fn

Use footnote (<fn>) to annotate text with notes that are not appropriate for inclusion in line or to indicate the source for facts or other material used in the text.

Footnote content is always skipped at the place where it was entered, and reproduced elsewhere, according to these rules:

Example

The first example uses a simple fn element, with no ID and no callout attribute. In that case, markup such as the following:
The memory storage capacity of the computer is 
2 GB<fn>A GB (gigabyte) is equal to 
1000 million bytes</fn> with error correcting support.
may produce output similar to the following:

The memory storage capacity of the computer is 2 GB1 with error correcting support.

......

1 A GB (gigabyte) is equal to 1000 million bytes

----- [bottom of page] -----------------------------------------------------------------

The second example uses a callout attribute. It is marked up as follows:
The memory storage capacity of the computer is 
2 GB<fn callout="#">A GB (gigabyte) is equal to 
1000 million bytes</fn> with error correcting support.
That DITA markup may produce output similar to the following:

The memory storage capacity of the computer is 2 GB# with error correcting support.

......

# A GB (gigabyte) is equal to 1000 million bytes

----- [bottom of page] -----------------------------------------------------------------

The third example uses an ID on a footnote, and then references that ID multiple times. The DITA markup looks like this:
I like pets. <fn id="reuse-fn">This is the name of an animal.</fn>
At my house, I have a dog<xref href="#topic/reuse-fn"/>, a
cat<xref href="#topic/reuse-fn"/>, and a llama<xref href="topic/reuse-fn"/>.
and may produce output similar to the following:

I like pets. At my house, I have a dog1, a cat1, and a llama1.

......

1This is the name of an animal.

----- [bottom of page] -----------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Footnote support may vary between different output types, depending on conventions and capabilities. For example, PDF output may lack support for the callout attribute, or footnotes may be collected as endnotes for certain types of Web publications.

Contains

Doctype Content model
ditabase, topic, task, reference, concept ( text data or ph or codeph or synph or filepath or msgph or userinput or systemoutput or b or u or i or tt or sup or sub or uicontrol or menucascade or term or xref or cite or q or boolean or state or keyword or option or parmname or apiname or cmdname or msgnum or varname or wintitle or tm or p or lq or note or dl or parml or ul or ol or sl or pre or codeblock or msgblock or screen or lines or fig or syntaxdiagram or imagemap or image or object or data or data-about or foreign or unknown) (any number)
map, bookmap ( text data or ph or term or xref or cite or q or boolean or state or keyword or tm or p or lq or note or dl or ul or ol or sl or pre or lines or fig or image or object or data or data-about or foreign or unknown) (any number)

Contained by

Doctype Parents
bookmap p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, organizationname
map p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry
ditabase p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, abstract, section, example, prereq, context, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, glossdef, screen, codeblock, pd
topic p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, abstract, section, example, screen, codeblock, pd
task p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, abstract, section, example, prereq, context, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, screen, codeblock, pd
concept p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, abstract, section, example, screen, codeblock, pd
reference p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, abstract, section, example, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, screen, codeblock, pd
glossary p, note, lq, sli, li, itemgroup, dd, fig, figgroup, pre, lines, ph, stentry, entry, abstract, section, example, glossdef, screen, codeblock, pd

Inheritance:

- topic/fn

Attributes

Name Description Data Type Default Value Required?
callout Specifies what character is used for the footnote link, for example a number or an alpha character. The attribute may also specify a short string of characters. When no callout value is specified, footnotes are numbered. CDATA #IMPLIED No
%univ-atts; (%select-atts;, %id-atts;, %localization-atts;) A set of related attributes, described at %univ-atts; parameter entity PE not applicable Not applicable
%global-atts; (xtrf, xtrc) A set of related attributes, described at %global-atts; parameter entity PE not applicable Not applicable
class, outputclass Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes.      

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OASIS DITA Language Specification v1.1 -- Committee Draft 13 February 2007
Copyright © OASIS Open 2005, 2007. All Rights Reserved.