| DocBook: The Definitive Guide 2.0.17 (Alpha)

# refsynopsisdiv

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$Date$

refsynopsisdiv — A syntactic synopsis of the subject of the reference page

## Synopsis

### Content Model

    refsynopsisdiv ::=
    (refsynopsisdivinfo?,
     (title,subtitle?,titleabbrev?)?,
     (((calloutlist|glosslist|bibliolist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|
        segmentedlist|simplelist|variablelist|caution|important|note|
        tip|warning|literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|
        screen|screenco|screenshot|synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|
        classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis|
        destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|formalpara|para|simpara|
        address|blockquote|graphic|graphicco|mediaobject|
        mediaobjectco|informalequation|informalexample|informalfigure|
        informaltable|equation|example|figure|table|msgset|procedure|
        sidebar|qandaset|task|productionset|constraintdef|anchor|
        bridgehead|remark|highlights|abstract|authorblurb|epigraph|
        indexterm|beginpage)+,
       refsect2*)|
      (refsect2+)))

### Attributes

Common attributes

## Description

`RefSynopsisDiv` contains a syntactic synopsis of the function or command described by the `RefEntry`. When `RefEntry`s are used to describe other sorts of things, `RefSynopsisDiv` should be used for whatever succinct, synopsis information seems appropriate.[21]

### Processing expectations

Formatted as a displayed block. `RefSynopsisDiv` usually generates a section heading, in the same typographic style as a `RefSect1` `Title`, called “Synopsis.”

Formatting reference pages may require a fairly sophisticated processing system. Much of the meta-information about a reference page (its name, type, purpose, title, and classification) is stored in wrappers near the beginning of the `RefEntry`.

Common presentational features, such as titles and running headers, may require data from several of these wrappers plus some generated text. Other formatting often requires that these elements be reordered.

### Parents

These elements contain refsynopsisdiv: `refentry`.

### Children

The following elements occur in refsynopsisdiv: `abstract`, `address`, `anchor`, `authorblurb`, `beginpage`, `bibliolist`, `blockquote`, `bridgehead`, `calloutlist`, `caution`, `classsynopsis`, `cmdsynopsis`, `constraintdef`, `constructorsynopsis`, `destructorsynopsis`, `epigraph`, `equation`, `example`, `fieldsynopsis`, `figure`, `formalpara`, `funcsynopsis`, `glosslist`, `graphic`, `graphicco`, `highlights`, `important`, `indexterm`, `informalequation`, `informalexample`, `informalfigure`, `informaltable`, `itemizedlist`, `literallayout`, `mediaobject`, `mediaobjectco`, `methodsynopsis`, `msgset`, `note`, `orderedlist`, `para`, `procedure`, `productionset`, `programlisting`, `programlistingco`, `qandaset`, `refsect2`, `refsynopsisdivinfo`, `remark`, `screen`, `screenco`, `screenshot`, `segmentedlist`, `sidebar`, `simpara`, `simplelist`, `subtitle`, `synopsis`, `table`, `task`, `tip`, `title`, `titleabbrev`, `variablelist`, `warning`.

## See Also

`arg`, `cmdsynopsis`, `group`, `refnamediv`, `refsect1`, `refsect2`, `refsect3`, `refsection`, `sbr`, `synopfragment`, `synopfragmentref`.

[21] In this book, each element of the DTD is described on a reference page, and the `RefSynopsisDiv` is used for the synopsis at the beginning of each entry.

refsectioninfo |  | refsynopsisdivinfo

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