Convention |
Explanation |
italics |
Introduces new terms that you may not be familiar with, and is used occasionally for emphasis. |
bold |
Emphasizes important information. Also indicates button, menu, and icon names on which you can act. For example, click Next. |
UPPERCASE |
Indicates the name of a file. For operating environments that use case-sensitive file names, the correct capitalization is used in information specific to those environments. Also indicates keys or key combinations that you can use. For example, press the ENTER key. |
monospace
|
Indicates syntax examples, values that you specify, or results that you receive. |
monospaced italics
|
Indicates names that are placeholders for values you specify; for example, filename . |
forward slash / |
Separates menus and their associated commands. For example, Select File / Copy means to select Copy from the File menu. |
vertical rule | |
Indicates an OR separator to delineate items. |
brackets [ ] |
Indicates optional items. For example, in the following statement: SELECT [DISTINCT], DISTINCT is an optional keyword. |
braces { } |
Indicates that you must select one item. For example, {yes | no} means you must specify either yes or no. |
ellipsis . . . |
Indicates that the immediately preceding item can be repeated any number of times in succession. An ellipsis following a closing bracket indicates that all information in that unit can be repeated. |