DTHELPTAGDTD(4)
💅 dthelptagdtd — special file 💅
okay so this page is dthelptagdtd, filed under special file, and it's literally the markup syntax specification for authored XCDE help information. No cap, it's giving extremely specific system-doc energy. 🫶
🌸 NAME 🌸
dthelptagdtd— markup syntax specification for authored XCDE help information.
✨ SYNOPSIS ✨
bestie, the whole synopsis is this two-liner, exactly:
The
HelpTag markup syntax (ISO 8879: 1986) SGML.🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀
HelpTag is a markup language used for authoring XCDE help volumes. It is based on the ISO 8879:1986 Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) standard and is defined with the following Document Type Description (DTD). 💖
The HelpTag marked-up help information is part of the source code for a conforming XCDE application. The compilation process that is required to install this information into help volumes for the XCDE help services is implementation dependent. 💅
✨ SGML DECLARATION ✨
okay bestie, hydrate, sit up straight, because this part is the declaration itself — the big "here's what characters are, here's how much memory we're claiming, here's the syntax rules" block that has to live at the very top of the help-volume source before literally anything else can happen 💅
no summaries, no skipping, here it is in full, character for character:
&<!SGML "ISO 8879:1986"
CHARSET
BASESET "ISO 646-1983//CHARSET International Reference Version
(IRV)//ESC 2/5 4/0"
DESCSET 0 9 UNUSED
9 2 9
11 2 UNUSED
13 1 13
14 18 UNUSED
32 95 32
127 1 UNUSED
BASESET "ISO Registration Number 100//CHARSET ECMA-94
Right Part of Latin Alphabet Nr. 1//ESC 2/13 4/1"
DESCSET 128 32 UNUSED
160 5 32
165 1 UNUSED
166 88 38
254 1 127
255 1 UNUSED
CAPACITY SGMLREF
TOTALCAP 350000
ENTCAP 100000
ENTCHCAP 50000
ELEMCAP 50000
GRPCAP 210000
EXGRPCAP 50000
EXNMCAP 50000
ATTCAP 50000
ATTCHCAP 50000
AVGRPCAP 50000
NOTCAP 50000
NOTCHCAP 50000
IDCAP 50000
IDREFCAP 50000
MAPCAP 210000
LKSETCAP 50000
LKNMCAP 50000
SCOPE DOCUMENT
SYNTAX -- The Core Reference Syntax except with ATTCNT, LITLEN, NAMELEN,
GRPCNT, and GRPGTCNT changed --
SHUNCHAR CONTROLS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31 127 255
BASESET "ISO 646-1983//CHARSET International Reference Version
(IRV)//ESC 2/5 4/0"
DESCSET 0 128 0
FUNCTION RE 13
RS 10
SPACE 32
TAB SEPCHAR 9
NAMING
LCNMSTRT ""
UCNMSTRT ""
LCNMCHAR "-."
UCNMCHAR "-."
NAMECASE
GENERAL YES
ENTITY YES
DELIM
GENERAL SGMLREF
SHORTREF SGMLREF -- Removed short references --
NAMES SGMLREF
QUANTITY SGMLREF
ATTCNT 140
LITLEN 4096
NAMELEN 64
GRPCNT 100
GRPGTCNT 253
TAGLVL 48
FEATURES
MINIMIZE
DATATAG NO
OMITTAG NO
RANK NO
SHORTTAG YES
LINK
SIMPLE NO
IMPLICIT NO
EXPLICIT NO
OTHER
CONCUR NO
SUBDOC NO
FORMAL NO
APPINFO NONE
>the CHARSET bit 🎀 — there are two BASESET lines, each one a full character-set name string, and each followed by its own DESCSET table. The numbers run in columns; the word UNUSED shows up a bunch. That's it, that's the vibe — you don't have to memorise it, you just have to not touch it. 💖
the CAPACITY SGMLREF squad 🔥 — seventeen numbers, all declared under one SGMLREF heading:
TOTALCAP 350000— the big oneENTCAP 100000,ENTCHCAP 50000ELEMCAP 50000GRPCAP 210000,EXGRPCAP 50000,EXNMCAP 50000ATTCAP 50000,ATTCHCAP 50000,AVGRPCAP 50000NOTCAP 50000,NOTCHCAP 50000IDCAP 50000,IDREFCAP 50000MAPCAP 210000LKSETCAP 50000,LKNMCAP 50000
like, the 50000s are literally everywhere, it's giving coordinated group chat 💀
SCOPE DOCUMENT — one line, does what it says on the tin.
