RDF Schema provides a data-modelling vocabulary for RDF data. RDF Schema is an extension of the basic RDF vocabulary.
This document is an edited version of the 2004 RDF Schema Recommendation. The purpose of this revision is to make this document available as part of the RDF 1.1 document set. Changes are limited to errata, revised references, terminology updates, and adaptations to the introduction. The title of the document was changed from "RDF Vocabulary Description Language 1.0: RDF Schema" to "RDF Schema 1.1". The technical content of the document is unchanged. Details of the changes are listed in the Changes section. Since the edits to this document do not constitute a technical change the Director decided no new implementation report was required.
RDF Schema provides a data-modelling vocabulary for RDF data. It is complemented by several companion documents which describe the basic concepts and abstract syntax of RDF [[!RDF11-CONCEPTS]], the formal semantics of RDF [[!RDF11-MT]], and various concrete syntaxes for RDF, such as Turtle [[!TURTLE]], TriG, [[!TRIG]], and JSON-LD [[!JSON-LD]]. The RDF Primer [[RDF11-PRIMER]] provides an informal introduction and examples of the use of the concepts specified in this document.
This document is intended to provide a clear specification of RDF Schema to those who find the formal semantics specification [[RDF11-MT]] daunting. Thus, this document duplicates material also specified in the RDF Semantics specification. Where there is disagreement between this document and the RDF Semantics specification, the RDF Semantics specification should be taken to be correct.
RDF Schema is a semantic extension of RDF. It provides mechanisms for describing groups of related resources and the relationships between these resources. RDF Schema is written in RDF using the terms described in this document. These resources are used to determine characteristics of other resources, such as the domains and ranges of properties.
The RDF Schema class and property system is similar to the type
systems of object-oriented programming languages such as Java. RDF
Schema differs from many such systems in that instead of defining a
class in
terms of the properties its instances may have, RDF Schema
describes properties in terms of the classes of
resource to which they apply. This is the role of the domain
and range
mechanisms described in this specification. For example, we could
define the eg:author property to have a domain of eg:Document
and a range of
eg:Person, whereas a classical object oriented system might
typically define a class eg:Book with an attribute called
eg:author of type eg:Person. Using the RDF
approach, it is easy for others to subsequently define additional
properties with a domain of eg:Document or a range of
eg:Person. This can be done without the need to re-define
the original description of
these classes. One benefit of the RDF property-centric approach is that
it
allows anyone to extend the description of existing resources, one of
the
architectural principles of the Web [[BERNERS-LEE98]].
This specification does not attempt to enumerate all the possible forms of representing the meaning of RDF classes and properties. Instead, the RDF Schema strategy is to acknowledge that there are many techniques through which the meaning of classes and properties can be described. Richer vocabulary or 'ontology' languages such as OWL [[OWL2-OVERVIEW]], inference rule languages and other formalisms (for example temporal logics) will each contribute to our ability to capture meaningful generalizations about data in the Web.
The language defined in this specification consists of a collection of
RDF resources that can be used to describe other RDF resources in
application-specific RDF vocabularies. The core vocabulary is defined in
a namespace informally called rdfs here. That namespace is
identified by the IRI
http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
and is conventionally associated with the prefix rdfs:. This
specification also uses the prefix
rdf: to refer to the RDF namespace
http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
For convenience and readability, this specification uses an abbreviated form to represent IRIs. A name of the form prefix:suffix should be interpreted as a IRI consisting of the IRI associated with the prefix concatenated with the suffix.
Resources may be divided into groups called classes. The members of a
class are known as instances of the class. Classes are
themselves
resources. They are often identified by IRIs
and
may be described using RDF properties. The rdf:type
property may be used to state that a
resource is an instance of a class.
RDF distinguishes between a class and the set of its instances. Associated with each class is a set, called the class extension of the class, which is the set of the instances of the class. Two classes may have the same set of instances but be different classes. For example, the tax office may define the class of people living at the same address as the editor of this document. The Post Office may define the class of people whose address has the same zip code as the address of the author. It is possible for these classes to have exactly the same instances, yet to have different properties. Only one of the classes has the property that it was defined by the tax office, and only the other has the property that it was defined by the Post Office.
