XWiki Syntaxes

Starting with XWiki Enterprise version 1.7 and above we've introduced a new wiki syntax. So we're now naming the current syntax the XWiki Syntax v1.0 and the new syntax is logically called the XWiki Syntax v2.0. The main reasons for introducing the new syntax were:

  • Fix the limitations and ambiguities of the XWiki 1.0 syntax (which was inspired by both Radeox - the underlying rendering engine - and TWiki).
    • Not optimal symbols. For example the symbol for bold was single stars. This was causing trouble when users were entering text containing stars since that text was mistakenly considered to be bold when it wasn't. Hence we've rationalized the syntax by using at least double characters everywhere.
    • Ambiguities. For example there was an ambiguity between a bold item starting a line and a bulletted list. Resolving the ambiguities was required in order to rewrite the WYSIWYG editor so that it could be deterministic.
  • Be closer to the Creole 1.0 syntax which is becoming a standard for wiki syntax. In addition the Creole community has taken the time to analyze all the existing wiki syntaxes before deciding on symbols. The choices made are thus very good.
In addition to these 2 XWiki syntaxes we've also changed our underlying rendering engine (was Radeox previously) in favor of our own engine which is superset wrapper around Wikimodel and Doxia (and possibly others in the future). This has allowed us to provide other syntaxes in the wiki: MediaWiki, Confluence, JSPWiki, Creole, TWiki and more

General Remarks

XWiki Syntax v2.0 corrects some errors entered by the user as shown in the examples in the table below.

Example of invalid syntax Fixed XWiki Syntax 2.0
**bold **bold**
|| table cell
* list item
|| table cell

* list item
paragraph
----
paragraph
paragraph

----

paragraph
<new line at beginning of document>
paragraph
paragraph

Paragraphs

Paragraphs are text elements separated by 2 or more new lines.

In XWiki Syntax 2.0 new lines are honored which is not the case in XWiki Syntax 1.0 and in Creole syntax.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.2
Simple paragraph This is a paragraph This is a paragraph This is a paragraph This is a paragraph
Paragraph on multiple lines Paragraph on\\
multiple lines
Paragraph on
multiple lines
Paragraph on
multiple lines
Paragraph on
multiple lines
Two paragraphs Paragraph one

Paragraph two
Paragraph one

Paragraph two
Paragraph one

Paragraph two

Paragraph one

Paragraph two

Parametrized paragraph <p style="text-align:center;color:blue">Centered and blue paragraph</p> (% style="text-align:center;color:blue" %)
Centered and blue paragraph

Centered and blue paragraph

Centered and blue paragraph

Headers

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Standard headers 1 level 1
1.1 level 2
1.1.1 level 3
1.1.1.1 level 4
1.1.1.1.1 level 5
1.1.1.1.1.1 level 6
= level 1
== level 2
=== level 3
==== level 4
===== level 5
====== level 6
Closing equal signs are optional.

level 1

level 2

level 3

level 4

level 5

level 6

Parametrized headers <h2 class="heading-1"><span style="color:blue">header</span></h2> (% style="color:blue" %)
= header

header

Headers with wiki syntax 1.1.1 Header with *bold* === Header with **bold**

Header with bold

Text Formatting

New in XWiki Syntax 2.0 over XWiki Syntax 1.0:
  • Spaces are allowed just after the syntax symbols (for example in XWiki Syntax 1.0, this was not * bold *).
  • Use double symbols when there was only a single symbol in XWiki Syntax 1.0 so that it's less likely that the user will mistakenly use them in text.
  • Ability to span several lines (wasn't the case in XWiki Syntax 1.0).

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Bold *bold* **bold** bold
Underline __underline___ __underline__ underline
Italics ~~italic~~ //italic// italic
Striked out --strike-- --strike-- strike
Monospace <tt>monospace</tt> ##monospace## monospace
Superscript some <sup>superscript</sup> some ^^superscript^^ some superscript
Subscript some <sub>subscript</sub> some ,,subscript,, some subscript

Horizontal Line

There must be 4 or more dashes.
Note that this is different from Creole where exactly 4 dashes are required.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Simple Horizontal Line ---- ----
Parametrized Horizontal Line <hr style="color:blue"/> (% style="color:blue" %)
----

