Help:Special pages

Saintapedia namespaces
Virtual namespaces
-1	Special
	view · talk · edit

Special pages (maintenance)	Information
Broken redirects
Dead-end pages	Dead-end pages
Dormant pages	Forgotten articles
Double redirects	Double redirects
Lonely pages	Orphaned articles
Long pages
New pages	New pages patrol
New pages feed	Page curation
Protected pages	Protection policy
Short pages
Uncategorized pages	Categorization
Uncategorized categories
Uncategorized templates
Unused categories
Unused files (images)
Unused templates
Without interwiki links
Most interwiki links
Wanted pages
Most-wanted articles
See also: Maintenance departments

Special pages are pages generated by the software on demand for special purposes, usually related to project maintenance. They are found in the Special: namespace, a virtual namespace whose pages lack corresponding talk pages. They are not written in wikitext and cannot be directly edited but elements of their pages can sometimes be edited through corresponding pages in the MediaWiki namespace. If you make a normal redirect to a special page, the redirect will not be immediately followed (though special pages can be targets of soft redirects), and directly creating any pages beginning with the Special: prefix is also not possible.

Special pages often take parameters. Sometimes these can be supplied after a slash (as in Special:Log/block); in other cases an index.php call is used; for example https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges&days=3&limit=10. Also, the content of most special pages depends on preferences that have been set by the user, e.g. classic or enhanced Recent Changes, the number of titles in Recent Changes and the watchlist, etc.

A directory of special pages available for the current user can be accessed from Special:SpecialPages, which is found in the sidebar of every page on Saintapedia in the Tools section.

Modifying special pages

Although special pages are not themselves editable, they generally contain standard text which is modifiable (although only by administrators). To find the right portion of text, append ?uselang=qqx to the special page URL, or append &uselang=qqx instead if the URL already contains a ?. This will reveal message names in parentheses. Then, go to that name in the MediaWiki namespace. For example, Template:Querylink reveals "(booksources-summary)", so MediaWiki:Booksources-summary is used on that page. An administrator will make the change if it seems appropriate.

Available special pages

By function

General information

Special:AllMessages (System messages): displays all pages in the MediaWiki namespace. See Help:MediaWiki namespace.
Special:SpecialPages: a list of most special pages currently available to all users.
Special:Statistics: total number of pages and users in various categories.
Special:Version: shows the version of the software the site is currently running and lists the extensions, skins, and libraries currently installed.

Page listings

Special:AllPages: allows the user to access a portion of an alphabetical list of all Saintapedia pages in a specified namespace. A starting point can be given as a parameter, e.g. Special:AllPages/T (pages in the main namespace, from "T"), Special:AllPages/Template: (pages in the Template: namespace, from the start).
Special:Categories: shows an alphabetical list of categories, with numbers of members.
Special:CategoryTree: displays categories in a tree structure.
Special:ListFiles (File list): list of images and other files uploaded; can be sorted by size or date. Special:ListFiles/Example lists files uploaded by User:Example.
Special:ListRedirects (Redirects): lists all redirects.
Special:PagesWithProp (Pages with a page property): lists pages that use a particular page property.
Special:PrefixIndex (All pages with prefix): similar to AllPages. Lists all pages of a specified namespace beginning with a given prefix. Useful to find subpages, for example: Special:PrefixIndex/User:Example.
Special:ProtectedPages: lists protected pages.
Special:ProtectedTitles: lists titles which have been protected to prevent pages being created there.

Tools

Special:ApiHelp: MediaWiki API help.
Special:ApiSandbox
Special:ComparePages: to compare two pages (diffs between two pages).
Special:Diff: e.g. [[Special:Diff/611653557|<text>]] gives diff between version 611653557 and the preceding version of the same article, or [[Special:Diff/583498451/611653557|<text>]] gives diff between version 583498451 and 611653557, not necessarily of the same article, e.g. Special:Diff/330350877/611653557.
Special:Export (Export pages): produces an XML file containing the wikitext and metadata of either the current version only, or all revisions, of one or more pages, specified in the form of a list; the XML file is in the format required for Special:Import; exporting is typically done either in preparation of applying the latter at another MediaWiki project, or for searching within old page revisions. See Help:Export.
Special:Gadgets: lists gadgets that users can enable in their preferences.
Special:MIMESearch: filters files for media type.
Special:MovePage: for moving (renaming) a page (see Help:Renaming). The page must be given as a parameter.
Special:Random: redirects to a random page from the main namespace which is not a redirect. Other namespaces can be specified as a parameter, e.g. Special:Random/Talk.
Special:RandomInCategory (Random page in category): redirects to a random page within the specified category (can be from any namespace).
Special:RandomRedirect: redirects to a random redirect page.
Special:RandomRootpage: redirects to a random root page, that is, excluding sub-pages.
Special:Search: for searching Saintapedia. See Help:Searching.
Special:Upload (Upload file): upload a file to the wiki.
Special:WhatLinksHere: enables listing all pages linking to a given page (including transclusions and redirects). The target can be specified as a parameter, e.g. Special:WhatLinksHere/Swaziland. See Help:What links here.

