This is a documentation subpage for Module:Category series navigation. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original module page.

This Lua module is used on approximately 495,000 pages, or roughly 1% of all pages. To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the module's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own module sandbox. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

This module depends on the following other modules: Module:Category series navigation (sandbox) Module:List (sandbox) Module:ConvertNumeric (sandbox) Module:Roman (sandbox) Module:Check for unknown parameters (sandbox) Module:Template redirect regex (sandbox)

Related pages
Template (talk) Template sandbox Template testcases Template doc Template subpages Module Module sandbox Module testcases Module doc Module subpages

About[edit]

((Category series navigation)) is intended to be a minimal-input, near-universal template for automatically navigating most numerically adjacent categories.

Recognized category types

Type	Example category	BC(E)?	Example output
Season	2001–02 FA Cup	No
TV season	Futurama (season 1) episodes	–
Office term (regular)	MEPs 2004–2009	No
Office term (irregular)	Wales AMs 2003–2007	No
Numerical range	Taxonbars with 30–34 taxon IDs	–	15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40–44 45–49
Decade	1990s in Scotland	BC
Year	1999 in Scotland	BC(E)
Year (auto-condensed)	Candidates in the 2000 US presidential election	–
Year (|skip-gaps=yes)	Amusement parks opened in 1880	–
Ordinal (temporal)	2nd-century rabbis	BC(E)
Ordinal (numeric)	9th Lok Sabha	–
Ordinal (word)	First Dynasty of Egypt	–
Roman numeral	Deputies of Legislature X of the Kingdom of Italy	–
Mixed decade	1760s in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)	–
Mixed year	1778 establishments in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)	–

Searching behavior[edit]

Most multi-year seasons/office terms/numerical ranges are acceptable, as long as the season duration/term length/range size is <= 10, and the gap between seasons is <= 6. For series exceeding either of these criteria, see/use ((Irregular chronology category navigation)).

The length of each season is automatically determined from the originating category name, up to and including 10 years. MOS:DATERANGE compliance is preferred, but some deviation is allowed and tracked for regular series with seasons > 1 year long. ((Category redirect))s are followed, and tracked for either MOS contravention (to be corrected) or for navigational aid (no error). The gap size between successive seasons is also automatically determined, up to and including 6 years, and defaults to 0 (e.g. 1995–96 → 1996–97).

Automatically condensed years are supported for presidential categories only (but can be easily expanded as needed), for gaps up to and including 5 years, and defaults to 1. To skip gaps of up to 30 years in any year categories, use |skip-gaps=yes.

Limitations[edit]

Numerical limitations and AD/BC/E[edit]

• Season/office term categories do not work for any years BC, which will be hidden, because no working examples were found.
• Decade categories recognize BC, but not BCE, because no working examples were found.
• Ordinal & numeral words do not work above the ninety-ninth & ninety-nine, because no working examples were found.

Condensation[edit]

• Automatically condensed Olympics display is not supported due to peculiarities; use ((Winter Olympics by year category navigation)), etc., instead.
• Automatically condensed years are supported for presidential categories only, due to their consistency; use |skip-gaps=yes as desired elsewhere.

Work-arounds[edit]

• Base-name changes: create at least 2 logically numbered ((R from category navigation)) (1 backward & 1 forward), to join both related series.
• Unaccounted-for name+number conventions: where a fixed number is part of the prefix or suffix text, e.g. Chapter 11 bankruptcies, a non-breaking space may force the template to work. See this fix, where ((title year)) skipped over 11 as part of a word rather than a discrete number. (This case has been accounted for and is no longer required in this example.)
• General: for large, permanent gaps^† between successive categories, use ((Succeeding category)), ((Preceding category)), ((Category pair)), as needed, in addition to ((Category series navigation)) on both sides, or in the middle, of the gap. Even if ((Category series navigation)) is isolated, it has the benefit of confirming the absence of nearby categories to the reader or maintainer.
  ^†Permanent gaps, where there is a confirmed permanent absence of data, and not just a temporary, yet to be filled, gap on Wikipedia.

Related CfDs[edit]

• Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2019 June 8#Category:Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–17
• Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2019 May 29#Category:MEPs 1952–58
• Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2019 April 19#Category:Aircraft piston engines 1900–1909

Usage[edit]

Typical usage

• ((Category series navigation))

Specify a minimum and/or maximum year to display

• ((Category series navigation|min=-100))
• ((Category series navigation|min=100 BC))
• ((Category series navigation|min=1753|max=1810))
• ((Category series navigation|max=2025))

To skip gaps in year categories

• ((Category series navigation|skip-gaps=yes))

To not automatically follow ((Category redirect))s

• ((Category series navigation|follow-redirects=no))

Exceptional cases

• ((Category series navigation|cat=2010s albums)) — to behave as if placed on |cat=; consider using ((Category pair)) instead of |cat=

Testing & debugging[edit]

To test the output of the template on a particular category name, use the |testcase= parameter, and |testcasegap= if necessary:

• ((Category series navigation|testcase=1770s in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|min=1760)) →

• ((Category series navigation|testcase=1770s in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|max=1790s)) →

To see all links produced and/or tested, and what effect each has on their display, use |list-all-links=yes:

• ((Category series navigation|testcase=Nations at the 2013 World Athletics Championships|min=2008|skip-gaps=yes|list-all-links=yes)) →

1. Category:Nations at the 2006 World Athletics Championships (2006) (2006)
2. Category:Nations at the 2007 World Athletics Championships (2007) (2007)
3. Category:Nations at the 2008 World Athletics Championships (2008)
4. Category:Nations at the 2008–2009 World Athletics Championships (2008–2009) (tried; not displayed)²
5. Category:Nations at the 2008–09 World Athletics Championships (2008–09) (tried; not displayed)⁴
6. Category:Nations at the 2009 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics (2009)
7. Category:Nations at the 2011 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics (2011)
8. Category:Nations at the 2015 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics (2015)
9. Category:Nations at the 2017 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics (2017)
10. Category:Nations at the 2019 World Athletics Championships (2019)
11. Category:Nations at the 2020 World Athletics Championships (2020)
12. Category:Nations at the 2020–2021 World Athletics Championships (2020–2021) (tried; not displayed)²
13. Category:Nations at the 2020–21 World Athletics Championships (2020–21) (tried; not displayed)⁴
14. Category:Nations at the 2021 World Athletics Championships (2021)
15. Category:Nations at the 2021–2022 World Athletics Championships (2021–2022) (tried; not displayed)²
16. Category:Nations at the 2021–22 World Athletics Championships (2021–22) (tried; not displayed)⁴

• All possible element types are shown above (blue, red/grey, hidden, and redirect), and would otherwise display as:

2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2020 2021

Tracking categories[edit]

Purge this page to update the totals

If the template encounters an issue, it displays an error message and/or places the category into one or more of the following tracking categories:

See also[edit]

• ((Irregular chronology category navigation))—for use on categories
• ((Irregular series navigation))—for use outside categories
• ((Year by category))
• ((R from category navigation))
• ((Category TOC custom))