DokuWiki can replace certain characters or strings with other strings based on a configuration file. By default this is used to convert various character combinations to their typographical equivalent.

e.g.

<<  to « 
>>  to » 
=>  to ⇒
\_  to &nbsp;

see also text to html conversions on the syntax page.

Details of the conversions are stored in the conf/entities.conf file. To avoid your changes being overwritten when upgrading Dokuwiki, you should place your own additions in a new file called conf/entities.local.conf.

Even though by default it is used with simple character replacements only, the entity system can also be used to insert more complex constructs into your pages. This includes HTML. However you should be aware that doing so is bound to break when used in combination with non-HTML renderers (like ODT for example). It is recommended to use UTF-8 characters instead whenever possible.

Be sure to read about UTF-8 Encoding before editing the config file.

The entity mechanism can be used to adapt DokuWiki to some French typography rules that necessitate non-breaking spaces before or after some punctuation marks.

<< &laquo;&nbsp;
? &nbsp;?
: &nbsp;:
! &nbsp;!
; &nbsp;;
>> &nbsp;&raquo;

To use typography for esperanto x-writing use the following:

CX   Ĉ
cx   ĉ
GX   Ĝ
gx   ĝ
HX   Ĥ
hx   ĥ
JX   Ĵ
jx   ĵ
SX   Ŝ
sx   ŝ
UX   Ŭ
ux   ŭ