SYNTAX — and the comment riding along with it is, verbatim: "The Core Reference Syntax except with ATTCNT, LITLEN, NAMELEN, GRPCNT, and GRPGTCNT changed". so yeah, the core reference syntax, but five things got changed. noted. 🫶
SHUNCHAR CONTROLS — the numbers get shunned, and they're listed out in full: 0 through 31 across three rows, plus 127 and 255. shunned is such a strong word and honestly? iconic.
then the second BASESET/DESCSET pair — same ISO 646-1983 string as before, and a single DESCSET 0 128 0 line.
FUNCTION — four of them, and the numbers are literal:
RE 13RS 10SPACE 32TAB SEPCHAR 9
NAMING — LCNMSTRT "" and UCNMSTRT "" are both empty strings (yes, deliberately empty, don't have a crisis 😭), LCNMCHAR "-.", UCNMCHAR "-.", and then NAMECASE with GENERAL YES and ENTITY YES. yes ma'am ✨
DELIM — GENERAL, SHORTREF, and NAMES are all just SGMLREF, with the note "Removed short references" sitting next to SHORTREF. Then QUANTITY SGMLREF brings the actual numbers: ATTCNT 140, LITLEN 4096, NAMELEN 64, GRPCNT 100, GRPGTCNT 253, TAGLVL 48.
FEATURES — three little groups and their answers:
MINIMIZE:DATATAG NO,OMITTAG NO,RANK NO,SHORTTAG YESLINK:SIMPLE NO,IMPLICIT NO,EXPLICIT NOOTHER:CONCUR NO,SUBDOC NO,FORMAL NO,APPINFO NONE
and then one lonely > closes the whole declaration. bow down 👑
🦋 THE DOCTYPE + ELEMENT DECLARATIONS 🦋
next up, the document type declaration for helpvolume, and it opens like this — note the [ because there's a whole internal subset coming:
&<!DOCTYPE helpvolume [
&<!ELEMENT helpvolume - - (metainfo?,
hometopic?,
(chapter* | (s1*, rsect*)),
message?,
glossary?)
+(memo | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT metainfo - - (idsection, abstract?, otherfront*)
-(footnote) >
&<!ELEMENT idsection - - (title, copyright?) >
&<!ELEMENT title - - (partext)
-(memo | location | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT partext - - ((#PCDATA | acro | emph | computer |
user | term | var | circle |
quote | keycap | graphic | super |
sub | book | xref | footnote |
esc | link | location | newline )*) >
&<!ELEMENT acro - - ((#PCDATA | esc | super | sub)*) >
&<!ELEMENT emph - - (partext) -(emph) >
&<!ELEMENT computer - - ((#PCDATA | quote | var | user | esc)*) >
&<!ELEMENT user - - ((#PCDATA | var | esc)*) >
&<!ELEMENT term - - (partext)
-(emph | computer | term | var |
quote | user | book | footnote) >
&<!ATTLIST term base CDATA #IMPLIED
gloss (gloss | nogloss) gloss >
&<!ELEMENT var - - ((#PCDATA | esc)*) >the tea ☕ — helpvolume is the main character and its content model is (metainfo?, hometopic?, (chapter* | (s1*, rsect*)), message?, glossary?) with that extra +(memo | idx) hanging off the end. metainfo holds (idsection, abstract?, otherfront*) and explicitly minus-(footnote). idsection is (title, copyright?). title is (partext) minus (memo | location | idx).
