Live Editor · Syntax Reference¶

The live editor accepts a compact, D2-inspired ontology DSL. Everything below the "Basics" section is optional — the parser round-trips to Turtle so any triple you can express in Turtle can be expressed here (usually with fewer keystrokes).

Auto-declared prefixes¶

You never need to declare these — they are always in scope:

Prefix	IRI
`rdf:`	`http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#`
`rdfs:`	`http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#`
`owl:`	`http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#`
`xsd:`	`http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#`
`skos:`	`http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#`
`dc:`	`http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/`
`dct:`	`http://purl.org/dc/terms/`
`foaf:`	`http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/`
`ex:`	`http://example.org/`

Add your own with @prefix name: <IRI>.

Basics¶

Simple triple¶

ex:apple -ex:hasColor-> "red"

Renders as: ex:apple ex:hasColor "red" .

Shortcuts for common predicates¶

Shortcut	Expands to
`-a->`	`-rdf:type->`
`-type->`	`-rdf:type->`
`-isa->`	`-rdfs:subClassOf->`

ex:apple -a-> ex:Fruit
ex:Apple -isa-> ex:Fruit

Multiple values¶

Comma-separate objects to emit N triples for the same subject/predicate:

ex:Tree -ex:hasFruit-> ex:apple, ex:orange, ex:banana

Subject blocks¶

Share a subject across several predicates using { ... }:

ex:Bush {
  -a-> owl:Class
  -rdfs:label-> "Berry Bush"
  -ex:habitat-> ex:Forest
}

Literal forms¶

Form	Example	Result
Plain string	`"hello"`	`"hello"`
Language-tagged	`"hello"@en`	`"hello"@en`
Typed literal	`"42"^^xsd:integer`	`"42"^^xsd:integer`
Integer shorthand	`42`	`"42"^^xsd:integer`
Decimal shorthand	`1.5`	`"1.5"^^xsd:decimal`
Boolean	`true` / `false`	`"true"^^xsd:boolean`

Term forms¶

Kind	Syntax	Example
CURIE	`prefix:local`	`ex:apple`
Full IRI	`<IRI>`	`<http://example.org/apple>`
Blank node	`_:label`	`_:b1`
Bare local	`local`	`apple` ⇒ `ex:apple`

Error diagnostics¶

The editor shows line + column for every parse error in the red panel below the DSL. Common cases:

unterminated string literal — you forgot the closing ".
unterminated <IRI> — you opened < without closing >.
expected '->' to close predicate — the arrow is -P->, not -P > or >P->.
expected '-<predicate>->' or '{' after subject — a subject needs either a triple or a block.
block opened with '{' but never closed with '}' — one } per {.

Turtle round-trip¶

The bottom pane shows the generated Turtle. Everything typed in the DSL appears there in a canonical form — copy it into your project, or save as .ttl / .nt from the toolbar.

OWL restrictions¶

Parenthesised Manchester-style expressions that expand to owl:Restriction axioms with a blank node:

Syntax	Emitted axioms
`(some ex:hasColor ex:Color)`	`owl:onProperty ex:hasColor` + `owl:someValuesFrom ex:Color`
`(only ex:hasSeed ex:Seed)`	`owl:onProperty ex:hasSeed` + `owl:allValuesFrom ex:Seed`
`(value ex:hasSize ex:Medium)`	`owl:onProperty ex:hasSize` + `owl:hasValue ex:Medium`
`(min 1 ex:hasSeed)`	`owl:onProperty ex:hasSeed` + `owl:minCardinality "1"^^xsd:nonNegativeInteger`
`(max 3 ex:hasSeed)`	`owl:onProperty ex:hasSeed` + `owl:maxCardinality "3"^^…`
`(exactly 2 ex:hasCore)`	`owl:onProperty ex:hasCore` + `owl:cardinality "2"^^…`
`(min 1 ex:hasSeed ex:Seed)`	qualified: `owl:minQualifiedCardinality …` + `owl:onClass ex:Seed`
`(max 2 ex:hasCore ex:Core)`	qualified: `owl:maxQualifiedCardinality …` + `owl:onClass ex:Core`
`(exactly 1 ex:hasBoss ex:Person)`	qualified: `owl:qualifiedCardinality …` + `owl:onClass ex:Person`

Example:

ex:Apple -isa-> (some ex:hasColor ex:Color)
ex:Apple -isa-> (exactly 1 ex:hasStalk ex:Stalk)

Class expressions¶

Syntax	Emits
`(ex:Fruit and ex:Red)`	`owl:intersectionOf ( ex:Fruit ex:Red )`
`(ex:Fruit or ex:Vegetable)`	`owl:unionOf ( ex:Fruit ex:Vegetable )`
`(not ex:Fruit)`	`owl:complementOf ex:Fruit`

and and or cannot be mixed in the same parentheses — nest them:

ex:RedRipeFruit -isa-> (ex:Fruit and ex:Red and ex:Ripe)
ex:FruitOrVeg -isa-> (ex:Fruit or ex:Vegetable)
ex:NonFruit -isa-> (not ex:Fruit)

# Nested
ex:NonRedFruit -isa-> (ex:Fruit and (not ex:Red))

Ctrl+Space autocomplete¶

Anywhere in the editor, press Ctrl+Space (Cmd+Space on Mac) to open a floating suggestion list. Type to filter; ↑/↓ navigates; Enter or Tab inserts. Esc dismisses.

The suggestion pool contains 144 well-known terms from these vocabularies:

Core: RDF, RDFS, OWL, XSD
Labels & content: SKOS, FOAF, Dublin Core, schema.org
Provenance: PROV-O
Foundation: BFO 2, RO, IAO, SIO (OBO Foundry style)
Shapes: SHACL core

Every entry shows a kind badge (class, obj, dat, ann, dty, ind) and a one-line description. When you pick a term whose prefix isn't declared, the @prefix line is auto-inserted at the top.

The autocomplete pool also includes prefixes YOU declared in the current document, so mwo: terms you've already used will appear.

Multi-subject lines¶

Comma-separate subjects to apply the same predicate/objects to each:

ex:red, ex:orange, ex:yellow -a-> ex:Color
ex:Apple, ex:Banana -isa-> ex:Fruit

Property chains¶

The -chain-> shortcut emits owl:propertyChainAxiom with an rdf:List:

ex:hasUncle -chain-> ex:hasParent, ex:hasBrother

Equivalent Turtle:

ex:hasUncle owl:propertyChainAxiom ( ex:hasParent ex:hasBrother ) .

Inline blank nodes `[...]`¶

Turtle-style inline blanks with ;-separated predicate/object pairs. Perfect for SHACL shapes and nested OWL axioms:

ex:PersonShape -sh:property-> [sh:path foaf:name; sh:minCount 1; sh:datatype xsd:string]

Inline blanks are single-line — for multi-property shapes, chain multiple -sh:property-> lines inside a subject block. See the SHACL example in the "Load example" dropdown.

What is NOT in the DSL¶

Reified statements (use RDF-star in Turtle, then paste into the playground)
SPARQL queries (a different language — use the SPARQL Explorer page instead)
Multi-line inline blank nodes (put them on one line, or use a subject block)