The Text Formatting Rules include a simple rule for specifying a bold face font: enclose the characters to be enboldened within triple single quotes. This, combined with an implementation accident, the fact that the quoted string can be zero length, makes six single quote characters valid markup. Enboldening an empty string would seem to be pointless except that the invisible markup interferes with other rules and some authors have found this interference convenient. Had I thought of this case when I wrote the rules I would have disallowed it. Now I can only lump it with all the other unplanned things this community has discovered and chosen to exploit. -- Ward Cunningham
You can use six consecutive single quotes to BreakUp LongBumpyWords so that they do not become Wiki Names. Just write the six quotes right after the first capital letter to do this. To link only to the singular form of a Wiki Name (as in Wiki Names instead of Wiki Names), you can add SixSingleQuotes right before the last s.
To summarize, six single quotes can be useful in the following situations:
When forming modified versions (plurals are a special case but not the only one) of Wiki Names. (For instance, I'd rather write "RefactoredMercilessly" than either "Refactored Mercilessly" or "refactored mercilessly".)
When talking about a Category without referencing it (i.e. you don't want to be added as a noise page to the Category search). Of course you don't get a link to the Category either so be careful when you do this that you are getting what you want.
When quoting code that features identifiers in Wiki Case, for example in Java Language code:
class HelloWorldAvoidLink {...} // Cannot cut & paste this class H''''''elloWorldAvoidLink {...} // Just looks better.
When using a Wiki Name on the page it names (like SixSingleQuotes) to avoid having annoying links to the current page. -- Dean Elvy
When inserting real words that match that pattern, but which don't necessarily need Wiki pages (like MacGuffin, or McPhee, or even the dreaded McElvis).
It might also be useful to disable URLs: e.g. http://www.example.com
Note that Six Single Quotes also work when
writing in ItalIc
writing BoLd
writing BoldAndItalic (like this)
writing BoldAndItalic (even like this)
writing BoldAndItalic (but not like that)
Four Single Quotes were also suggested once, but they only work in some of these cases:
writing JustNormally
writing in ItalIc
writing B'oLd'''
writing B'oldAndItalic'''
You can even DoThisTrick SeveralTimes PerLine, and even BoldFormatting or ItalicFormatting does not hurt.
Nuances of Six Single Quotes Placement
Where you put Six Single Quotes in a Wiki Name makes a difference. Placing them after the first letter prevents the entire Wiki Case word from becoming a Wiki Name. Unfortunately, it creates a mis-spelled word for the spell checker to complain about. Placing Six Single Quotes between capitalized words splits the Wiki Case word in two, each of which can itself be a Wiki Name. Here are some examples:
"WardsWikiName" has Six Single Quotes after the first letter. The spell checker will complain about "ardsWikiName".
"WardsWiki Name" has Six Single Quotes after "Wards"
"Ward CunninghamHome Page" has Six Single Quotes between "Ward Cunningham" and "Home Page"
"WardCunninghamHomePage" has Six Single Quotes between "Ward", "Cunningham", "Home", and "Page"
Questions
Q. Isn't Six Single Quotes an EditingNightmare, counting them and keeping track of them? The point of wiki syntax is to be simple and understandable even while editing. This clearly violates that. -- Anonymous Donor
A1. The point of Wiki syntax is to be as simple and understandable as possible even while editing. All other solutions suggested so far have been even more confusing (such as double-brackets around Wiki Names), or have required too much overhead (such as aliasing similar Wiki Names). -- Brent Newhall
Brent. Sorry, but if I had to choose between ))DontMakeThisCamelCaseALink(( and D"""ontMakeThisCamelCaseALink, I would choose the former. This idea of entering some sort of markup in the middle of a word in order to affect how the entire word is handled seems to go against any and all markup that I have ever seen. To me it's like saying, "In order to make your text bold or italicized or whatever, you enter Text or Text" ??? To me this six single quotes thing just doesn't meet the basic premise of putting the tags or markup around the entire word. Besides, typing six quotes takes longer than typing one or two or four.
