This template is intended to be useful for creating links to "diffs"; that is, links to pages that show the differences between two versions of a wiki page.

Every historical version of a page has a revision ID, which you can find from the history of the page. Given a page name and one or two revision IDs, you can construct links to several types of diffs.

{{diff|1=page|2=diff|3=oldid|4=label}}

Current default
{{diff|1=Main Page|2=|3=|4=Last revision of '''Main Page'''}}Last revision of Main Page
You can also use the named variables "page", "diff", "oldid", and "label".
{{diff|page=Main Page|diff=cur|oldid=|label=Last change to '''Main Page'''}}Last change to Main Page
As long as the values do not contain equals signs, you can skip the variable names/numbers.
{{diff|Main Page|cur||Last change to '''Main Page'''}}Last change to Main Page
code result
{{diff|Main Page|204901573|202506579|Diff between two numbered versions of a page}} Diff between two numbered versions of a page
  • The diff= parameter (parameter number 2) should be the larger revision number.
  • The oldid= parameter (parameter number 3) should be the smaller revision number.
{{diff|Main Page|prev|204901573|Diff between a numbered version and the previous version}} Diff between a numbered version and the previous version

This is the form that would be used most often.

  • The diff= parameter (parameter number 2) should be the word prev.
  • The oldid= parameter (parameter number 3) should be the known revision number.
{{diff|Main Page|next|204901573|Diff between a numbered version and the subsequent version}} Diff between a numbered version and the subsequent version
  • The diff= parameter (parameter number 2) should be the word next.
  • The oldid= parameter (parameter number 3) should be the known revision number.
{{diff|Main Page|cur|204901573|Diff between a numbered version and the current version of a page}} Diff between a numbered version and the current version of a page
  • The diff= parameter (parameter number 2) should be the word cur.
  • The oldid= parameter (parameter number 3) should be the known revision number.
{{diff|Main Page|cur||Diff showing the most recent change to a page}} Diff showing the most recent change to a page
  • The diff= parameter (parameter number 2) should be the word cur.
  • The oldid= parameter (parameter number 3) should be missing or empty.
{{diff|Main Page||204901573|A link to a numbered version of a page}} A link to a numbered version of a page
  • The diff= parameter (parameter number 2) should be missing or empty.
  • The oldid= parameter (parameter number 3) should be the known revision number.
  • The result is not actually a diff, so this might be considered misuse of the template. See the {{oldid}} template.
  • {{oldid}} simplifies the case for linking to a known old version.
  • {{diff2}}