A class may be a member of its own class extension and may be an instance of itself.
The group of resources that are RDF Schema classes is itself a class
called rdfs:Class.
If a class C is a subclass of a class C', then all instances
of C will
also be instances of C'. The rdfs:subClassOf
property may be used to state that one class is a subclass of another.
The term super-class is used as the inverse of subclass. If a class C'
is a super-class of a class C, then all instances of C are also
instances of C'.
The RDF Concepts and Abstract Syntax [[RDF11-CONCEPTS]] specification defines the RDF concept of an RDF datatype. All datatypes are classes. The instances of a class that is a datatype are the members of the value space of the datatype.
All things described by RDF are called resources, and are
instances of the class rdfs:Resource. This is the class
of
everything. All other classes are subclasses
of
this class. rdfs:Resource is an instance of rdfs:Class.
This is the class of resources that are RDF classes.
rdfs:Class is an instance of rdfs:Class.
The class rdfs:Literal is the class of literal
values such as strings and integers. Property values such as textual
strings are examples of RDF literals.
rdfs:Literal is an instance of rdfs:Class.
rdfs:Literal is a subclass of rdfs:Resource.
rdfs:Datatype is the class of datatypes. All instances
of
rdfs:Datatype correspond to the RDF
model
of a datatype described in the RDF Concepts specification
[[RDF11-CONCEPTS]].
rdfs:Datatype is
both an instance of and a subclass of rdfs:Class. Each instance of rdfs:Datatype
is a subclass of rdfs:Literal.
The class rdf:langString is the class of language-tagged
string values. rdf:langString is an instance of
rdfs:Datatype and a subclass
of rdfs:Literal.
The class rdf:HTML is the class of HTML
literal
values. rdf:HTML is an instance of
rdfs:Datatype and a subclass
of rdfs:Literal.
The class rdf:XMLLiteral is the class of XML
literal
values. rdf:XMLLiteral is an instance of
rdfs:Datatype and a subclass
of rdfs:Literal.
rdf:Property is the class of RDF properties.
rdf:Property is an instance of rdfs:Class.
The RDF Concepts and Abstract Syntax specification [[RDF11-CONCEPTS]] describes the concept of an RDF property as a relation between subject resources and object resources.
This specification defines the concept of subproperty. The rdfs:subPropertyOf
property may be used to state that one property is a subproperty of
another.
If a property P is a subproperty of property P', then all pairs of
resources which are related by P are also related by P'. The term
super-property is often
used as the inverse of subproperty. If a property P' is a super-property
of a property P, then all pairs of resources which are related by P are
also related by P'. This specification does not define a top
property that is the super-property of all properties.
The basic facilities provided by rdfs:domain
and rdfs:range do not provide any
direct way to indicate property restrictions that are local to a class.
Although it is possible to combine use rdfs:domain
and rdfs:range with sub-property
hierarchies, direct support for such declarations are provided by richer
Web Ontology languages such as OWL [[OWL2-OVERVIEW]].
rdfs:range is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to state that
the values of a property are instances of one or more classes.
The triple
P rdfs:range C
states that P is an instance of the class rdf:Property,
that C is an instance of the class rdfs:Class
and that the resources denoted by the objects of triples whose
predicate is P are instances of the class C.
Where P has more than one rdfs:range property, then the resources
denoted by the objects of triples with predicate P are instances of
all the classes stated by the rdfs:range properties.
The rdfs:range property can be applied to itself. The
rdfs:range of rdfs:range is the class rdfs:Class.
This states that any resource
that is the value of an rdfs:range property is an
instance of rdfs:Class.
The rdfs:range property is applied to properties. This
can be represented in RDF using the rdfs:domain
property. The rdfs:domain of rdfs:range
is
the class rdf:Property. This
states
that any resource with an rdfs:range property is an
instance of
rdf:Property.
rdfs:domain is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to state that
any resource that has a given property is an instance of one or more
classes.
