Template:Blank

This empty template is useful for introducing spaces or line breaks in places where they would normally be auto-removed.

To explain why this is needed, let's look at the following code first:

Paragraph 1

{{#if: condition |
Paragraph 2
}}

Paragraph 3

If all the condition is met, it works fine:

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

But if the condition isn't met, it will produce too much empty space, like this:

Paragraph 1



Paragraph 3

Let's try to improve on this by making sure we don't introduce empty paragraphs:

Paragraph 1 {{#if: condition |

Paragraph 2
}}

Paragraph 3

That works exactly as desired when the condition isn't met:

Paragraph 1 

Paragraph 3

But... When the condition is met, it doesn't work as expected! It does this weird thing instead:

Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Why does that happen? It's because parser functions like #if strip all blanks (spaces and line breaks) that come before the first non-blank character, and after the last non-blank character. So the line breaks after {{#if: condition | are completely ignored!

This can be solved with the following trick. Note the use of the empty nowiki tag:

Paragraph 1 {{#if: condition | <nowiki></nowiki>

Paragraph 2
}}

Paragraph 3

The empty tag ends the blank auto-removal at the point it's inserted, so the line breaks that come after are not ignored.

It's tedious to write <nowiki></nowiki> every time, so you can instead use this blank template, which can fulfill the exact same purpose:

Paragraph 1 {{#if: condition | {{blank}}

Paragraph 2
}}

Paragraph 3

Result:

Paragraph 1 

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3