Template:Val/doc

Purpose

This template is used to easily present values in scientific notation, including uncertainty and/or units. It wraps the entire result in a {{nowrap}} block, so that it never gets broken into separate pieces at the end of a line. (See WP:NBSP for more information on the usage of non-breaking spaces.)

Arguments

There are four ways this template can be used:

• {{val|''number''}} - for displaying values without uncertainty/significance.
• {{val|''number''|''uncertainty''}} - for displaying values with uncertainty like so 1234±56.
• {{val|''number''|''upper uncertainty''|''lower uncertainty''}} - for displaying values with uncertainty like so 1234+56
  −78.
• {{val|''number''|(''significance'')}} - for displaying values with significance like so 1234(56).

They all take roughly the same arguments

1	The value (must be a valid number)
2	The (upper limit of) uncertainty (must be a valid number) or significance (must be a valid number in parenthesis)
3	The lower limit of uncertainty (must be a valid negative number)
e	The exponent for the power of 10 (optional). This will show up in the result as as " × 10e ".
	Values (arguments 1-3 and e) are run through code copied from {{delimitnum}} for readability, except for argument 2 when it is surrounded by parenthesis. This currently causes an error for large numbers, numbers that require high precision and numbers that have zeros after the decimal point. This last issue is being addressed, the other issues require changes to the Wikipedia software.
u / ul	The units for the number (optional, with/without a link to the page about the unit respectively).
up / upl	The units per for the units (optional, requires u to be specified, with/without a link to the page about the unit respectively).
	Units (specified by u, ul, up and upl) are replaced by a more esthetically pleasing HTML representation and get a link (ul and upl only, if they are in the list found in {{val/units}} or if they are supported by {{convert}}). You can specify units using just u; a good example is "ul=m/s", which gets translated to "m·s-1", or you can use u and up, as in "u/up"; a good examples if "ul=m|up=s", which gets translated to "m/s".
p	A prefix for the value (such as ∆, Ø, etc.., optional).
s	A suffix for the value (such as %, optional).
	Prefixes (specified by p) and suffixes (specified by s) are put in front of or behind the value as is: this includes spaces. They are inside the nowrap block and will always be on the same line as the value. The parameters that previously provided this functionality (h for header and f for footer) are deprecated and will be ignored.
nocategory	If set to any value, errors in the use of this template will not cause the page to be added to the Pages with incorrect formatting templates use category. This is useful for documentation and test pages that do not need to be fixed.

See {{val/test}} for a list of examples of the correct output of {{val}} and the errors it may return when incorrectly used.

Errors

There is strict checking on the validity of arguments; any incorrect use will result in an error, which is displayed using {{FormattingError}}. Pages that contain incorrect use of this template will show up on Category:Pages with incorrect formatting templates use.

Unique to Wikipedia format

If the Val template is used for a number that has many digits both before and after the decimal point, it will delimit with gaps to the left of the decimal point and commas to the right; no other publication uses this format.

Example: {{val|12345.06789}} is displayed as 12345.06789.

Examples

{{val|1234567890}}	→	1234567890
{{val|1.23456789}}	→	1.23456789
Uncertainty/significance
{{val|1.234|0.005}}	→	1.234±0.005
{{val|1.234|+0.005|-0.001}}	→	1.234+0.005 −0.001
{{val|1.234|(5)}}	→	1.234(5)
Exponents/units
{{val|1.234|e=10|u=m}}	→	1.234×1010 m
{{val|1.234|e=10|u=m2}}	→	1.234×1010 m2
{{val|1.234|e=10|ul=m}}	→	1.234×1010 m
{{val|1.234|0.05|e=5}}	→	(1.234±0.05)×105
{{val|1.234567|+0.00005|-0.00004|e=-23|ul=m/s}}	→	1.234567+0.00005 −0.00004×10−23 m/s
{{val|1.234567|0.04|e=3|ul=psi}}	→	(1.234567±0.04)×103 psi
{{val|123.4|ul=USgal}}	→	123.4 US gal
{{val|12.34|ul=mpgimp}}	→	12.34 mpg‑imp
Prefix/suffix
{{val|p=Δ |12.34|s=%}}	→	Δ 12.34%

See Also

• {{val/units}}
• {{val/unitswithlink}}
• {{val/delimitnum}}
• {{val/delimitnum/firstgroup}}
• {{val/delimitnum/group}}
• {{val/delimitnum/real}}