I. DocBook Element Reference

Table of Contents

dcterms:* — The Publishers schema allows a large selection of elements from the DCTerms namespaceV1.0 Publishers
*:* — Any element from almost any namespace
abbrev — An abbreviation, especially one followed by a period
abstract — A summary
acknowledgements — Acknowledgements of a book or other componentV5.0
acronym — An often pronounceable word made from the initial (or selected) letters of a name or phrase
address — A real-world address, generally a postal address
affiliation — The institutional affiliation of an individual
alt — A text-only annotation, often used for accessibility
anchor — A spot in the document
answer — An answer to a question posed in a qandaset
appendix — An appendix in a book or article
area (db.area) — A region defined for a callout in a graphic or code example
area (db.area.inareaset) — A region defined for a callout in a graphic or code example
areaset — A set of related areas in a graphic or code example
areaspec — A collection of regions in a graphic or code example
article — An article
artpagenums — The page numbers of an article as published
attribution — The source of a block quote or epigraph
audiodata — Pointer to external audio data
audioobject — A wrapper for audio data and its associated meta-information
author — The name of an individual author
authorgroup — Wrapper for author information when a document has multiple authors or collaborators
authorinitials — The initials or other short identifier for an author
bibliocoverage — The spatial or temporal coverage of a document
bibliodiv — A section of a bibliography
biblioentry — A raw entry in a bibliography
bibliography — A bibliography
biblioid — An identifier for a documentV5.0
bibliolist — A wrapper for a list of bibliography entries
bibliomisc — Untyped bibliographic information
bibliomixed — A cooked entry in a bibliography
bibliomset — A cooked container for related bibliographic information
biblioref — A cross-reference to a bibliographic entry
bibliorelation — The relationship of a document to another
biblioset — A raw container for related bibliographic information
bibliosource — The source of a document
blockquote — A quotation set off from the main text
book — A book
bridgehead — A free-floating heading
callout — A called out description of a marked area
calloutlist — A list of callout s
caption — A caption
caution — A note of caution
chapter — A chapter, as of a book
citation — An inline bibliographic reference to another published work
citebiblioid — A citation of a bibliographic identifier
citetitle — The title of a cited work
city — The name of a city in an address
co — The location of a callout embedded in text
collab — Identifies a collaborator
colophon — Text at the back of a book describing facts about its production
colspec — Specifications for a column in a table
confdates — The dates of a conference for which a document was written
confgroup — A wrapper for document meta-information about a conference
confnum — An identifier, frequently numerical, associated with a conference for which a document was written
confsponsor — The sponsor of a conference for which a document was written
conftitle — The title of a conference for which a document was written
contractnum — The contract number of a document
contractsponsor — The sponsor of a contract
contrib — A summary of the contributions made to a document by a credited source
copyright — Copyright information about a document
coref — A cross reference to a co
country — The name of a country
cover — Additional content for the cover of a publicationV5.0
danger — An admonition set off from the text indicating hazardous situationV5.2
date — The date of publication or revision of a document
dedication — The dedication of a book or other component
dialogue — A container for speeches and other forms of communication involving dialogueV1.0 Publishers
drama — A container for plays and other forms of dramatic presentationV1.0 Publishers
edition — The name or number of an edition of a document
editor — The name of the editor of a document
email — An email address
emphasis (db._emphasis) — A limited span of emphasized text
emphasis (db.emphasis) — Emphasized text
entry — A cell in a table
entrytbl — A subtable appearing in place of an entry in a table
epigraph — A short inscription at the beginning of a document or component
equation — A displayed mathematical equation
example — A formal example, with a title
fax — A fax number
figure — A formal figure, generally an illustration, with a title
firstname — A given name of a person
firstterm (db._firstterm) — The first occurrence of a term, with limited contentV5.1
firstterm (db.firstterm) — The first occurrence of a term
footnote — A footnote
footnoteref — A cross reference to a footnote (a footnote mark)
foreignphrase (db._foreignphrase) — A limited word or phrase in a language other than the primary language of the documentV5.1
