Template:Commons category

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This template is used on approximately 890,000 pages, or roughly 1% of all pages.
To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

{{Commons category}} links to a "Category:" name in the Wikimedia Commons repository that corresponds to the article or category. If the Commons category name is misspelled or missing, the link will still appear "blue" even though the link will fail. Check the existence of the category on Commons as well as the spelling of names carefully. That said, Pi bot will attempt to fix or remove links to non-existent categories. In articles, this template should be placed at the top of the last section on the page so that it floats to the right of that section. A warning will appear if the Commons link is not on Wikidata.

Shortcuts

Usage

`{{Commons category}}`	–	Fetches the Commons sitelink from Wikidata (where available)
`{{Commons category\|catname}}`	–	Puts link-box connecting title catname
`{{Commons category\|catname\|showname}}`	–	Puts link-box showing the title showname
`{{Commons category\|catname\|position=left}}`	–	Floats link-box to the left side, as option to align box to left-margin
`{{Commons category\|nowrap=yes}}`	–	Stops the text of the Commons category from wrapping
`{{Commons category\|lcfirst=yes}}`	–	Displays the first letter as lower-case
`{{Commons category\|italic=no}}`	–	Turn off italics for displayed text

The two parameters catname and showname (1 & 2) are optional, and are intended for cases where the Commons category name is different from the Wikipedia page name. The first parameter is the name of the corresponding category on the Wikimedia Commons, without the "Category:" prefix. If this first parameter is used, then the template will display the Commons category name, which may be confusing to readers. This text can be overridden by the second parameter, where the Wikipedia page name would typically be used.

For example, on the Polar bear page, {{Commons category|Ursus maritimus|Polar bears}} produces a link to Commons:Category:Ursus maritimus displayed as "Polar bears".

The parameter |position= accepts one value, |position=left, that moves the box to the left side, instead of the default right side. More information may be found at Template:Side box.

Location

Generally:

Do not place this template or any box-type template in a section all by itself.

Do not place this template in a section containing columns without floating left.

Do not indent this template with colon (:) or a bullet (*) markup.

Specifically:

In articles, this template should be placed at the top of the last section on the page so that it floats to the right of that section.
- See Wikipedia:Wikimedia sister projects#Where to place links for more information and alternatives.
In disambiguation pages, this template is usually placed at the top of the page.
In categories, this template should be grouped with other templates at the beginning of the category introduction. This avoids unnecessary white space as any text is floated around the template boxes.

Resolving discrepancies

This template compares locally-defined values against the interwiki links to Commons stored on Wikidata. The discrepancies are highlighted through the addition of maintenance categories. Pages can be removed from the tracking categories by correcting the local link; removing misplaced template uses; fixing the sitelinks on Wikidata; or expanding the category system on Commons. A workaround is to switch to {{Commons category multi}}, but ideally there should be one Commons category link per article, and it should be easy for readers to identify the related content on Commons. Some suggested approaches are:

The link is to a more general topic than the article:

Is there a more specific Commons category that could be linked to instead?
If not, could it be created with images connected to the article?
Or if there aren't any images connected to the article on Commons, could the Commons category link be removed?

There are links to multiple Commons categories in the article:

Could they be replaced by a single Commons category that has the rest as subcategories?
Do all of the Commons categories still exist?
Are they all necessary, or could they be removed?

The Commons category links back to the wrong Wikipedia article:

Can you move the sitelink to the Wikidata item for the article?

Tracking categories

Normal categories

Category:Commons category link from Wikidata (471,368)
Category:Commons category link is on Wikidata (604,699)

Maintenance categories

Category:Commons category link is defined as the pagename (1,210)
Category:Commons category link is locally defined (18,304)
Category:Commons category link is the pagename (1,009)

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Commons category in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Commons category

This template creates a small box containing a link to a category on Commons. If no value is provided the Commons category value from Wikidata is used, and if none was provided there then the page name is used.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Category name	`1`	The name of the Commons category this template will link to. If no value is provided the Commons category value from Wikidata is used, and if none was provided there then the page name is used.	String	optional
Displayed text	`2`	The text that the link will display to the user. If no value is provided it will default to category name or page name, in that order.	String	optional
Position	`position`	When set to 'left', the template will be positioned on the left side of the page. Otherwise it will default to the right side.	String	optional
nowrap	`nowrap`	Stops the text of the Commons category from wrapping	String	optional
lcfirst	`lcfirst`	Displays the first letter as lower-case	String	optional