Template:Empty section/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Empty section.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 30,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

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This template is used by the standard installation of AutoWikiBrowser (AWB). If you are planning to make any major changes to this template, how it should be used, or nominate it for deletion, please notify AWB's user base and maintainers beforehand at OODA WIKI talk:AWB as a courtesy.

May be placed in a section that is completely empty, containing neither text nor sub-sections. Optional {{find sources}} links may be included.

Content tends to follow sectioning on Wikipedia, as editors naturally will tend to fill in sections over time. Therefore, using this template to set up good placeholder sections at the start of an article's lifespan can aide its development over time.

Usage

{{Empty section|date=November 2024}}
{{Empty section|small=no|date=November 2024}}
{{Empty section|small=no|find=search keywords|date=November 2024}}

Parameters

|date= : month and year the section was last checked for references; e.g., |date=November 2024
|small= : Any value (typically "y", "yes", etc.) will make the template smaller. The template should normally be full-width when it applies to an entire section.
|find= : search keywords for {{find sources}} param 1 (double-quoted search). This optional parameter adds a set of links produced by the {{find sources}} template to the output. If omitted, no "find sources" links are displayed.
|find2= : search keywords for {{find sources}} param 2 (unquoted search).

Date

The |date= parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles to be expanded, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. You do not need to specify the date manually; a bot will add it later automatically.

Find parameters

There are two 'find' parameters available to control the presentation and operation of the {{find sources}} links optionally displayed by the template. By default, the template displays {{find sources}} with a quoted search query equivalent to the exact article title. Sometimes, especially if the article has a long, descriptive title, or if it includes parenthetical disambiguation terms, this may not give useful results. The find parameters can be used to provide the search keywords of your choice to the {{find sources}} links. Use:

|find= to specify keywords for an exact search (double-quoted query); this corresponds to {{find sources}} positional param |1=.
|find2= to specify keywords for an unquoted search; this corresponds to {{find sources}} param |2=.

Template Data

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. Click here to see a monthly parameter usage report for this template in articles based on this TemplateData.

TemplateData for Empty section

Maintenance template to be placed in sections that are empty, containing neither text nor sub-sections. Before tagging an empty section, consider removing the section heading instead – for example, an empty "Gallery", "See also" or "External links" section can safely be deleted. Puts articles into [[Category:Articles with empty sections]] and [[Category:Articles to be expanded]].

Template parameters
This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Month and year	`date`	The month and year that the template was placed (in full). "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}" inserts the current month and year automatically. Example January 2013 Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	Line	suggested
Section number	`section`	The ordinal number of the section to be edited (goes after "&section=" in the "adding to it" link) Example 3	Number	optional
Make template big	`small`	Enter anything other than "left" here to make the template box big and centred. Default left Example no Auto value `no`	Line	optional
"Find sources" verbatim search term	`find`	Verbatim search term for the links in the template for finding sources	Line	optional
"Find sources" non-verbatim search term	`find2`	Non-verbatim search term for the links in the template for finding sources	Line	optional
Comment	`comment`	Custom text to go after "This section is empty."	String	optional

Tracking categories

Redirects

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