Lists

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Bulleted list * item 1
** item 2
*** item 3
* item 4
* item 1
** item 2
*** item 3
* item 4
  • item 1
    • item 2
      • item 3
  • item 4
Numbered list 1. item 1
11. item 2
111. item 3
1. item 4
1. item 1
11. item 2
111. item 3
1. item 4
  1. item 1
    1. item 2
      1. item 3
  2. item 4
Mixed list 1. item 1
1*. item 2
1*. item 3
1. item 4
1. item 1
1*. item 2
1*. item 3
1. item 4
  1. item 1
    • item 2
    • item 3
  2. item 4
Square list - item 1
- item 2
(% style="list-style-type: square" %)
* item 1
* item 2
  • item 1
  • item 2
Disc list <ul style="list-style-type: disc">
  <li>item1</li>
  <li>item2</li>
</ul>
(% style="list-style-type: disc" %)
* item 1
* item 2
  • item1
  • item2
Lowercase Alphabetical list a. item 1
a. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: lower-alpha" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Uppercase Alphabetical list A. item 1
A. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: upper-alpha" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Lowercase Roman list i. item 1
i. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: lower-roman" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Uppercase Roman list I. item 1
I. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: upper-roman" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Lowercase Greek list g. item 1
g. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: lower-greek" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Uppercase Greek list G. item 1
G. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: upper-greek" %)
* item1
* item2
  • item1
  • item2
Hiragana list h. item 1
h. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: hiragana" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Hiragana Iroah list H. item 1
H. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: hiragana-iroha" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Katakana list k. item 1
k. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: katakana" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Katakana Iroha list K. item 1
K. item 2
(% style="list-style-type: katakana-iroha" %)
* item1
* item2
  1. item 1
  2. item 2
Armenian list <ul style="list-style-type: armenian">
  <li>item1</li>
  <li>item2</li>
</ul>
(% style="list-style-type: armenian" %)
* item1
* item2
  • item1
  • item2
Hebrew list j. item1
j. item2
(% style="list-style-type: hebrew" %)
* item1
* item2
  • item1
  • item2
Georgian list <ul style="list-style-type: georgian">
  <li>item1</li>
  <li>item2</li>
</ul>
(% style="list-style-type: georgian" %)
* item1
* item2
  • item1
  • item2
CJK ideographic list <ul style="list-style-type: cjk-ideographic">
  <li>item1</li>
  <li>item2</li>
</ul>
(% style="list-style-type: cjk-ideographic" %)
* item1
* item2
  • item1
  • item2

Definition Lists

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Standard definition <dl>
  <dt>term</dt>
  <dd>definition</dd>
</dl>
; term
: definition
term
definition
Nested definitions <dl>
  <dt>term1</dt>
  <dd>definition1
    <dl>
      <dt>term2</dt>
      <dd>definition2</dd>
    </dl>
  </dd>
</dl>
; term1
: definition1
:; term2
:: definition2
term1
definition1
term2
definition2
Parametrized definition <dl style="color:blue">
  <dt>term</dt>
  <dd>definition</dd>
</dl>
(% style="color:blue" %)
; term
: definition
term
definition

New Line/Line breaks

A new line is a carriage return. A line break is a forced new line that can appear anywhere in the text.

In XWiki Syntax 2.0 new lines are honored which is not the case in XWiki Syntax 1.0 and in Creole syntax.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.0 Result XWiki Syntax 2.0
Line break Line\\New line Line\\New line Line
New line
Line
New line
New line Line
New line
Line
New line
Line New line Line
New line

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.0 Result XWiki Syntax 2.0
Link to a page in the current Space [WebHome] [[WebHome]] Web Home WebHome
Link with a label [label>WebHome] [[label>>WebHome]] label label
Link to a page with the space specified [Main.WebHome] [[Main.WebHome]] Web Home WebHome
Link to a subwiki [subwiki:Main.WebHome] [[subwiki:Main.WebHome]] Web Home WebHome
Link that opens in a new page [label>WebHome>_blank] [[label>>WebHome||target="_blank"]] label label
Link to a URL directly in the text This is a URL: http://xwiki.org This is a URL: http://xwiki.org This is a URL: http://www.xwiki.org This is a URL: http://www.xwiki.org
Link to a URL [http://xwiki.org] [[http://xwiki.org]] http://www.xwiki.org http://www.xwiki.org
Link to a URL with a label [XWiki>http://xwiki.org] [[XWiki>>http://xwiki.org]] XWiki XWiki
Link to an email [email>mailto:john@smith.net] [[email>>mailto:john@smith.net]] email email
Image Link <a href="$xwiki.getURL("Space1.Page1")">{image:img.png|document=Space2.Page2}</a> [[image:Space2.Page2@img.png>>Space1.Page1]]
Wiki syntax is supported inside link labels
img.png img.png
Link to attachment
See Attach Macro for details
{attach:text|file=img.png}
[[text>>attach:img.png]] text text

