Template:Search lists

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This template is rated as beta, and is ready for widespread use. It is still new and should be used with some caution to ensure the results are as expected.

This is a template to search several lists (or other pages) at once, for example, on a "list of lists" page if a list has been split into several pages for size reasons. It is adapted from {{Search box}}. It currently does not have all the configuration options that {{Search box}} has, but if a reasonable case why why they could be added here is made, they could easily be included here as well.

Usage[edit]

This template should not be used without any parameters. If this is done, it will search all pages starting with "list of".

There are two main ways of specifying which articles this template should search. For simple cases, where all of the page titles to be searched are the same except for the very end, prefix= can be used:

{{search lists
 |prefix=List of Latin phrases
 |label=Search lists of Latin phrases
}}

For more complex cases, pattern= can be used. This can be used in conjunction with prefix= (which may or may not be beneficial for performance). pattern= sets intitle for the search, and should usually be in quotes. It can also be a regular expression, although it has not been determined whether this is a bad idea.^[a] In most cases, a regex should not be necessary. These two examples search the same pages:

{{search lists
 |pattern=/List of( [0-9]+s)? films based on actual events/i
 |label=Search lists of films based on actual events
}}

{{search lists
 |pattern="films based on actual events"
 |label=Search lists of films based on actual events
}}

Parameters[edit]

prefix: A string of text that the titles of the target pages must begin with. This does not appear to be case-sensitive, and need not be surrounded by quotation marks. It defaults to "List of", which would need to be overridden if the articles to search do not all begin with this string.
pattern: A string of text that must be in the titles of the target pages. For this text to be contiguous, use quotation marks. For it to be a regex, surround it with / /.
break: If this is yes, there will be a line break between the search box and the button. By default, these are on the same line.
width: Can be used to change the width of the text field, in characters. The default is 22. Note: this is a bare number with no units.
label: Can be used to change the text on the search button. The default is "Search these lists".

Examples[edit]

{{search lists
 |prefix=List of Latin phrases
 |label=Search lists of Latin phrases
}}

{{search lists
 |pattern="films based on actual events"
 |label=Search lists of films based on actual events
}}

{{search lists
 |pattern=/List of 200[0-9] films based on actual events/i
}}

{{search lists
 |prefix=Bibliography of
 |pattern=history
 |break=yes
 |width=40
 |label=Search history books
}}

Templates for searching Wikipedia[edit]

Search links[edit]

A search link stores a query in a link that takes you to live search results for that stored search. They're found on user pages and talk pages. Use one to bring the full feature set of MediaWiki Search, or features of external search engines, to bear on users unfamiliar with their search parameters.

One type of search link is a wikilink with all the capabilities of Search (search box), and with standard wikilink syntax: [[Special:Search/query| label]]. So this search link will (1) navigate: [[Special:search/Wales]] → Special:search/Wales or (2) search: [[Special:search/~Wales | search/~Wales]] → search/~Wales if you prefix a ~ tilde character.

All other search links are made from a template that will build a URL instead of wikilink. A URL can for example can call off-site search engines to search Wikipedia.

{{Search link}} offers all the capabilities of Searching (search box), plus extra (URL) parameters for combinations of namespaces, and where you can escape the 20-results-per page-limitation, shareable: {{search link | et al | ''label'' | ns4 | ns5 | limit = 123}} → label.
{{Regex}} – develop an advanced regex search. {{regex | \<--.*--> | label = Articles with comments missing the ! bang character | prefix=0}} → Articles with comments missing the ! bang character
{{Template usage}} – develop a template regex search, and pinpoint specific template-call details. {{Template usage | Convert | \{{!}}C\{{!}}F | 0 | Articles that convert Celsius to Fahrenheit}} → Articles that convert Celsius to Fahrenheit
{{ShortSearch}} – create three search links: {{ShortSearch | system operations research}} → WP GWP G (search Wikipedia, "Google" Wikipedia, and Google search)
{{wpsearch}} – create five search links: {{wpsearch|collaborative search}} → collaborative search – Wikipedia search | Google search | Bing search | DuckDuckGo search | Yahoo search
{{Wikidata search link}} – creates a Wikidata search link for descriptions, entities, items, properties, etc. → https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=Universe&title=Special:Search&fulltext=1

Search boxes[edit]

{{Search box}} – Simple search box with choice of button below or to the right
{{Search prefixes}} – Multiple pages' subpages are searched at once.
{{Archive banner}} – For searching archives. It is of banner-style, like many other archive templates.
{{Search lists}} – For searching from lists of lists.

Search boxes are made by <inputbox> tags. See mw:Extension:InputBox.

Page title searches[edit]

{{Canned search}} – Link to automated search results for a given term
{{In title}} – Search for pages whose name contains given words
{{Look from}} – Search for pages whose name begins with a given word

For searches with exact matches, exact in upper and lower cases, or in punctuation marks, see Help:Searching § grep.

Other Wikipedia editor help[edit]

{{Linksearch}} – Searches for external links matching a URL
{{dabsearch|term}} – External tool to find page titles containing a (term) in parentheses; useful for Wikipedia:disambiguation study
{{Help desk searches}} – Navbox with list of links to Google pages, specialized to search for example user pages, village pump, etc.; useful for Wikipedia:Help desk tasks
{{Spamsearch}} – Searches user pages for common spams, e.g. "we service", "leading manufacturer", etc.