reStructuredText Test Document

Examples of Syntax Constructs

Document header
author David Goodger
address
123 Example Street
Example, EX  Canada
A1B 2C3
contact goodger@python.org
authors
  • Me
  • Myself
  • I
organization humankind
date Now, or yesterday. Or maybe even before yesterday.
status This is a "work in progress"
revision is managed by a version control system.
version 1
copyright This document has been placed in the public domain. You may do with it as you wish. You may copy, modify, redistribute, reattribute, sell, buy, rent, lease, destroy, or improve it, quote it at length, excerpt, incorporate, collate, fold, staple, or mutilate it, or do anything else to it that your or anyone else's heart desires.
field name This is a "generic bibliographic field".
field name "2"

Generic bibliographic fields may contain multiple body elements.

Like this.

1   Structural Elements

1.1   Section Title

1.1.1   Section Subtitle

Lone subsections are converted to a section subtitle by a transform activated with the --section-subtitles command line option or the sectsubtitle-xform configuration value.

1.2   Empty Section

1.3   Transitions

Here's a transition:


It divides the section. Transitions may also occur between sections:


2   Body Elements

2.1   Paragraphs

A paragraph.

2.1.1   Inline Markup

Paragraphs contain text and may contain inline markup: emphasis, strong emphasis, inline literals, standalone hyperlinks (http://www.python.org), external hyperlinks (Python [5]), internal cross-references (example), external hyperlinks with embedded URIs (Python web site), anonymous hyperlink references [5] (a second reference [7]), footnote references (manually numbered [1], anonymous auto-numbered [3], labeled auto-numbered [2], or symbolic [*]), citation references ([CIT2002]), substitution references ( EXAMPLE ), and inline hyperlink targets (see Targets below for a reference back to here). Character-level inline markup is also possible (although exceedingly ugly!) in reStructuredText. Problems are indicated by |problematic| text (generated by processing errors; this one is intentional). Here is a reference to the doctitle and the subtitle.

The default role for interpreted text is Title Reference. Here are some explicit interpreted text roles: a PEP reference (PEP 287); an RFC reference (RFC 2822); an abbreviation ( abb. ), an acronym ( reST ), code (print "hello world"); a subscript; a superscript and explicit roles for Docutils' standard inline markup.

Let's test wrapping and whitespace significance in inline literals: This is an example of --inline-literal --text, --including some-- strangely--hyphenated-words.  Adjust-the-width-of-your-browser-window to see how the text is wrapped.  -- ---- --------  Now note    the spacing    between the    words of    this sentence    (words should    be grouped    in pairs).

If the --pep-references option was supplied, there should be a live link to PEP 258 here.

2.2   Bullet Lists

2.3   Enumerated Lists

  1. Arabic numerals.

    1. lower alpha)

      1. (lower roman)

        1. upper alpha.

          1. upper roman)
  2. Lists that don't start at 1:

    1. Three
    2. Four
    1. C
    2. D
    1. iii
    2. iv

2.4   Definition Lists

Term
Definition
Term : classifier

Definition paragraph 1.

Definition paragraph 2.

Term
Definition
Term : classifier one : classifier two
Definition

2.5   Field Lists

what Field lists map field names to field bodies, like database records. They are often part of an extension syntax. They are an unambiguous variant of RFC 2822 fields.
how arg1 arg2

The field marker is a colon, the field name, and a colon.

The field body may contain one or more body elements, indented relative to the field marker.

credits

This paragraph has the credits class set. (This is actually not about credits but just for ensuring that the class attribute doesn't get stripped away.)

2.6   Option Lists

For listing command-line options:

-a command-line option "a"
-b file options can have arguments and long descriptions
--long options can be long also
--input=file long options can also have arguments
--very-long-option

The description can also start on the next line.

The description may contain multiple body elements, regardless of where it starts.

-x, -y, -z Multiple options are an "option group".
-v, --verbose Commonly-seen: short & long options.
-1 file, --one=file, --two file
Multiple options with arguments.
/V DOS/VMS-style options too

There must be at least two spaces between the option and the description.

