Help:Style/Formatting and punctuation

Template:Stub The following directions define how different parts of the content of an article should be highlighted through formatting or punctuation.

General rules

These rules always override #Specific cases.

• Do not mix more than one highlighting method except where explicitly allowed by these rules.
• Do not use different highlighting methods from the ones defined in this manual; this includes, but is not limited to, underlining, blinking, full-word capitalization, colors, asterisks, exclamation marks, emoticons, HTML tags with a style attribute.

First instances

• The first relevant appearance of a term or name in an article (e.g. executable names) can be highlighted if regarded as worthy of particular attention, considering the topic of the article or the specific section. The first "relevant" appearance may not be the absolute first appearance of the name: its choice is left to the editor.
• The preferable way of highlighting the name is using a link to a closely related article in the wiki or to an external page, like Wikipedia; if there are no possible pertinent links, bold can be used as a fallback solution.
• Package and group names should make use of Template:Pkg, Template:AUR or Template:Grp.
• Note that if the name is already introduced by the title of the article or by a section heading, it does not require any further highlighting in the article, except in the case of #Name/term lists.

Links

• Whenever any of the above formatting cases can be a link to another article or external page, the link takes precedence over any formatting (which is discarded).

Name/term lists

• Keep consistent formatting in lists of executable names, technical terms... even if not all of the items would require to be formatted (e.g. all-caps terms, which should not be italic-ized by themselves, or names in a list where most of the items are formatted according to #First instances.

Specific cases

#General rules always override the following rules.

Italic

Use the MediaWiki syntax ''italic text'' instead of <i> tags.

• #Executable/application names
  • only for full lower-case names
  • not when used in #CLI lines
  • affected by #First instances
• #File extensions
• #Repository names
  • affected by #First instances
• #Package and group names
  • affected by #First instances
• #Pseudo-variables
• #GUI/TUI text
• #Technical terms
  • affected by #First instances
• #Stressed/strong words or statements
  • can also use bold
• #Acronym/abbreviation expansions

Bold

Use the MediaWiki syntax '''bold text''' instead of <b> tags.

• #Important part of file/command line contents
• #Stressed/strong words or statements
  • can also use italic
• #First instances

Monospace

Use Template:ic {{ic|monospace text}} instead of <code> tags for text outside of code blocks.

• #File names and paths
  • also device names
  • not file extensions
• #Daemons/services, kernel modules
• #Configuration parameters, variables, options, properties...
  • also command options
  • also user groups
  • also (environment) variables
• #CLI lines
• #File content
• #Keyboard keys

Quote marks

Use typewriter quotes "quoted text" instead of single quotes 'quoted text' or typographic quotes “quoted text”.

• #Words/letters when referenced as mere "text entities"
• #Generic words used in an improper or questionable way
• #Inline quotations

Examples

Executable/application names

Use italic, but only for full lower-case names. Affected by #First instances.

• Uncomment the selected locale in /etc/locale.gen and generate it with the locale-gen utility.
• As of v197, udev no longer assigns network interface names according to the wlanX and ethX naming scheme.
• The Arch Linux install media includes the following partitioning tools: fdisk, gdisk, cfdisk, cgdisk, parted.

Note that this rule applies to executables when they represent the application/file itself, not when used in #CLI lines. In particular pay attention to executables that are usually run without any arguments:

• Uncomment the selected locale in /etc/locale.gen and generate it with locale-gen.
• If pacman fails to verify your packages, check the system time with cal.
• Set a root password with passwd.

File extensions

Use italic.

• Pacman is written in the C programming language and uses the .pkg.tar.xz package format.

File names and paths

Use monospace.

• To test if you have booted into UEFI mode check if directory /sys/firmware/efi has been created.
• Edit resolv.conf, substituting your name servers' IP addresses and your local domain name.
• Before installing, you may want to edit the mirrorlist file and place your preferred mirror first.

Also names with wildcards:

• For kernel modules to load during boot, place a *.conf file in /etc/modules-load.d/, with a name based on the program that uses them.

Also device names:

• Each partition is identified with a number suffix. For example, sda1 specifies the first partition of the first drive, while sda designates the entire drive.

Package and group names

Use italic for package and package-group names. Affected by #First instances.

• The package wireless_tools then provides a basic set of tools for managing the wireless connection.

Repository names

Use italic for repository names. Affected by #First instances.

• If you enable testing, you must also enable community-testing.