Help:Namespaces

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Wikimedia Commons uses many namespaces to categorise its information.

What are namespaces?

You can tell what namespace you are in by looking at the URL. The URL on this page will probably read, "http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Namespaces," but may read differently. The important part is the text after the final slash—"Help:Namespaces". The "Help:" indicates that you are in the Help namespace. Below is a complete list of the namespaces used at Wikimedia Commons (listed in the order given by Special:PrefixIndex) and their functions.

Contents

[edit] Standard Namespaces

Common to all MediaWiki Projects

[edit] Main (Gallery)

The Main namespace is used to display galleries of media (like images) on Wikimedia Commons. It is also called the Gallery namespace (referred to as the Article namespace on other projects like Wikipedia). Unlike all other namespaces, the Main namespace has no prefix before the page name.

[edit] Talk

The Talk namespace is the discussion page for the Main namespace. This page is used to confer with other users about specific galleries in the main namespace.

[edit] User

The User namespace is the place for users to post information about themselves for other users to see. Pages in the User namespaces are called user pages. You can access your own user page by clicking your name at the top of this page. Some users suggest that you should only include information pertinent to Wikimedia Commons on your user page, but no one will object if you place an image or two of your cat.

[edit] User talk

The User talk namespace is used for sending and receiving personal messages. You may send a message to another user by editing their user talk page just like you would edit any other page. If some one leaves you a message on your talk page, you will be notified when you log in.

[edit] Commons

The Commons namespace is an all-purpose namespace. It contains Wikimedia Commons' policy and guidelines, voting pages for the deletion of images and media, voting pages to grant users more power or inclusion into exclusive groups, complaints pages where users can request help in dealing with troublesome users, users essays concerning topics of interest pertaining to Commons, along with many project-related pages.

[edit] Commons talk

The Commons talk namespace contains the discussion pages for their respective pages in the Commons namespace.

[edit] File

The File namespace is where all the images and media (such as audio and movie clips) are stored. This is the real main namespace of Commons. On image pages, you will usually find the image as well as its copyright information, author, description, and much more.

[edit] File talk

The File talk namespace is used to discuss images in the File namespace, although it rarely used compared to other talk namespaces.

[edit] MediaWiki

The MediaWiki namespace is mysterious. Its purpose is unknown. Please be careful if you plan on visiting uncharted areas of Commons.

[edit] MediaWiki talk

The MediaWiki talk namespace contains the talk pages for their respective pages in the MediaWiki namespace.

[edit] Template

The Template namespace stores commonly used code for other namespaces. Most templates contain code that creates a box with predefined information along with customised information. This is often used for welcoming and warning users on their User talk pages.

[edit] Template talk

The Template talk namespace is used for discussions for pages in the Template namespace.

[edit] Help

The Help namespace hopefully contains all of the help pages for Wikimedia Commons.

[edit] Help talk

The Help talk namespace is used for discussion of the Help pages.

[edit] Category

The Category namespace is used to organise pages in other namespaces based on commons themes, for example, in the Category:Flags page you will find a list of all the pages (images, galleries, and subcategories) that contain the code [[Category:Flags]]. Hopefully all the pages in this category will have something to do with flags.

[edit] Category talk

The Category talk page is used to discuss changes and additions to pages in the Category namespace.

[edit] Special

The Special prefix is for pages that are automatically generated and cannot be edited. See Special pages. There is also no corresponding talk page, however, the parts that can be edited (i.e. system messages in the MediaWiki namespace) can be discussed on the appropriate talk page.

[edit] Media

Gives link to alternative page style for Video and Sound files. For example Media:Krazy Kat Bugolist 1916 silent.ogv as compared to File:Krazy Kat Bugolist 1916 silent.ogv.

[edit] Custom Namespaces

Unique to Wikimedia Commons.

[edit] Creator

The Creator namespace is similar to the Template namespace in that it only contains templates, yet this namespace is reserved for {{Creator}} infoboxes. These infobox templates contain general information about notable artists to be used on their works' File namespace pages. Creator pages are especially useful for verifying dates for files using {{PD-old}} license. See Category:Creator templates to find examples.

