Help:Properties



A property describes the data value of a statement and can be thought of as a category of data, for example "color" for the data value "blue". Properties, when paired with values, form a in Wikidata. Properties are also used in.

Properties have their own pages on Wikidata and are connected to items, resulting in a linked data structure.

Understanding properties
Properties are similar to items in a couple of ways. Like items, each property has a label, a description, and even an alias or aliases that can be added in multiple languages. Properties also have statements that help to more completely describe the property, including constraints on how the property can be used.

However, properties do not have a section on their pages for sitelinks to other wikimedia projects, and they also do not have external identifiers. Each property does have what is known as a which defines the kind of values allowed in statements with that property.

Like items, properties also have a unique identifier. While items begin with a Q prefix and are found in the main namespace of Wikidata, properties have a P prefix and are stored in the property namespace.

Finding properties
Properties can be suggested at respective classes using. E.g. will list all properties relevant to any organization.

See for additional summaries of existing properties.

Search
Several external tools exist to list properties, for instance:
 * [//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:Search?profile=advanced&fulltext=Search&ns120=1 Search]
 * Wikidata Property Explorer

Lists

 * Special:AllPages/Property: (List by alphabetically sorted number)
 * Special:ListProperties + Get a list of properties by data type
 * List of properties
 * Database reports/List of properties/Top100
 * Database reports/List of properties/all
 * Template:Property lists

Creating properties
Before a new property is created, it has to be discussed and documented at first. When after some time there are some supporters, but no or very few opponents, the property is created by a or an  (see List of property creators). After creation, relevant documentation is moved to the corresponding property's talk page, where usage of the property is further discussed.

When proposing properties, keep in mind that each property should be expected to be used by at least 100 items; if a proposed property cannot be used this many times, it likely should not be added to Wikidata (of course, there are exceptions to this rule).

To propose a property, click and choose a topic category. Click the blue button "Create request page" and then fill out the provided template with as much information as possible. Make sure to include a possible property name in English (this will be the label), a description, the data type, examples of the type of item that may bear the property, and an example of how the property would be used. Don't worry about getting everything right the first time; that's what the discussion process is for.

If you are interested in being involved at the property proposal level for a specific subject matter, consider joining or creating a, a group of contributors who want to work together to improve a particular aspect of Wikidata. These groups often focus on how to best represent the data for a particular area of knowledge.

For more information on the property creator role, see Wikidata:Property creators#Requesting this right. To request the userright, visit Requests for permissions/Other rights.

Editing properties
Property entities can be edited like with, , , and statements.

Property labels should be as unambiguous as possible so that it is clear to a user which property is the correct one to use when editing items and adding statements. Properties rarely refer to commonly known concepts but they are more constructs of the Wikidata with specific meanings. Unlike items, property labels must be unique.

Property descriptions are less relevant for disambiguation but they should provide enough information about the scope and context of the property so that users understand appropriate usage of the property without having to consult additional help.

Property aliases should include all alternative ways of referring to the property.

Example:
 * property: P161
 * label: cast member
 * description: actor performing live for a camera or audience
 * aliases: film starring; actor; actress; starring

Label, description, and aliases of a property are first discussed by the community during the property proposal process. Major changes to a property should be discussed on its talk page first.

See Help:Data_type for changing the datatype of a property.

Deleting properties
If you think a property should be removed from Wikidata (for example, if is a duplicate of another property in use), you will have to make a request for its deletion. To do so, follow the steps listed at.

Using properties
Wikidata relies on consistency. For instance, all persons should have common properties whenever possible, whether they are politicians, artists or scientists, living or historical, fictional or not. If you are unsure whether the property you are using is most appropriate for the statement, consult the property's discussion page or ask on Project chat. An automatically generated list of properties currently supported by Wikidata can be found at here. Community-maintained lists can also be found at.

Property constraints
See.

Bidirectional relationships and hierarchies
Wikidata does not support automatic bidirectional links (T51165), so some properties need to be added and maintained twice. If, for example, A is a child of B on A's item page, the relation B as the parent of A also needs to be maintained on B's item page.

In general, only simple hierarchical properties should be recorded as statements. For example, record properties like – and/or, but not properties like grandchild–grandparent, niece–aunt, niece–uncle, etc. Such additional relationships can be derived from the existing data.

Frequently used properties
Please see for guidelines and examples of using properties related to scientific taxonomies, administrative divisions, sources, Wikimedia Commons files, and more.