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BBCode is an abbreviation for Bulletin Board Code, the markup language used to format posts in many modern message boards. The available tags are usually indicated by rectangular brackets surrounding a keyword, and they are parsed by the message board system before being translated into a markup language the web browser understands, usually HTML or XHTML.
BBCode was devised and put to use in order to provide a safer, easier and more limited way of allowing users to format their messages. Previously, many message boards allowed the users to include HTML, which could be used to break/imitate parts of the layout, or run javascript. Some implementations of BBCode have suffered problems related to the way they translate the BBCode into HTML, which could negate the security that was intended to be given by BBCode.
Although the basic tags of BBCode are similar in most internet forum software, there are many variants. Some variants require tags to be in the correct case whilst others are not case-sensitive. Some variants have tags which highlight HTML, PHP, SQL and other computer markup languages.
BBCode tags
The following are most of the BBCode tags available to most modern message boards:
[b] and [/b] are used to produce bold text.
[i] and [/i] are used to produce italic text.
[u] and [/u] are used to generate underlined text.
Images can be shown by using the [img] and [/img] tags.
A Hyperlink can be produced by using the [url] and [/url] tags, if you want to have text that is different from the URL, use [url=url should be here], then the text you want to appear, then [/url] to complete it.
[quote] and [/quote] are used to produce quoted text (usually from a previous post). [quote="username here"] can be used to specify the user that originally made the post (or the text). Most message boards have a Quote button near displayed posts, that automatically generates the text in the post within a quote element.
To produce monospaced text, use the [code] and [/code] tags.
Many message boards include a FAQ with information on how to use their own variants of BBCode.
Links of interest
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