Help:Variables

MediaWiki variables are strings of text that output as information such as time, site details, or page names.

Parsing
The syntax of most variables is similar to templates, but capitalized to help avoid conflicts. If a template has the same name and case as a variable, the variable will be used. Usage of the template can be forced by adding the "msg:" modifier (for example, " ").

Page-dependent variables will return data about the currently-viewed page, regardless of whether the variable is in the page code or a transcluded template.

Date & time
The following variables return the current date and time according to the user's timezone preferences, defaulting to the UTC timezone.

Due to MediaWiki and browser caching, these variables frequently show when the page was cached rather than the current time.

The following variables do the same as the above, but using the site's local timezone instead of user preferences and UTC:
 * 2024
 * August
 * 27
 * Tuesday
 * 27
 * Tuesday
 * Tuesday
 * Tuesday

Latest revision to a page
The following variables return data about the latest edit to the current page, even if viewing an older version of the page.

Page names
The following are URL-encoded equivalents:

Namespaces
The following are URL-encoded equivalents:

returns the localized namespace name for that number of constant. The default values are:

Custom variables
MediaWiki also supports custom variables defined as part of extensions or specific to a particular installation. For example, some installations might find it helpful to have a variable that identifies the name of the sponsoring organization or the portion of the wiki URL that precedes the title if it is liable to change or more complex than.

For more information, please see Manual:Variables.