A triple of the form:
P rdfs:domain C
states that P is an instance of the class rdf:Property,
that C is a instance of the class rdfs:Class
and that the resources denoted by the subjects of triples whose
predicate is P are instances of the class C.
Where a property P has more than one rdfs:domain property, then the
resources denoted by subjects of triples with predicate P are
instances of all the classes stated by the rdfs:domain
properties.
The rdfs:domain property may be applied to itself. The
rdfs:domain of rdfs:domain is the class rdf:Property.
This states that any
resource with an rdfs:domain property is an instance of
rdf:Property.
The rdfs:range of
rdfs:domain is the class rdfs:Class.
This states that any resource that is the value of an rdfs:domain
property is an
instance of rdfs:Class.
rdf:type is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to
state that a resource is an instance of a class.
A triple of the form:
R rdf:type C
states that C is an instance of rdfs:Class
and R is an instance of C.
The rdfs:domain of
rdf:type is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdf:type is rdfs:Class.
The property rdfs:subClassOf is an instance of rdf:Property that is used to state
that all the instances of one class are instances of another.
A triple of the form:
C1 rdfs:subClassOf C2
states that C1 is an instance of rdfs:Class,
C2 is an instance of rdfs:Class
and C1 is a subclass of C2. The rdfs:subClassOf
property is transitive.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:subClassOf is rdfs:Class.
The rdfs:range of rdfs:subClassOf
is rdfs:Class.
The property rdfs:subPropertyOf is an instance of rdf:Property that is used to state
that all resources related by one property are also related by
another.
A triple of the form:
P1 rdfs:subPropertyOf P2
states that P1 is an instance of rdf:Property,
P2 is an instance of rdf:Property
and P1 is a subproperty of P2. The
rdfs:subPropertyOf property is transitive.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:subPropertyOf is rdf:Property.
The rdfs:range of
rdfs:subPropertyOf is rdf:Property.
rdfs:label is an instance of rdf:Property
that may be used to provide a human-readable version of a resource's
name.
A triple of the form:
R rdfs:label L
states that L is a human readable label for R.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:label is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdfs:label is
rdfs:Literal.
Multilingual labels are supported using the language tagging facility of RDF literals.
rdfs:comment is an instance of rdf:Property
that may be used to provide a human-readable description of a
resource.
A triple of the form:
R rdfs:comment L
states that L is a human readable description of R.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:comment is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdfs:comment
is rdfs:Literal.
A textual comment helps clarify the meaning of RDF classes and properties. Such in-line documentation complements the use of both formal techniques (Ontology and rule languages) and informal (prose documentation, examples, test cases). A variety of documentation forms can be combined to indicate the intended meaning of the classes and properties described in an RDF vocabulary. Since RDF vocabularies are expressed as RDF graphs, vocabularies defined in other namespaces may be used to provide richer documentation.
Multilingual documentation is supported through use of the language tagging facility of RDF literals.
This specification introduces an RDF vocabulary for describing the meaningful use of properties and classes in RDF data. For example, an RDF vocabulary might describe limitations on the types of values that are appropriate for some property, or on the classes to which it makes sense to ascribe such properties.
RDF Schema provides a mechanism for describing this information, but
does not say whether or how an application should use it. For example,
while an RDF vocabulary can assert that an author property
is used to
indicate resources that are instances of the class Person,
it
does not say whether or how an application should act in processing that
range information. Different applications will use this information in
different ways. For example, data checking tools might use this to help
discover errors in some data set, an interactive editor might suggest
appropriate values, and a reasoning application might use it to infer
additional information from instance data.
RDF vocabularies can describe relationships between vocabulary items
from
multiple independently developed vocabularies. Since IRIs are used
to identify classes and properties on the Web, it is possible to create
new
properties that have a domain or range whose
value
is a class defined in another namespace.
Additional classes and properties, including constructs for representing containers and RDF statements, and for deploying RDF vocabulary descriptions in the World Wide Web, are defined in this section.
