DocBook 5.1: The Definitive Guide  (Version 1.5.3 for DocBook 5.1)

constant

constant — A programming or system constant.

Synopsis

constant ::= [x]  [+]

Attributes

Common attributes and common linking attributes.

Additional attributes:

  • class (enumeration)
    • “limit”

Description

A constant identifies a value as immutable. It is most often used to identify system limitations or other defined constants.

Processing expectations

Formatted inline.

Attributes

Common attributes and common linking attributes.

class

Identifies the class of constant

Enumerated values:
“limit”

The value is a limit of some kind

Children

The following elements occur in constant: text, abbrev, acronym, alt, anchor, annotation, biblioref, coref, date, emphasis (db._emphasis), firstterm (db._firstterm), footnote, footnoteref, foreignphrase (db._foreignphrase), glossterm (db._glossterm), indexterm (db.indexterm.endofrange), indexterm (db.indexterm.singular), indexterm (db.indexterm.startofrange), inlinemediaobject, link, olink, phrase (db._phrase), quote (db._quote), remark, replaceable, subscript, superscript, trademark, wordasword, xref.

Examples

<article xmlns='http://docbook.org/ns/docbook'>
<title>Example constant</title>

<para>In ACL, <constant>main::PCS</constant> contains the path component
separator character.
</para>

</article>

In ACL, main::PCS contains the path component separator character. 

<article xmlns='http://docbook.org/ns/docbook'>
<title>Example constant</title>

<para>The maximum legal length for a path name is 
<constant class='limit'>PATH_MAX</constant>, defined in
<filename class='headerfile'>limits.h</filename>.
</para>

</article>

The maximum legal length for a path name is PATH_MAX, defined in limits.h.