| DocBook: The Definitive Guide 2.0.17 (Alpha)

# term

$Revision$

$Date$

term — The word or phrase being defined or described in a variable list

## Synopsis

### Mixed Content Model

    term ::=
    (#PCDATA|footnoteref|xref|biblioref|abbrev|acronym|citation|
     citerefentry|citetitle|citebiblioid|emphasis|firstterm|
     foreignphrase|glossterm|termdef|footnote|phrase|orgname|quote|
     trademark|wordasword|personname|link|olink|ulink|action|
     application|classname|methodname|interfacename|exceptionname|
     ooclass|oointerface|ooexception|package|command|computeroutput|
     database|email|envar|errorcode|errorname|errortype|errortext|
     filename|function|guibutton|guiicon|guilabel|guimenu|guimenuitem|
     guisubmenu|hardware|interface|keycap|keycode|keycombo|keysym|
     literal|code|constant|markup|medialabel|menuchoice|mousebutton|
     option|optional|parameter|prompt|property|replaceable|
     returnvalue|sgmltag|structfield|structname|symbol|systemitem|uri|
     token|type|userinput|varname|nonterminal|anchor|author|
     authorinitials|corpauthor|corpcredit|modespec|othercredit|
     productname|productnumber|revhistory|remark|subscript|
     superscript|inlinegraphic|inlinemediaobject|inlineequation|
     synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|
     constructorsynopsis|destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|indexterm|
     beginpage)*

### Attributes

Common attributes

## Description

The `Term` in a `VarListEntry` identifies the thing that is described or defined by that entry.

### Processing expectations

Formatted as a displayed block. `Term`s are usually formatted to make them stand out with respect to the text that follows. The best presentation depends on several factors, including the number and length of the terms. The `TermLength` attribute on the containing `VariableList` may influence the presentation of `Term`s. See `VariableList`.

### Future Changes

The `InterfaceDefinition` element will be discarded in DocBook V4.0. It will no longer be available in the content model of this element.

### Parents

These elements contain term: `varlistentry`.

### Children

The following elements occur in term: `abbrev`, `acronym`, `action`, `anchor`, `application`, `author`, `authorinitials`, `beginpage`, `biblioref`, `citation`, `citebiblioid`, `citerefentry`, `citetitle`, `classname`, `classsynopsis`, `cmdsynopsis`, `code`, `command`, `computeroutput`, `constant`, `constructorsynopsis`, `corpauthor`, `corpcredit`, `database`, `destructorsynopsis`, `email`, `emphasis`, `envar`, `errorcode`, `errorname`, `errortext`, `errortype`, `exceptionname`, `fieldsynopsis`, `filename`, `firstterm`, `footnote`, `footnoteref`, `foreignphrase`, `funcsynopsis`, `function`, `glossterm`, `guibutton`, `guiicon`, `guilabel`, `guimenu`, `guimenuitem`, `guisubmenu`, `hardware`, `indexterm`, `inlineequation`, `inlinegraphic`, `inlinemediaobject`, `interface`, `interfacename`, `keycap`, `keycode`, `keycombo`, `keysym`, `link`, `literal`, `markup`, `medialabel`, `menuchoice`, `methodname`, `methodsynopsis`, `modespec`, `mousebutton`, `nonterminal`, `olink`, `ooclass`, `ooexception`, `oointerface`, `option`, `optional`, `orgname`, `othercredit`, `package`, `parameter`, `personname`, `phrase`, `productname`, `productnumber`, `prompt`, `property`, `quote`, `remark`, `replaceable`, `returnvalue`, `revhistory`, `sgmltag`, `structfield`, `structname`, `subscript`, `superscript`, `symbol`, `synopsis`, `systemitem`, `termdef`, `token`, `trademark`, `type`, `ulink`, `uri`, `userinput`, `varname`, `wordasword`, `xref`.

## Examples

For examples, see `variablelist`.

td |  | termdef

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.