Latest changes

Special:Log (All public logs): combined display of various logs. The type of log, user and page affected can be specified. Parameters "block", "delete", "protect" and "upload" are available. e.g. Special:Log/block displays the block log directly. For more information, see Help:Log.
Special:NewFiles (Gallery of new files): gallery of new uploaded files.
Special:NewPages: newest pages with creation date and time, current size, user who created the page, and first edit summary, in reverse order of creation.
Special:RecentChanges: lists the latest edits in the project. Changes to watched pages appear bold. See Help:Recent changes.
Special:RecentChangesLinked (Related changes): enables listing of the most recent changes in pages linked from a selected page, or belonging to a selected category. Changes to watched pages appear bold. The page can be supplied as a parameter, e.g. Special:RecentChangesLinked/Lesotho. See Help:Related changes.
Special:Tags: lists the tags with which edits may be marked. See Wikipedia:Tags.

Users

Special:ActiveUsers (Active users list): lists editors who have performed at least one action in the last 30 days.
Special:BlockList (Blocked users): blocked IPs and usernames.
Special:Contributions (User contributions): enables listing of a user's contributions, or all new users' contributions. The user can be supplied as a parameter, e.g. Special:Contributions/Example. See Help:User contributions.
Special:EmailUser: e.g. Special:EmailUser/Example. For emailing users, see Wikipedia:Emailing users.
Special:ListGroupRights (User group rights): shows the rights assigned to user groups.
Special:ListUsers (Users): lists all registered users. Can be filtered by group (e.g. administrators) and other criteria. Note that Special:ListAdmins redirects to Special:ListUsers/sysop.

Personal

Special:ChangePassword, Special:ChangeEmail (Change or remove email address), Special:ConfirmEmail (Confirm email address) and Special:ResetTokens
Special:Contributions (User contributions)
- Special:MyContributions: links to your contributions page. See Help:User contributions.
Special:EditWatchlist and Special:EditWatchlist/raw: To edit your watchlist.
Special:MyPage: links to your user page.
Special:MyTalk: links to your user talk page.
Special:MyUploads (File list): lists files you have uploaded.
Special:Notifications: links to your notifications page.
Special:Preferences: allows you to view and modify your personal settings. See Help:Preferences.
Special:UserLogin (Log in): to log in to Saintapedia. Special:UserLogin/signup (Create account) to create an account. See Help:Logging in.
Special:UserLogout (Log out): to log out of your account.
Special:Watchlist: shows recent changes to the pages you are watching. See Help:Watchlist.

Maintenance

Special:BrokenRedirects: lists redirects that point a non-existent page. May contain false positives.
Special:DoubleRedirects: lists redirects that redirect to another redirect. May contain false positives.
Special:FileDuplicateSearch: Check to see if a certain file has a duplicate.
Special:ListDuplicatedFiles: See all duplicated files on Saintapedia.
Special:LongPages: pages in the main namespace, with size in bytes, in order of decreasing size.
Special:MostLinkedFiles (Most linked-to files): lists images and other files linked from the largest number of pages.
Special:ShortPages: pages in the main namespace, with size (of the wikitext excluding that of templates used) in bytes, in order of increasing size.
Special:UncategorizedFiles: images and other files without category tags (see above).
Special:UncategorizedPages: pages without category tags
Special:UncategorizedCategories
Special:UncategorizedTemplates: templates without category tags (see above).
Special:UnusedCategories
Special:UnusedFiles
Special:UnusedTemplates: templates which are not transcluded (however, they may be used for substitution).
Special:WantedCategories: categories with members but no category page.
Special:WantedFiles: missing image files and others.
Special:WithoutInterwiki (Pages without language links): pages without links to other language Wikipedias.