XWiki Syntax 1.0 Link Specification

The full format of a link is

(alias[|>])+(link)(@interWikiAlias)+([|>]target)+
  • alias: An optional string which will be displayed to the user as the link name when rendered. Example: "My Page".
  • link: The full link reference using the following syntax:
    (virtualWikiAlias:)+(space.)+(reference)(?queryString)+(#anchor)+
  • Note that either the link or the alias must be specified.
    • virtualWikiAlias: An optional string containing the name of a virtual wiki. The link will point to a page inside that virtual wiki. Example: "mywiki".
    • space: An optional Wiki Space name. If not space is specified the current space is used. Example: "Main".
    • reference: The link reference. This can be either a URI in the form protocol:path (example: "http://xwiki.org", "mailto:john@smith.com") or a wiki page name (example: "WebHome").
    • queryString: An optional query string for specifying parameters that will be used in the rendered URL. Example: "mydata1=5&mydata2=Hello".
    • anchor: An optional anchor name pointing to an anchor defined in the referenced link. Note that in XWiki anchors are automatically created for titles. Example: "TableOfContentAnchor".
  • interWikiAlias: An optional Inter Wiki alias as defined in the InterWiki Map (see the Admin Guide). Example: "wikipedia"
  • target: An optional string corresponding to the HTML target attribute for a HTML a link element. This element is used when rendering the link. It defaults to opening the link in the current page. Examples: "_self", "_blank"

XWiki Syntax 2.0 Link Specification

The full format of a link is

(label>>)?(link)(||parameters)*
  • label: the link label, can contain wiki syntax
  • link: the link target, i.e. where to go when the link is clicked. It has a similar format than in the XWiki 1.0 syntax and it can also contain 2 types of URIs: mailto: and attach: for linking to an email and linking to an attachment respectively.
  • parameters: An optional list of parameters passed to the link. For example the target element from XWiki Syntax 1.0 can be passed as a parameter.

Tables

Allows to easily create content in table format. It also support parameters for table, row or cell in XWiki Syntax 2.0.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.0 Result XWiki Syntax 2.0
Standard table {table}
Title 1 | Title 2
Word 1 | Word 2
{table}
|=Title 1|=Title 2
|Word 1|Word 2
Title 1Title 2
Word 1Word 2
Title 1Title 2
Word 1Word 2
Parametrized table <table style="background-color:red;align:center">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th>Title 1</th>
      <th style="background-color:yellow">Title 2</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Word 1</td>
      <td>Word 2</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
(% style="background-color:red;align=center" %)
|=Title 1|=(% style="background-color:yellow" %)Title 2
|Word 1|Word 2
Title 1Title 2
Word 1Word 2
Title 1Title 2
Word 1Word 2
Filterable Sortable table <table id="tableid" class="grid sortable filterable doOddEven">
  <tr class="sortHeader">
    <th>Title1</th>
    <th>Title2</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Cell11</td>
   <td>Cell12</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Cell21</td>
   <td>Cell22</td>
  </tr>
</table>
Warning: Not implemented yet
Title1 Title2
Cell11 Cell12
Cell21 Cell22
Warning: Not implemented yet

Images

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Image from attachment in current page
See Image Macro for details
{image:img.png}
image:img.png img.png
Image from attachment in another document {image:img.png|document=Space.Page} image:Space.Page@img.png img.png
Image with parameters {image:img.png|width=25|height=25} [[image:img.png||width="25" height="25"]] img.png
Images located at URL http://some/url/img.png image:http://some/url/img.png img.png

Verbatim

Allow to enter content that will not be formatted (in other words the wiki syntax will not be taken into account).

In XWiki Syntax 1.0 the Pre macro only preserves wiki syntax and Radeox macros. However HTML snippets and Groovy/Velocity scripts are still executed.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.0 Result XWiki Syntax 2.0
Verbatim inline Some verbatim {pre}*[not rendered]*{/pre} content Some verbatim {{{**[[not rendered]]**}}} content Some verbatim *[not rendered]* content Some verbatim **[[not rendered]]** content
Verbatim block {pre} multi line
*verbatim*
content
{/pre}
It's also possible to use the Code macro but it displays its content in a box by default.
{{{
multi line
**verbatim**
content
}}}
multi line
*verbatim*
content
multi line
**verbatim**
content

Quotations

Allows to quote some text.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Simple quote <blockquote><p>john said this</p></blockquote>
I said ok
> john said this
I said ok

john said this

I said ok
Nested quotes <blockquote><p>john said this</p>
  <blockquote><p>marie answered that</p></blockquote>
</blockquote>
I said ok
> john said this
>> marie answered that
I said ok

john said this

marie answered that

I said ok

Embedded documents

This feature allows inserting another document inline directly into the current document. This allows for example to insert complex elements inside a list item or inside a table cell. Embedded documents are delimited by the following syntactic elements: (((...))). One embedded document can contain its own embedded documents and there is no limit of imbrication.

XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
This feature doesn't exist in XWiki syntax 1.0. You'd have to use pure HTML to achieve the result.
|=Header 1|=Header 2|=Header 3
|Cell One|(((
= Embedded document
Some embedded paragraph.
* list item one
* list item two
  ** sub-item 1
  ** sub-item 2
))) | Cell Three
Next paragraph in the top-level document
Header 1 Header 2 Header 3
Cell One

Embedded document

Some embedded paragraph

  • list item one
  • list item two
    • sub-item 1
    • sub-item 2
 Cell Three

Next paragraph in the top-level document

Escapes

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result XWiki Syntax 1.0 Result XWiki Syntax 2.0
Escape a character This is not a \[link\] This is not a ~[~[link~]~]
To enter a ~ character use a double escape: ~~
This is not a [link] This is not a [[link]]

Macros

There are 2 kinds of macros in XWiki syntax 1.0:

  • Velocity macros (called using the #macroname(param1 … paramN) syntax)
  • Radeox macros (called using the {macroname:param1=value1|...|paramN=valueN} syntax)
There are also 2 kinds of macros in XWiki Syntax 2.0:
  • Velocity macros (called using the #macroname(param1 … paramN) syntax)
  • XWiki macros (called using the {{macroname param1="value1" … paramN="valueN"}} syntax)
The Radeox macros cannot be used in XWiki Syntax 2.0. Thus they have been rewritten as XWiki macros.

For the full list of available macros check the Macro Reference page.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
Velocity Macro #info("Some info text") {{velocity}} #info("Some info text") {{/velocity}}
Some info text
Radeox Macro/XWiki Macros {code:java} content {code} {{velocity context="new"}} content {{/velocity}} N/A (depends on the macro)

HTML

In XWiki Syntax 2.0 HTML or XHTML must be entered by using the HTML macro whereas in XWiki Syntax 1.0 it's possible to enter HTML directly in the text

XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Result
<b>bold</b> {{html}}
<b>bold</b>
{{/html}}
bold

In XWiki Syntax 2.0, by default the HTML macro understands wiki syntax. To prevent this, use {{html wiki="false"}}

Velocity/Groovy Scripts

In XWiki Syntax 1.0 it was possible to enter Velocity scripts anywhere directly in the page. This lead to issues for example when the user was involuntarily entering Velocity content. It was also performance hungry for pages not requiring Velocity content. There were several other technical limitations. Thus in XWiki Syntax 2.0 Velocity scripts must be entered using the velocity macro. Same goes for entering Groovy scripts.

Feature XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0
Velocity script #set ($var = "whatever") {{velocity}}
#set ($var = "whatever")
{{/velocity}}
Groovy script <%
def var = "whatever"
%>
{{groovy}}
def var = "whatever"
{{/groovy}}

Parameters

With XWiki Syntax 2.0 it's possible to pass parameters to the different syntax elements and also to blocks of text. This is used for example to style them. You can set any parameter key/value pair you want. The XHTML renderer will pass these parameters as XHTML attributes to the underlying XHTML representation of the different syntax elements. In XWiki Syntax 1.0 there was no syntax for passing parameters and the only way to do it was to write XHTML directly in the content as shown in the table below.

XWiki Syntax 1.0 XWiki Syntax 2.0 Generated XHTML
<h1 class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId">header</h1> (% class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId" %)
= header =
<h1 class="myClass" style="myStyle" id="myId">header</h1>

Other syntaxes

The following other syntaxes are implemented in XWiki Enterprise 1.6 and above:

Warning: The implementation for these syntaxes is not fully finished yet. For example support for links is not working yet. We also need to define if we want to extend the original syntaxes to support XWiki-specific features like ability to link to another sub-wiki.
Ultima modifica da Administrator il 15:41 01/04/2009
My Recent Modifications

Creatore: Administrator il 12:36 20/02/2008
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XWiki Enterprise 1.9.4.${buildNumber} - Documentation