Variable substitutions in the skin template are all managed by the FmtPageName() function from pmwiki.php. Pmwiki variable substitutions available on pages are managed by the substitutions from stdmarkup.php or superseded in local/config files.

$ActionSkin

This array is used to override the current skin when performing a given action. The most common use is to set $ActionSkin['print']='foo' to use the 'foo' skin when printing, regardless of what the $Skin variable is set to.

$WikiTitle

A variable which contains the Wiki title as displayed in the browser tab and at the top of the browser window, e.g. "Worlds of Adventure"

$EnablePageTitlePriority

A variable defining how to treat multiple (:title ...:) page directives (added in PmWiki 2.2.9).

$EnablePageTitlePriority = 0; # PmWiki default, last encountered title wins (the title may be changed from included pages or GroupFooter).

$EnablePageTitlePriority = 1; # First title wins; if a title is defined in the page, directives from included pages cannot change it.

$EnableDiffInline

If set to 0, this variable switches off the word-level highlighting on the markup in the page history.

$EnableDiffInline = 0; # Disable colors, show plain text differences

$EnableRCDiffBytes

If set to 1, (All)RecentChanges pages will display the difference in bytes of the page content from the previous version like (+123) or (-42)

$EnableRCDiffBytes = 1; # Show bytes difference from previous version

The colors are the same as those in the page history; if your skin doesn't provide them, add to pub/css/local.css something like:

.diffmarkup { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; } 
.diffmarkup del { background: #ff9; text-decoration: none; }
.diffmarkup ins { background: #9f9; text-decoration: none; }

$CurrentTime

This variable contains the current date and time formatted with $TimeFmt. It is used in RecentChanges (before 2.3.0), and in user signatures.

$CurrentLocalTime

This variable contains the current date and time stamp, saved in RecentChanges (since 2.3.0). This time stamp will be saved in the wiki source text in Greenwich Mean Time (UTC/GMT), but will be shown according to $TimeFmt in the timezone of the wiki. When $EnableLocalTimes is enabled, then it will be shown in the visitor's time zone. The same format is also saved in user signatures if $EnableLocalTimes is enabled.

$EnablePmUtils

This variable controls whether the script pub/pmwiki-utils.js should be loaded or not. The script contains JavaScript utility functions for the table of contents, the syntax highlighting, the recent changes, and the email obfuscation, and the dark color theme. By default $EnablePmUtils is 1 (enabled), but most functions should be enabled individually ($EnableLocalTimes, $EnableHighlight, $PmTOC, $LinkFunctions['mailto:'], $EnableCopyCode, $EnableSortable, $ToggleNextSelector, $EnablePmSyntax, $CustomSyntax, $EnableCopyCode). Set this variable to 0 to disable all these functions.

$EnableLocalTimes

(Default disabled) Enables the rewriting of date and time stamps into the timezone of the visitor, see documentation at Cookbook:LocalTimes. Dates affected are in RecentChanges pages, in page histories, and in user signatures.

$EnableLocalTimes = 2; Enables long local times, as in MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS.

$EnableLocalTimes = 1; Enables compact local times, either HH:MM (within 24 hours), MM/DD or DD/MM (within 11 months), and MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY if earlier than 11 months. The long format appears in a tooltip title when the mouse is over the short format.

$EnableLocalTimes = 3; Like the compact local times, but when the date is earlier than 11 months, shows MM'YY.

$EnablePmSyntax

(Not to be confused with $EnableHighlight) When set to 1, enables PmSyntax, a syntax highlighting for the PmWiki markup language, which makes the documentation easy to read (from 2.3.0). When set to 2, it also enables the experimental syntax highlighting in the basic edit form:

$EnablePmSyntax = 1; # highlight documentation blocks
$EnablePmSyntax = 2; # both documentation and edit form
if ($action=='edit') $EnablePmSyntax = 2; # only edit form

$CustomSyntax

(From 2.3.0) An array where custom rules for syntax highlighting can be defined. See documentation at Cookbook:CustomSyntax.

$EnableHighlight

(Not to be confused with $EnablePmSyntax) If set to 1, enables compatibility with the highlight.js library to highlight program code. In addition, you need to include the library and mark your code blocks with the wikistyle %highlight%, see WikiStyles#highlight.

$EnableCopyCode

(From 2.3.21) When set to 1, adds a [+] button near the top right of preformatted blocks. A user clicking on the button will have the text of the preformatted block copied to their system clipboard:

$EnableCopyCode = 1; # add a [+] copy code button to pre blocks

$HTMLTagAttr

A string containing attributes of the <html...> tag in the skin template, default empty. For example, to add a "lang" attribute, set in config.php:

$HTMLTagAttr = 'lang="en" xml:lang="en"';

For this variable to work in a custom skin, add it in the template file, for example:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" $HTMLTagAttr>

$HTMLStylesFmt

An array of CSS statements to be included in the page's output along with other HTML headers. This array provides an easy place for scripts to add custom CSS statements.

