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Page specific variables

authors (intermediate)

This page describes the "variables" that are associated with pages. Page variables have the form {$variable}, and can be used in page markup or in certain formatting strings in Pm Wiki. For example, the markup "{$Group}" renders in this page as "Pm Wiki".

Note: Do not confuse these variables (set and used only in Pm Wiki pages) with PHP variables. Page variables can be read in PHP with the PageVar() function.

Note that these variables do not necessarily exist in the PHP code, because they have to be determined for a specific page. (However, they are usable in FmtPageName strings.)

There is also the form {pagename$variable}, which returns the value of the variable for another page. For example, "{MarkupMasterIndex$Title}" displays as "Markup Master Index".

Special references

Special referenced variables are used to retain the context of the target page or main page for a variable when:

  • the variable is included into a destination (target) page)
  • the variable is part of a sidebar, header, or footer for a main page

Prefixing the variable name with an asterisk (*) means the variable reflects the value related to the target page or main page.

Without the asterisk it reflects the value of the page in which it originates.

Special references are also used in page list templates.

For example you can test to see if the page is part of another page

(:if ! name {$FullName}:)
%comment% name of this page is not the same as the page this text was sourced from
->[[{$FullName}#anchor | more ...]]
(:ifend:)

or refer to the main page in a sidebar, footer, or header

This page is [[{*$FullName}]]

This page is PmWiki.PageVariables

Default page variables

The page variables defined for Pm Wiki are:

{$Action} - page's url action argument, as in "browse"
{$BaseName} - page's "base" form (stripping any prefixes or suffixes defined via $BaseNamePatterns) as in "PmWiki.PageVariables"
{$DefaultGroup} - default group name, as in "Main"
{$DefaultName} - name of default page, as in "HomePage"
{$Description} - page's description from the (:description:) markup, as in "Documentation for "variables" that are associated with pages."
{$FullName} - page's full name, as in "PmWiki.PageVariables"
{$Group} - page's group name, as in "PmWiki"
{$Groupspaced} - spaced group name, as in "Pm Wiki"
{$LastModified} - date page was edited, as in "2009-08-24 01:24"
{$LastModifiedBy} - page's last editor, as in "Petko"
{$LastModifiedHost} - IP of page's last editor, as in "86.69.109.9"
{$LastModifiedSummary} - Summary from last edit, as in "Titlespaced - either the page title (if defined), or the spaced page name"
{$LastModifiedTime} - time page was edited in unix-style timestamp, as in "1251077060" added version 2.2 beta 67
This can be used (preceded by '@') in {(ftime)} and other date/time markups.
{$Name} - page name, as in "PageVariables"
{$Namespaced} - spaced page name, as in "Page Variables"
{$PageUrl} - page's url, as in "http://modula-2.net/m2r10/pmwiki.php?n=PmWiki.PageVariables"
{$PasswdRead} - "read" permissions for the page e.g. "(protected)"
{$PasswdEdit} - "edit" permissions for the page e.g. "(protected)"
{$PasswdAttr} - "attr" permissions for the page e.g. "(protected)"
{$RequestedPage} - page requested in URL, used on Site.PageNotFound. e.g. "Pm Wiki.Page Variables"
{$SiteGroup} - default group name for e.g. Recent Changes?, as in "Site"
{$Title} - page title (may differ from Name), as in "Page specific variables"
{$Titlespaced} - either the page title (if defined), or the spaced page name, as in "Page specific variables"

In addition to the above, there are some page-invariant variables available through this markup:

{$Author} - the name of the person currently interacting with the site, as in ""
{$AuthId} - current authenticated id, as in "" Please note the lower case 'd'. {$AuthID} returns nothing
{$Version} - Pm Wiki version, as in "pmwiki-2.2.71"
{$VersionNum} - The internal version number, as in "2002071"
{$ScriptUrl} - The url to the pmwiki script, as in "http://modula-2.net/m2r10/pmwiki.php"

Custom page variables

You may add custom page variables as a local customization. In a local configuration file or a recipe script, use the variable $FmtPV: 

$FmtPV['$VarName'] = "'variable definition'";
$FmtPV['$CurrentSkin'] = '$GLOBALS["Skin"]';
$FmtPV['$WikiTitle'] = '$GLOBALS["WikiTitle"]';

Defines new Page Variable of name $CurrentSkin, which can be used in the page with {$CurrentSkin} (also for Conditional markup). It's necessary to use the single quotes nested inside double-quotes as shown above (preferred) or a double-quoted string nested inside single-quotes like '"this"'.

If you want to have a Page Variable that returns the currently used password (more precisely, the last password entered), you can use 

$FmtPV['$AuthPw'] = 'reset(array_keys((array)@$_SESSION["authpw"]))';

See also

Is there a variable like $LastModified, but which shows me the creation time?

No, but you can create one in config.php. For instance: 

# add page variable {$PageCreationDate} in format yyyy-mm-dd
$FmtPV['$PageCreationDate'] = 'strftime("%Y-%m-%d", $page["ctime"])';

If you like the same format that you define in config.php with $TimeFmt use 

 $FmtPV['$Created'] = "strftime(\$GLOBALS['TimeFmt'], \$page['ctime'])";


This page may have a more recent version on pmwiki.org: PmWiki:PageVariables, and a talk page: PmWiki:PageVariables-Talk.