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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

Your source text is not altered in the output, only the way it is displayed on the screen: a copy-paste of the text will give the small caps sections in their original form; similarly, an older or non-CSS browser will only display the original text on screen.

Code: {{Smallcaps|Your Text in 4004 BC}}
Displayed: Your Text in 4004 BC
Pasted: Your Text in 4004 BC

This template is therefore intended for the use of caps as a typographic style, such as rendering family names in bibliographies in small caps to distinguish them from given names. It should not be used for acronyms or abbreviations which are supposed to be capitalized regardless of style. For such cases, use {{Smallcaps all}}.

Notes

Diacritics (å, ç, é, ğ, ı, ñ, ø, ş, ü, etc.) are handled. However, because the job is performed by each reader's browser, inconsistencies in CSS implementations can lead to some browsers not converting certain rare diacritics.
Use of this template does not generate any automatic categorization. As with most templates, if the argument contains an = sign, the sign should be replaced with {{=}}, or the whole argument be prefixed with 1=. And for wikilinks, you need to use piping. There is a parsing problem with MediaWiki which causes unexpected behavior when a template with one style is used within a template with another style.
There is a problem with dotted and dotless I. {{Lang|tr|{{Smallcaps|ı i}}}} gives you ı i, although the language is set to Turkish.
Do not use this inside citation templates, or this template's markup will be included in the COinS metadata. This means that reference management software such as Zotero will store the markup. For example, if {{smallcaps}} is used to format the surname of Bloggs, Joe in {{cite journal}}, then Zotero will store the name as Bloggs, Joe. This is incorrect COinS metadata.

Code examples

Code

Display (screen)

The Name of the 2nd Game

Leonardo {{Smallcaps|DiCaprio}} (born 1974)

Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974)

José {{Smallcaps|Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga}}

José Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga

Nesbø, Vågen, Louÿs, Zúñiga, Kabaağaçlı

When your text uses an = sign:

{{{1}}}

You and Me = Us

{{Smallcaps|You and Me {{=}} Us}}

You and Me = Us

When your text uses a template:

in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's {{Green{{!}}Green}}}} forever

Green}} forever

in {{Smallcaps|1=Fiddler's {{Green|Green}}}} forever

in Fiddler's Green forever

in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's {{Green|Green}}}} forever

in Fiddler's Green forever

{{Green|1=in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's Green}} forever}}

in Fiddler's Green forever

{{Colors|green|yellow|3=in {{Smallcaps|Fiddler's Green}} forever}}

Colors – List of colors

When your text uses a | pipe:

Before

{{Smallcaps|1=Before{{!}}afteR}}

afteR

Before|afteR

When your text uses a link:

[[{{Smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]]

[[Mao Zedong]]

[[Mao Zedong|{{Smallcaps|Mao}} Zedong]]

Mao Zedong

Note that most of these uses are not sanctioned by the WP:Manual of Style and should be avoided in article prose.

Reasons to use small caps

Small caps are useful for encyclopedical and typographical uses including:

To lighten ALL-CAPS surnames mandated by citation styles such as Harvard

Piccadilly has been compared to "a Parisian boulevard" (Dickens 1879).
Dickens, C., Jr (1879). "Piccadilly" in Dickens's Dictionary of London. London: C. Dickens.

To disambiguate Western names and surnames at a glance

Many Hispanic names are tricky to decompose:
- Jorge Luis Borges, but Adolfo Bioy (both filed under "B")
- José Álvarez, Marqués de los Trujillos
And many Hispanic names are better known by their second surname:
- Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Federico García Lorca, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Many names (Martín, Miguel, Ramón, Tomás, etc.) can be either forename or surname:
- Juan Martín Hernández vs. Rafael Martín Vázquez (two ball players)
Hungarian names natively use the surname-first order:
- Petőfi Sándor is usually westernized Sándor Petőfi

To disambiguate Eastern surnames and given names at a glance

Most Chinese names and Korean names retain their surname-first order:
- Mao Zedong fought Chiang Kai-shek
- The movie Oldboy by Park Chan-wook starring Choi Min-sik was not seen by Kim Il-sung

Especially in Hong Kong and Macao, a Western given name may be added as well:

Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing

Most Japanese names are reversed in the West, but not all:
- (Akira Kurosawa or Motojirō Kajii are usually westernized)
- But Matsuo Bashō, Ono no Komachi, Kaga no Chiyo (haiku poets known under their given name)
- But Edogawa Ranpo (kept due to wordplay "EdgarA–llanPoe) vs. Ranpo Edogawa (some modern uses)
Burmese names ignore the concept of forename/surname, but are adapted in the West:
- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of General Aung San ("Daw" is honorific, her name takes part of his name)
And some Burmese names are so short they need to retain an honorific prefix (U for Mister, Daw for Madam, Thakin for Master) which is confusable with a forename or a surname:
- U Nu ("Mister Nu"), a.k.a. Thakin Nu ("Master Nu")

To cite Unicode character names correctly without unwanted emphasizing

Such names are required to be written in capitals by the Unicode standard. In running text, “U+022A latin capital letter o with diaeresis and macron” is a less predominant alternative to “U+022A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS AND MACRON”.

Technical

Technically, the template merely wraps the standard:

 ... 

(The "font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase" has not been used because it does not work at least in Internet Explorer 5 and 6, which are still fairly common browsers.)

Suppressing small caps

If you wish to suppress the display of small caps in your browser, as a logged in user, you can make an edit to your common.css reading

span.smallcaps { font-variant: normal !important; }

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

Notes

Code examples

Reasons to use small caps

Technical

Suppressing small caps

See also