$HTMLHeaderFmt

An array of HTML text to be included in the page's <head> section, at the point where the skin template specifies a <!--HTMLHeader--> directive. This array provides an easy place for scripts to add custom HTML headers.

$HTMLHeaderFmt['favicon'] =
'<link href="http://path/to/icon.png" type="image/png" rel="icon" />
 <link href="http://path/to/icon.ico" type="image/x-icon" rel="shortcut icon" />';

$HTMLHeaderFmt['rss'] =
'<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Rss All recent Changes" 
 href="$ScriptUrl/Site/AllRecentChanges?action=rss" />';

$HTMLHeaderFmt['the-javascript'] =
'<script>
   // the javascript code
 </script>';

$HTMLFooterFmt

Like $HTMLHeaderFmt above, this contains an array of HTML text to be included near the end of an HTML document, at the point where the skin template specifies a <!--HTMLFooter--> directive (usually just before a closing </body> tag). Primarily used by scripts to add custom HTML output after the body of the page output.

$MetaRobots

Sets the value of the <meta name='robots' ... /> tag generated by PmWiki to control search engine robots accessing the site. PmWiki's default setting tells robots to not index anything but the normal page view, and to not index pages in the PmWiki wiki group. Explicitly setting $MetaRobots overrides this default.

# never index this site
$MetaRobots = 'noindex,nofollow';
# disable the robots tag entirely
$MetaRobots = ''; 

$MessagesFmt

An array of HTML text to be displayed at the point of any (:messages:) markup. Commonly used for displaying messages with respect to editing pages.

$RecentChangesFmt

An array specifying the format of the RecentChanges listing.

$RecentChangesFmt['$SiteGroup.AllRecentChanges']

'* [[{$Group}.{$Name}]]  . . . $CurrentTime $[by] $AuthorLink: [=$ChangeSummary=]'

$RecentChangesFmt['$SiteGroup.AllRecentChanges'] = 
  '* [[{$Group}.{$Name}]]  . . . $CurrentTime $[by] $AuthorLink: [=$ChangeSummary=]';
$RecentChangesFmt['$Group.RecentChanges'] =
  '* [[{$Group}/{$Name}]]  . . . $CurrentTime $[by] $AuthorLink: [=$ChangeSummary=]';

$RecentUploadsFmt

An array specifying the format for uploaded files at the RecentChanges listing. It is similar to $RecentChangesFmt. If enabled, newly uploaded files will be logged to the RecentChanges pages. Default is disabled. See Cookbook:RecentUploadsLog for more information. See also $EnableRecentUploads.

$EnableRecentUploads

When set to 1, and when $RecentUploadsFmt is not set, it enables Recent uploads in a default format, only on the page Site.AllRecentChanges. This was added in 2.3.0 to easily enable the feature with some default settings that may be good enough for many wikis.

$DraftRecentChangesFmt

An array specifying the format of the RecentChanges listing when saving Draft pages.

$DraftRecentChangesFmt['$Group.RecentDraftChanges'] =
  '* [[{$Group}/{$Name}]]  . . . $CurrentTime $[by] $AuthorLink: [=$ChangeSummary=]';
$DraftRecentChangesFmt['$Group.RecentChanges'] = '';

$RCLinesMax

The maximum number of lines to be stored in RecentChanges pages. The default is zero, meaning "no limit".

        $RCLinesMax = 1000;       # maintain at most 1000 recent changes

$PageRedirectFmt

The text to be used when a page is redirected via the (:redirect:) markup.

$PageRedirectFmt = '<p><i>redirected from $FullName</p>';
$PageRedirectFmt = '';

$WikiStyle

An array which contains the predefined WikiStyles which can be used on a textpage.
See: PmWiki.CustomWikiStyles

$WikiStyleApply

An array which defines the scope of wiki styling per HTML element. Default settings are:

'item' => 'li|dt',
'list' => 'ul|ol|dl',
'div' => 'div',
'pre' => 'pre',
'img' => 'img',
'block' => 'p(?!\\sclass=)|div|ul|ol|dl|li|dt|pre|h[1-6]',
'p' => 'p(?!\\sclass=)'

• LI elements using the item keyword
• UL, OL, DL elements using the list keyword
• etc.

* %apply=item red%Here is a red styled list item
* This item would not be styled.

$WikiPageCSSFmt

This variable holds a page name where you can add CSS rules applied to specific page patterns (default disabled). See Cookbook:LocalCSS as an example.

