Editing Help:Template (section)

{{Short description|Main technical help page on templates}}
{{For|lists of commonly used templates|WP:Template index}}
{{For|a quick introduction to templates|Help:A quick guide to templates}}
{{Redirect|H:T|help regarding tables|Help:Table}}
{{Redirect|Wikipedia:Template|content guidelines|Wikipedia:Template namespace}}
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{{Wikipedia how to|H:T|WP:TEMPLATE}}
{{beginner version|Help:A quick guide to templates}}
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A '''template''' is a Wikipedia page created to be included in other pages. Templates usually contain repetitive material that might need to show up on a larger number of articles or pages. They are commonly used for [[WP:Glossary#Boilerplate text|boilerplate]] messages, standardized warnings or notices, [[Help:Infobox|infoboxes]], [[WP:Navbox|navigational boxes]], and similar purposes.  Templates can have parameters so that the same page generates different text on multiple pages that include it.

The most common method of inclusion is called [[Help:Transclusion|transclusion]], where the wiki source of the target page contains a reference to the template, using the {{tnull|{{var|Template&nbsp;name}}}} syntax. Another method is [[Help:Substitution|substitution]], where the content of the template is copied into the wiki source of the target page, just once, when it is saved.

[[Help:A quick guide to templates]] gives a brief introduction to the subject. There is further help from MediaWiki at [[mw:Help:Templates]] and [[mw:Manual:Advanced templates]].