Help:Cite errors/Cite error references group mismatch

This page will help you to fix the cite error message:

• If you have read this help page and find something missing or confusing, please discuss it at the main talk page.
• Please reference this page and the page where you have the problem so we can understand your issues.
• For basic information on the footnotes system, see Referencing for beginners; for advanced help, see Footnotes.

Overview

Further information: Help:Footnotes

A footnote used multiple times may be defined with a name:

<ref name="foo">content</ref>

To invoke a named footnote:

<ref name="foo" />

References may also be defined within the reference list:

{{#parsoid

List-defined reference may be within groups:

{{#parsoid

List-defined references may be invoked by the standard markup or by use of {{r}}.

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T22707

Note: It is possible to get this error message when nesting footnotes in list-defined references, unfortunately the only fix in this situation is to not use list-defined references for entries that are nested.

Issues and resolution

• A list-defined reference uses a group name that is not used within any <ref>...</ref> tags.
• An explanatory note template such as {{efn}} is used inside <ref>...</ref> tags; use {{refn}} instead of <ref>...</ref> tags.
• Footnotes are nested inside list-defined references. This is a known bug, for now just do not use list-defined references.

Examples

The reference list has a defined reference with a group named note, but there is no reference in the content with that group and name.

{{#parsoid

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

References

{{efn}} is nested inside <ref>...</ref>:

{{#parsoid

Notes

References

Technical

Pages with this error message are placed into Pages with incorrect ref formatting. The system message page is at Cite error references group mismatch.