foreignphrase (db.foreignphrase) — A word or phrase in a language other than the primary language of the document
formalgroup — A group of formal objects, for example subfiguresV5.2
formalpara — A paragraph with a title
givenname — The given name of a personV5.1
glossary — A glossary
glossdef — A definition in a glossentry
glossdiv — A division in a glossary
glossentry — An entry in a glossary or glosslist
glosslist — A wrapper for a list of glossary entries
glosssee — A cross-reference from one glossentry to another
glossseealso — A cross-reference from one glossentry to another
glossterm (db._glossterm) — A glossary termV5.1
glossterm (db.glossterm) — A glossary term
holder — The name of the individual or organization that holds a copyright
honorific — The title of a person
imagedata (db.imagedata) — Pointer to external image data
imagedata (db.imagedata.mathml) — A MathML expression in a media object
imagedata (db.imagedata.svg) — An SVG drawing in a media object
imageobject — A wrapper for image data and its associated meta-information
imageobjectco — A wrapper for an image object with callouts
important — An admonition set off from the text
index — An index to a book or part of a book
indexterm (db.indexterm.endofrange) — Identifies the end of a range associated with an indexed term
indexterm (db.indexterm.singular) — A wrapper for an indexed term
indexterm (db.indexterm.startofrange) — A wrapper for an indexed term that covers a range
info (db.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other blockV5.0
info (db.titleforbidden.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block without a titleV5.0
info (db.titleonly.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block with only a titleV5.0
info (db.titleonlyreq.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block with only a required titleV5.0
info (db.titlereq.info) — A wrapper for information about a component or other block with a required titleV5.0
informalequation — A displayed mathematical equation without a title
informalexample — A displayed example without a title
informalfigure — A untitled figure
informaltable — A table without a title
inlineequation — A mathematical equation or expression occurring inline
inlinemediaobject — An inline media object (video, audio, image, and so on)
inlinestagedir — An inline stage directionV1.1 Publishers
issuenum — The number of an issue of a journal
itemizedlist — A list in which each entry is marked with a bullet or other dingbat
itermset — A set of index terms in the meta-information of a document
jobtitle — The title of an individual in an organization
keyword — One of a set of keywords describing the content of a document
keywordset — A set of keywords describing the content of a document
label — A label on a question or answer
legalnotice — A statement of legal obligations or requirements
line — A line of dialogue or other form of communicationV1.0 Publishers
lineage — The portion of a person's name indicating a relationship to ancestors
linegroup — A grouping of lines in dialogue or other form of communicationV1.0 Publishers
link — A hypertext link
listitem — A wrapper for the elements of a list item
literal — Inline text that is some literal value
literallayout — A block of text in which line breaks and white space are to be reproduced faithfully
mathphrase — A mathematical phrase that can be represented with ordinary text and a small amount of markup
mediaobject — A displayed media object (video, audio, image, etc.)
member — An element of a simple list
meta (db.meta.content) — A generic metadata elementV5.2
meta (db.meta.empty) — A generic metadata elementV5.2
mml:* — Any element from the MathML namespace
multimediaparam — Application specific parameters for a media playerV5.1
note — A message set off from the text
olink — A link that addresses its target indirectly
optional — Optional information
orderedlist — A list in which each entry is marked with a sequentially incremented label
org — An organization and associated metadataV5.0
orgdiv — A division of an organization
orgname — The name of an organization
otheraddr — Uncategorized information in address
othercredit — A person or entity, other than an author or editor, credited in a document
othername — A component of a person's name that is not a first name, surname, or lineage
pagenums — The numbers of the pages in a book, for use in a bibliographic entry
para — A paragraph
part — A division in a book
partintro — An introduction to the contents of a part
person — A person and associated metadataV5.0
personblurb — A short description or note about a person
personname — The personal name of an individual
phone — A telephone number
phrase (db._phrase) — A limited span of text
phrase (db.phrase) — A span of text
pob — A post office box in an address
poetry — A container for poetryV1.0 Publishers
postcode — A postal code in an address
preface — Introductory matter preceding the first chapter of a book