and then partext… bestie. partext is the icon of this entire DTD. its content model is a giant list of alternatives and it includes #PCDATA plus acro, emph, computer, user, term, var, circle, quote, keycap, graphic, super, sub, book, xref, footnote, esc, link, location, and newline, all repeated. it's giving "everyone is invited to the party" 🌈
after that: acro is ((#PCDATA | esc | super | sub)*), emph is (partext) minus (emph), computer is ((#PCDATA | quote | var | user | esc)*), user is ((#PCDATA | var | esc)*), and term is (partext) minus a whole excluded list: (emph | computer | term | var | quote | user | book | footnote).
and term gets an ATTLIST 💅 — two attributes:
base—CDATA,#IMPLIEDgloss—(gloss | nogloss), and the default isgloss
then var is ((#PCDATA | esc)*) and that's where we pause this chunk.
&<!ELEMENT circle - - CDATA >
&<!ELEMENT quote - - (partext) -(quote) >
&<!ELEMENT keycap - - ((#PCDATA | super | sub | esc)+) >
&<!ELEMENT graphic - O EMPTY >
&<!ATTLIST graphic id ID #IMPLIED
entity ENTITY #REQUIRED >
&<!ELEMENT super - - (#PCDATA) >
&<!ELEMENT sub - - (#PCDATA) >
&<!ELEMENT book - - (partext) -(book) >
&<!ELEMENT xref - O EMPTY >
&<!ATTLIST xref id IDREF #REQUIRED >
&<!ELEMENT footnote - - (p+) -(footnote) >
&<!ELEMENT esc - - CDATA >
&<!ELEMENT link - - (partext) -(link | xref) >
&<!ATTLIST link hyperlink CDATA #REQUIRED
type (jump |
jumpnewview |
definition |
execute |
appdefined |
man) jump
description CDATA #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT location - - (partext) -(location) >
&<!ATTLIST location id ID #REQUIRED >okay so this chunk is lowkey stacked 🍓 — circle is just CDATA, quote is (partext) minus (quote), keycap is ((#PCDATA | super | sub | esc)+) — note that +, one or more, no zero-or-more energy here — and graphic is - O EMPTY with two attributes: id (ID, #IMPLIED) and entity (ENTITY, #REQUIRED).
‼️ yes, it's a letterOin- O EMPTY, and yes,xrefand laternewlineandlinenodo the same thing. copy it exactly, don't go "fixing" it, i'm begging 🫶
super and sub are both plain (#PCDATA). book is (partext) minus (book). xref is - O EMPTY with one attribute, id, which is IDREF and #REQUIRED. footnote is (p+) minus (footnote). esc is CDATA.
and link has range 💖 — it's (partext) minus (link | xref), and its ATTLIST is three attributes deep:
hyperlink—CDATA,#REQUIREDtype—(jump | jumpnewview | definition | execute | appdefined | man), defaulting tojumpdescription—CDATA,#IMPLIED
location closes this chunk: (partext) minus (location), with an ATTLIST of id — ID, #REQUIRED. no notes. ✨
&<!ELEMENT copyright - - (text)
-(memo | location | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT text - - ((p | note | caution | warning |
lablist | list | ex | vex |
esc | otherhead | procedure | syntax |
figure | image )*) >
&<!ELEMENT p - - (head?, partext)
+(newline) >
&<!ATTLIST (p | image) indent (indent) #IMPLIED
id ID #IMPLIED
gentity ENTITY #IMPLIED
gposition (left | right) left
ghyperlink CDATA #IMPLIED
glinktype (jump |
jumpnewview |
definition |
execute |
appdefined |
man) jump
gdescription CDATA #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT head - - (partext)
-(memo | location | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT newline - O EMPTY >
&<!ELEMENT (note |
caution |
warning) - - (head?, text)
-(note | caution | warning | footnote) >this is the "content lives here" chunk 🌸 — copyright is (text) minus (memo | location | idx). then text, which is a whole menu of alternatives, all zero-or-more: p, note, caution, warning, lablist, list, ex, vex, esc, otherhead, procedure, syntax, figure, image. that's the entire buffet 🍽️