[edit] Creator talk

The Creator talk namespace is for discussing the respective Creator pages.

[edit] TimedText

The TimedText namespace is used for storing .srt file that contained closed captioning text in the SubRip format. See Commons:Timed Text for how to use this; and see the example TimedText:Krazy Kat Bugolist 1916 silent.ogv.en.srt.

[edit] TimedText talk

The TimedText talk namespace is for discussing the respective TimedText pages.


[edit] Pseudo namespaces

The following are not actual namespaces but mainspace pages using a given "Prefix:" in their name. They are listed here for informational purposes. (Converting them to real namespaces would require an evaluation, a community decision, and an update to the list of actual namespaces.)

[edit] Info

The Info prefix is an unfinalized namespace, similar to the Template or Creator namespaces in that it only contains pages to be transcluded on other pages. It is used for sharing information to be displayed on multiple pages:

More information at:

(There is no "Info talk" space but regular "Talk:Info:" pages.)

[edit] Transwiki

The Transwiki prefix is for an unclear maintenance purpose.

(There is no "Transwiki talk" space but regular "Talk:Transwiki:" pages.)

[edit] Variables related to namespaces

purge   b: commons: m: n: q: s: testwiki: w: wikt: ? version
variable generates
common namespaces [-2 ... 15] used at all MediaWiki projects
{{ns:-2}} {{ns:Media}}   Media
{{ns:-1}} {{ns:Special}}   Special
{{ns:0}}   {{MediaWiki:Blanknamespace}} = (Gallery)
{{ns:1}} {{ns:Talk}}   Talk
{{ns:2}} {{ns:User}}   User
{{ns:3}} {{ns:User_talk}}   User talk
{{ns:4}} {{ns:Project}}   Commons
{{ns:5}} {{ns:Project_talk}}   Commons talk
{{ns:6}} {{ns:Image}}   File
{{ns:7}} {{ns:Image_talk}}   File talk
{{ns:8}} {{ns:MediaWiki}}   MediaWiki
{{ns:9}} {{ns:MediaWiki_talk}}   MediaWiki talk
{{ns:10}} {{ns:Template}}   Template
{{ns:11}} {{ns:Template_talk}}   Template talk
{{ns:12}} {{ns:Help}}   Help
{{ns:13}} {{ns:Help_talk}}   Help talk
{{ns:14}} {{ns:Category}}   Category
{{ns:15}} {{ns:Category_talk}}   Category talk
custom namespaces [100 ff.] depending on the project
{{ns:100}}   Creator
{{ns:101}}   Creator talk
{{ns:102}}   TimedText
{{ns:103}}   TimedText talk
{{ns:104}}  
{{ns:105}}  
variable generates
{{CURRENTDAY}}   10
{{CURRENTDAY2}}   10
{{CURRENTDAYNAME}}   Wednesday
{{CURRENTDOW}}   3
{{CURRENTMONTH}}   02
{{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}}   Feb
{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}   February
{{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}}   February
{{CURRENTTIME}}   14:45
{{CURRENTWEEK}}   6
{{CURRENTYEAR}}   2010
{{FULLPAGENAME}}   Help:Namespaces
{{FULLPAGENAMEE}}   Help:Namespaces 1
{{NAMESPACE}}   Help
{{NAMESPACEE}}   Help 1
{{NUMBEROFARTICLES}}   94,703
{{NUMBEROFFILES}}   6,113,138
{{PAGENAME}}   Namespaces
{{PAGENAMEE}}   Namespaces 1
{{SUBPAGENAME}}   Namespaces
{{SUBPAGENAMEE}}   Namespaces 1
{{REVISIONID}}   34549224
{{SCRIPTPATH}}   /w 1
{{SERVER}}   http://commons.wikimedia.org
{{SERVERNAME}}   commons.wikimedia.org
{{SITENAME}}   Wikimedia Commons
1 this documentation displays this value LTR (left to right)
Retrieved from "http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Namespaces"