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Template sandbox and testcases for TEMPLATE_NAME

Overview

This page provides a clean workflow to safely edit and validate TEMPLATE_NAME:

Sandbox: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox — a working copy where you make changes.
Testcases: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/testcases — inputs that exercise typical and edge cases.
Live: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME — the production version. Do not edit directly without review.

Use this page to:

Preview sandbox output against fixed testcases without touching the live template.
Compare actual vs expected output for each testcase.
Track recent changes and invite reviewers.

Quick links

Live template: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME
Sandbox: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox
Testcases: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/testcases
Documentation: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/doc (optional)
Talk page: Template talk:TEMPLATE_NAME

How to test

1. Edit the sandbox at Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox. 2. Open this test page and click “Show preview” to render the sandbox with inputs below. 3. Verify each testcase: Does the “Actual output” match the “Expected output”? 4. If all pass, consider copying sandbox to live using an edit summary like:

  “Sync from /sandbox: passes all /testcases as of YYYY-MM-DD.”

Previewing tips

Use “Preview page with this template” gadget or the built-in preview.
Check parser output in different skins and mobile view.
Validate accessibility: headings order, link text, ARIA where applicable.
Internationalization: test with non-ASCII parameters and RTL where relevant.

Test harness

The following sections render the sandbox template against curated inputs. Each testcase shows:

Parameters passed to the template
Expected output (as plain wikitext target)
Actual output (rendered via sandbox transclusion)

Testcase A: Minimal invocation

Parameters: {{TEMPLATE_NAME}}

Expected output: [Minimal successful output with defaults: e.g., a neutral message or basic box]

Actual output (sandbox):

Character and language test sandbox

This sandbox is used to test how Template:TEMPLATE NAME behaves with special characters (such as Greek letters) and language-specific spans.

Basic examples

Greek letter (direct character): α
Greek letter (HTML entity): γ
German span example: A

Within the template

Below are example calls of the template using these characters as parameters.

{{TEMPLATE NAME | title = Greek test: α γ | summary = Demonstrating Greek letters: α, β, γ, and entities like γ. | attr1 = Direct Greek: α β γ δ | attr2 = Entity Greek: α β γ δ | attr3 = German label: A, English label: A }}

Preview the page to check if:

Greek characters (α, β, γ, δ) display correctly.
HTML entities (α, β, γ, δ) render as the expected symbols.
The A is kept as a German-language span and does not break the layout.

Notes

Use this sandbox to experiment with different scripts (Greek, Cyrillic, etc.).
Test right-to-left scripts by adding spans with lang="ar" or lang="he".
If the template trims or escapes some of these, adjust the template code accordingly.

Testcase B: Common parameters

Parameters: {{TEMPLATE_NAME | param1 = Alpha | param2 = Beta | flag = yes }}

Expected output: [Example: shows "Alpha" and "Beta" in designated slots; flag toggles enhanced styling]

Actual output (sandbox):

Character and language test sandbox

This sandbox is used to test how Template:TEMPLATE NAME behaves with special characters (such as Greek letters) and language-specific spans.

Basic examples

Greek letter (direct character): α
Greek letter (HTML entity): γ
German span example: A

Within the template

Below are example calls of the template using these characters as parameters.

{{TEMPLATE NAME | title = Greek test: α γ | summary = Demonstrating Greek letters: α, β, γ, and entities like γ. | attr1 = Direct Greek: α β γ δ | attr2 = Entity Greek: α β γ δ | attr3 = German label: A, English label: A }}

Preview the page to check if:

Greek characters (α, β, γ, δ) display correctly.
HTML entities (α, β, γ, δ) render as the expected symbols.
The A is kept as a German-language span and does not break the layout.

Notes

Use this sandbox to experiment with different scripts (Greek, Cyrillic, etc.).
Test right-to-left scripts by adding spans with lang="ar" or lang="he".
If the template trims or escapes some of these, adjust the template code accordingly.