p is (head?, partext) plus +(newline). and here's the slay detail: the ATTLIST is declared for (p | image) together, so both elements share all seven attributes:
indent—(indent),#IMPLIEDid—ID,#IMPLIEDgentity—ENTITY,#IMPLIEDgposition—(left | right), defaulting toleftghyperlink—CDATA,#IMPLIEDglinktype—(jump | jumpnewview | definition | execute | appdefined | man), defaulting tojumpgdescription—CDATA,#IMPLIED
head is (partext) minus (memo | location | idx). newline is - O EMPTY, still with that letter O. and then note, caution, and warning are all declared in one combined declaration: (head?, text), minus (note | caution | warning | footnote). efficient. we love a group project that actually works 💜
&<!ELEMENT lablist - - (head?, labheads?, lablistitem+) >
&<!ATTLIST lablist spacing (loose | tight) loose
longlabel (wrap | nowrap) wrap >
&<!ELEMENT labheads - - (labh, labhtext)
-(memo | location | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT labh - - (partext) >
&<!ELEMENT labhtext - - (partext) >
&<!ELEMENT lablistitem - - (label, text) >
&<!ELEMENT label - - (partext) >
&<!ELEMENT list - - (head?, item+) >
&<!ATTLIST list type (order |
bullet |
plain |
check) bullet
ordertype (ualpha |
lalpha |
arabic |
uroman |
lroman) arabic
spacing (tight |
loose) tight
continue (continue) #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT item - - (text) >
&<!ATTLIST item id ID #IMPLIED >lists on lists on lists 😭 — lablist is (head?, labheads?, lablistitem+) (yes, one or more items, mandatory) and its two attributes are spacing — (loose | tight), default loose — and longlabel — (wrap | nowrap), default wrap.
labheads is (labh, labhtext) minus (memo | location | idx). labh is (partext), labhtext is (partext), lablistitem is (label, text), and label is (partext). tidy. 🎀
then list, which is (head?, item+) with four attributes:
type—(order | bullet | plain | check), defaultbulletordertype—(ualpha | lalpha | arabic | uroman | lroman), defaultarabicspacing—(tight | loose), defaulttightcontinue—(continue),#IMPLIED
item is (text) with an id attribute, ID, #IMPLIED. periodt 💅
&<!ELEMENT ex - - (head?, (exampleseg, annotation?)+)
-(ex |
vex |
note |
caution |
warning |
syntax |
footnote) >
&<!ATTLIST ex notes (side | stack) side
lines (number |
nonumber) nonumber
textsize (normal |
smaller |
smallest) normal >
&<!ELEMENT exampleseg - - (partext) +(lineno) >
&<!ELEMENT annotation - - (partext) +(newline) >
&<!ELEMENT lineno - O EMPTY >
&<!ATTLIST lineno id ID #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT vex - - CDATA >
&<!ATTLIST vex lines (number |
nonumber) nonumber
textsize (normal |
smaller |
smallest) normal >example blocks, my beloved 🔥 — ex is (head?, (exampleseg, annotation?)+) and it's got a big exclusion list: minus (ex | vex | note | caution | warning | syntax | footnote). no nesting examples inside examples, bestie, we're not doing recursion today.
its ATTLIST is three:
notes—(side | stack), defaultsidelines—(number | nonumber), defaultnonumbertextsize—(normal | smaller | smallest), defaultnormal
exampleseg is (partext) +(lineno), annotation is (partext) +(newline), lineno is - O EMPTY (there's that O again) with id — ID, #IMPLIED.
vex is CDATA and shares two of ex's attributes with the same defaults: lines — (number | nonumber), nonumber — and textsize — (normal | smaller | smallest), normal. it does not get notes. rude but okay 🙈
&<!ELEMENT otherhead - - (head, text?) >
&<!ELEMENT procedure - - (chaphead, text?)
