Template:CheckAuthors3

The template takes the following 2 parameters:

|1= or |errors=

Any previous error message

|2= or |authors=

string of authors

It checks whether the "Text parameter" 2 contains the characters (;) or (:). If yes then an info message is returned. If the info message (first parameter) already contains some text then the separator ";;" and the new message is appended. If there is no error parameter 1 is returned.

Usage:

{{CheckAuthors3|1=|2=Author1; Author2: Author3;}}

… results in:

Unwanted characters for authors: The authors field contains the «semicolon, colon» in «Author1; Author2: Author3;», please recheck.
Authors should be formatted like: “John F. Smith and A. Johnson”   or:   “John F. Smith, A. Johnson and S. Wang”.