PmWiki: FAQ

How do I create a basic table?

Tables are created via use of the double pipe character: ||. Lines beginning with this markup denote rows in a table; within such lines the double-pipe is used to delimit cells. In the examples below a border is added for illustration (the default is no border).

|| border=1 rules=rows frame=hsides
|| cell 1 || cell 2 || cell 3 ||
|| cell 1 || cell 2 || cell 3 ||

How do I create cell headers?

Header cells can be created by placing ! as the first character of a cell. Note that these are table headers, not headings, so it doesn't extend to !!, !!!, etc.

|| border=1 rules=cols frame=vsides
||! cell 1 ||! cell 2 ||! cell 3 ||
|| cell 1  ||  cell 2 ||  cell 3 ||

How do I obtain a table with thin lines and more distance to the content?

"Thin lines" is tricky and browser dependent, but the following works for Firefox and IE (Nov. 2009):

||border="1"
style="border-collapse:collapse"
cellpadding="5" width=66%
||!Header ||! Header || '''Header'''||
||cells   ||  with   ||      padding||
||        ||         ||             ||

How do I create an advanced table?

See table directives

My tables are by default centered. When I try to use '||align=left' they don't align left as expected.

Use ||style="margin-left:0px;" instead.

How can I specify the width of columns?

You can define the widths via custom styles, see Cookbook:FormattingTables and $TableCellAttrFmt. Add in config.php : $TableCellAttrFmt = 'class=col\$TableCellCount';

table.column td.col1 { width: 120px; }
table.column td.col3 { width: 40px; }

How can I display a double pipe "||" in cell text using basic table markup?

Escape it with [=||=] to display || unchanged.

How to I apply styles to the elements of the table, like an ID to the table row, or a class/style to the TD?

See $WikiStyleApply.

Can I define table headers using the table directive markup?

Yes, with PmWiki version 2.2.11 or newer. See also Cookbook:AdvancedTableDirectives.

Is it possible to do nested tables?

Yes, if you nest simple tables inside advanced tables. See also Cookbook:AdvancedTableDirectives.

Is it possible to add background images to tables and table cells?

Yes, see Cookbook:BackgroundImages.

Is it possible to apply styles to the elements of the table, like an ID to the table row, or a class/style to the TD?

Yes, see $WikiStyleApply.

How can I change the keyboard shortcuts for editing and saving a page?

See Customizing access keys.

Can I get (:redirect:) to return a "moved permanently" (HTTP 301) status code?

Use (:redirect PageName status=301:).

Is there any way to prevent the "redirected from" message from showing at the top of the target page when I use (:redirect:)?

From version 2.2.1 on, set in config.php $EnableRedirectQuiet=1; and in the page (:redirect OtherPage quiet=1:) for a quiet redirect.

Is there any method for redirecting to the equivalent page in a different group, i.e. from BadGroup/thispage => GoodGroup/thispage using similar markup to (:redirect Goodgroup.{Name}:)?

How can a wiki enable linebreaks by default, i.e. without having the directive (:linebreaks:) in a page or in a GroupHeader?

Add to config.php such a line:
$HTMLPNewline = '<br/>';

What's the maximum number of includes that can exist in a page?

By default, PmWiki places a limit of 50 include directives for any given page, to prevent runaway infinite loops and other situations that might eat up server resources. (Two of these are GroupHeader and GroupFooter.) The limit can be modified by the wiki administrator via the $MaxIncludes variable.

Is there any way to include from a group of pages without specifying by exact name, e.g. between Anchor X and Y from all pages named IFClass-* ?

This can be achieved using page lists.

There appears to be a viewing issue when the included page contains the (:title:) directive.

In a default installation, the last title in the page overrides previous ones so you can place your (:title :) directive at the bottom of the page, after any includes. See also $EnablePageTitlePriority.

Is there a variable like $LastModified, but which shows me the creation time?

No, but you can create one in config.php. For instance:

# add page variable {$PageCreationDate} in format yyyy-mm-dd
$FmtPV['$PageCreationDate'] = 'strftime("%Y-%m-%d", $page["ctime"])';

If you like the same format that you define in config.php with $TimeFmt use

 $FmtPV['$Created'] = "strftime(\$GLOBALS['TimeFmt'], \$page['ctime'])";

How can I get rid of the 'Main' group in urls for pages pointing to Main?

See Cookbook:Get Rid Of Main.

How can I limit the creation of new groups?

See Cookbook:Limit Wiki Groups.

Why doesn't [[St. Giles and St. James]] work as a link? (It doesn't display anything.)

Because it contains periods, and destroys PmWiki's file structure, which saves pages as Group.PageName. Adding those periods disrupts this format. Links may only contain words. If you need a link precisely as shown, the page must be named eg StGilesAndStJames then you can use the (:title:) directive to have the page's title appear with periods (:title St. Giles and St. James:). (Although in US grammar the period is often omitted and in UK grammar the period must be omitted for contractions like St).