2.7   Literal Blocks

Literal blocks are indicated with a double-colon ("::") at the end of the preceding paragraph (over there -->). They can be indented:

if literal_block:
    text = 'is left as-is'
    spaces_and_linebreaks = 'are preserved'
    markup_processing = None

Or they can be quoted without indentation:

>> Great idea!
>
> Why didn't I think of that?

2.8   Line Blocks

This section tests line blocks. Line blocks are body elements which consist of lines and other line blocks. Nested line blocks cause indentation.

This is a line block. It ends with a blank line.
    New lines begin with a vertical bar ("|").
    Line breaks and initial indent are significant, and preserved.
        Continuation lines are also possible. A long line that is intended to wrap should begin with a space in place of the vertical bar.
    The left edge of a continuation line need not be aligned with the left edge of the text above it.
This is a second line block.

Blank lines are permitted internally, but they must begin with a "|".

Another line block, surrounded by paragraphs:

And it's no good waiting by the window
It's no good waiting for the sun
Please believe me, the things you dream of
They don't fall in the lap of no-one

Take it away, Eric the Orchestra Leader!

A one, two, a one two three four

Half a bee, philosophically,
    must, ipso facto, half not be.
But half the bee has got to be,
    vis a vis its entity. D'you see?
    
But can a bee be said to be
    or not to be an entire bee,
        when half the bee is not a bee,
            due to some ancient injury?
            
Singing...

A line block, like the following poem by Christian Morgenstern, can also be centre-aligned:

Die Trichter

Zwei Trichter wandeln durch die Nacht.
Durch ihres Rumpfs verengten Schacht
fließt weißes Mondlicht
still und heiter
auf   ihren
Waldweg
u. s.
w.

2.9   Block Quotes

Block quotes consist of indented body elements:

My theory by A. Elk. Brackets Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and belongs to me and I own it, and what it is too.

Anne Elk (Miss)

The language of a quote (like any other object) can be specified by a class attribute:

ReStructuredText est un langage de balisage léger utilisé notamment dans la documentation du langage Python.

2.10   Doctest Blocks

>>> print 'Python-specific usage examples; begun with ">>>"'
Python-specific usage examples; begun with ">>>"
>>> print '(cut and pasted from interactive Python sessions)'
(cut and pasted from interactive Python sessions)

2.11   Footnotes

[1]

A footnote contains body elements, consistently indented by at least 3 spaces.

This is the footnote's second paragraph.

[2] Footnotes may be numbered, either manually (as in [1]) or automatically using a "#"-prefixed label. This footnote has a label so it can be referred to from multiple places, both as a footnote reference ([2]) and as a hyperlink reference.
[3]

This footnote is numbered automatically and anonymously using a label of "#" only.

This is the second paragraph.

And this is the third paragraph.

[*] Footnotes may also use symbols, specified with a "*" label. Here's a reference to the next footnote: [†].
[†] This footnote shows the next symbol in the sequence.
[4] Here's an unreferenced footnote, with a reference to a nonexistent footnote: [5]_.

2.12   Citations

[CIT2002] Citations are text-labeled footnotes. They may be rendered separately and differently from footnotes.

Here's a reference to the above, [CIT2002], and a [nonexistent]_ citation.

2.13   Targets

This paragraph is pointed to by the explicit "example" target. A reference can be found under Inline Markup, above. Inline hyperlink targets are also possible.

Section headers are implicit targets, referred to by name. See Targets, which is a subsection of Body Elements.

Explicit external targets are interpolated into references such as "Python [5]".

Targets may be indirect and anonymous. Thus this phrase may also refer to the Targets section.

Here's a `hyperlink reference without a target`_, which generates an error.

2.13.1   Duplicate Target Names

Duplicate names in section headers or other implicit targets will generate "info" (level-1) system messages. Duplicate names in explicit targets will generate "warning" (level-2) system messages.