Testcase C: Edge values and escaping

Parameters: {{TEMPLATE_NAME | param1 = [[Linked target|Visible text]] | param2 = {{subst:CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} | raw = <code>escaped</code> }}

Expected output: [Links render correctly; timestamp subst is literal in expected; raw shows escaped markup]

Actual output (sandbox):

Character and language test sandbox

This sandbox is used to test how Template:TEMPLATE NAME behaves with special characters (such as Greek letters) and language-specific spans.

Basic examples

Greek letter (direct character): α
Greek letter (HTML entity): γ
German span example: A

Within the template

Below are example calls of the template using these characters as parameters.

{{TEMPLATE NAME | title = Greek test: α γ | summary = Demonstrating Greek letters: α, β, γ, and entities like γ. | attr1 = Direct Greek: α β γ δ | attr2 = Entity Greek: α β γ δ | attr3 = German label: A, English label: A }}

Preview the page to check if:

Greek characters (α, β, γ, δ) display correctly.
HTML entities (α, β, γ, δ) render as the expected symbols.
The A is kept as a German-language span and does not break the layout.

Notes

Use this sandbox to experiment with different scripts (Greek, Cyrillic, etc.).
Test right-to-left scripts by adding spans with lang="ar" or lang="he".
If the template trims or escapes some of these, adjust the template code accordingly.

Testcase D: Internationalization (i18n)

Parameters: {{TEMPLATE_NAME | lang = ja | text = こんにちは世界 }}

Expected output: [Text displays correctly for non-ASCII; applies lang attribute or rtl/ltr where applicable]

Actual output (sandbox):

Character and language test sandbox

This sandbox is used to test how Template:TEMPLATE NAME behaves with special characters (such as Greek letters) and language-specific spans.

Basic examples

Greek letter (direct character): α
Greek letter (HTML entity): γ
German span example: A

Within the template

Below are example calls of the template using these characters as parameters.

{{TEMPLATE NAME | title = Greek test: α γ | summary = Demonstrating Greek letters: α, β, γ, and entities like γ. | attr1 = Direct Greek: α β γ δ | attr2 = Entity Greek: α β γ δ | attr3 = German label: A, English label: A }}

Preview the page to check if:

Greek characters (α, β, γ, δ) display correctly.
HTML entities (α, β, γ, δ) render as the expected symbols.
The A is kept as a German-language span and does not break the layout.

Notes

Use this sandbox to experiment with different scripts (Greek, Cyrillic, etc.).
Test right-to-left scripts by adding spans with lang="ar" or lang="he".
If the template trims or escapes some of these, adjust the template code accordingly.

Testcase E: Error handling

Parameters: {{TEMPLATE_NAME | param1 = | required =  }}

Expected output: [Shows a gentle error or maintenance category; does not break page layout]

Actual output (sandbox):

Character and language test sandbox

This sandbox is used to test how Template:TEMPLATE NAME behaves with special characters (such as Greek letters) and language-specific spans.

Basic examples

Greek letter (direct character): α
Greek letter (HTML entity): γ
German span example: A

Within the template

Below are example calls of the template using these characters as parameters.

{{TEMPLATE NAME | title = Greek test: α γ | summary = Demonstrating Greek letters: α, β, γ, and entities like γ. | attr1 = Direct Greek: α β γ δ | attr2 = Entity Greek: α β γ δ | attr3 = German label: A, English label: A }}

Preview the page to check if:

Greek characters (α, β, γ, δ) display correctly.
HTML entities (α, β, γ, δ) render as the expected symbols.
The A is kept as a German-language span and does not break the layout.

Notes

Use this sandbox to experiment with different scripts (Greek, Cyrillic, etc.).
Test right-to-left scripts by adding spans with lang="ar" or lang="he".
If the template trims or escapes some of these, adjust the template code accordingly.

Maintenance

Add new testcases when introducing features or fixing bugs.
Keep “Expected output” updated; include rationale in edit summaries.
When deprecating parameters, add tests demonstrating legacy behavior and warnings.

Copy-paste skeletons

Below are ready-to-use skeletons for the sandbox and testcases subpages.

