| DocBook: The Definitive Guide 2.0.17 (Alpha)

# step

$Revision: 3321 $

$Date: 2003-12-23 10:26:49 -0500 (Tue, 23 Dec 2003) $

step — A unit of action in a procedure

## Synopsis

### Content Model

    step ::=
    (title?,
     (((calloutlist|glosslist|bibliolist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|
        segmentedlist|simplelist|variablelist|caution|important|note|
        tip|warning|literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|
        screen|screenco|screenshot|synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|
        classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis|
        destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|formalpara|para|simpara|
        address|blockquote|graphic|graphicco|mediaobject|
        mediaobjectco|informalequation|informalexample|informalfigure|
        informaltable|equation|example|figure|table|msgset|procedure|
        sidebar|qandaset|task|productionset|constraintdef|anchor|
        bridgehead|remark|highlights|abstract|authorblurb|epigraph|
        indexterm|beginpage)+,
       ((substeps|stepalternatives),
        (calloutlist|glosslist|bibliolist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|
         segmentedlist|simplelist|variablelist|caution|important|note|
         tip|warning|literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|
         screen|screenco|screenshot|synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|
         classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis|
         destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|formalpara|para|simpara|
         address|blockquote|graphic|graphicco|mediaobject|
         mediaobjectco|informalequation|informalexample|
         informalfigure|informaltable|equation|example|figure|table|
         msgset|procedure|sidebar|qandaset|task|productionset|
         constraintdef|anchor|bridgehead|remark|highlights|abstract|
         authorblurb|epigraph|indexterm|beginpage)*)?)|
      ((substeps|stepalternatives),
       (calloutlist|glosslist|bibliolist|itemizedlist|orderedlist|
        segmentedlist|simplelist|variablelist|caution|important|note|
        tip|warning|literallayout|programlisting|programlistingco|
        screen|screenco|screenshot|synopsis|cmdsynopsis|funcsynopsis|
        classsynopsis|fieldsynopsis|constructorsynopsis|
        destructorsynopsis|methodsynopsis|formalpara|para|simpara|
        address|blockquote|graphic|graphicco|mediaobject|
        mediaobjectco|informalequation|informalexample|informalfigure|
        informaltable|equation|example|figure|table|msgset|procedure|
        sidebar|qandaset|task|productionset|constraintdef|anchor|
        bridgehead|remark|highlights|abstract|authorblurb|epigraph|
        indexterm|beginpage)*)))

### Attributes

Common attributes

Name | Type | Default
performance |
Enumeration:
optional
required
| "required"

## Description

A `Step` identifies a unit of action in a `Procedure`. If a finer level of granularity is required for some steps, you can embed `SubSteps` in a `Step`. Embedded `SubSteps` contain `Step`s, so that substeps can be nested to any depth.

### Processing expectations

Formatted as a displayed block. `Step`s are almost always numbered.

### Parents

These elements contain step: `procedure`, `stepalternatives`, `substeps`.

### Children

The following elements occur in step: `abstract`, `address`, `anchor`, `authorblurb`, `beginpage`, `bibliolist`, `blockquote`, `bridgehead`, `calloutlist`, `caution`, `classsynopsis`, `cmdsynopsis`, `constraintdef`, `constructorsynopsis`, `destructorsynopsis`, `epigraph`, `equation`, `example`, `fieldsynopsis`, `figure`, `formalpara`, `funcsynopsis`, `glosslist`, `graphic`, `graphicco`, `highlights`, `important`, `indexterm`, `informalequation`, `informalexample`, `informalfigure`, `informaltable`, `itemizedlist`, `literallayout`, `mediaobject`, `mediaobjectco`, `methodsynopsis`, `msgset`, `note`, `orderedlist`, `para`, `procedure`, `productionset`, `programlisting`, `programlistingco`, `qandaset`, `remark`, `screen`, `screenco`, `screenshot`, `segmentedlist`, `sidebar`, `simpara`, `simplelist`, `stepalternatives`, `substeps`, `synopsis`, `table`, `task`, `tip`, `title`, `variablelist`, `warning`.

## Attributes

performance

  `Performance` specifies whether particular `Step` in a `Procedure` must be performed or is optional.

## Examples

For examples, see `procedure`.

state |  | stepalternatives

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.