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---
title: Links and Cross References
linkTitle: Links and Cross References
description: Shortcodes for creating links to documents.
categories: [content management]
keywords: ["cross references","references", "anchors", "urls"]
menu:
docs:
parent: content-management
weight: 170
toc: true
weight: 170
aliases: [/extras/crossreferences/]
---
The `ref` and `relref` shortcodes display the absolute and relative permalinks to a document, respectively.
## Use of `ref` and `relref`
The `ref` and `relref` shortcodes require a single parameter: the path to a content document, with or without a file extension, with or without an anchor. Paths without a leading `/` are first resolved relative to the current page, then to the remainder of the site.
```
.
└── content
├── about
| ├── _index.md
| └── credits.md
├── pages
| ├── document1.md
| └── document2.md // has anchor #anchor
├── products
| └── index.md
└── blog
└── my-post.md
```
The pages can be referenced as follows:
```text
{{</* ref "document2" */>}} // <- From pages/document1.md, relative path
{{</* ref "document2#anchor" */>}}
{{</* ref "document2.md" */>}}
{{</* ref "document2.md#anchor" */>}}
{{</* ref "#anchor" */>}} // <- From pages/document2.md
{{</* ref "/blog/my-post" */>}} // <- From anywhere, absolute path
{{</* ref "/blog/my-post.md" */>}}
{{</* relref "document" */>}}
{{</* relref "document.md" */>}}
{{</* relref "#anchor" */>}}
{{</* relref "/blog/my-post.md" */>}}
```
index.md can be reference either by its path or by its containing folder without the ending `/`. \_index.md can be referenced only by its containing folder:
```text
{{</* ref "/about" */>}} // <- References /about/_index.md
{{</* ref "/about/_index" */>}} // Raises REF_NOT_FOUND error
{{</* ref "/about/credits.md" */>}} // <- References /about/credits.md
{{</* ref "/products" */>}} // <- References /products/index.md
{{</* ref "/products/index" */>}} // <- References /products/index.md
```
To generate a hyperlink using `ref` or `relref` in markdown:
```text
[About]({{</* ref "/about" */>}} "About Us")
```
Hugo emits an error or warning if a document cannot be uniquely resolved. The error behavior is configurable; see below.
### Link to another language version
To link to another language version of a document, use this syntax:
```go-html-template
{{</* relref path="document.md" lang="ja" */>}}
```
### Get another Output Format
To link to another Output Format of a document, use this syntax:
```go-html-template
{{</* relref path="document.md" outputFormat="rss" */>}}
```
### Heading IDs
When using Markdown document types, Hugo generates element IDs for every heading on a page. For example:
```md
## Reference
```
produces this HTML:
```html
<h2 id="reference">Reference</h2>
```
Get the permalink to a heading by appending the ID to the path when using the `ref` or `relref` shortcodes:
```go-html-template
{{</* ref "document.md#reference" */>}}
{{</* relref "document.md#reference" */>}}
```
Generate a custom heading ID by including an attribute. For example:
```md
## Reference A {#foo}
## Reference B {id="bar"}
```
produces this HTML:
```html
<h2 id="foo">Reference A</h2>
<h2 id="bar">Reference B</h2>
```
Hugo will generate unique element IDs if the same heading appears more than once on a page. For example:
```md
## Reference
## Reference
## Reference
```
produces this HTML:
```html
<h2 id="reference">Reference</h2>
<h2 id="reference-1">Reference</h2>
<h2 id="reference-2">Reference</h2>
```
## Ref and RelRef Configuration
The behavior can, since Hugo 0.45, be configured in `config.toml`:
refLinksErrorLevel ("ERROR")
: When using `ref` or `relref` to resolve page links and a link cannot resolved, it will be logged with this log level. Valid values are `ERROR` (default) or `WARNING`. Any `ERROR` will fail the build (`exit -1`).
refLinksNotFoundURL
: URL to be used as a placeholder when a page reference cannot be found in `ref` or `relref`. Is used as-is.
[lists]: /templates/lists/
[output formats]: /templates/output-formats/
[shortcode]: /content-management/shortcodes/
|