Skeleton: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox

{{#if:{{{required|}}} |  <div class="tmpl"> {{{param1|}}} · {{{param2|}}} {{#if:{{{flag|}}}|✓|}} {{#if:{{{raw|}}}|{{{raw}}}|}} </div> |  TEMPLATE_NAME: missing required parameter [[Category:Pages with TEMPLATE_NAME errors]] }}

Skeleton: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/testcases

; Minimal : {{TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox}} ; Common params : {{TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox | param1 = Alpha | param2 = Beta | flag = yes }} ; Edge and escaping : {{TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox | param1 = [[Linked target|Visible text]] | param2 = 20250101T000000Z | raw = <code>escaped</code> }} ; I18n : {{TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox | lang = ja | text = こんにちは世界 }} ; Error handling : {{TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox | required = }}

Review checklist

Output is stable across re-parses; no expensive parser functions without need.
No unexpected categorization in mainspace; errors go to maintenance cats.
Template is documented at Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/doc with parameters, examples, and tracking.
Style is minimal; avoid inline CSS unless necessary; consider using existing module or template styles.

This box: view • talk • edit

Template:Terminate sentence ensures a sentence ends with a specified terminator (default: a period). It avoids adding duplicate terminators and can optionally trim trailing spaces. It attempts to ignore trailing closing quotes or brackets when deciding whether a terminator is already present.

Usage

Basic:

{{Terminate sentence|This is a sentence}}
→ This is a sentence.

Named parameters:

{{Terminate sentence
 |text=He said "Hello"
 |term=.
}}
→ He said "Hello".

Custom terminator:

{{Terminate sentence|text=Warning|term=!}}
→ Warning!

Avoid duplicate terminator:

{{Terminate sentence|text=Already done.|term=.}}
→ Already done.

Trim trailing spaces:

{{Terminate sentence|text=Ends with space   |trim=yes}}
→ Ends with space.

Skip processing:

{{Terminate sentence|text=No changes here|skip=yes}}
→ No changes here

Append a note:

{{Terminate sentence|text=Complete|note=(source: 2025)}}
→ Complete. (source: 2025)

Parameters

1 / text: The input text to terminate.
term: The terminator to enforce at the end. Default is .. Common choices: !, ?.
trim: If yes/true/1, strips trailing spaces before checking.
skip: If yes/true/1, returns text unchanged (still appends note if provided).
allowdup: If yes/true/1, allows duplicate terminators (e.g., ellipses). Default disallows duplicates.
note: Optional text appended after a space, unaffected by termination logic.

Behavior details

Terminator detection attempts to ignore trailing closing quotes/brackets (", ', ”, ), ], }).
If the last visible character equals term, no extra terminator is added unless allowdup=yes.
If trim=yes, trailing spaces are removed before detection.
If note is present, it is added with a leading space after the final text.

Examples

Quotes:

{{Terminate sentence|text=He whispered "hush"|term=.}}

 → He whispered "hush".

Parentheses:

{{Terminate sentence|text=Complete (verified)|term=.}}

 → Complete (verified).

Exclamation:

{{Terminate sentence|text=Alert|term=!}}

 → Alert!

Ellipsis (allow duplicates):

{{Terminate sentence|text=Wait...|term=.|allowdup=yes}}

 → Wait....

Best practices

Prefer using term that matches the sentence intent (., !, ?).
For complex punctuation, consider the Lua-powered variant below.
Document usage in your template’s /doc page where you incorporate this helper.

Lua-powered variant (optional)

For more robust detection (including multilingual quotes and punctuation), create Module:TerminateUtil with:

-- Module:TerminateUtil
local M = {}

local closing = {
  [")"] = true, ["]"] = true, ["}"] = true,
  ['"'] = true, ["'"] = true, ["”"] = true, ["’"] = true, ["»"] = true, ["›"] = true
}

local function trimRight(s)
  return (s:gsub("%s+$",""))
end

function M.lastVisibleChar(args)
  local s = args.s or ""
  s = trimRight(s)
  local i = #s
  while i > 0 do
    local c = s:sub(i,i)
    if closing[c] then
      i = i - 1
    else
      return c
    end
  end
  return ""
end

return M

Then update the template to call:

{{#invoke:TerminateUtil|lastVisibleChar|s=text}}

This improves detection for closing quotes and brackets.

