This module handles logic for pages in the Author namespace and in portals about individual people. It uses Wikidata where possible, and allows local override of all parameters. It is used by the {{author}} template, Module:Person and Module:Disambiguation.

Unit and integration tests are at Module:Author/testcases and their results can be viewed at Module talk:Author/testcases.

Function: dates edit

Get the author-page date string, with categories.

Usage
Common usage: {{#invoke|Author|dates}}
All parameters: {{#invoke|Author|dates|birthyear=|deathyear=|dates=|wikidata_id=}}
Parameters
  • dates — if supplied will be used as-is for the date display (however, birthyear and deathyear can still be specified for categorization purposes)
  • birthyear and deathyear — the years of birth and death, in this format:
    • a numeric year
    • "?" or empty for unknown (or still alive)
    • use BCE for years before year 1
    • Approximate dates:
      • Decades or centuries: "1930s" or "20th century"
      • Circa: "c/1930" or "c. 1930" or "ca 1930" or "circa 1930"
      • Tenuous year: "1932/?"
      • Choice of two or more years: "1932/1933"
  • wikidata_id — the Wikidata identifier to use. Will default to the current page if not supplied.
  • pagetitle — a page title to use instead of the current page (only used for testing purposes).
Returns
This function returns the author's birth and death years, wrapped in parentheses and separated by an en dash. The return string is prefixed with a <br />, and suffixed with the list of appropriate categories (see below).

Categories edit

This function also adds pages to the following categories:

  1. In all cases (where applicable):
  2. Where manual birth and/or death dates are supplied:

Function: date edit

Get a single formatted date, with no categories.

Usage
Common usage: {{#invoke|Author|date|type=}}
All parameters: {{#invoke|Author|date|type=|year=|wikidata_id=}}
Parameters
  • type — either birth or death.
  • year — the year to display, following the same format as birthyear in the dates function above.
  • wikidata_id — the Wikidata Q-identifier of the author to use.
Returns
A simple string with no categories or leading or trailing line breaks.

Function: categories edit

Get a list of categories for occupations and nationalities

Usage
All parameters: {{#invoke|Author|categories|wikidata_id=}}
Returns
A string containing categories

Function: lastInitial edit

Get a link to the alphabetical author index page (e.g. Wikisource:Authors-A).

Usage
Common usage: {{#invoke|Author|lastInitial |wikidata_id= }}
All parameters: {{#invoke|Author|lastInitial |wikidata_id= |last_initial= }}
Parameters
  • |wikidata_id= — the Wikidata Q-identifier of the author to use.
  • |last_initial= — manually-specified override for the initial letters. Means that |wikidata_id= will be ignored.
Returns
A wikitext string containing a link (if appropriate) and a category.