How can I delete a wiki group?

Normally you can't, as this requires an admin with server-side access to delete the file that makes up the group's RecentChanges page. But there is an option method of making it possible to delete RecentChanges pages from within the wiki if the admin enables the code found on Cookbook:RecentChanges Deletion.

How can I delete a wiki group's Group.RecentChanges page?

Normally you can't, as this requires an admin with server-side access to delete a file. But there is an optional method of making it possible to delete RecentChanges pages from within the wiki if the admin enables the code found on Cookbook:RecentChanges Deletion.

How do I set the same header or footer for all pages/groups?

The header and footer for each page are controlled by the variables $GroupHeaderFmt and $GroupFooterFmt. If your site-wide header and footer pages are Site.SiteHeader and Site.SiteFooter, you can add this in config.php:

### If you use Site.SiteHeader and Group.GroupHeader
$GroupHeaderFmt = '(:include {$SiteGroup}.SiteHeader'
  . ' basepage={*$FullName}:)(:nl:)' . $GroupHeaderFmt;

### If you use Site.SiteHeader instead of Group.GroupHeader
$GroupHeaderFmt = '(:include {$SiteGroup}.SiteHeader'
  . ' basepage={*$FullName}:)(:nl:)';

### If you use Site.SiteFooter and Group.GroupFooter
$GroupFooterFmt .= '(:nl:)(:include {$SiteGroup}.SiteFooter'
  . ' basepage={*$FullName}:)';

### If you use Site.SiteFooter instead of Group.GroupFooter
$GroupFooterFmt = '(:nl:)(:include {$SiteGroup}.SiteFooter'
  . ' basepage={*$FullName}:)';

Note that single quotes must be used in the lines above.

See also the Cookbook:AllGroupHeader recipe.

Instead of using an additional page, you could set any wiki text in $GroupHeaderFmt, for example:

What's the difference between a PageList and a WikiTrail?

The pagelist directive dynamically generates a list of pages. There are many ways to generate the list, including using a WikiTrail as the source. The pagelist directive then displays the pages that match the criteria using an optional template - for example displaying each page name on a separate line as a link or including the entire content. The pagelist directive currently does not have built-in navigation markup that you can put on the pages in the list. By contrast, WikiTrails are simply specified via links on an "index" page and you can put previous-next navigation markup on each page. The two serve very different purposes. WikiTrails are useful for specifying the pages in web feeds, for creating a "tour" through a predefined set of pages, and many other things.

Is there a way to remove page history from page files?

1. Administrators can clean page histories using the Cookbook:ExpireDiff recipe.

2. Administrators with FTP file access can download individual pages from the wiki.d directory, open them in a text editor, manually remove history, and re-upload the files to wiki.d/ directory. Care must be exercised, when manually editing a page file, to preserve the minimum required elements of the page and avoid corrupting its contents. See PageFileFormat#creating.

3. Edit the page. Select all the contents of the edit text area and cut them to the clipboard. Enter delete into the text area and click on the save and edit button. Select all the contents of the edit text area and paste the contents of the clipboard over them. Click on the save button. This will remove all of the page's history up to the final save in which the pasted material is re-added.

How can I restrict viewing the page history (?action=diff) to people with edit permission?

In the local/config.php file, set

In case of this restriction is set up on a farm, and you want to allow it on a particular wiki, set in your local/config.php :

How can I password protect all the pages and groups on my site? Do I really have to set passwords page by page, or group by group?

Administrators can set passwords for the entire site by editing the config.php file; they don't have to set passwords for each page or group. For example, to set the entire site to be editable only by those who know an "edit" password, an administrator can add a line like the following to local/config.php:

    $DefaultPasswords['edit'] = crypt('edit_password');

For more information about the password options that are available only to administrators, see PasswordsAdmin.

I get http error 500 "Internal Server Error" when I try to log in. What's wrong?

This can happen if the encrypted passwords are not created on the web server that hosts the PmWiki.
The crypt function changed during the PHP development, e.g. a password encrypted with PHP 5.2 can not be decrypted in PHP 5.1, but PHP 5.2 can decrypt passwords created by PHP 5.1.
This situation normally happens if you prepare everything on your local machine with the latest PHP version and you upload the passwords to a webserver which is running an older version.
The same error occurs when you add encrypted passwords to local/config.php.

Solution: Create the passwords on the system with the oldest PHP version and use them on all other systems.

How can I create private groups for users, so that each user can edit pages in their group, but no one else (other than the admin) can?

Modify the edit attribute for each group to id:username, e.g. set the edit attribute in JaneDoe.GroupAttributes to id:JaneDoe.