Miscellaneous

Special:BlankPage: a blank page.
Special:BookSources: search sources for a book by inputting the book's ISBN number.
Special:Captcha (CAPTCHA help): shows "Captcha" help.
Special:Cite (Cite This Page): generates bibliographic citations, in several formats, for citing a Saintapedia article as a reference.
Special:ExpandTemplates: an extension used to produce expanded wikitext, i.e. templates, parser functions and variables in the input text are expanded recursively. See also mw:Extension:ExpandTemplates.
Special:FilePath (Redirect by file, user, page or revision ID): returns the complete path for a file.
Special:Interwiki (View interwiki data): view interwiki data.
Special:LinkSearch (External links search): for searching for external links. See Help:Linksearch and mw:Help:Linksearch.
Special:Permalink/Oldid: for linking to a specific version of a wiki page. See Help:Permanent link.
Special:Random: a random page.
Special:Redirect (Redirect by file, user, page or revision ID): Special:Redirect/revision/532639569 is equivalent to Special:Permalink/532639569

Restricted

The following pages can be accessed only by users with certain privileges.

Special:Block: available to administrators. Used to block or unblock users, IPs and ranges of IPs.
Special:DeletedContributions: available to administrators.
Special:Import: available to administrators and importers. See Help:Import.
Special:LockDB and Special:UnlockDB: available only to developers. Used to switch the database between read/write and read-only modes.
Special:Undelete: available to administrators. Provides one way to undelete a page.
Special:UnwatchedPages: available to administrators.
Special:UserRights: can be read by anyone, however only administrators can use the page to assign and remove user access rights (e.g. rollbacker status).

Infrequently updated

The following special pages are updated on a less regular schedule. Some of these pages may have analogues on cloud services.

Special:AncientPages (Dormant pages): pages in the main namespace, in order of last edit.
Special:DeadendPages: pages without any outgoing links. Updated on the 9th and 23rd of each month.^[2]
Special:FewestRevisions (Pages with the fewest revisions): lists articles with the fewest revisions. Updated on the 13th and 27th of each month.^[3]
Special:LonelyPages (Orphaned pages): i.e. articles with no links to them in the wiki. Updated on the 15th of every month.^[4]
Special:MostCategories (Pages with the most categories): lists articles whose number of categories is largest. Updated on the 16th of every month.^[5]
Special:MostLinkedCategories (Most linked-to categories): lists categories with the most pages. Updated on the 17th of every month.^[6]
Special:MostLinkedPages (Most linked-to pages): lists pages linked from the largest number of other pages. Updated on the 10th and 24th of each month.^[7]
Special:MostRevisions (Pages with the most revisions): lists articles with the most revisions. Updated on the 11th and 25th of each month.^[8]
Special:MostTranscludedPages or Special:MostLinkedTemplates (Most transcluded pages): lists templates for which the number of pages in which the template is transcluded is largest, not counting transclusions through redirects. Updated on the 18th of every month.^[9]
Special:UncategorizedCategories Updated on the 19th of every month.^[10]
Special:WantedPages Updated on the 12th and 26th of each month.^[11]
Special:WantedTemplates Updated on the 20th of every month.^[12]

Alphabetical order

A

Special:ActiveUsers, Active users list
Special:AllMessages, System messages
Special:AllMyUploads, File list
Special:AllPages, All pages
Special:AncientPages, Dormant pages
Special:ApiHelp, MediaWiki API help
Special:ApiSandbox, MediaWiki web service API sandbox
Special:AutoblockList, list of active autoblocks

B

Special:BlankPage, Blank page
Special:Block, Block user
Special:BlockList, Blocked users
Special:BookSources, Book sources given the 10- or 13-digit ISBN number
Special:BotPasswords, Create bot passwords
Special:BrokenRedirects, Broken redirects
Special:BrokenLinks, Wanted pages. Redirects to Special:WantedPages.

