symbol
symbol — A name that is replaced by a value before processing.
Synopsis
- Zero or more of:
- text
phrase(db._phrase)replaceable- Graphic inlines
![[+]](figs/web/nav/right.gif)
- Indexing inlines
- Linking inlines
- Ubiquitous inlines
![[-]](figs/web/nav/down.gif)
Attributes
Common attributes and common linking attributes.
Additional attributes:
- class (enumeration)
- “limit”
Description
A symbol is a name that represents a value. It
should be used in contexts in which the name will actually be replaced
by a value before processing. The canonical example is a
#defined symbol in a C program where the C
preprocessor replaces every occurrence of the symbol with its value
before compilation begins.
The Limit value of the class attribute identifies those symbols
that represent system limitations (e.g., the number of characters
allowed in a pathname or the largest possible positive integer). DocBook
V3.1 introduced the constant
element, which may be more suitable for some of these symbols.
Processing expectations
Formatted inline.
Attributes
Common attributes and common linking attributes.
- class
Identifies the class of symbol
Enumerated values: “limit” The value is a limit of some kind
Parents
Children
Examples
1 <article xmlns='http://docbook.org/ns/docbook'> 2 <title>Example symbol</title> 4 <para>No filename may be more than <symbol class='limit'>MAXPATHLEN</symbol> characters long. 6 </para> 8 </article>
No filename may be more than MAXPATHLEN characters long.