Cross reference

A cross reference is an inline link. A cross reference can link to a different location within the current topic, another topic, a specific location in another topic, or an external resource such as a PDF or web page.

Syntax

XDITA: <xref>
HDITA: <a href>
MDITA (core and extended profiles): [link](/URI "title")

Attributes

The available attributes vary based on the authoring format:

XDITA: The following attributes are available on this element: link relationship attributes, localization attributes, universal attributes, @keyref, and @props.
HDITA: The following attributes are available on this element: link relationship attributes, localization attributes, universal attributes, @keyref, and @props.
MDITA: For the MDITA core profile, the equivalent of the XDITA @keyref attribute is supported. For the MDITA extended profile, attributes can be specified by using the HDITA representation.

Examples

This section is non-normative.

Example 1. XDITA example

The following example demonstrates the use of a cross reference in an XDITA topic.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD LIGHTWEIGHT DITA Topic//EN" "lw-topic.dtd">
<topic id="franchise-offer">
  <title>What we offer</title>
  <body>
    <ul>
      <li><p>"Know-how" license</p></li>
      <li><p>Warranty of territory exclusivity</p></li>
      <li><p>Initial training</p></li>
      <li><p>Support through online, email, and telephone channels</p></li>
      <li><p>Access to our <xref href="http://senseisushico.com/kb" scope="external" format="html">knowledge base</xref></p></li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</topic>

Example 2. HDITA example

The following example demonstrates the use of a cross reference in an HDITA topic.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<title>What we offer</title>
<body>
  <article id="franchise-offer">
    <h1>What we offer</h1>
    <ul>
      <li>
        <p>"Know-how" license</p>
      </li>
      <li>
        <p>Warranty of territory exclusivity</p>
      </li>
      <li>
        <p>Initial training</p>
      </li>
      <li>
        <p>Support through online, email, and telephone channels</p>
      </li>
      <li>
        <p>Access to our <a href="http://senseisushico.com/kb" rel="external" type="text/html">knowledge base</a></p>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </article>
</body>

Example 3. MDITA example

The following example demonstrates the use of a cross reference in an MDITA topic.

# What we offer

-   "Know-how" license

-   Warranty of territory exclusivity

-   Initial training

-   Support through online, email, and telephone channels

-   Access to our [knowledge base](http://senseisushico.com/kb)