-(procedure) >
&<!ELEMENT chaphead - - (head, abbrev?)
-(memo | location | idx | footnote) >
&<!ELEMENT abbrev - - (partext) -(footnote) >
&<!ELEMENT syntax - - (head?, synel) >
&<!ELEMENT synel - - ((#PCDATA | esc | var |
optblock | reqblock )+) >
&<!ELEMENT (optblock |
reqblock) - - (synel+) >structure girlies 🦋 — otherhead is (head, text?). procedure is (chaphead, text?) minus (procedure) (no procedures inside procedures, we said what we said). chaphead is (head, abbrev?) minus (memo | location | idx | footnote), and abbrev is (partext) minus (footnote).
then the syntax crew: syntax is (head?, synel), synel is ((#PCDATA | esc | var | optblock | reqblock)+) — one or more, mandatory — and optblock and reqblock are declared together in one combined declaration, both as (synel+). matching little icons, we stan 🫶
&<!ELEMENT figure - - (caption?)
-(figure | graphic) >
&<!ATTLIST figure number NUMBER #IMPLIED
tonumber (number |
nonumber) number
id ID #IMPLIED
entity ENTITY #REQUIRED
figpos (left |
center |
right) #IMPLIED
cappos (capleft |
capcenter |
capright) #IMPLIED
ghyperlink CDATA #IMPLIEDand we land on figure 👑 — the element itself is (caption?) minus (figure | graphic), so no figure-in-figure, no graphic-in-figure, thank you very much. its ATTLIST so far: number — NUMBER, #IMPLIED — tonumber — (number | nonumber), default number — id — ID, #IMPLIED — entity — ENTITY, #REQUIRED — figpos — (left | center | right), #IMPLIED — cappos — (capleft | capcenter | capright), #IMPLIED — and ghyperlink — CDATA, #IMPLIED.
and we're literally mid-ATTLIST right there — that attribute list keeps going, so hold that thought 💅
glinktype (jump |
jumpnewview |
definition |
execute |
appdefined |
man) jump
gdescription CDATA #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT caption - - (partext, abbrev?)
-(memo | location | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT image - - (head?, partext) -(footnote) >
&<!ELEMENT abstract - - (head?, text?, frontsub*) >
&<!ELEMENT frontsub - - (head?, text) >
&<!ELEMENT otherfront - - (head?, text?, frontsub*) >
&<!ATTLIST otherfront id ID #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT hometopic - - (chaphead, text?) >
&<!ELEMENT chapter - - (chaphead, text?, (s1*, rsect*)) >
&<!ATTLIST (chapter |
s1 |
s2 |
s3 |
s4 |
s5 |
s6 |
s7 |
s8 |
s9) id ID #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT s1 - - (chaphead, text?, s2*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s2 - - (chaphead, text?, s3*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s3 - - (chaphead, text?, s4*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s4 - - (chaphead, text?, s5*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s5 - - (chaphead, text?, s6*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s6 - - (chaphead, text?, s7*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s7 - - (chaphead, text?, s8*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s8 - - (chaphead, text?, s9*, rsect*) >
&<!ELEMENT s9 - - (chaphead, text?) >
&<!ELEMENT rsect - - (chaphead, text?, rsub*) >
&<!ATTLIST rsect id ID #IMPLIED >
&<!ELEMENT rsub - - (chaphead, text?) >
&<!ELEMENT message - - (chaphead?, text?, (msg+ | msgsub+)) >
&<!ELEMENT msg - - (msgnum?, msgtext, explain?) +(newline) >
&<!ELEMENT msgnum - - ((#PCDATA | esc)+) >
&<!ELEMENT msgtext - - (partext) >
&<!ELEMENT explain - - (text) >
&<!ELEMENT msgsub - - (chaphead, text?, msg+) >
&<!ELEMENT glossary - - (text?, glossent+) >
&<!ELEMENT glossent - - (dterm, definition) >
&<!ELEMENT dterm - - (partext) -(term) >
&<!ELEMENT definition - - (text) >
&<!ELEMENT idx - - (indexprimary, indexsub?)