$WikiPageCSSFmt = 'Site.LocalCSS'; # global Site.LocalCSS page

$WikiPageCSSFmt = '{$Group}.LocalCSS'; # per-group LocalCSS pages

$WikiPageCSSVars

If a "wiki CSS page" is enabled with $WikiPageCSSFmt, this is an array with global PHP $variables available as pre-processor @variables in that page. By default the array contains: 'FarmPubDirUrl', 'PubDirUrl', 'Skin', 'action', 'SkinDirUrl'.

$EnableSelfWikiPageCSS

If a "wiki CSS page" is enabled with $WikiPageCSSFmt, that specific page doesn't have CSS applied to itself when browsed or edited. In case a grave mistake is made in the styles and the site becomes unusable, this page will still be viewable and editable. People familiar with CSS can set this to 1 and the styles will be applied to the page itself, also in "Preview" mode:

$EnableSelfWikiPageCSS = 1; # Apply styles to the "wiki CSS page" itself

$PmTOC

Enable and configure the built-in table of contents, see Table of contents (TOC).

$PmTOC['Enable'] = 1; # Enable TOC; default is 0 (disabled).

$ToggleNextSelector

A CSS selector to enable interactive toggling of hidden sections, see Cookbook:ToggleNext. By default it is disabled.

$MaxIncludes

Controls the number of times that pages can be included via the (:include:) and other directives, used to control recursion and otherwise pose a sanity check on page contents. $MaxIncludes defaults to 50, but can be set to any value by the wiki administrator.

$MaxIncludes = 50;            # default
$MaxIncludes = 1000;          # allow lots of includes
$MaxIncludes = 0;             # turn off includes 

$Skin

Lists the name(s) of skins to load, unless overridden by $ActionSkin. Normally $Skin contains a single string which is the name of a skin directory, but it may also be an array of names, in which case the first skin found from the list is used.

$SkinDirUrl

Set by scripts/skins.php to be the base url of the current skin's directory (i.e., within a 'pub/skins/' directory). This variable is typically used inside of a skin .tmpl file to provide access to .css files and graphic images associated with the skin.

$SkinLibDirs

An array which, given the filesystem path (array key) to a skin (or a directory containing several skins), provides the corresponding URL (array value).

$SkinLibDirs = array(
  "./pub/skins/\$Skin" => "$PubDirUrl/skins/\$Skin",
  "$FarmD/pub/skins/\$Skin" => "$FarmPubDirUrl/skins/\$Skin");

$SkinTemplateIncludeLevel

how many levels of inclusion are allowed for skin templates with the <!--IncludeTemplate:...--> directive. By default this directive is disabled. Setting it to 1 allows one level of inclusions, setting it to 2 allows included templates to include more templates. There can be up to 10 levels of inclusion. This variable can be defined either in local/config.php or in pub/skins/skinname/skinname.php (with SDV):

  # in config.php, allow one level of inclusions
  $SkinTemplateIncludeLevel = 1; 

  # in skinname.php, allow 3 levels of inclusions
  SDV($GLOBALS['SkinTemplateIncludeLevel'], 3); 

$PageLogoUrl

is the url that refers to a logo image which most skins display somewhere in the page's header (top left usually), e.g. ""

$EnablePathInfo

Changes the handling of the page URL. When set to 1 page URL will be ...wiki.php/Main/Main, when set to 0 (default) it will be ...wiki.php?n=Main.Main.

$EnableFixedUrlRedirect

When PmWiki is given a partial page name (e.g., just the name of a WikiGroup), it uses $PagePathFmt in order to make a complete page name from the partial one, then issues a "redirect" to the browser to tell it to reload the page with the correct full page name. Setting $EnableFixedUrlRedirect=0; blocks the redirect, so that PmWiki continues processing with the adjusted page name rather than issuing the redirect.

$GroupHeaderFmt

Defines the markup placed at the top of every page. Default value is:

        $GroupHeaderFmt = '(:include {$Group}.GroupHeader self=0 basepage={*$FullName}:)(:nl:)';

$GroupPrintHeaderFmt

Defines the markup placed at the top of every page when action=print. Default value is:

        SDV($GroupPrintHeaderFmt,'(:include $Group.GroupPrintHeader basepage={*$FullName}:)(:nl:)');

$GroupFooterFmt

Defines the markup placed at the bottom of every page. Default value is:

        $GroupFooterFmt = '(:nl:)(:include {$Group}.GroupFooter self=0 basepage={*$FullName}:)';

$GroupPrintFooterFmt

Defines the markup placed at the bottom of every page when action=print. Default value is:

        SDV($GroupPrintFooterFmt,'(:nl:)(:include $Group.GroupPrintFooter basepage={*$FullName}:)');

$PageNotFoundHeaderFmt

Specifies the HTTP header to send when attempting to browse a page that doesn't exist. Some webserver packages (notably Microsoft's "Personal Web Server") require that this variable be changed in order to work.

