Template:Colon/doc

This is the documentation subpage for the parent Template:Colon page.

Usage:

Use it to generate the language-dependant punctuation signs that is used like an English colon, for example between an introducing sentence or label and a complement such as one or more values or a detailing sentence.

• By default, it is rendered according to the content language of the current page (see {{RelevantLanguage}}) so it will work in translated subpages.
• If you want to use it in a multilingual page, you'll need to specify the language code in parameter 1 (or uselang).
• If you use this template to display a plain ASCII colon (:) that you don't want to be interpreted by MediaWiki as a definition list item (or indented block), specify the "en" language code in parameter 1. (Note that this colon will be returned followed by an ASCII space.)

Warnings:

• Don't insert any space after it (this template will insert the word separator conditionally, but the colon returned in Chinese is a wide version and requires no extra space after it). Some languages also don't want any space in the same paragraph (they don't separate words by spaces).
• ASCII colons not followed by a space are used in Swedish in the middle of words, in a way similar to the apostrophe for English genitives.
• Be careful in Armenian, because the ASCII colon followed by a space is interpreted as a full stop terminating the sentence, but not introducing one or more values or another sentence (the roles of full stop and colons are swapped in Armenian!).
• Also in Khmer which has signs combining to the left of letters or at end of words, looking like a regular English colon but playing a different role in Khmer.
• Some languages do not write any punctuation in normal text of a paragraph, but spell them as plain words (e.g. in Lojban, which also does not use capitalization of the first word at start of sentences, except for proper names and untranslated capitalized words borrowed as is from other languages).

Examples:

• In English, German{{colon|en}}Spanish{{stop|en}} gives

  German: Spanish.

• In French, allemand{{colon|fr}}espagnol{{stop|fr}} gives

  allemand : espagnol.

• In Lojban, German{{colon|jbo}}Spanish{{stop|jbo}} gives

  German .i Spanish i

• In Arabic, الألمانية{{colon|ar}}الإسبانية{{stop|ar}} gives

  الألمانية: الإسبانية.

• In Armenian, գերմաներեն{{colon|hy}}իսպաներեն{{stop|hy}} gives

  գերմաներեն. իսպաներեն։

• In Khmer, អាល្លឺម៉ង់{{colon|km}}អេស្ប៉ាញ{{stop|km}} gives

  អាល្លឺម៉ង់៖ អេស្ប៉ាញ។

• In Chinese, 德语{{colon|zh}}西班牙语{{stop|zh}} gives

  德语：西班牙语。

See also:

• {{Comma}}, {{Stop}}