-(term | footnote | location | idx) >
&<!ELEMENT indexprimary - - (partext, sort?) >
&<!ELEMENT indexsub - - (partext, sort?) >
&<!ELEMENT sort - - ((#PCDATA | esc)+) >
&<!ELEMENT memo - - CDATA >
&<!ENTITY MINUS SDATA "-">
&<!ENTITY PM SDATA '[plusmn]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY DIV SDATA '[divide]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY TIMES SDATA '[times ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY LEQ SDATA '[le ]'> &<!-- ISOtech -->
&<!ENTITY GEQ SDATA '[ge ]'> &<!-- ISOtech -->
&<!ENTITY NEQ SDATA '[ne ]'> &<!-- ISOtech -->
&<!ENTITY COPY SDATA '[copy ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY REG SDATA '[reg ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY TM SDATA '[trade ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY ELLIPSIS SDATA '[hellip]'> &<!-- ISOpub -->
&<!ENTITY VELLIPSIS SDATA '[vellip]'> &<!-- ISOpub -->
&<!ENTITY PELLIPSIS SDATA "...."> &<!-- ellipsis followed by a period -->
&<!ENTITY A.M. SDATA "a.m.">
&<!ENTITY P.M. SDATA "p.m.">
&<!ENTITY MINUTES SDATA '[prime ]'> &<!-- ISOtech -->
&<!ENTITY SECONDS SDATA '[Prime ]'> &<!-- ISOtech -->
&<!ENTITY DEG SDATA '[deg ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY SQUOTE SDATA "`">
&<!ENTITY DQUOTE SDATA '"'>
&<!ENTITY ENDASH SDATA "-">
&<!ENTITY EMDASH SDATA '[mdash ]'> &<!-- ISOpub -->
&<!ENTITY VBLANK SDATA "_">
&<!ENTITY CENTS SDATA '[cent ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY STERLING SDATA '[pound ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY SPACE SDATA " ">
&<!ENTITY SIGSPACE SDATA "&& ">
&<!ENTITY SIGDASH SDATA "&&-">
&<!ENTITY MICRO SDATA '[micro ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY OHM SDATA '[ohm ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY UP SDATA '[uarr ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY DOWN SDATA '[darr ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY LEFT SDATA '[larr ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY RIGHT SDATA '[rarr ]'> &<!-- ISOnum -->
&<!ENTITY HOME SDATA "home key">
&<!ENTITY BACK SDATA "&<--">
&<!ENTITY HALFSPACE SDATA " ">
&<!ENTITY % user-defined-entities SYSTEM "helptag.ent">
%user-defined-entities;
] >Okay bestie, that's the tail end of the declaration and honestly? It ate. 💅 Let me walk you through the vibes so nothing gets lost:
captionis giving "photo caption but make it SGML" — it takes apartextplus an optionalabbrev, and it is expressly not allowed to containmemo,locationoridx. Boundaries, queen.imagetakes an optionalheadand apartext, but nofootnote.abstractishead?,text?, thenfrontsub*for days.frontsubis just(head?, text).otherfrontmatchesabstract's shape and gets its ownidattribute (ID,#IMPLIED).hometopicis(chaphead, text?)— short and iconic.chapteris(chaphead, text?, (s1*, rsect*)), and the bigATTLISTup there gives anid(ID,#IMPLIED) tochapter,s1,s2,s3,s4,s5,s6,s7,s8ands9all at once. Group project but somehow it's functioning ✨- The
s1throughs9cascade is the nesting chain: each one holds achaphead, optionaltext, the next level down (*), thenrsect*.s9is the bottom of the staircase — just(chaphead, text?), no further levels. She's done. rsectis(chaphead, text?, rsub*)with its ownidattribute, andrsubis(chaphead, text?).message=(chaphead?, text?, (msg+ | msgsub+)).msg=(msgnum?, msgtext, explain?)with+(newline)on the end — so everymsgneeds a newline after it, no cap.msgnumis((#PCDATA | esc)+),msgtextis(partext),explainis(text),msgsubis(chaphead, text?, msg+).glossarytakes optionaltextthenglossent+. Eachglossentis(dterm, definition).dtermis(partext)and can't containterm;definitionis(text).idxis(indexprimary, indexsub?)and excludesterm,footnote,locationandidx(no recursive index inception, we're not doing that today 🫶).indexprimaryandindexsubare both(partext, sort?), andsortis((#PCDATA | esc)+).memoisCDATA, full stop.