C

Special:Captcha, CAPTCHA help
Special:Categories, Categories
Special:CategoryTree, Category tree
Special:ChangeContentModel, Change content model of a page. Available only to template editors and administrators.
Special:ChangeCredentials, For changing password
Special:ChangeEmail, Change or remove email address
Special:ChangePassword, For changing password
Special:CiteThisPage, Cite this page
Special:CollabPad
Special:ComparePages, Compare differences between page A and B
Special:ConfirmEmail, Confirm email address
Special:Contribs, redirects to Special:Contributions
Special:Contributions, List contributions of a user
Special:CreateAccount, Create account

D

Special:DeadendPages, Dead-end pages
Special:DeletedContributions, Deleted user contributions
Special:Diff, Display the difference between one version and another of a Saintapedia page
Special:DisplayNotificationsConfiguration, Display Notifications configuration
Special:DoubleRedirects, Double redirects

E

Special:Edit, redirects to Special:EditPage
Special:EditPage, edit a page
Special:EditTags, For edit tags
Special:EditWatchlist, Edit watchlist
Special:EmailUser, Email user
Special:ExpandTemplates, Expand templates
Special:Export, Export pages

F

Special:FewestRevisions, Pages with the fewest revisions
Special:FileDuplicateSearch, Search for duplicate files
Special:FilePath, Redirect to a file
Special:FileList, File list. Redirects to Special:ListFiles

G

Special:Gadgets, List of Gadgets
Special:GadgetUsage, Gadget usage statistics
Special:GoToInterwiki, (required value: valid project prefix), Hop into another project. Example: Special:GoToInterwiki/fr:

H

Special:History, (required value; valid page name). Page history. Special:History/Wikipedia:Sandbox

I

Special:Import, Import pages. Available only to administrators and importers.
Special:Info, redirects to Special:PageInfo
Special:Interwiki, View interwiki data
Special:InvalidateEmail, invalidate e-mail. Parameter required.

L

Special:LinkAccounts, Link accounts
Special:LinkSearch, External links search
Special:ListAdmins, redirects to Special:ListUsers/sysop
Special:ListBots, redirects to Special:ListUsers/bot
Special:ListDuplicatedFiles, List of files with duplicates
Special:ListGrants, Grants
Special:ListGroupRights, User group rights
Special:ListRedirects, Redirects
Special:ListUsers, List of all users
Special:LockDB, Lock database (disable write)
Special:Log, All public logs
Special:LonelyPages, Orphaned pages
Special:LongPages, Long pages
Special:Login, redirects to Special:UserLogin
Special:Logout, redirects to Special:UserLogout

M

Special:MathShowImage
Special:MathStatus, Math status
Special:MediaStatistics, Media statistics about uploaded file types
Special:MergeHistory, Merge page histories
Special:MIMESearch, MIME search
Special:MostCategories, Pages with the most categories
Special:MostInterwikis, Pages with the most interwikis
Special:MostLinkedCategories, Most linked-to categories
Special:MostLinkedFiles, Most linked-to files
Special:MostLinkedPages, Most linked-to pages
Special:MostRevisions, Pages with the most revisions
Special:MostTranscludedPages, Most transcluded pages
Special:MovePage, (required value: valid page name). Example Special:MovePage/Main page
Special:MyContributions, User contributions
Special:MyLanguage, intended for multilingual sites. This special page goes to the page of the name supplied after the slash, e.g. Special:MyLanguage/Example goes to Example on this wiki. When an interwiki Page or an invalid page name is entered after the slash, this page redirects to Main page.
Special:MyPage, User page for active user, also used for generic link to User/sandbox
Special:MyTalk, Talk page of active user.
Special:MyUploads, Uploads of active user

N

Special:NewFiles, Gallery of new files
Special:NewPages, New pages
Special:Notifications, notifications
Special:NotificationsMarkRead, Notification: Mark as read

O

Special:OrphanedPages, Orphaned pages

P

Special:PageHistory, e.g. Special:PageHistory/Example is the page history for the page Example. Redirects to Special:History on mobile view.
Special:PageInfo, information for a page
Special:PasswordReset, Reset password
Special:PermanentLink, A link to a specific version of a wiki page
Special:Preferences, preferences
Special:PrefixIndex, All pages with prefix
Special:ProtectedPages, Protected pages
Special:ProtectedTitles, Protected titles
Special:Purge, refresh a page