2.13.2   Duplicate Target Names

Since there are two "Duplicate Target Names" section headers, we cannot uniquely refer to either of them by name. If we try to (like this: `Duplicate Target Names`_), an error is generated.

2.14   Directives

These are just a sample of the many reStructuredText Directives. For others, please see http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html.

2.14.1   Document Parts

An example of the "contents" directive can be seen above this section (a local, untitled table of contents) and at the beginning of the document (a document-wide table of contents).

2.14.2   Images and Figures

An image directive (also clickable -- a hyperlink reference):

Image with multiple IDs:

A centered image:

A left-aligned image:

This paragraph might flow around the image. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used.

A right-aligned image:

This paragraph might flow around the image. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used.

For inline images see Substitution Definitions.

Image size:

An image 2 em wide:

An image 2 em wide and 15 pixel high:

An image occupying 50% of the line width:

An image 2 cm high:

A figure is an image with a caption and/or a legend. With page-based output media, figures might float to a different position if this helps the page layout.

reStructuredText, the markup syntax
Plaintext markup syntax and parser system.
re Revised, revisited, based on 're' module.
Structured Structure-enhanced text, structuredtext.
Text Well it is, isn't it?

This paragraph is also part of the legend.

A left-aligned figure:

reStructuredText, the markup syntax
This is the caption.

This is the legend.

The legend may consist of several paragraphs.

This paragraph might flow around the figure.

The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used.

A centered figure:

This is the caption.

This is the legend.

The legend may consist of several paragraphs.

This paragraph might flow around the figure.

The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used.

A right-aligned figure:

This is the caption.

This is the legend.

The legend may consist of several paragraphs.

This paragraph might flow around the figure. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used.

2.14.3   Admonitions

2.14.4   Topics, Sidebars, and Rubrics

Sidebars are like miniature, parallel documents.

A topic is like a block quote with a title, or a self-contained section with no subsections.

A rubric is like an informal heading that doesn't correspond to the document's structure. It is typically highlighted in red (hence the name).

This is a rubric

Topics and rubrics can be used at places where a section title is not allowed (e.g. inside a directive).

2.14.5   Target Footnotes

[5] http://www.python.org/
[6] http://pygments.org/
[7] http://docutils.sourceforge.net/

2.14.6   Replacement Text

I recommend you try Python, the best language around [5].

2.14.7   Compound Paragraph

Compound 1, paragraph 1.

Compound 1, paragraph 2.

  • Compound 1, list item one.
  • Compound 1, list item two.

Another compound statement:

Compound 2, a literal block:

Compound 2, literal.

Compound 2, this is a test.

Compound 3, only consisting of one paragraph.

Compound 4.
This one starts with a literal block.

Compound 4, a paragraph.

Now something really perverted -- a nested compound block. This is just to test that it works at all; the results don't have to be meaningful.

Compound 5, block 1 (a paragraph).

Compound 6, block 2 in compound 5.

Compound 6, another paragraph.

Compound 5, block 3 (a paragraph).

Compound 7, with a table inside:

Left cell, first paragraph.

Left cell, second paragraph.

Middle cell, consisting of exactly one paragraph.

Right cell.

Paragraph 2.

Paragraph 3.

Compound 7, a paragraph after the table.

Compound 7, another paragraph.

2.14.8   Parsed Literal Blocks

This is a parsed literal block.
    This line is indented.  The next line is blank.

Inline markup is supported, e.g. emphasis, strong, literal
text, footnotes [1], hyperlink targets, and references.

2.14.9   Code

Blocks of source code can be set with the code directive. If the code language is specified, the content is parsed and tagged by the Pygments [6] syntax highlighter and can be formatted with a style sheet. (Code parsing is turned off using the syntax-highlight config setting in the test conversions in order to get identical results with/without installed Pygments highlighter.)

print 'This is Python code.'

