This is an alpha version of this book.
para — A paragraph
para ::= (#PCDATA|footnoteref|xref|abbrev|acronym|citation|citerefentry| citetitle|emphasis|firstterm|foreignphrase|glossterm|footnote| phrase|quote|trademark|wordasword|link|olink|ulink|action| application|classname|methodname|interfacename|exceptionname| ooclass|oointerface|ooexception|command|computeroutput|database| email|envar|errorcode|errorname|errortype|filename|function| guibutton|guiicon|guilabel|guimenu|guimenuitem|guisubmenu| hardware|interface|keycap|keycode|keycombo|keysym|literal| constant|markup|medialabel|menuchoice|mousebutton|option| optional|parameter|prompt|property|replaceable|returnvalue| sgmltag|structfield|structname|symbol|systemitem|token|type| userinput|varname|nonterminal|anchor|author|authorinitials| corpauthor|modespec|othercredit|productname|productnumber| revhistory|remark|subscript|superscript|inlinegraphic| inlinemediaobject|inlineequation|synopsis|cmdsynopsis| funcsynopsis|classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis| destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|indexterm|beginpage| calloutlist|glosslist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|segmentedlist| simplelist|variablelist|caution|important|note|tip|warning| literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|screen|screenco| screenshot|address|blockquote|graphic|graphicco|mediaobject| mediaobjectco|informalequation|informalexample|informalfigure| informaltable|equation|example|figure|table)*
Common attributes
A Para is a paragraph. Paragraphs in DocBook may contain almost all inlines and most block elements. Sectioning and higher-level structural elements are excluded. DocBook offers two variants of paragraph: SimPara, which cannot contain block elements, and FormalPara, which has a title.
Some processing systems may find the presence of block elements in a paragraph difficult to handle. On the other hand, it is frequently most logical, from a structural point of view, to include block elements, especially informal block elements, in the paragraphs that describe their content. There is no easy answer to this problem.
Formatted as a displayed block.
The InterfaceDefinition element will be discarded in DocBook V4.0. It will no longer be available in the content model of this element.
These elements contain para: abstract, answer, appendix, article, authorblurb, bibliodiv, bibliography, blockquote, callout, caption, caution, chapter, colophon, constraintdef, dedication, entry, epigraph, example, footnote, formalpara, glossary, glossdef, glossdiv, highlights, important, index, indexdiv, informalexample, legalnotice, listitem, msgexplan, msgtext, note, partintro, preface, printhistory, procedure, qandadiv, qandaset, question, refsect1, refsect2, refsect3, refsynopsisdiv, revdescription, sect1, sect2, sect3, sect4, sect5, section, setindex, sidebar, simplesect, step, textobject, tip, warning.
The following elements occur in para: abbrev, acronym, action, address, anchor, application, author, authorinitials, beginpage, blockquote, calloutlist, caution, citation, citerefentry, citetitle, classname, classsynopsis, cmdsynopsis, command, computeroutput, constant, constructorsynopsis, corpauthor, database, destructorsynopsis, email, emphasis, envar, equation, errorcode, errorname, errortype, example, exceptionname, fieldsynopsis, figure, filename, firstterm, footnote, footnoteref, foreignphrase, funcsynopsis, function, glosslist, glossterm, graphic, graphicco, guibutton, guiicon, guilabel, guimenu, guimenuitem, guisubmenu, hardware, important, indexterm, informalequation, informalexample, informalfigure, informaltable, inlineequation, inlinegraphic, inlinemediaobject, interface, interfacename, itemizedlist, keycap, keycode, keycombo, keysym, link, literal, literallayout, markup, medialabel, mediaobject, mediaobjectco, menuchoice, methodname, methodsynopsis, modespec, mousebutton, nonterminal, note, olink, ooclass, ooexception, oointerface, option, optional, orderedlist, othercredit, parameter, phrase, productname, productnumber, programlisting, programlistingco, prompt, property, quote, remark, replaceable, returnvalue, revhistory, screen, screenco, screenshot, segmentedlist, sgmltag, simplelist, structfield, structname, subscript, superscript, symbol, synopsis, systemitem, table, tip, token, trademark, type, ulink, userinput, variablelist, varname, warning, wordasword, xref.
Ordinary paragraphs can contain most block elements:
<!DOCTYPE para PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd"> <para> The component suffered from three failings: <itemizedlist> <listitem><para>It was slow</para></listitem> <listitem><para>It ran hot</para></listitem> <listitem><para>It didn't actually work</para></listitem> </itemizedlist> Of these three, the last was probably the most important. </para>
The component suffered from three failings:
It was slow
It ran hot
It didn't actually work
Formal paragraphs include a title:
<!DOCTYPE formalpara PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd"> <formalpara><title>A Test</title> <para> This is a test. This is only a test. Had this been a real example, it would have made more sense. </para> </formalpara>
A Test.
This is a test. This is only a test. Had this been a real example, it would have made more sense.
Simple paragraphs may not contain block elements:
<!DOCTYPE simpara PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd"> <simpara> Just the text, ma'am. </simpara>
Just the text, ma'am.
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