primary — The primary word or phrase under which an index term should be sorted
printhistory — The printing history of a document
procedure — A list of operations to be performed in a well-defined sequence
productname — The formal name of a product
productnumber — A number assigned to a product
pubdate — The date of publication of a document
publisher — The publisher of a document
publishername — The name of the publisher of a document
qandadiv — A titled division in a qandaset
qandaentry — A question/answer set within a qandaset
qandaset — A question-and-answer set
question — A question in a qandaset
quote (db._quote) — A limited inline quotationV5.1
quote (db.quote) — An inline quotation
releaseinfo — Information about a particular release of a document
remark — A remark (or comment) intended for presentation in a draft manuscript
result — A wrapper for identifying the results of a procedure or stepV5.1
revdescription — A extended description of a revision to a document
revhistory — A history of the revisions to a document
revision — An entry describing a single revision in the history of the revisions to a document
revnumber — A document revision number
revremark — A description of a revision to a document
row (db.entrytbl.row) — A row in a table
row (db.row) — A row in a table
secondary — A secondary word or phrase in an index term
section — A recursive section
see — Part of an index term directing the reader instead to another entry in the index
seealso — Part of an index term directing the reader also to another entry in the index
seriesvolnums — Numbers of the volumes in a series of books
set — A collection of books
setindex — An index to a set of books
shortaffil — A brief description of an affiliation
sidebar — A portion of a document that is isolated from the main narrative flow
simpara — A paragraph that contains only text and inline markup, no block elements
simplelist — An undecorated list of single words or short phrases
simplesect — A section of a document with no subdivisions
spanspec — Formatting information for a spanned column in a table
speaker — Designates a person who is giving a speech or lectureV1.0 Publishers
stagedir — A stage directionV1.1 Publishers
state — A state or province in an address
step — A unit of action in a procedure
stepalternatives — Alternative steps in a procedure
street — A street address in an address
subject — One of a group of terms describing the subject matter of a document
subjectset — A set of terms describing the subject matter of a document
subjectterm — A term in a group of terms describing the subject matter of a document
subscript — A subscript (as in H₂O, the molecular formula for water)
substeps — A wrapper for steps that occur within steps in a procedure
subtitle — The subtitle of a document
superscript — A superscript (as in x², the mathematical notation for x multiplied by itself)
surname — An inherited or family name; in western cultures the last name
svg:* — Any element from the SVG namespace
table — A formal table in a document
task — A task to be completed
taskprerequisites — The prerequisites for a task
taskrelated — Information related to a task
tasksummary — A summary of a task
tbody (db.cals.entrytbl.tbody) — A wrapper for the rows of a table or informal table
tbody (db.cals.tbody) — A wrapper for the rows of a table or informal table
templatename — The identifier for a template, in the generic programming senseV5.2
term — The word or phrase being defined or described in a variable list
termdef — An inline definition of a term
tertiary — A tertiary word or phrase in an index term
textdata — Pointer to external text data
textobject — A wrapper for a text description of an object and its associated meta-information
tfoot — A table footer consisting of one or more rows
tgroup — A wrapper for the main content of a table, or part of a table
thead (db.cals.entrytbl.thead) — A table header consisting of one or more rows
thead (db.cals.thead) — A table header consisting of one or more rows
tip — A suggestion to the user, set off from the text
title — The text of the title of a section of a document or of a formal block-level element
titleabbrev — The abbreviation of a title
toc — A table of contents
trademark — A trademark
uri — A Uniform Resource Identifier
variablelist — A list in which each entry is composed of a set of one or more terms and an associated description
varlistentry — A wrapper for a set of terms and the associated description in a variable list
videodata — Pointer to external video data
videoobject — A wrapper for video data and its associated meta-information
volumenum — The volume number of a document in a set (as of books in a set or articles in a journal)
warning — An admonition set off from the text
wordasword — A word meant specifically as a word and not representing anything else
xref — A cross reference to another part of the document
year — The year of publication of a document

