Manual:Pywikibot/Compat/standardize notes.py

standardize_notes.py is a python bot script for improving references and citations.

The current version
 * Uses en:Wikipedia:Footnotes numbered link format through "ref" and "note" templates.
 * Converts inline URLs to Footnotes format links to citation entries.
 * Converts older link formats such as Footnotes2 to Footnotes format.
 * Searches for existing footnotes or citations in several section names, such as "Notes" or "References".
 * Creates citation entries using en:WP:CITE citation templates.
 * For citations for which only a URL is known, attempts to access the URL.
 * Attempts to get title information from HTTP or PDF information.
 * "Web reference" citations are created by default.
 * "News reference" citations are created for certain URLs.
 * Rebuilds notes section in same sequence as text references.
 * Some multiple references are converted to "ref_label" and "note_label" multiple links.
 * Detects some duplicate citations, labels them with "see above".
 * Keeps existing notes, does not yet examine content of notes other than leading "*" or "#" list indicator.

Default behavior includes displaying changes and asking for confirmation to perform the intended changes.

If no title information is found or there are errors in accessing the URL, the title will contain the URL.


 * Command line options (in addition to the general options for all bots):


 * -sql
 * Retrieve information from a local SQL dump (cur table, see http://download.wikimedia.org).
 * Argument can also be given as "-sql:filename".


 * -file
 * Work on all pages given in a local text file.
 * Will read any wiki link and use these articles.
 * Argument can also be given as "-file:filename".


 * -cat
 * Work on all pages which are in a specific category.
 * Argument can also be given as "-cat:categoryname".


 * -page
 * Only edit a single page.
 * Argument can also be given as "-page:pagename". You can give this parameter multiple times to edit multiple pages.


 * -regex
 * Make replacements using regular expressions. (Obsolete; always True)


 * -except:XYZ
 * Ignore pages which contain XYZ. If the -regex argument is given, XYZ will be regarded as a regular expression.


 * -namespace:n
 * Namespace to process. Works only with a sql dump.


 * -always
 * Don't prompt you for each replacement.

To process a single page page, one can use:

python standardize_notes.py -page:Somepage