Editing Encyclopedia:Redirect (section)

== Targeted and untargeted redirects ==
{{Shortcut|WP:TARGET|WP:RSECT}}
{{See also|MOS:LINK2SECT}}

Most redirects are ''untargeted'', i.e. they lead simply to a page, not to any specific section of the page. This is usually done when there is more than one possible name under which an article might be sought (for example, [[Cellphone]] redirects to the article [[Mobile phone]]). For deciding which should be the actual title of the article, {{crossref|pw=y|see [[WP:Article titles]]}}.

It is also possible to create a ''targeted redirect'', i.e. a redirect to a particular point on the target page—either a [[Help:Section|section header]] or an [[Help:Anchor|anchor]]. For example, the page [[Malia Obama]] contains the code <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[Family of Barack Obama#Malia and Sasha Obama]]</nowiki></code>, which redirects to the [[Family of Barack Obama#Malia and Sasha Obama|Malia and Sasha Obama]] section in the article [[Family of Barack Obama]]. Therefore, entering {{kbd|Malia Obama}} will bring the searcher straight to the content that deals with "Malia and Sasha Obama".

Consider that when the target page is displayed, it is likely that the top of the page will not be shown, so the user may not see the helpful "(redirected from...)" text unless they know to scroll back to the top. This is less likely to cause confusion if the redirect is to a heading with the same name as the redirect.

A ''retarget'' in a redirect can either mean changing the page or changing the section that a redirect goes to. The term is used in [[Wikipedia:Redirects_for_discussion|redirects for discussion]] as an alternative to deleting it if the redirect can instead serve a purpose in targeting a different place in Wikipedia.

The text given in the link on a targeted redirect page must exactly match the target section heading or anchor text, including capitalization and punctuation. (While spaces and underscores are interchangeable in the current implementation of the MediaWiki software, it is generally good practice and aids maintenance to use exactly the same spelling in links as is used in the corresponding targets also for these characters.) (In the absence of a match, the reader will simply be taken to the top of the target page.) It is often helpful to leave a [[WP:HIDDEN|hidden comment]] in the target text, to inform other editors that a section title is linked, so that if the title is altered, the redirect can be changed. For example:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">