specify "English" as this is the default).
 * doi: A digital object identifier for the document, such as  10.1038/news070508-7 
 * Doilabel: If the doi contains some characters that must be escaped, use "doilabel" for the unescaped version. See doi: "id" is equivalent to "doi" and "label" is "doilabel"
 * archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of the page, if (or in case) the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and The Internet Archive.  Requires archivedate.
 * archivedate: Date when the item was archived (requires archiveurl), in ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g. 2006-02-17. Must not be wikilinked; it will be linked automatically. This field does not support American/International dates (they will display incorrectly as redlinks if used).
 * quote: Relevant quote from online item.

Examples

 * Some standard use cases












 * Non-linking date of retrieval (using accessmonthday and accessyear)


 * Using format


 * language


 * coauthors


 * No author


 * No author, no publisher






 * Using archiveurl and archivedate for webpages that have been archived




 * Using quote


 * Omitting the title in error