# default
$PageNotFoundHeaderFmt = 'HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found';
# return all pages as found
$PageNotFoundHeaderFmt = 'HTTP/1.1 200 Ok';

$HTMLVSpace

Setting $HTMLVSpace = ''; in a local customizationfile (e.g., local/config.php) prevents insertion of spacer paragraphs (<p class='vspace'></p>) in generated HTML code. To limit this change to a single skin, place the $HTMLVSpace = ''; statement in a skin.php file, preceded by the statement global $HTMLVSpace;.

$HTMLPNewline

This variable allows to enable linebreaks by default, i.e. without having the directive (:linebreaks:) in a page or in a GroupHeader. To enable line breaks, add to config.php such a line:
$HTMLPNewline = '<br/>';

$SimpleTableDefaultClassName

This variable can contain a CSS classname to be used for simple tables, if a "class=" attribute is not defined in the wiki page (default unset):
$SimpleTableDefaultClassName = "wikisimpletable";
See for sample code PITS:00638.

$EnableSimpleTableRowspan

If set to 1, will enable features replicating the recipe Cookbook:RowspanInSimpleTables (default disabled).
$EnableSimpleTableRowspan = 1; # See recipe

$EnableSortable

Set this variable to 1 to enable sortable tables, see Tables#sortable (default disabled):

$EnableSortable = 1; # Enable sortable tables

$TableCellAttrFmt

For Tables, defines the HTML attributes given to each <td> or <th> cell in the output. Can contain references to $TableCellCount which holds the horizontal column number of the current cell.

$TableCellAlignFmt

For Tables, defines the HTML attributes for alignment of each <td> or <th> cell. Default is " align='%s'" where %s will be replaced with 'center', 'left' or 'right'. For a valid HTML5 output you may want to change this in config.php:
$TableCellAlignFmt = " class='%s'";
then define the CSS classes td.center, td.right and td.left (also th).

$TableRowAttrFmt

For Tables, defines the HTML attributes given to each <tr> element in the output. Can contain references to $TableRowCount to give the absolute row number within the table, or $TableRowIndex to provide a repeating row index from 1 to $TableRowIndexMax.

# Give each row a unique CSS class based on row number (tr1, tr2, tr3, ... )
$TableRowAttrFmt = "class='tr\$TableRowCount'";
# Give each row alternating CSS classes (ti1, ti2, ti1, ti2, ti1, ... )
$TableRowIndexMax = 2;
$TableRowAttrFmt = "class='ti\$TableRowIndex'"; 

$TableRowIndexMax

The maximum value for $TableRowIndex in Tables.

# Set rows indexes as 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, ...
$TableRowIndexMax = 3; 

$EnableTableAutoValignTop

Advanced tables are intended for layout, and automatically insert the valign='top' attribute if there is no valign attribute defined in the markup source. Setting this variable to 0 in config.php will prevent the automatic addition.

$EnableAutoSkinList

This variable enables the change of the skin from the URL to any skin available on the wiki installation. See also $PageSkinList and Skins:SkinChange.

$PageSkinList

This is an array of allowed skins that can be changed by the visitor with ?skin= or ?setskin= URL query to the wiki. See also $EnableAutoSkinList and Skins:SkinChange.

$TrailFmt

An array of HTML snippets containing the layout of the WikiTrails output. If you define one or more custom values in config.php, they will be used. Here are the default values:

$TrailFmt['<<|'] = "<span class='wikitrail'>&lt;&lt; \$prev | \$trailname | \$next &gt;&gt;</span>";
$TrailFmt['<|']  = "<span class='wikitrail'>\$prev\$trailname\$next</span>";
$TrailFmt['^|']  = "<span class='wikitrail'>\$crumbs</span>";

$InputLabelFmt

A HTML snippet containing the layout of the "label" after an input form field. If you define a custom value in config.php, it will be used. The default value has initial and trailing spaces:
$InputLabelFmt = ' <label for="$LabelFor" $LabelTitle>$LabelText</label> ';

$FmtV['$TableCellCount']

PMWiki internal variable - Horizontal column number of the current cell. For use in $TableCellAttrFmt and $TableRowAttrFmt. Administrators can use in $TableCellAttrFmt and/or $TableRowAttrFmt.

$FmtV['$TableRowCount']

PMWiki internal variable - Current row number. Administrators can use in $TableCellAttrFmt and/or $TableRowAttrFmt.

$FmtV['$TableRowIndex']

PMWiki internal variable - Row index number derived from $TableRowIndexMax. (1,2,3,1,2,3,...). Administrators can use in $TableCellAttrFmt and/or $TableRowAttrFmt.

See also: Edit Variables

Layout Variables