Documentation

Pier syntax

Paragraphs

A single newline has no effect on the layout. An empty line starts a new paragraph.

Sections

A line starting with !s becomes a section heading. Use multiple ! to create a subsection. Don’t skip levels. The software can automatically generate a table of contents from headings.

Horizontal Line

A line starting with _ (underline) becomes a horizontal line. This is often used to separate topics.

Lists

Lines starting with #, -, ; or : create a list:

A block of lines, where each line starts with - is transformed into a bulleted list, where each line is an entry.
A block of lines, where each line starts with # is transformed into an ordered list, where each line is an entry.
A block of lines, where each line starts with ; or : is transformed into a definition list, where the keyword is prepended with ; and the definition with :. Keywords and definitions can be mixed arbitrary.

Lists can be nested. Thus, a line starting with #- is an element of a bulleted list that is part of an ordered list.

Tables

To create a table, start off the lines with | and separate the elements with |s. Each new line represents a new row of the table. The contents of cells can be aligned left, centered or aligned right by using |{, || or |} respectively.

Preformatted

To create a preformatted section, begin each line with =. A preformatted section uses equally spaced text so that spacing is preserved.

Links

To create a link, put it between *s. All links have the following form *reference* or *alias>reference*, where the reference is depending on the kind of link that is created. The contents of some links, e.g. links pointing to image-files, can be embedded into the current document by using +s: +reference+. However not all types of links support embedding and will quietly ignore it.

Internal Links

If a structure with the given title exists in the wiki (e.g. *Path*), a link to that item shows up when the page is saved. In case the path points to an non-existing structure, the user will be offered the possibility to create a new one when clicking on the link. The path can be any absolute or relative reference within the wiki.

External Links

If the link is an URL (e.g. *http://www.lukas-renggli.ch*), a link to the external page shows up. Other kinds of links are available.

Formatting

There is some sugar for basic font formattings:

To make something bold, surround it with ""
To make something italic, surround it with ” ”
To make something monospaced, surround it with ==
To make something ~~strikethrough~~, surround it with —
To make something _subscript, surround it with @@
To make something ^superscript, surround it with ^^
To make something underlined, surround it with __

Value Links

To add dynamic content to a page use a value link. For example, the expression +value:date+ adds the current date 2 September 2010. Some values might be undefined at certain points, in this case the alias of the link is displayed instead. For example, the expression +untouched>value:edited|display=date+ displays the date of the last edit operation, or untouched if the current page has never been edited. There is a wide variety of possible expression available:

Markup	Comment
`+value:children+`	Display immediate children of the current structure.
`+value:contents+`	Display all the children of the current structure.
`+value:context+`	Display the current context.
`+value:date+`	Display the current date.
`+value:edited+`	Display the last performed context.
`+value:find+`	Display all the structures matching the query parameter.
`+value:first+`	Display the first sibling of the current structure.
`+value:group+`	Display the group of the current structure.
`+value:history+`	Display the history for the current structure.
`+value:incoming+`	Display all structures referencing the current structure.
`+value:kernel+`	Display kernel of this site.
`+value:last+`	Display the last sibling of the current structure.
`+value:links+`	Display all links from the current structure.
`+value:next+`	Display the following sibling of the current structure.
`+value:outgoing+`	Display all structures referenced from the current structure.
`+value:owner+`	Display the owner of the current structure.
`+value:parent+`	Display the parent of the current structure.
`+value:parents+`	Display the parent chain of the current structure.
`+value:previous+`	Display the previous sibling of the current structure.
`+value:random+`	Display a random child of the current structure.
`+value:redirect+`	Redirect to a different location, specified in the ’to’ parameter.
`+value:root+`	Display the root structure.
`+value:siblings+`	Display the siblings of the current structure.
`+value:source+`	smalltalk source
`+value:structure+`	Display the current structure.
`+value:time+`	Display the current time.
`+value:toc+`	Display the table of contents of the current structure.
`+value:user+`	Display the currently authenticated structure.
`+value:values+`	Display a table with all possible values with comment.

The expressions that work on structures (children, parent, ...) support a wide variety of display parameters, namely title, name, tags, menu, owner, and group. Furthermore these expressions become a link if you add the parameter link. The expressions on contexts (context and edited) also support display parameters, namely date, time and user.