There is a more automatic solution, but it's probably not a good idea for most wikis. Administrators can use the AuthUser recipe and add the following few lines to their local/config.php file to set this up:

    $group = FmtPageName('$Group', $pagename); 
    $DefaultPasswords['edit'] = 'id:'.$group; 
    include_once("$FarmD/scripts/authuser.php");

This automatically gives edit rights to a group to every user who has the same user name as the group name. Unfortunately it also gives edit rights to such a user who is visiting a same-named group not just for pages in that group, but for any page on the wiki that relies on the site's default edit password. This can create security holes.

How come when I switch to another wiki within a farm, I keep my same authorization?

PmWiki uses PHP sessions to keep track of authentication/authorization information, and by default PHP sets things up such that all interactions with the same server are considered part of the same session.

An easy way to fix this is to make sure each wiki is using a different cookie name for its session identifier. Near the top of one of the wiki's local/config.php files, before calling authuser or any other recipes, add a line like:

    session_name('XYZSESSID');

You can pick any alphanumeric name for XYZSESSID; for example, for the cs559-1 wiki you might choose

    session_name('CS559SESSID');

This will keep the two wikis' sessions independent of each other.

Deleting Wiki Groups & Categories: Once I create a Group or Category, how can I get rid of that group or category?

An admin can just remove the unwanted pages from wiki.d/ . Normally, doing it via the wiki doesn't resolve the problem, since it counts as an "update" which causes the Recent Changes? page to be re-created, but it is possible to modify the site's configuration to allow deletion of the group's RecentChanges page -- see Cookbook:RecentChangesDeletion.

Should I rename pmwiki.php to index.php?

Renaming pmwiki.php is not recommended. Instead, create an index.php file that contains this single line

How do I make pmwiki.php the default page for a website?

Create an index.php file that runs PmWiki from a subdirectory (pmwiki/ for example) and place it in the site's web document root (the main directory for the website).

Note: You will also need to explicitly set the $PubDirUrl variable (e.g. to "http://example.com/pmwiki/pub") in local/config.php .

How do I enable "Clean URLs" that are shorter and look like paths to my wiki pages? Why does pmwiki.org appear to have a directory structure rather than "?n=pagename" in URLs?

See Cookbook:CleanUrls.

How can I run PmWiki on a standalone (offline, portable) machine ?

See Cookbook:Standalone or Cookbook:WikiOnAStick.

How can I determine what version of PmWiki I'm running now?

See version - Determining and displaying the current version of PmWiki (pmwiki-2.2.26).

How can I test a new version of PmWiki on my wiki without changing the prior version used by visitors?

The easy way to do this is to install the new version in a separate directory, and for the new version set (in local/config.php):

    $WikiLibDirs = array(&$WikiDir,
      new PageStore('/path/to/existing/wiki.d/{$FullName}'),
      new PageStore('wikilib.d/{$FullName}'));

This lets you test the new version using existing page content without impacting the existing site or risking modification of the pages. (Of course, any recipes or local customizations have to be installed in the new version as well.)

Then, once you're comfortable that the new version seems to work as well as the old, it's safe to upgrade the old version (and one knows of any configuration or page changes that need to be made).

How do I disable uploading of a certain type of file?

Here's an example of what to add to your local/config.php file to disable uploading of .zip files, or of files with no extension:

$UploadExtSize['zip'] = 0;  # Disallow uploading .zip files
$UploadExtSize[''] = 0;     # Disallow files with no extension

How do I attach uploads to individual pages or the entire site, instead of organizing them by wiki group?

Use the $UploadPrefixFmt variable (see also the Cookbook:UploadGroups recipe).

For $UploadDirQuota - can you provide some units and numbers? Is the specification in bytes or bits? What is the number for 100K? 1 Meg? 1 Gig? 1 Terabyte?

Units are in bytes.

   $UploadDirQuota = 100*1024;         # limit uploads to 100KiB
   $UploadDirQuota = 1000*1024;        # limit uploads to 1000KiB
   $UploadDirQuota = 1024*1024;        # limit uploads to 1MiB
   $UploadDirQuota = 25*1024*1024;     # limit uploads to 25MiB
   $UploadDirQuota = 2*1024*1024*1024; # limit uploads to 2GiB

Is there a way to allow file names with Unicode or addtiional characters?

Yes, see $UploadNameChars

Where is the list of attachments stored?

It is generated on the fly by the (:attachlist:) markup.

How can I find orphaned or missing attachments

For older versions of PmWiki, see Cookbook:Attachlist enhanced "",
for version 2.2 or higher see Cookbook:Attachtable ""

How can I prevent hotlinking of my uploaded images

See Cookbook:Prevent Hotlinking

I have limited the max upload size to 8 MB in config.php, however only files smaller than 2MB can be uploaded.

