This is the {{case preserving encode}} meta-template.

This template is used inside the templates {{sec link}}, {{sec link auto}}, and {{sec link image}}. (And it might be used in other templates too.)

This template is used to URL-encode wiki page names for external links to other MediaWiki wikis. Since MediaWiki's own URL-encode functions don't work when making links to other MediaWiki wikis.

This template preserves the case of the first character, and it correctly preserves the namespace name.

{{Case preserving encode|São Paulo}} gives: S%C3%A3o_Paulo

{{Case preserving encode|são Paulo}} gives: s%C3%A3o_Paulo