RDF containers are resources that are used to represent collections. The same resource may appear in a container more than once. Unlike containment in the physical world, a container may be contained in itself.
Three different kinds of container are defined. Whilst the formal semantics [[RDF11-MT]] of all three classes of container are identical, different classes may be used to indicate informally further information. An rdf:Bag is used to indicate that the container is intended to be unordered. An rdf:Seq is used to indicate that the order indicated by the numerical order of the container membership properties of the container is intended to be significant. An rdf:Alt container is used to indicate that typical processing of the container will be to select one of the members.
Just as a hen house may have the property that it is made of wood, that does not mean that all the hens it contains are made of wood, a property of a container is not necessarily a property of all of its members.
RDF containers are defined by the following classes and properties.
The rdfs:Container class is a super-class of the RDF
Container classes, i.e. rdf:Bag,
rdf:Seq, rdf:Alt.
The rdf:Bag class is the class of RDF 'Bag'
containers. It is
a subclass of rdfs:Container.
Whilst formally it is no
different from an rdf:Seq or an
rdf:Alt, the rdf:Bag
class is used
conventionally to indicate to a human reader that the container is
intended
to be unordered.
The rdf:Seq class is the class of RDF 'Sequence'
containers.
It is a subclass of rdfs:Container.
Whilst formally it is no
different from an rdf:Bag or an
rdf:Alt, the rdf:Seq
class is used
conventionally to indicate to a human reader that the numerical
ordering of
the container membership
properties of the container is intended to be significant.
The rdf:Alt class is the class of RDF 'Alternative'
containers. It is a subclass of rdfs:Container. Whilst formally
it is no
different from an rdf:Seq or an
rdf:Bag, the rdf:Alt
class is used
conventionally to indicate to a human reader that typical processing
will be
to select one of the members of the container. The first member of
the
container, i.e. the value of the rdf:_1
property, is the
default choice.
The rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty class has as
instances
the properties rdf:_1, rdf:_2, rdf:_3 ... that are
used to state
that a resource is a member of a container.
rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty is a subclass
of rdf:Property. Each
instance of
rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty is an rdfs:subPropertyOf
the rdfs:member property.
Given a container C, a triple of the form:
C rdf:_nnn O
where nnn is the decimal representation of an integer
greater than 0 with
no leading zeros, states that O is a member of the container C.
Container membership properties may be applied to resources other than containers.
rdfs:member is an instance of rdf:Property
that is a super-property of all
the container membership properties i.e. each container membership
property
has an rdfs:subPropertyOf
relationship to the property rdfs:member.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:member is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdfs:member
is
rdfs:Resource.
RDF containers are open in the sense that the core RDF specifications define no mechanism to state that there are no more members. The RDF Collection vocabulary of classes and properties can describe a closed collection, i.e. one that can have no more members.
A collection is represented as a list of items, a representation that will be familiar to those with experience of Lisp and similar programming languages. There is a shorthand notation in the Turtle syntax specification for representing collections.
RDFS does not require that there be only one first element of a list-like structure, or even that a list-like structure have a first element.
rdf:List is an instance of rdfs:Class
that can be used to build descriptions of lists and other list-like
structures.
rdf:first is an instance of rdf:Property
that can be used to build descriptions of lists and other list-like
structures.
A triple of the form:
L rdf:first O
states that there is a first-element relationship between L and O.
The rdfs:domain of rdf:first
is rdf:List. The rdfs:range
of rdf:first is rdfs:Resource.
rdf:rest is an instance of rdf:Property
that can be used to build descriptions of lists and other list-like
structures.
A triple of the form:
L rdf:rest O
states that there is a rest-of-list relationship between L and O.
The rdfs:domain of rdf:rest
is rdf:List. The rdfs:range
of rdf:rest is rdf:List.
The resource rdf:nil is an instance of rdf:List
that can be used to represent an empty list or other list-like
structure.
A triple of the form:
L rdf:rest rdf:nil
states that L is an instance of rdf:List
that has one item; that item can be indicated using the rdf:first
property.
rdf:Statement is an instance of rdfs:Class.
