<refentry id="para.element">
<?dbhtml filename="para.html"?>
<refentryinfo>
<pubdate>$Date$</pubdate>
<releaseinfo>$Revision$</releaseinfo>
</refentryinfo>

<refmeta>
<indexterm><primary>elements</primary>
<secondary>para</secondary></indexterm>
<refentrytitle>para</refentrytitle>
<refmiscinfo>Element</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv>
<refname>para</refname>
<refpurpose>&para.purpose;</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>

&para.synopsis.gen;
<refsect1 condition='ref.description'><title>Description</title>

<para>
A <sgmltag>Para</sgmltag> is a paragraph.  Paragraphs in DocBook may contain 
almost all inlines and most block elements. Sectioning and higher-level
structural elements are excluded. DocBook offers two variants of paragraph:
<sgmltag>SimPara</sgmltag>, which cannot contain block elements, and
<sgmltag>FormalPara</sgmltag>, which has a title.
</para>

<para>
Some processing systems may find the presence of block elements in a
paragraph difficult to handle.
On the other hand, it is frequently
most logical, from a structural point of view, to include block elements,
especially informal block elements, in the paragraphs that describe their
content. There is no easy answer to this problem.
</para>

<refsect2><title>Processing expectations</title>
<para>
&format.block;
</para>
</refsect2>

<refsect2 role='fu' revision="4.0"><title>&FutureChanges;</title>
<para>
<!--do not index this occurance-->
&fu.interfacedefinition;
</para>
</refsect2>


&para.parents.gen;
&para.children.gen;
</refsect1>
<refsect1 condition='ref.elem.seealso'><title>See Also</title>
&para.seealso.gen;
</refsect1>
<refsect1><title>Examples</title>

<para>
Ordinary paragraphs can contain most block elements:
</para>

<informalexample role="example-source">
<programlisting>&para.example.1.txt;</programlisting>
</informalexample>

<anchor id="ex.os.para.1" role="HACK-ex.out.start"/>
&para.example.1.gen;
<anchor id="ex.oe.para.1" role="HACK-ex.out.end"/>

<para>
Formal paragraphs include a title:
</para>

<informalexample role="example-source">
<programlisting>&para.example.2.txt;</programlisting>
</informalexample>

<anchor id="ex.os.para.2" role="HACK-ex.out.start"/>
&para.example.2.gen;
<anchor id="ex.oe.para.2" role="HACK-ex.out.end"/>

<para>
Simple paragraphs may not contain block elements:
</para>

<informalexample role="example-source">
<programlisting>&para.example.3.txt;</programlisting>
</informalexample>

<anchor id="ex.os.para.3" role="HACK-ex.out.start"/>
&para.example.3.gen;
<anchor id="ex.oe.para.3" role="HACK-ex.out.end"/>

&para.example.seealso.gen;
</refsect1>
</refentry>