Check your php.ini for upload_max_filesize

upload_max_filesize = 8M

If you cannot access your php.ini directly try to soften server limits in the root .htaccess file:

php_value post_max_size 63M
php_value upload_max_filesize 62M
php_value memory_limit 64M
php_value max_execution_time 600
php_value default_socket_timeout 600

How do I report a possible security vulnerability of PmWiki?

Pm wrote about this in a post to pmwiki-users from September 2006. In a nutshell he differentiates two cases:

1. The possible vulnerability isn't already known publicly: In this case please contact Pm by private mail.
2. The possible vulnerability is already known publicly: In this case feel free to discuss the vulnerability in public (e.g. on pmwiki-users).

See his post mentioned above for details and rationals.

What about the botnet security advisory at http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=1672?

Sites that are running with PHP's register_globals setting set to "On" and versions of PmWiki prior to 2.1.21 may be vulnerable to a botnet exploit that is taking advantage of a bug in PHP. The vulnerability can be closed by turning register_globals off, upgrading to PmWiki 2.1.21 or later, or upgrading to PHP versions 4.4.3 or 5.1.4.
In addition, there is a test at PmWiki:SiteAnalyzer that can be used to determine if your site is vulnerable.

Wiki Vandalism and Spam

Assumptions

you are using a Blocklist and Url approvals.

You don't want to resort to password protecting the entire wiki, that's not the point after all.

Ideally these protections will be invoked in config.php

How do I stop pages being deleted, eg password protect a page from deletion?

Use Cookbook:DeleteAction and password protect the page deletion action by adding $DefaultPasswords['delete'] = '*'; to config.php or password protect the action with $HandleAuth['delete'] = 'edit';

How do I stop pages being replaced with an empty (all spaces) page?

Add block: /^\s*$/ to your blocklist.

how do I stop pages being completely replaced by an inane comment such as excellent site, great information, where the content cannot be blocked?

Try using the newer automatic blocklists that pull information and IP addresses about known wiki defacers.

(OR) Try using Cookbook:Captchas or Cookbook:Captcha (note these are different).

(OR) Set an edit password, but make it publicly available on the Site.AuthForm template.

How do I password protect all common pages in all groups such as recent changes, search, group header, group footer, and so on?

Insert the following lines into your local/config.php file. Editing these pages then requires the admin password.

## Require admin password to edit RecentChanges (etc.) pages.
if ($action=='edit'
    && preg_match('/\\.(Search|Group(Header|Footer)|(All)?RecentChanges)$/', $pagename))
  { $DefaultPasswords['edit'] = crypt('secret phrase'); }

Note that all GroupAttributes pages are protected by the attr password.

Alternative: you can require 'admin' authentication for these pages:

## Require admin password to edit RecentChanges (etc.) pages.
if ($action=='edit' 
    && preg_match('(Search|Group(Header|Footer)|(All)?RecentChanges)', $pagename))
  { $HandleAuth['edit'] = 'admin'; }

How do I password protect the creation of new groups?

See Cookbook:Limit Wiki Groups

How do I password protect the creation of new pages?

See Cookbook:Limit new pages in Wiki Groups

How do I take a whitelist approach where users from known or trusted IP addresses can edit, and others require a password?

Put these lines to local/config.php:

## Allow passwordless editing from own turf, pass for others.
if ($action=='edit'
 && !preg_match("/^90\\.68\\./", $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']) )    
 { $DefaultPasswords['edit'] = crypt('foobar'); }

Replace 90.68. with the preferred network prefix and foobar with the default password for others.

How do I password protect page actions?

See Passwords for setting in config.php

or

How to make a rule that allows only authors to edit their own wiki page in Profiles? group?

Add this to your local/config.php

How do I moderate all postings?

Enable PmWiki.Drafts

• Set $EnableDrafts, this relabels the "Save" button to "Publish" and a "Save draft" button appears.
• Set $EnablePublishAttr, this adds a new "publish" authorization level to distinguish editing from publishing.

How do I make a read only wiki?

In config.php set an "edit" password.

How do I restrict access to uploaded attachments?

See

• instructions for denying public access to the uploads directory
• see Cookbook:Secure attachments

Are InterMap names case sensitive?

Yes, thus eAdmin: is a different InterMap link than EAdmin:.

How can I achieve a localmap.txt mapping with the effect of Pics: Path:/somepathto/pics/?

Use the following:

How can I define an InterMap in PHP?

Use the following:

      $LinkFunctions['PmWikiHome:'] = 'LinkIMap';
      $IMap['PmWikiHome:'] = 'http://pmwiki.org/wiki/$1';

How can I embed JavaScript into a page's output?

There are several ways to do this. The Cookbook:JavaScript recipe describes a simple means for embedding static JavaScript into web pages using custom markup. For editing JavaScript directly in wiki pages (which can pose various security risks), see the JavaScript-Editable recipe. For JavaScript that is to appear in headers or footers of pages, the skin template can be modified directly, or