Q

None

R

Special:Random, Random page
Special:RandomInCategory, Random page in category
Special:RandomRedirect, Random redirect
Special:RandomRootpage
Special:RecentChanges, Recent changes
Special:RecentChangesLinked, Related changes
Special:Redirect, Redirect by file, user, page, revision, or log ID
Special:RemoveCredentials
Special:RenameUser, locally rename user. Used extremely rarely and available only to stewards.
Special:ResetTokens, Reset tokens which allow access to certain private data associated with your account
Special:RevisionDelete, used to delete revisions
Special:RunJobs

S

Special:Search, search
Special:ShortPages, Short pages
Special:SpecialPages, Special pages
Special:Statistics, statistics

T

Special:Tags, Tags that the software may mark an edit or logged action with, and their meaning
Special:Thanks, Send thanks
Special:TrackingCategories, Tracking categories which are automatically populated by the MediaWiki software

U

Special:Unblock, Unblock user
Special:UncategorizedCategories, Uncategorized categories
Special:UncategorizedFiles, Uncategorized files
Special:UncategorizedPages, Uncategorized pages
Special:UncategorizedTemplates, Uncategorized templates
Special:Undelete, Search deleted pages; View and restore deleted pages
Special:UnlinkAccounts
Special:UnlockDB, opposite of LockDB
Special:UnusedCategories, Unused categories
Special:UnusedFiles, Unused files
Special:UnusedTemplates, Unused templates
Special:Upload, Upload file
Special:UploadStash, Upload stash, files that are uploaded or in the process of uploading
Special:UserLogin, log in
Special:UserLogout, log out
Special:UserRights, User groups management
Special:UserGroupRights, redirects to Special:ListGroupRights
Special:UserList, redirects to Special:ListUsers

V

Special:Version, Version of MediaWiki in use, extensions installed, authors, etc.

W

Special:WantedCategories, most red-linked categories
Special:WantedFiles, most red-linked images
Special:WantedPages, most red-linked articles
Special:WantedTemplates, most red-linked templates
Special:Watchlist, watchlist
Special:WhatLinksHere, What links here
Special:WithoutInterwiki, Pages without language links

Linking and transcluding

To create a link to a special page:

[[Special:PrefixIndex/HMS]] → Special:PrefixIndex/HMS

It can take a label:

[[Special:PrefixIndex/HMS|All HMSs]] → All HMSs

To present the list on a page, transclude the name:

{{Special:PrefixIndex/HMS}}

However, some pages cannot be transcluded and would produce only a wikilink (e.g., {{Special:Random}} → Special:Random). When non-existent pages are linked or transcluded, a red link is produced (e.g., Special:RedLinkExample).^{[lower-alpha 1]}

More information on transcludable special pages can be found at Help:Transclusion#Special pages.

Links containing URL query strings

Main page: Help:Link#Links containing URL query strings

Because the ampersand character (&) is disallowed, it is not possible to create an ordinary link containing &action=edit or &redirect=no in the URL query string.

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

External links

MediaWiki special page class definitions

Template:Wikipedia technical help
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named 'lower-alpha', but no corresponding <references group='lower-alpha'/> tag was found

[1] ttps://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension_default_namespaces

[2] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/deadendpages.pp

[3] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/fewestrevisions.pp

[4] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/enwiki/cronjob.pp#4

[5] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/enwiki/cronjob.pp#9

[6] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/enwiki/cronjob.pp#14

[7] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/mostlinked.pp

[8] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/mostrevisions.pp

[9] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/enwiki/cronjob.pp#19

[10] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/enwiki/cronjob.pp#24

[11] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/wantedpages.pp

[12] ttps://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/puppet/+/0c69e0e8cdcdf4cf25a29aebe9ae87eb2eabf700/modules/profile/manifests/mediawiki/maintenance/updatequerypages/enwiki/cronjob.pp#29

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[lower-alpha 1]

Saintapedia namespaces^[1]
Basic namespaces		Talk namespaces
0	Main	Talk	1
2	User	User talk	3
4	Saintapedia	Saintapedia talk	5
6	File	File talk	7
8	MediaWiki	MediaWiki talk	9
10	Template	Template talk	11
12	Help	Help talk	13
14	Category	Category talk	15
100	Portal	Portal talk	101
106	Form	Form talk	107
420	GeoJson	GeoJson talk	421
828	Module	Module talk	829
844	CommentStreams	CommentStreams talk	845
2300	Gadget	Gadget talk	2301
2302	Gadget definition	Gadget definition talk	2303
Virtual namespaces
-1	Special
view · talk · edit