It is intended to represent the class of RDF statements. An RDF
statement is the statement made by a token of an RDF triple. The
subject of an RDF statement is the instance of rdfs:Resource
identified by the subject of the triple. The predicate of an RDF
statement is the instance of rdf:Property
identified by the predicate of the triple. The object of an RDF
statement is the instance of rdfs:Resource
identified by the object of the triple.
rdf:Statement is in the domain of the properties rdf:predicate, rdf:subject
and rdf:object. Different
individual rdf:Statement instances may have the same
values for their rdf:predicate,
rdf:subject
and rdf:object properties.
rdf:subject is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to state the
subject of a statement.
A triple of the form:
S rdf:subject R
states that S is an instance of rdf:Statement
and that the subject of S is
R.
The rdfs:domain
of rdf:subject is
rdf:Statement. The rdfs:range
of rdf:subject is
rdfs:Resource.
rdf:predicate is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to state the
predicate of a statement.
A triple of the form:
S rdf:predicate P
states that S is an instance of rdf:Statement,
that P is an instance of
rdf:Property and that the
predicate
of S is P.
The rdfs:domain of
rdf:predicate is rdf:Statement
and the rdfs:range is rdfs:Resource.
rdf:object is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to state the
object of a statement.
A triple of the form:
S rdf:object O
states that S is an instance of rdf:Statement
and that the object of S is
O.
The rdfs:domain of
rdf:object is rdf:Statement.
The rdfs:range of rdf:object
is
rdfs:Resource.
The following utility classes and properties are defined in the RDF core namespaces.
rdfs:seeAlso is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to indicate a
resource that might provide additional information about the subject
resource.
A triple of the form:
S rdfs:seeAlso O
states that the resource O may provide additional information about S. It may be possible to retrieve representations of O from the Web, but this is not required. When such representations may be retrieved, no constraints are placed on the format of those representations.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:seeAlso is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdfs:seeAlso
is
rdfs:Resource.
rdfs:isDefinedBy is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to indicate a
resource defining the subject resource. This property may be used to
indicate
an RDF vocabulary in which a resource is described.
A triple of the form:
S rdfs:isDefinedBy O
states that the resource O defines S. It may be possible to
retrieve
representations of O from the Web, but this is not required. When
such
representations may be retrieved, no constraints are placed on the
format of
those representations. rdfs:isDefinedBy is a subproperty
of rdfs:seeAlso.
The rdfs:domain of
rdfs:isDefinedBy is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdfs:isDefinedBy
is
rdfs:Resource.
rdf:value is an instance of rdf:Property
that may be used in
describing structured values.
rdf:value has no meaning on its own. It is provided as a piece of vocabulary that may be used in idioms such as illustrated in example below:
<http://www.example.com/2002/04/products#item10245>
<http://www.example.org/terms/weight> [
rdf:value 2.4 ;
<http://www.example.org/terms/units> <http://www.example.org/units/kilograms>
] .
Despite the lack of formal specification of the meaning of this property, there is value in defining it to encourage the use of a common idiom in examples of this kind.
The rdfs:domain of
rdf:value is rdfs:Resource.
The rdfs:range of rdf:value
is rdfs:Resource.
The tables in this section provide an overview of the RDF Schema vocabulary.