Usage

The characteristics of the box graphic are determined by which of the family of shortcut templates are chosen. For example, the policy shortcut box has the word policy on it for use on policy pages. The graphic alignment of the box depends on the whether it's a shortcut or a shortcut-l:

{{shortcut}} – right-aligned box
{{shortcut-l}} – left aligned box
{{policy shortcut}} – shortcut that also says "policy"
{{Ombox/shortcut}} – shortcut that embeds into message boxes

This template is not normally used for articles in the main namespace, because the graphic produces an avoidable self-reference.

Insert the shortcut template.
Create a redirect page with the {{R from shortcut}} template suffixed to the redirect. Name the page after your shortcut name. Include the namespace name in both the shortcut name and the redirect page name. For example, substitute your own shortcut name as the title of the page, and substitute the proper namespace, then add the following as the top-line on your redirect page:
#REDIRECT [[Namespace:Title of page with#Optional very long section name]] {{R from shortcut}}
Verify operation. Note that shortcut templates should display in all capitals, but operate without all capitals.

Notes

These templates are mainly used on user pages and talk pages in reference to the Wikipedia, Help, and Portal namespaces. These templates inform about the shortcuts available to the page they are on. For example, WP:SHORT redirects to Wikipedia:Shortcut and therefore, Wikipedia:Shortcut renders a shortcut box listing WP:SHORT. It is a self-reference that is normally avoided in the main article namespace.

The point of these templates is not to list every single redirect for a page (indeed, that's what "What links here" is for). Instead, they should list only one or two common and easily-remembered redirects.

The shortcut template can take up to five (5) shortcuts as parameters.

For policy pages, one can use the {{policy shortcut}} template, which takes up to ten (10) shortcuts as parameters. Be careful not to use a policy template on a guideline or essay.

Examples

Code	Result
`{{Shortcut\|WP:SHORT}}`	Shortcut Wikipedia:SHORT
`{{Shortcut\|WP:V\|WP:VERIFY\|WP:SOURCE}}`	Shortcuts Wikipedia:V Wikipedia:VERIFY Wikipedia:SOURCE

Anchors

These templates automatically add anchors. If a shortcut box with the shortcut WP:SHORT is placed on the page Wikipedia:Shortcut, then the link Wikipedia:Shortcut#WP:SHORT will take you to the position in the page where that shortcut box is placed.

For instance, try this link: #WP:SHORT

Thus, if you make a shortcut for a section of a page, then you can use the anchor in the shortcut redirect itself. Like this:

#REDIRECT [[Pagename#WP:SHORT]] {{R from shortcut}}

Positioning

This template is usually placed below the section header or at the top of a page.

Before July 26, 2010, when the anchor was inside the box, this caused the section header to scroll above the page window. Fixes for this issue included:

Placing the shortcut above the section header; a bit confusing when editing
Creating the redirect to the section header, not the shortcut; this would break if the section header was renamed
Placing an {{anchor}} in the section header that duplicated the shortcut

These fixes are no longer needed, but do not break the current implementation.

Template documentation

Template sandbox and testcases for TEMPLATE_NAME

Overview

Quick links

How to test

Previewing tips

Test harness

Testcase A: Minimal invocation

Basic examples

Within the template

Notes

Testcase B: Common parameters

Basic examples

Within the template

Notes

Testcase C: Edge values and escaping

Basic examples

Within the template

Notes

Testcase D: Internationalization (i18n)

Basic examples

Within the template

Notes

Testcase E: Error handling

Basic examples

Within the template

Notes

Maintenance

Categories

Copy-paste skeletons

Skeleton: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/sandbox

Skeleton: Template:TEMPLATE_NAME/testcases

Review checklist

Usage

Parameters

Behavior details

Examples

Best practices

Lua-powered variant (optional)

See also

Usage

Examples

Anchors

Positioning

See also