The magic word {{!}} is used to escape a vertical bar character "|" in wikitext markup, causing the parser to temporarily not interpret it as a special character.

This used to be a template, but for speed reasons, the MediaWiki parser was changed in July 2014 to instantly interpret {{!}} as "|" and ignore this template, making {{!}} a magic word. You can continue to use the code in exactly the same way as before.

Do not use syntax like {{Template:!}}, and do not supply a parameter, for example {{!|foo}}. In those cases, the template transcludes as an error message: Error: The retired template {{!}} has been transcluded; see mw:Help:Magic words#Other for details. To fix this, use only the code {{!}} to generate the | character.

The code {{!}} is used to escape the vertical bar character, |, so that it is interpreted later than it would be otherwise. This is mostly useful when trying to include a table in a template. For example,

{{cquote|text=
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Header text !! Header text
|-
| Example1 || Example2
|-
| Example3 || Example4
|}
}}

yields nonsense:

“	{	”
— Example1

However escaping the bars with this magic word and similar templates gives:

{{cquote|text=
{{(!}} class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!+}} Caption text
{{!-}}
! Header text !! Header text
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example1 {{!!}} Example2
{{!-}}
{{!}} Example3 {{!!}} Example4
{{!)}}
}}

“

Caption text Header text Header text Example1 Example2 Example3 Example4

”

For how to include a table in a footnote, do:

Example 1{{refn|group=note|This is a note before}}

Example 2{{refn|group=note|1=<nowiki></nowiki>{{(!}}class{{=}}"wikitable"
{{!}}+ Example table with two columns
! A column
! Another column
{{!}}-
{{!}} Some data
{{!}} Some more data
{{!)}}<nowiki></nowiki>}}

Example 3{{refn|group=note|This is a note after}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

Be careful to follow this formatting, otherwise the table may gobble up the subsequent footnote. This can be unnoticeable if there is only one footnote, only causing an issue if a second footnote is added.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

This table:

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Template call (m for magic word)	Output (delayed interpretation as wikimarkup)	HTML alternative (never interpreted as wikimarkup)
{{!}} (m)	|	| or {{pipe}}
{{=}} (m)	=	=
{{!!}}	||	||
{{!(}}	[	[
{{)!}}	]	]
{{!((}}	[[	[[
{{))!}}	]]	]]
{{(}}	{	{
{{)}}	}	}
{{((}}	{{	{{
{{))}}	}}	}}
{{(((}}	{{{	{{{
{{)))}}	}}}	}}}
{{(!}}	{|	{|
{{!+}}	|+	|+
{{!-}}	|-	|-
{{!)}}	|}	|}

Documentation for the magic word may be found in the MediaWiki documentation at mw:Help:Magic words#Other.

• {{pipe}}, a template that uses the numeric character reference for the vertical bar character
• m:Help:Template#A parameter value containing a pipe character
• Help:Conditional tables