B.4 Conventions: Fonts and symbols

Bold

Bold characters indicate text in a window, other than the window title. Such text includes menus, menu options, buttons, radio box options, or explanatory labels. For example:

• From the File menu, choose Open.

• Click the Cancel button.

• In the Enter name entry box, type your name.

Italic

Italic characters indicate a placeholder for some actual text to be provided by the user or system. For example:

• Write the command as follows:

  copy source-file target-file

• The following message appears:

  A file was not found. (file = file-name)

Italic characters are also used for emphasis. For example:

• Do not delete the configuration file.

Monospace

Monospace characters indicate text that the user enters without change, or text (such as messages) output by the system. For example:

• At the prompt, enter dir.

• Use the send command to send mail.

• The following message is displayed:

  The password is incorrect.

|

In syntax explanations, a vertical bar separates multiple items, and has the meaning of OR. For example:

A|B|C means A, or B, or C.

{ }

In syntax explanations, curly brackets indicate that only one of the enclosed items is to be selected. For example:

{A|B|C} means only one of A, or B, or C.

[ ]

In syntax explanations, square brackets indicate that the enclosed item or items are optional. For example:

[A] means that you can specify A or nothing.

[B|C] means that you can specify B, or C, or nothing.

...

In coding, an ellipsis (...) indicates that one or more lines of coding are not shown for purposes of brevity.

In syntax explanations, an ellipsis indicates that the immediately preceding item can be repeated as many times as necessary. For example:

A, B, B, ... means that, after you specify A, B, you can specify B as many times as necessary.