A2. Six Single Quotes is a compromise between syntax and function. Fortunately for those who want to run their own wiki -- particularly those with many code fragments -- most Wiki Engines don't use Six Single Quotes.
So why be different? Because you can? I would think that the wiki community should be working towards a common markup rather than splintering into umpteen variations.
A3. Six Single Quotes' function is a side effect of Wiki's Text Formatting Rules, not unlike Simulating Quote Blocks. This would also answer the next question.
Q. Why six single quotes, rather than five or four?
A. The parser reads one, two, or three single quotes at a time, and it reads greedily (as many as it can, up to three). Hence, Six Single Quotes is not special - just zero characters enclosed in Three Single Quotes. In fact, any even multiple of three (therefore, any multiple of six) will do the same thing; hence TwelveSingleQuotes, EighteenSingleQuotes, etc.
Q. Doesn't this explanation of how the wiki engine interprets quotes fail to address the fact that for the user, six single quotes goes against the grain of how they might expect something to work? The machine is for the user and therefore should adapt to it, rather than the user adapting to the machine. Otherwise we might as well just write everything in byte code.
A. Yes. The six quote practice specifically violates the Overt principle. See Wiki Design Principles.
Q. Is there any way to use a camel case email account id.? e.g. Fast Tech Support@example.com
A. Email accounts are not case sensitive, but if you want to create an email link, make it a URL, e.g., mailto:Fast Tech Support@example.com If you just want it to display the email, use Six Single Quotes: FastTechSupport@example.com
See Wiki Name Plural Problem, Every Word Isa Link, Two Single Quotes, Three Single Quotes, Four Single Quotes, Five Single Quotes
Contrast with the approach used by Twiki Wiki Engine of putting before a word to prevent interpreting as Wiki Word? -- Andy Dent
Some people use Six Single Quotes to "link to a category, without linking to it". See Citation Problem for details.
Could the _PrependedUnderscore be used as an alternative marker? It already disables link creation, so only needs to be stripped by the engine. It would certainly be easier on the eye during editing. -- David Wright
How about everyone gets over it, learn to use wiki as it is, and quit trying to fix and improve everything. It's worked fine for many years and doesn't need fixing. Do you know how tiring it is watching every person come in here thinking they can fix it, or improve it, well guess what, you can't, if you could, this would be your wiki.
Geeks are forever tinkerers. Your "it would be" argument sounds a bit like Qwerty Syndrome at play. But I agree that no arrangement will make everybody happy, and that there are more important things to worry about than quotes, such as vandals and spam.
In response to the above paragraph, I must concur that we should stop all forms of innovation and advancement. They are utterly ridiculous and who are we to think we can make the world a better place? Sarcasm. It is this type of inventiveness that created Wiki Wiki in the first place. Who is Ward Cunningham to think he can make something easier to collaborate with than coding with plain HTML and uploading our changes to free-for-all FTP server. :-)
I use Six Single Quotes in the markup I put in this wiki for the main reason that It Works, one can create Wiki Words which other processes can handle, without the ? edit link. It allows the Reference by Wiki Word for some pages which might become editable though they are not intended for or which are not allowed to be included in this wiki, due to restrictions imposed by its creator or the community-at-large.
Here is a solution which works without resorting to using Six Single Quotes, and to retain a form of hyperWord which this wiki will not treat as a wanted page by inserting the ? suffix is to convert the hyperWordSuchThatItsFirstCharacterIsLowerCase.
InWardsWiki.IfYou.UseNormalHyperWords.AsDotSeparated.HyperWords.YouWillHaveToUse.AnotherApproach like this: inWardsWiki.ifYou.useSpecialHyperWords.asDotSeparated.hyperWords.youCanUse.anApproach.similarToThis
The Six Single Quotes method also confuses page scanners as it creates an unwanted empty STRONG element in the output.
See original on c2.com 