The :number-lines: option (with optional start value) generates line numbers:

 8 # print integers from 0 to 9:
 9 for i in range(10):
10     print i

For inline code snippets, there is the code role, which can be used directly (the code will not be parsed/tagged, as the language is not known) or as base for special code roles, e.g.,

Docutils uses LaTeX syntax for math directives and roles: \alpha = f(x) prints \(\alpha = f(x)\) .

The :code: option of the include directive sets the included content as a code block, here the rst file header_footer.txt with line numbers:

1 .. header:: Document header
2 .. footer:: Document footer

2.15   Substitution Definitions

An inline image ( EXAMPLE ) example:

(Substitution definitions are not visible in the HTML source.)

2.16   Comments

Here's one:

(View the HTML source to see the comment.)

2.17   Raw text

This does not necessarily look nice, because there may be missing white space.

It's just there to freeze the behavior.

A test.Second test.Another test with myclass set.

This is the fourth test with myrawroleclass set.

Fifth test in HTML.
Line two.

2.18   Container

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

2.19   Colspanning tables

This table has a cell spanning two columns:

Inputs Output
A B A or B
False False False
True False True
False True True
True True True

2.20   Rowspanning tables

Here's a table with cells spanning several rows:

Header row, column 1 (header rows optional) Header 2 Header 3
body row 1, column 1 column 2 column 3
body row 2 Cells may span rows. Another rowspanning cell.
body row 3

2.21   Complex tables

Here's a complex table, which should test all features.

Header row, column 1 (header rows optional) Header 2 Header 3 Header 4
body row 1, column 1 column 2 column 3 column 4
body row 2 Cells may span columns.
body row 3

Cells may span rows.

Paragraph.

  • Table cells
  • contain
  • body elements.
body row 4
body row 5 Cells may also be empty: -->

2.22   List Tables

Here's a list table exercising all features:

list table with integral header

Treat Quantity Description
Albatross 2.99 On a stick!
Crunchy Frog 1.49 If we took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy, now would it?
Gannet Ripple 1.99 On a stick!

2.23   Custom Roles

2.24   SVG Images

Scalable vector graphics (SVG) images are not supported by all backends. Rendering depends partially on the backend, especially if the size is not explicitely given.

A scaling image occupying 50% of the line width (scales with the browser window).

Whether an SVG image is scaled or clipped/padded cannot be set in the containing HTML. It depends on the viewport declaration inside its root <svg> element.

An inline SVG image inline-svg scaled to a height of 0.8 em.

A scaling image occupying 50% of the line width and 1.2 em high, right aligned (this SVG image keeps the aspect ratio):

A scaling image 1 em high, left aligned.

A scaling image 5 mm x 5 mm, centered, with hyperlink reference:

A fixed-size image in a 4 cm x 2 em box.

A fixed-size image in a box 50% the line width and 15 pixle high.

reStructuredText, the markup syntax
SVG image in a figure.

2.25   SWF Images

Shockwave Flash is an image/movie format that most modern web browsers support via a plugin. It is sometimes blocked due to privacy/security concerns.

Images with extension .swf are placed inside <object> elements. For complete control over display options use raw HTML.

[biohazard.swf]

An SWF image in a 4 cm x 2 em box, left aligned.

An inline SWF image inline-swf scaled to 0.8 em x 0.8 em.

3   Error Handling

Any errors caught during processing will generate system messages.

There should be five messages in the following, auto-generated section, "Docutils System Messages":

Docutils System Messages

System Message: ERROR/3 (data/standard.txt line 104) Backref

Undefined substitution referenced: "problematic".

System Message: ERROR/3 (data/standard.txt line 391) Backref

Unknown target name: "5".

System Message: ERROR/3 (data/standard.txt line 400) Backref

Unknown target name: "nonexistent".

System Message: ERROR/3 (data/standard.txt line 427) Backref

Unknown target name: "hyperlink reference without a target".

System Message: ERROR/3 (data/standard.txt line 440) Backref

Duplicate target name, cannot be used as a unique reference: "duplicate target names".