| Class name | comment |
|---|---|
| rdfs:Resource | The class resource, everything. |
| rdfs:Literal | The class of literal values, e.g. textual strings and integers. |
| rdf:langString | The class of language-tagged string literal values. |
| rdf:HTML | The class of HTML literal values. |
| rdf:XMLLiteral | The class of XML literal values. |
| rdfs:Class | The class of classes. |
| rdf:Property | The class of RDF properties. |
| rdfs:Datatype | The class of RDF datatypes. |
| rdf:Statement | The class of RDF statements. |
| rdf:Bag | The class of unordered containers. |
| rdf:Seq | The class of ordered containers. |
| rdf:Alt | The class of containers of alternatives. |
| rdfs:Container | The class of RDF containers. |
| rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty | The class of container membership properties, rdf:_1, rdf:_2, ..., all of which are sub-properties of 'member'. |
| rdf:List | The class of RDF Lists. |
| Property name | comment | domain | range |
|---|---|---|---|
| rdf:type | The subject is an instance of a class. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Class |
| rdfs:subClassOf | The subject is a subclass of a class. | rdfs:Class | rdfs:Class |
| rdfs:subPropertyOf | The subject is a subproperty of a property. | rdf:Property | rdf:Property |
| rdfs:domain | A domain of the subject property. | rdf:Property | rdfs:Class |
| rdfs:range | A range of the subject property. | rdf:Property | rdfs:Class |
| rdfs:label | A human-readable name for the subject. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Literal |
| rdfs:comment | A description of the subject resource. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Literal |
| rdfs:member | A member of the subject resource. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Resource |
| rdf:first | The first item in the subject RDF list. | rdf:List | rdfs:Resource |
| rdf:rest | The rest of the subject RDF list after the first item. | rdf:List | rdf:List |
| rdfs:seeAlso | Further information about the subject resource. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Resource |
| rdfs:isDefinedBy | The definition of the subject resource. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Resource |
| rdf:value | Idiomatic property used for structured values. | rdfs:Resource | rdfs:Resource |
| rdf:subject | The subject of the subject RDF statement. | rdf:Statement | rdfs:Resource |
| rdf:predicate | The predicate of the subject RDF statement. | rdf:Statement | rdfs:Resource |
| rdf:object | The object of the subject RDF statement. | rdf:Statement | rdfs:Resource |
In addition to these classes and properties, RDF also uses properties
called rdf:_1, rdf:_2, rdf:_3...
etc.,
each of which is both a sub-property of rdfs:member and
an
instance of the class rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty.
There is
also an instance of rdf:List called rdf:nil
that is
an empty rdf:List.
The RDF Schema design was originally produced by the RDF Schema Working Group (1997-2000). The current specification is largely an editorial clarification of that design, and has benefited greatly from the hard work of the RDF Core Working Group members, and from implementation feedback from many members of the RDF Interest Group. In 2013-2014 Guus Schreiber edited this document on behalf of the RDF Working Group to bring it in line with the RDF 1.1 specifications.
David Singer of IBM was the chair of the original RDF Schema group throughout most of the development of this specification; we thank David for his efforts and thank IBM for supporting him and us in this endeavor. Particular thanks are also due to Andrew Layman for his editorial work on early versions of this specification.
The original RDF Schema Working Group membership included:
Nick Arnett (Verity), Dan Brickley (ILRT / University of Bristol), Walter Chang (Adobe), Sailesh Chutani (Oracle), Ron Daniel (DATAFUSION), Charles Frankston (Microsoft), Joe Lapp (webMethods Inc.), Patrick Gannon (CommerceNet), RV Guha (Epinions, previously of Netscape Communications), Tom Hill (Apple Computer), Renato Iannella (DSTC), Sandeep Jain (Oracle), Kevin Jones, (InterMind), Emiko Kezuka (Digital Vision Laboratories), Ora Lassila (Nokia Research Center), Andrew Layman (Microsoft), John McCarthy (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Michael Mealling (Network Solutions), Norbert Mikula (DataChannel), Eric Miller (OCLC), Frank Olken (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Sri Raghavan (Digital/Compaq), Lisa Rein (webMethods Inc.), Tsuyoshi Sakata (Digital Vision Laboratories), Leon Shklar (Pencom Web Works), David Singer (IBM), Wei (William) Song (SISU), Neel Sundaresan (IBM), Ralph Swick (W3C), Naohiko Uramoto (IBM), Charles Wicksteed (Reuters Ltd.), Misha Wolf (Reuters Ltd.)
Changes for RDF 1.1 Recommendation
Changes for RDF 1.1 Proposed Edited Recommendation
rdf:langString and rdf:HTML.
rdf:HTML and rdf:XMLLiteral
as non-normative.