Wende – Wikipedia Wikitext Converter

Read references/rules.yaml at the start of every conversion task.

Conversion Workflow

Step 1: Determine direction

Identify whether the conversion goes en→de or de→en. If the user doesn't specify, infer from the wikitext content (English template names → en→de, German ones → de→en).

Step 2: Apply syntax rules

Work through the rule categories in this order. The order matters because some transformations depend on others (e.g., citation parameters only make sense after the template name has been converted).

1. Remove disposable templates — Templates that have no dewiki equivalent (like {{Short description}}, {{Use mdy dates}}). Remove them entirely, including their parameters.

2. Convert template names — Simple 1:1 replacements ({{Steady}} → {{Unverändert}}), infobox names (Infobox company → Infobox Unternehmen), hatnotes, sister projects.

3. Convert citation templates — {{cite web}}, {{cite news}} etc. become {{Internetquelle}}. {{cite book}} becomes {{Literatur}}. Convert all parameters according to the mappings. Remove parameters listed under remove_params. Add |sprache=en for English-language sources.

4. Convert special templates — Templates that need structural changes, not just renaming: {{abbr}} (extract first param), {{URL}} (convert to external link), {{Unbulleted list}} (join with <br>), {{hlist}} (join with comma).

5. Convert section headers — == History == → == Geschichte == etc.

6. Convert namespaces — [[Category: → [[Kategorie:, [[File: → [[Datei: etc.

7. Convert image parameters — thumb → mini, right → rechts etc.

8. Convert magic words — DEFAULTSORT → SORTIERUNG, DISPLAYTITLE → SEITENTITEL.

9. Convert number formats — Swap decimal separators (. ↔ ,) and thousands separators (, ↔ .). Handle scale words (billion → Milliarde, trillion → Billion — these are false friends!).

10. Convert date formats — MDY → DMY (December 3, 2019 → 3. Dezember 2019), translate month names. Convert As of → Stand.

11. Convert wikilinks — Adjust known article title differences. For links where the German title is uncertain, leave as-is and flag with an inline comment <!-- TODO: dewiki-Linkziel prüfen -->.

12. Convert table syntax — Add tabelle-zaehler class where appropriate, adjust status templates (Active → Aktiv).

13. Convert typography — Quotation marks ("..." → „..."), dashes (em dash — → en dash –), non-breaking spaces before units (10 km).

Step 3: Translate prose (if requested)

After syntax conversion, translate the readable text if the user wants a full conversion. Keep all wikitext syntax intact — links, templates, ref tags, HTML. Only translate the human-readable prose, captions, and alt text.

Translation guidelines:

• Natural, encyclopedic German (or English for de→en)
• Preserve inline citations exactly where they are
• Keep proper nouns, brand names, and titles in the original language
• For quotes: provide both original and translation using {{Zitat|Original|Übersetzung=...}}
• Passive constructions and nominal style are typical for dewiki

Step 4: Validate the output

Before presenting the result, check:

• Balanced braces: every {{ has a matching }}
• Balanced ref tags: every <ref> has a </ref> (or is self-closing <ref ... />)
• No English template names remain (search for cite web, cite news, Infobox company etc.)
• No English namespace prefixes remain (Category:, File:)
• URLs are untouched (no number format changes inside URLs)
• ISO dates in citation parameters are untouched (don't convert 2024-01-15 to 2024,01,15)

Flag anything uncertain with <!-- TODO: ... --> comments so the user can review.

Number Format Conversion — Important Caveats

Number format swapping is the most error-prone part of conversion. These contexts must be excluded from number format changes:

• URLs: anything after :// until the next whitespace
• ISO dates: patterns like 2024-01-15 in citation date parameters
• Version numbers: Python 3.12, iOS 17.4
• Template parameter values for url=, abruf=, datum=
• DOIs, ISBNs, ISSNs: these have fixed formats

Only convert numbers that appear in prose text, table cells, or template parameters where the value is genuinely numeric (like Umsatz, Mitarbeiterzahl).

Adding New Rules

When encountering a template or pattern not covered by rules.yaml:

1. Read the current rules file to confirm it's missing
2. Determine the correct dewiki equivalent (check dewiki directly if possible)
3. Add the rule to the appropriate section in rules.yaml
4. Apply it to the current conversion
5. Add a comment with the date if the mapping is non-obvious

Rule categories in the YAML:

• templates.simple — 1:1 template name replacements
• templates.remove — templates to delete entirely
• templates.infoboxes — infobox name mappings
• cite_templates — which cite templates map to which German template
• cite_params — citation parameter name mappings
• link_mappings — known article title differences between wikis
• section_headers — section heading translations
• special_templates — templates needing structural transformation
• All other sections — see YAML file for full list

Reverse Direction (de→en)

For de→en conversion, apply all rules in reverse: swap keys and values. The same YAML file serves both directions. Pay attention to:

• {{Internetquelle}} → {{cite web}} (reverse the parameter mappings too)
• German number format → English number format
• DMY dates → MDY dates
• [[Kategorie: → [[Category: etc.

Examples

Citation conversion (en→de)

Input:  {{cite web |url=https://example.com |title=Test |publisher=BBC |access-date=January 5, 2024}}
Output: {{Internetquelle |url=https://example.com |titel=Test |hrsg=BBC |abruf=2024-01-05 |sprache=en}}

Section header + number format

Input:  == History ==
        The company reported revenue of $1,234.56 million.
Output: == Geschichte ==
        Das Unternehmen meldete einen Umsatz von 1.234,56 Millionen US-Dollar.

Special template

Input:  {{hlist|Rock|Pop|Electronic}}
Output: Rock, Pop, Electronic