Difference: ACRONYM ( vs. 1)

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13 Sep 2010 - Main.ProjectContributor

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What is an ACRONYM?

An acronym is an abbreviation that is typically made up of the first letter or letters of a phrase. A very familiar example would be WWW standing for World Wide Web. In Foswiki, an acronym of 3 or more letters will be automatically linked only if a topic of that name already exists in the Web.

When you type an Acronym, you establish a possible hyperlink. It's as easy as that.

Just like WikiWord linking, acronym linking is easy to use:

You don't have to know the full path to where the topic is stored - you just type the name
You don't need to write HTML
Without HTML, the topic text is easier to read when editing
Easy linking leads to interesting texts with links placed in context

Syntax of an Acronym

3 or more Uppercase letter(s)

Acronym syntax in Extended Backus.Naur form (EBNF):

    Acronym        = 3*upperLetters ;
    upperLetters   = "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F" | "G" | "H" | "I"
                    | "J" | "K" | "L" | "M" | "N" | "O" | "P" | "Q" | "R"
                    | "S" | "T" | "U" | "V" | "W" | "X" | "Y" | "Z" ;

Examples of Acronyms

HTML
RADAR

But Not

HTML5 - A digit breaks the acronym link.
FAQs - The lower case letter breaks the link.

Variations in linking

When you write an acronym and the acronym topic already exists, it becomes a link. There are more ways

To force a link to to an acronym, use bracket notation: [[HTML5]] - this becomes: HTML5 and will display the broken link indicator (?) if the topic does not exist.
To link to an acronym in another web, write: Sandbox.HTML - this becomes: Sandbox.HTML
To link to an acronym on a site like the Acronym Finder, use: Acronym:HTTP - this becomes: Acronym:HTTP (sites are defined in the InterwikiPlugin)

Hints

To stop an Acronym from being turned into a hyperlink, insert an exclamation point immediately before the Acronym. For example, write !HTML to get HTML.
Unlike WikiWords, plural Acronyms are not automatically linked to the singular topic.
FAQ will be linked, but FAQIndex will not. Turn acronyms into WikiWords, i.e. Change FAQIndex to FaqIndex for a "FAQ index" topic.
It is possible to turn off the auto-linking and to rely only on the bracket notation using the NOAUTOLINK preference setting.
- You can set NOAUTOLINK in your personal topic, or directly in any topic to change linking behavior for you or an individual topic.

Related Topics: WikiSyntax, TextFormattingRules

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