option

option — An option for a software command

Synopsis

option ::=

Zero or more of:
- text
- phrase (db._phrase)
- replaceable
- Graphic inlines
  inlinemediaobject
- Indexing inlines
  indexterm (db.indexterm.endofrange)
  
  indexterm (db.indexterm.singular)
  
  indexterm (db.indexterm.startofrange)
- Linking inlines
  anchor
  
  biblioref
  
  link
  
  olink
  
  xref
- Ubiquitous inlines
  alt
  
  anchor
  
  annotation
  
  biblioref
  
  indexterm (db.indexterm.endofrange)
  
  indexterm (db.indexterm.singular)
  
  indexterm (db.indexterm.startofrange)
  
  inlinemediaobject
  
  link
  
  olink
  
  remark
  
  subscript
  
  superscript
  
  xref

Attributes

Common attributes and common linking attributes.

Description

An option identifies an argument to a software command or instruction. Options may or may not be required. The optional element can be used to explicitly identify options that are not required.

Processing expectations

Formatted inline.

DocBook does not specify whether or not a symbol (such as - or /) is generated before the content of option, or what that symbol might be. Generating the text may or may not be desirable, but in either case, it is an interchange issue. See Appendix E, Interchanging DocBook Documents.

Parents

These elements contain option: arg, bridgehead, caption (db.html.caption), citation, citetitle, classsynopsisinfo, computeroutput, emphasis (db.emphasis), entry, firstterm, funcsynopsisinfo, glosssee, glossseealso, glossterm, group, html:button, html:label, html:legend, link, literallayout, member, olink, orgdiv, para, phrase (db.phrase), primary, primaryie, programlisting, quote, refdescriptor, refentrytitle, refname, refpurpose, screen, secondary, secondaryie, see, seealso, seealsoie, seeie, seg, segtitle, simpara, subtitle, synopsis, td, term, termdef, tertiary, tertiaryie, th, title, titleabbrev, tocentry, userinput.

Children

The following elements occur in option: text, alt, anchor, annotation, biblioref, indexterm (db.indexterm.endofrange), indexterm (db.indexterm.singular), indexterm (db.indexterm.startofrange), inlinemediaobject, link, olink, phrase (db._phrase), remark, replaceable, subscript, superscript, xref.

Examples

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

<para>The <option>-a</option> option on the <acronym>UNIX</acronym>
<command>ls</command> command or the <option>/r</option> option on the
<acronym>DOS</acronym> <command>attrib</command>
command, for example.
</para>

</article>

The -a option on the UNIX ls command or the /r option on the DOS attrib command, for example.

ChangeLog

This alpha reference page is $Revision: 7120 $ published Sun, 22 Jul 2007.


oointerface		optional