Standard Generalized Markup Language

Standard Generalized Markup Language
Filename extension
.sgml
Internet media type
application/sgml, text/sgml
Uniform Type Identifier (UTI)public.xml[citation needed]
Developed byISO
Type of formatMarkup language
Extended fromGML
Extended toHTML, XML
StandardISO 8879

The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates":[1]

  • Declarative: Markup should describe a document's structure and other attributes rather than specify the processing that needs to be performed, because it is less likely to conflict with future developments.
  • Rigorous: In order to allow markup to take advantage of the techniques available for processing, markup should rigorously define objects like programs and databases.

DocBook SGML and LinuxDoc are examples which used SGML tools.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Iso was invoked but never defined (see the help page).