This reference describes every element in DocBook V5.0.

1. Organization of Reference Pages

The description of each element in this reference is divided into the following sections:

Synopsis

Provides a quick synopsis of the element. The content of the synopsis varies according to the nature of the element described, but may include any or all of the following sections:

Content Model

Describes the content model of the element, the mixture of things that it can contain. See Section 1.1, “Understanding Content Models”.

Attributes

Provides a synopsis of the attributes on the element. For brevity, common attributes are described only once, in this introduction. Likewise, common linking attributes are described once.

Additional Constraints

Provides a synopsis of any additional constraints on the element. These constraints are expressed using Schematron in the RELAX NG grammar.

Description

Describes the semantics of the element.

Processing expectations: Summarizes specific formatting expectations of the element. Many processing expectations are influenced by attribute values. Be sure to consult the description of element attributes as well.
Future changes: Identifies changes that are scheduled for future versions of the schema. These changes are highlighted because they involve some backward incompatibility that may make currently valid DocBook documents no longer valid under the new version.

Attributes

Describes the semantics of each attribute.

See Also

Lists similar or related elements.

Examples

Provides examples of proper usage for the element. Generally, the smallest example required to reasonably demonstrate the element is used. In many cases, a formatted version of the example is also shown.

All of the examples in the book are valid according to the RELAX NG grammar.

Formatted examples are indicated using a vertical bar.

1.1. Understanding Content Models

Each element synopsis begins with a description of its content model. Content models are the way that grammars describe the name, number, and order of other elements that may be used inside an element.

1.1.1. Content models and validity

A validator uses the content models to determine if a given document is valid. In order for a document to be valid, the content of every element in the document must match the content model for that element.

In practical terms, match means that it must be possible to expand the content model until it exactly matches the sequence of elements in the document.

For example, consider the content model of the epigraph:

epigraph ::= (info?^{db.titleforbidden.info}, attribution?,(literallayout | Paragraph elements)+)

Does the following example match that content model?

  |<epigraph>
  |<para>Some text</para>
  |</epigraph>

Yes, it is valid because the following expansion of the content model exactly matches the actual content: choose zero occurrences of info, choose zero occurrences of attribution, choose the alternative para from the Paragraph elements choice, and choose to let the one or more match once.

By the same token, this example is not valid because there is no expansion of the content model that can match it:

  |<epigraph>
  |<para>Some text</para>
  |<attribution>John Doe</attribution>
  |</epigraph>

2. Common Attributes

There are many common attributes that occur on every DocBook element. They are summarized here for brevity and to make the additional attributes that occur on many elements stand out.

Name Type

*:* text

annotations text

dir

Enumeration:

ltr

rtl

lro

rlo

remap text

revisionflag

Enumeration:

changed

added

deleted

off

role text

trans:idfixup

Enumeration:

none

suffix

auto

trans:linkscope

Enumeration:

user

local

near

global

trans:suffix text

version text

xml:base anyURI

xml:id ID

xml:lang text

xreflabel text

*:*

Any attribute in any other explicit namespace. Any number of attributes that are in an explicit namespace other than the DocBook, XML, XLink, or transclusion namespaces are allowed.

annotations

Identifies one or more annotations that apply to this element.

dir

Identifies the direction of text in an element.

ltr: Left-to-right text
rtl: Right-to-left text
lro: Left-to-right override
rlo: Right-to-left override

remap

Provides the name or similar semantic identifier assigned to the content in some previous markup scheme.

revisionflag

Identifies the revision status of the element.

changed: The element has been changed.
added: The element is new (has been added to the document).
deleted: The element has been deleted.
off: Explicitly turns off revision markup for this element.

role

Provides additional, user-specified classification for an element.

While role is a common attribute in the sense that it occurs on all DocBook elements, customizers will find that it is not part of any of the “common attribute” patterns. It is parameterized differently because it is useful to be able to subclass role independently on different elements.

trans:idfixup

The transclusion ID fixup strategy.

none: No ID fixup strategy
suffix: ID fixup by concatenating suffixes
auto: ID fixup by creating unique values

trans:linkscope

The transclusion link scope adjustment.

user: No link scope adjustments are made
local: The link scopes are adjusted with the suffix property
near: The link scopes are adjusted based on proximity
global: The link scopes are adjusted based on document order

trans:suffix

The transclusion suffix to use when the suffix ID fixup strategy is employed.

version

Specifies the DocBook version of the element and its descendants.

xml:base

Specifies the base URI of the element and its descendants.

xml:id

Identifies the unique ID value of the element.

xml:lang

Specifies the natural language of the element and its descendants.

xreflabel

Provides the text that is to be generated for a cross reference to the element.

2.1. Common Effectivity Attributes

The common attributes include a collection of effectivity attributes. These attributes are available for authors to identify to whom a particular element applies. Effectivity attributes are often used for profiling: building documents that contain information only relevant to a particular audience.

For example, a section might be identified as available only to readers with a top-secret security clearance or a paragraph might be identified as affecting only users running the implementation provided by a particular vendor.

Name	Type
`arch`	text
`audience`	text
`condition`	text
`conformance`	text
`os`	text
`outputformat`	text
`revision`	text
`security`	text
`userlevel`	text
`vendor`	text
`wordsize`	text

arch

Designates the computer or chip architecture to which the element applies.

audience

Designates the intended audience to which the element applies, for example, system administrators, programmers, or new users.

condition

provides a standard place for application-specific effectivity.

