Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Brackets and parentheses===
{{Shortcut|MOS:B&P|MOS:BRACKET|MOS:PAREN}}
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This section applies to both round brackets {{xt|(&nbsp;)}}, often called [[Bracket|parentheses]], and square brackets {{xt|[&nbsp;]}}.

If a sentence contains a bracketed phrase, place the sentence punctuation outside the brackets {{xt|(as shown here).}} However, where one or more sentences are wholly inside brackets, place their punctuation inside the brackets. There should be no space next to the inner side of a bracket. An opening bracket should usually be preceded by a space. This may not be the case if it is preceded by an opening quotation mark, another opening bracket, or a portion of a word:
*{{xt|He rose to address the meeting: "(Ahem)&nbsp;... Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!"}}
*{{xt|Only the royal characters in the play ([Prince] Hamlet and his family) habitually speak in blank verse.}}
*{{xt|We journeyed on the Inter[continental].}}
*{{xt|Most people are right-handed. (Some people are left-handed, but that does not make right-handed people "better" than left-handed people.)}}

There should be a space after a closing bracket, except where a punctuation mark follows (though a spaced dash would still be spaced after a closing bracket) and in unusual cases similar to those listed for opening brackets.

Avoid adjacent sets of brackets. Either put the parenthetical phrases in one set separated by semicolons, or rewrite:
*{{em|Avoid}}: {{!xt|Nikifor Grigoriev ({{circa|1885}}&nbsp;– 1919) (also known as Matvii Hryhoriiv) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader.}}
*{{em|Better}}: {{xt|Nikifor Grigoriev ({{circa|1885}}&nbsp;– 1919; also known as Matvii Hryhoriiv) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader.}}
*{{em|Better}}: {{xt|Nikifor Grigoriev ({{circa|1885}}&nbsp;– 1919) was a Ukrainian insurgent leader. He was also known as Matvii Hryhoriiv.}}

Square brackets are used to indicate editorial replacements and insertions within quotations, though this should never alter the intended meaning. They serve three main purposes:
*To clarify: {{xt|She attended [secondary] school}}, where this was the intended meaning, but the type of school was unstated in the original sentence.
*To reduce the size of a quotation: {{xt|X contains Y, and under certain circumstances, X may contain Z as well}} may be reduced to {{xt|X contains Y [and sometimes Z]}}. When an ellipsis ({{xt|...}}) is used to indicate that material is removed from a direct quotation, it should not normally be bracketed. {{crossref|pw=y|(See {{section link||Ellipses}} for an exceptional case.)}}
*To make the grammar work: Referring to someone's statement {{xt|"I hate to do laundry"}}, one could properly write {{xt|She "hate[s] to do laundry"}}.

If a sentence includes subsidiary material enclosed in square or round brackets, it must still carry terminal punctuation {{em|after}} those brackets, regardless of any punctuation within the brackets. {{Block indent|{{xt|She refused all requests (except for basics such as food, medicine, etc.).}}}} However, if the entire sentence is within brackets, the closing punctuation falls within the brackets. {{xt|(This sentence is an example.)}}

====Brackets and linking====
Square brackets inside of links must be [[Escape character|escaped]]:

{| class="wikitable"
| He said, "<code>{{mxt|<nowiki>[[John Doe|John &amp;#91;Doe&amp;#93;]]</nowiki>}}</code> answered." ||
He said, "[[John Doe|John &#91;Doe&#93;]] answered."
|-
| He said, "<code>{{mxt|<nowiki>[[John Doe|John {{bracket|Doe}}]]</nowiki>}}</code> answered." ||
He said, "[[John Doe|John {{bracket|Doe}}]] answered."
|-
| <code>{{mxt|<nowiki>[https://example.com On the first day &amp;#91;etc.&amp;#93;]</nowiki>}}</code> ||
[https://example.com On the first day &#91;etc.&#93;]
|-
| <code>{{mxt|<nowiki>[https://example.com On the first day {{bracket|etc.}}]</nowiki>}}</code> ||
[https://example.com On the first day {{bracket|etc.}}]
|}

The {{xtag|nowiki}} markup can also be used: {{tag|nowiki|content=[Doe]}} or {{tag|nowiki|content=[etc.]}}.

If a URL itself contains square brackets, the wiki-text should use the [[URL encoding|URL-encoded]] form <code><nowiki>https://</nowiki>example.com/foo.php?query={{bxt|%5B}}xxx{{bxt|%5D}}yyy</code>, rather than&nbsp;...<code>query={{!bxt|&#91;}}xxx{{!bxt|&#93;}}yyy</code>. This will avoid truncation of the link after <code>xxx</code>.