Skip to main content
Version: DocBook V4.5

figure

figure — A formal figure, generally an illustration, with a title

Synopsis

Content Model

figure ::=
(blockinfo?,
(title,titleabbrev?),
(literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|screen|screenco|
screenshot|synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|classsynopsis|
fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis|destructorsynopsis|
methodsynopsis|address|blockquote|graphic|graphicco|mediaobject|
mediaobjectco|informalequation|informalexample|informalfigure|
informaltable|indexterm|beginpage|link|olink|ulink)+)

Attributes

Common attributes

Name

Type

Default

floatstyle

CDATA

None

float

CDATA

"0"

pgwide

CDATA

None

label

CDATA

None

Description

Figure is a formal example with a title. Figures often contain Graphics, or other large, display elements. Frequently they are given IDs and referenced from the text with XRef or Link.

Processing expectations

Formatted as a displayed block.

Figures may contain multiple display elements. DocBook does not specify how these elements are to be presented with respect to one another.

DocBook does not specify the location of the figure within the final displayed flow of text; it may float or remain where it is located.

A list of figures may be generated at the beginning of a document.

Attributes

float

If Float has the value 1 (true), then the processing system is free to move the figure to a convenient location. (Where convenient location may be described in the style sheet or may be application dependent.) A value of 0 (false) indicates that the figure should be placed precisely where it occurs in the flow.

label

Label specifies an identifying string for presentation purposes.

Generally, an explicit Label attribute is used only if the processing system is incapable of generating the label automatically. If present, the Label is normative; it will used even if the processing system is capable of automatic labelling.

pgwide

If Pgwide has the value 0 (false), then the Figure is rendered in the current text flow (with flow column width). A value of 1 (true) specifies that the figure should be rendered across the full text page.

Examples

<!DOCTYPE figure PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
<figure><title>The Pythagorean Theorem Illustrated</title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="figures/pythag.png"/>
</imageobject>
<textobject><phrase>An illustration of the Pythagorean Theorem</phrase></textobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>

Figure 3. The Pythagorean Theorem Illustrated

An illustration of the Pythagorean Theorem

For additional examples, see also graphic.