Many DocBook users observed that in order to add an effectivity condition that was unique to their environment required abusing the semantics of one of the existing attributes, or adding their own, making their customization an extension rather than a subset. Thecondition attribute is a general-purpose effectivity attribute with no specified semantics.

Thecondition attribute provides a standard place for application-specific effectivity.

conformance

Indicates standards conformance characteristics of the element.

These characteristics are application-specific; DocBook provides no default semantics.

os

Indicates the operating system to which the element is applicable.

outputformat

Indicates the output format (for example, print or epub) to which the element applies.

revision

Indicates the editorial revision to which the element belongs.

security

Indicates something about the security level associated with the element to which it applies.

userlevel

Indicates the level of user experience for which the element applies.

vendor

Indicates the computer vendor to which the element applies.

wordsize

Indicates the word size (width in bits) of the computer architecture to which the element applies.

The names of the effectivity attributes are suggestive of several classes of common effectivity information. The semantically neutral condition attribute was added to give authors a place to put values that don’t fit neatly into one of the other alternatives.

In authoring environments where many different kinds of effectivity information are required, it’s not uncommon to see local extensions that add new attributes. It’s also not uncommon to see attributes used without regard to the class of information suggested by the name.

2.2. Common RDFa Lite Attributes

The RDFa Lite attributes incorporate support for RDFa into DocBook.

Name	Type
`prefix`	text
`property`	text
`resource`	text
`typeof`	text
`vocab`	anyURI

prefix: The RDFa Lite prefix.
property: The RDFa Lite property.
resource: The RDFa Lite resource.
typeof: The RDFa Lite typeof.
vocab: The RDFa Lite vocab.

See RDFa Lite 1.1 for more details about the RDFa Lite attributes.

3. Common Linking Attributes

The following attributes occur on all elements that can be the start of a link. They are summarized here once for brevity and to make the additional attributes that occur on many elements stand out.

Name Type

linkend/linkends IDREF/IDREFS

xlink:actuate

Enumeration:

onLoad

onRequest

other

none

xlink:arcrole anyURI

xlink:from NMTOKEN

xlink:href anyURI

xlink:label NMTOKEN

xlink:role anyURI

xlink:show

Enumeration:

new

replace

embed

other

none

xlink:title text

xlink:to NMTOKEN

xlink:type text

linkend/linkends

Points to an internal link target by identifying the value of its xml:id attribute.

xlink:actuate

Identifies the XLink actuate behavior of the link.

onLoad: An application should traverse to the ending resource immediately on loading the starting resource.
onRequest: An application should traverse from the starting resource to the ending resource only on a post-loading event triggered for the purpose of traversal.
other: The behavior of an application traversing to the ending resource is unconstrained by this specification. The application should look for other markup present in the link to determine the appropriate behavior.
none: The behavior of an application traversing to the ending resource is unconstrained by this specification. No other markup is present to help the application determine the appropriate behavior.

xlink:arcrole

Identifies the XLink arcrole of the link.

xlink:from

Specifies the XLink traversal-from.

xlink:href

Identifies a link target with a URI.

xlink:label

Specifies the XLink label.

xlink:role

Identifies the XLink role of the link.

DocBook uses the XLink role value http://docbook.org/xlink/role/olink to identify linking elements with OLink semantics. That means the part of xlink:href before the number sign (#) is to be interpreted as equivalent to the olink targetdoc attribute value, and the part after the number sign as the olink targetptr attribute value.

xlink:show

Identifies the XLink show behavior of the link.

new: An application traversing to the ending resource should load it in a new window, frame, pane, or other relevant presentation context.
replace: An application traversing to the ending resource should load the resource in the same window, frame, pane, or other relevant presentation context in which the starting resource was loaded.
embed: An application traversing to the ending resource should load its presentation in place of the presentation of the starting resource.
other: The behavior of an application traversing to the ending resource is unconstrained by XLink. The application should look for other markup present in the link to determine the appropriate behavior.
none: The behavior of an application traversing to the ending resource is unconstrained by this specification. No other markup is present to help the application determine the appropriate behavior.

xlink:title

Identifies the XLink title of the link.

xlink:to

Specifies the XLink traversal-to.

xlink:type

Identifies the XLink link type.