This is an old revision of this page, as edited May 7, 2009, 5:47 PM by pegasus(contribs). It may differ significantly from the current revision.
A Redirect Article replaces all text in the current article with the content of a target article. The intended usage is for article titles that may be alternative spellings or terminology, when it is desirable to use the same article content for all such titles.
When a redirect is parsed, the article is treated exactly as if it were the target article, except that a message displays beneath the title, informing the user that the page was landed via redirect and allowing the user to return to the originating page. In addition to clicking the provided link, a user can force the redirect to not parse by appending the redirect disable code to the URL:
Code:&redirect=no
When saving an article with a redirect, previewing an article with a redirect, or comparing the versions of an article with a redirect, the parser will treat the URL as if it were suffixed with the redirect disable code and will not perform any content replacement of this type.
Redirect BB-Code
The redirect BB-Code is the most generic of any wiki linking code, in which namespaces and article titles are separated by a colon. The redirect BB-Code is as follows:
Code:[redirect]Namespace:ArticleTitle[/redirect]
The Redirect code supports URL requests and anchors in the target articles. For example, the following code would redirect to the history for this article:
Code:[redirect]Help:Redirect|do=history[/redirect]
And the following would redirect and scroll to the section labeled "Redirect BB-Code:"
Code:[redirect]Help:Redirect#Redirect_BB-Code[/redirect]
Multiple Redirects
Redirects slow down page generation time and should be used sparingly. There are some situations where a redirect should never be used: do not make a redirect that targets another redirect or that targets itself. In order to prevent a phenomenon that has been named the Infinite Redirect, the redirect chain stops after the first redirect is parsed.
Double redirects are usually created after an article moves or is renamed, pointing toward the old article title. If [arsenal]CES VaultWiki XRedirects[/arsenal] is installed, these types of redirects can be viewed by visiting SpecialoubleRedirects. It is strongly recommended that these redirects are updated, because they create a slow, confusing experience for users.