Editing Template:S-start/doc (section)

====S-vac====
''S-vac'' may be used in place of either ''s-bef'' or ''s-aft'' (or both in the same line), and its purpose is to indicate breaks in succession chains, primarily vacancies. A vacancy is a length of time during which a title is unoccupied—for monarchs, such periods are known as interregna. Vacancies occur to most offices, although it should be noted that the short period that often passes between the end of the previous holder's term and the election/appointment of the next holder does not count as a vacancy.

There are two basic versions for ''s-vac'', each of which requires a parameter. The version for the predecessor cell uses a "last" parameter, where the name of the title's holder before the vacancy can be filled, while the version for the successor cell uses the parameter "next". Furthermore, there are title parameters that change the message displayed ("Vacant"), depending on the specific circumstances: "commission" produces an "In commission" label and "suspended" produces a "Suspended" one, to furnish two examples (see the [[Template:S-vac|template page]] for an exhaustive list).

Apart from the standard edition of ''s-vac'', there is also a pair of versions for the cases where title holders are unknown, and thus there are again missing links in the chains of succession, even though the titles were actually occupied at those times. In these occasions, the "last" and "next" parameters are replaced with "unknlast" and "unknnext" respectively, while the "unknown" title parameter ought to be used. This way readers can navigate unobstructed along even incomplete succession chains.

For all four versions there is also an optional "as" parameter, for changes of title names (see the [[#"As" parameter|relevant section]] lower in this page), as well as a "reason" parameter (preferably only used for vacancies), where a brief explanation for the vacancy can be entered.

Note that ''s-vac'' must in every event be preceded (when a predecessor cell) or followed (when a successor cell) by a <nowiki>|-</nowiki> character in succession boxes, because serious errors can occur in the display of these boxes if the character is omitted. The very first and last lines of each table are excepted, as it is not necessary to add the character before the first line and after the last one.

Here follows an example of the usage of ''Template:S-vac'', taken from the article of [[Pycelle]]:

::<nowiki>{{s-start}}</nowiki>
::<nowiki>{{s-bef|before=[[Merion]]}}</nowiki>
::<nowiki>{{s-ttl|title=[[Grand Maester]]|years={{Date|259|300}}}}</nowiki>
::<nowiki>{{s-vac}}</nowiki>
::<nowiki>{{s-end}}</nowiki>

Which will appear like this:

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Merion]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Grand Maester]]|years={{Date|259|300}}}}
{{s-vac}}
{{s-end}}