🎀 the entity era 🎀
Then comes the entity glow-up — a whole wardrobe of named entities, each SDATA-declared, many with a little comment tagging where it came from: ISOnum, ISOtech, ISOpub. Literally the vintage tags of the SGML world, iykyk.
Highlights for the girlies:
- Math crew:
&PM;([plusmn]),&DIV;([divide]),&TIMES;([times ]),&LEQ;([le ]),&GEQ;([ge ]),&NEQ;([ne ]) — allISOnum/ISOtech. - Legal-but-cute crew:
©([copy ]),®([reg ]),&TM;([trade ]). - Dot dot dot trio:
&ELLIPSIS;([hellip]),&VELLIPSIS;([vellip]), and the deeply specific&PELLIPSIS;("....", commented as ellipsis followed by a period) — she's an overachiever, we respect it. - Time crew:
&A.M.;("a.m.") and&P.M.;("p.m.") — note the literal dots in the entity name itself, main character energy. - Angle crew:
&MINUTES;([prime ]),&SECONDS;([Prime ]),&DEG;([deg ]). - Punctuation besties:
&ENDASH;("-"),&EMDASH;([mdash ]),&VBLANK;("_"), plus&SQUOTE;and&DQUOTE;for your quote needs. - Money moves:
&CENTS;([cent ]),&STERLING;([pound ]). - Spacing divas:
&SPACE;(" "),&HALFSPACE;(also a" "— yes, same value, she contains multitudes), and the signature ones&SIGSPACE;("&& ") and&SIGDASH;("&&-"). - Science/units:
&MICRO;([micro ]),&OHM;([ohm ]). - Arrows, aka the scroll-babes:
&UP;([uarr ]),&DOWN;([darr ]),&LEFT;([larr ]),&RIGHT;([rarr ]). - Key behavior:
&HOME;("home key") and&BACK;("&<--") — yes,&BACK;literally renders as that left arrow, slay. - And the actual finale before the close:
&MINUS;isSDATA "-", and the whole thing goes out through the plug-in point — the parameter entity% user-defined-entities;, declared asSYSTEM "helptag.ent"and then referenced with%user-defined-entities;. Custom content? We love an expansion pack. 🦋
💀 Do not sleep on the ordering here — the declarations and the] >close are exactly as written, and thehelptag.entreference is a system entity, i.e. it pulls from that file. Copy it verbatim or your parse is gonna have a bad time.
🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈
Go touch grass in these other pages, they're all linked and all important:
DtHelpDialog(3)Dt/HelpQuickD.h-DtHelpQuickD(5)DtCreateHelpQuickDialog(3)DtCreateHelpDialog(3)DtHelpSetCatalogName(3)DtHelpReturnSelectedWidgetId(3)DtHelpDialog(3)DtHelpQuickDialog(3)
(Yes, DtHelpDialog(3) shows up twice — once up front, once in the lineup. That's not a typo on my end, that's just how the page does it. Respect the duplication. 💖)
And that's the whole page, bestie, we made it to the end 🎀✨ The footer tags this one as dthelptagdtd(special file) — that's your source/version stamp for this section of the manual — so if anyone asks where you learned all this, you point at that and then point at me. Periodt. 💅👑
📦 where this page comes from
- nixos 26.05: cde 2.5.3
- 💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms