Help:CS1 errors

This page describes the error messages reported by Module:Citation/CS1, what they mean, and suggests how editors might resolve the errors.

In 2013, WikiQueer editors upgraded the Citation Style 1 series of templates using the meta-template into a single Lua module as part of WQ:LUA. The benefits of the upgrade are enhanced performance, reduced complexity and redundancy, and for the purposes of this page, improved error detection and reporting.

Hidden messages
During the current phase of development, many of the new error conditions are presently being hidden by default. It is likely that many of these messages will be shown by default in the future; however, editors who wish to see them now can do so by updating their personal CSS stylesheet to include: undefined

|accessdate= requires |url=
 requires

The accessdate parameter is used to identify the date that the web resource addressed by url was accessed. Without url, accessdate is meaningless. When url is omitted or left blank, the accessdate value is not displayed.

To resolve this error, provide a value for url or remove accessdate.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

|archiveurl= and |deadurl=no requires |url=
 and  requires

Editors often preemptively locate an archived copy of a web resource and include the archive's url in a CS1 citation. When they do, they may set no to indicate that the original source url is still active. deadurl controls how the CS1 citation is formatted. Omitted or empty deadurl has the same effect as yes.

To resolve this error, provide a value for url. For web resources archived at archive.org, the original url can be found in the archiveurl value; for resources archived at webcitation.org, the original url is included in the archive header.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

|archiveurl= requires |archivedate=
 requires

archivedate identifies the date that the web resource was archived.

To resolve this error, provide a value for archivedate. For web resources archived at archive.org, the archival date can be found in the archiveurl; for resources archived at webcitation.org, the cache date is included in the archive header.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

|archiveurl= requires |url=
 requires

A properly formatted citation that includes archiveurl and archivedate requires url. When the citation includes no, the ordering of elements in the rendered citation is changed to put the original url first. This error message is not displayed by.

To resolve this error, provide a value for url. For web resources archived at archive.org, the original url can be found in the archiveurl value; for resources archived at webcitation.org, the original url is included in the archive header.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

Check |doi= value
 Check  value

When CS1 citations contain doi, a test is done to see if the prefix portion of the DOI value contains the proper " " registry identifier. Further validation of the DOI is not performed.

To resolve this error, ensure that the doi value is correct.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

Check |isbn= value
 Check  value

templates that contain isbn are checked to ensure that the ISBN is the proper length (ten or thirteen digits) and validate the final check digit according to the ISBN specification. Only one ISBN is allowed in this field because the whole isbn value is included in the citation's COinS metadata. See also WikiQueer:COinS. More than one ISBN, or characters that are not part of the ISBN, corrupt the COinS metadata and will also corrupt the link to Special:BookSources.

To resolve this error, ensure that the isbn value is correct, that only one ISBN is used, and that no other text is included. Use the 13-digit ISBN when it is available.

In very rare cases, publishers have released books with malformed ISBNs. If you are certain that a non-conforming ISBN truly corresponds to the published work, then add true to the citation suppress the error message. In many cases books may have been reissued with a corrected ISBN. Use a corrected ISBN when possible.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

Check |ol= value
 Check  value

When CS1 citations contain ol, a test is done to see if the last digit of the value is one of three characters: A (authors), M (books), or W (works). Further validation of the OL identifier is not performed.

To resolve this error, ensure that the ol value is correct.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

Check |url= scheme
 Check  scheme

External links in CS1 citations are made from two parts: the title (title, chapter, etc) and the url (url, chapter-url etc). The url portion is required to have a URI scheme. Most typically the URI scheme is  though others may be used.

CS1 examines the values assigned to url-type parameters for a colon and the double forward slash ("//"). If either of these are not found then CS1 reports this error. Further validation of the URI scheme is not performed.

To resolve this error, ensure that the url value is correct.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .

|displayauthors= suggested
<section begin=displayauthors_help_text /> suggested

Prior to the introduction of Lua-based citations, the citation formatting templates were designed to support no more than nine authors. If nine (or more) author parameters were specified, then the template would display eight author names followed by "et al." to indicate that the list had been truncated. Some editors relied on this behavior to include the "et al." label. For example:

The Lua-based citation templates can accommodate an arbitrarily large number of authors. As with the old templates, the Lua-based templates can explicitly include an "et al." label with the display-authors parameter.

The old-style templates supported at most nine authors. The new Lua-based templates cannot know if editors created citations with exactly nine authors because there were only nine authors or, because old-style citations were limited to nine authors. This error message is reported by citations with exactly nine authors but without displayauthors. To preserve the behavior of old-style citations, Lua-based citations display "et al." in place of the ninth author.

To resolve this error, add the remaining authors to the citation or set displayauthors to  or some lesser value to truncate the author list. If there are exactly nine authors, then set displayauthors to  or higher to display all nine authors without "et al."

Pages with this error are automatically placed in <section end=displayauthors_help_text />

|displayeditors= suggested
<section begin=displayeditors_help_text /> suggested

Prior to the introduction of Lua-based citations, the citation formatting templates were designed to support no more than four editors. Specifically, if four (or more) editor parameters were specified, then the template would display three editor names followed by "et al." to indicate that the list had been truncated. Some editors relied on this behavior to include the "et al." label. For example:

The Lua-based citation templates can accommodate an arbitrarily large number of editors. The Lua-based templates can also explicitly include an "et al." label with the new displayeditors parameter, a parameter that was not available to the old-style templates.

The old-style templates supported at most four editors. The new Lua-based templates cannot know if WikiQueer editors created citations with exactly four editors because there were only four editors or, because old-style citations were limited to four editors. This error message is reported by citations with exactly four editors but without displayeditors. To preserve the behavior of old-style citations, Lua-based citations display "et al." in place of the fourth editor.

To resolve this error, add the remaining editors to the citation or set displayeditors to  or some lesser value to truncate the editor list. If there are exactly four editors, then set displayeditors to  or higher to display all four editors without including "et al."

Pages with this error are automatically placed in <section end=displayeditors_help_text />

Empty citation
<section begin=empty_citation_help_text /> Empty citation

"Empty" may mean that the CS1 citation contains no recognizable parameter identifiers. For example this citation isn't "empty" because it contains usable information, but is "empty" because it doesn't contain the necessary parameter identifiers (in this case url and title) that tell how to use the information that the citation does contain:

To resolve this error, add appropriate parameter identifiers. Consider the possibility that the editor meant to use another template entirely. Perhaps the editor used when the intent was to use  or. In these cases replace the CS1 citation with the appropriate template.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=empty_citation_help_text />

Extra |pages or |at
<section begin=extra_pages_help_text /> Extra  or

This error occurs when CS1 citations attempt to simultaneously use more than one of the parameters: page, pages, or at. Each of these parameters is meant to provide a different way of specifying the location of the cited content within a larger work, and only one of these parameters is displayed in any rendered citation. According to their intended purpose, page should be used to specify a single page that is relevant to the cited content, pages should be used to specify a range or list of pages (e.g. 37–42) that are relevant, and at should be used to indicate a location in the larger work that is not a numbered page (e.g. "back cover"). Sometimes, editors misunderstand the meaning of pages, and attempt to use it to indicate the total number of pages in the resource.

When page is used with either or both of pages or at, only the page value is displayed. Similarly, when pages is used with at, only the pages value is displayed.

To resolve this error, remove the inappropriate parameter.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=extra_pages_help_text />

|format= requires |url=
<section begin=format_missing_url_help_text /> requires

This error occurs when CS1 citations use format without also providing a url for url. The format parameter is used to specify the file format of a web resource (e.g. PDF, DOC, XLS, etc.). In some cases an editor may have intended to use type to specify a kind of document (e.g. hard cover, paperback, pamphlet, etc.) The format value is always displayed.

To resolve this error, remove format or define url or change format to type.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=format_missing_url_help_text />

Missing or empty |chapter=
<section begin=trans_missing_chapter_help_text /> Missing or empty

This error occurs when a CS1 citation includes an English translation of a chapter title in trans_chapter without also including the original language chapter title in chapter.

To resolve this error, provide a value for chapter. Consider adding language if not already part of the citation.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=trans_missing_chapter_help_text />

Missing or empty |title=
There are four slightly different error conditions that can arise when CS1 citations lack appropriate titles. In each case, CS1 reports this error message. The necessary resolution may vary depending on the cause of the error. The error message links to the appropriate description below.

<section begin=bare_url_missing_title_help_text /> Missing or empty – Bare URL without a title

All Lua-based CS1 citations except report this error when a url-containing parameter, such as url, cannot be paired with an associated title. Because URLs are ugly and generally uninformative, it is expected that editors should provide a meaningful title for each url. In most cases this can be accomplished by using the title parameter. However, this error may also occur with other less used url parameters, such as chapter-url, or when the title can not be linked due to conflicting titlelink parameter.

To resolve this error, provide an appropriate title for the URL, usually title.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=bare_url_missing_title_help_text />

<section begin=citation_missing_title_help_text /> Missing or empty – Citation without a title of any form

This error occurs for CS1 citations when all of the associated title parameters are omitted or left blank. Depending on the type of citation (,, , etc.), the possible title parameters may include title, chapter, article, journal, booktitle, and so forth. At least one such title parameter must be provided for each citation.

Sometimes this error occurs because an editor has used a CS1 citation as a substitute for or the  family of shortened footnotes.

To resolve this error, provide a value for title or, when used as a shortened footnote substitute, replace the CS1 citation with an appropriate shortened footnote template.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=citation_missing_title_help_text />

<section begin=trans_missing_title_help_text /> Missing or empty – Translated title included without the original title

CS1 citations report this error when the citation includes an English translation of the title in trans_title without also including the original language title in title.

To resolve this error, provide the original language title for title. Consider adding language if not already part of the citation.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=trans_missing_title_help_text />

<section begin=cite_web_title_help_text /> Missing or empty – Web citation without a title

Only citations that use url without an associated title report this error. Because URLs are ugly and generally uninformative, it is expected that editors should provide a meaningful title for each url. When rendered these citations display the bare url followed by the error message.

To resolve this error, provide a value for title.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=cite_web_title_help_text />

Missing or empty |url=
<section begin=cite_web_url_help_text /> Missing or empty

This is error message is reported only by CS1 citations where url is blank or omitted. The url parameter is required so that title can link to the web resource.

To resolve this error, provide a value for url or use a more appropriate CS1 citation.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=cite_web_url_help_text />

More than one of |param1=, |param2=, and |param3= specified
<section begin=redundant_parameters_help_text /> More than one of,  , and   specified

This error occurs when a CS1 citation includes more than one parameter that maps to the same meaning. For example, author, last, and last1 are all synonyms of each other, so no more than one of these parameters should ever be used in a single citation.

To resolve this error, remove or modify the redundant parameter(s).

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=redundant_parameters_help_text />

Text "????" ignored
<section begin=text_ignored_help_text /> Text "????" ignored

Unlike many WikiQueer templates, the CS1 citations do not use unnamed or positional parameters. When a citation contains text between vertical bars and that text does not contain an equal sign (=), CS1 ignores the text and reports the error. This is true even when the text is the name of a valid parameter.

This error can also caused by vertical bars that are part of urls or titles. When vertical bars occur in urls, replace each vertical bar with. When vertical bars occur in parameter values that are not urls, replace each vertical bar with.

To resolve this error, remove the extraneous text, add '=', add an appropriate parameter name to complete the parameter, or properly encode vertical bars in urls and titles.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=text_ignored_help_text />

Unknown parameter |????= ignored
<section begin=parameter_ignored_help_text /> Unknown parameter  ignored

CS1 citations report this error when the name portion of a parameter's value pair is not recognized as a valid name. Typically this is caused by spelling or typographical errors.

To resolve this error, ensure that the parameter's name is correctly spelled and that there are no characters except spaces between the parameter's name and the leading vertical bar (|) or trailing equal sign (=). A list of valid parameters can be found by consulting Help:Citation Style 1 or visiting the description page of the specific template being used, such as, , , etc.

For frequently encountered errors, consider adding a suggested correction to the list of common parameter misspellings.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=parameter_ignored_help_text />

Unknown parameter |xxxx= ignored (|yyyy= suggested)
<section begin=parameter_case_help_text /> Unknown parameter  ignored (  suggested)

CS1 citations report this error when the name portion of a parameter's value-pair is not recognized as a valid name. With very few exceptions CS1 citation parameters are lower case. CS1 will report this error when the parameter's name contains uppercase letters (Xxxx, xxXx, XXXX) but the parameter's name is defined as lowercase (xxxx). Some parameters, like isbn can be either lowercase or uppercase, but not of mixed case (isbn or ISBN but not Isbn). CS1 will also report this error when the parameter's name matches a name in the list of common parameter misspellings (found acessdate but expected accessdate).

CS1 will offer a suggested parameter name from the list of valid parameters or from the list of common parameter misspellings.

To resolve this error, replace the erroneous parameter name with a correct one, possibly using the suggested name.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=parameter_case_help_text />

Wikilink embedded in URL title
<section begin=wikilink_in_url_help_text /> Wikilink embedded in URL title

Fields such as title, chapter, article, or booktitle may include a wikilink to another WikiQueer article, or they may include a link to an external site using url or a similar parameter, but they cannot include both.

To resolve this error, remove wikilinks that occur within fields that are intended to be externally linked. Or, remove the external URL, which will allow the internal wikilinks to work as expected. Language templates will also cause this error: use language with the plain name of the language instead.

Pages with this error are automatically placed in .<section end=wikilink_in_url_help_text />