OWL 2 Web Ontology Language:
Quick Reference Guide
W3C Working Draft 02 December 2008
- This version:
- http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-owl2-quick-reference-20081202/
- Latest version:
- http://www.w3.org/TR/owl2-quick-reference/
- Authors:
- Jie Bao, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute
- Elisa F. Kendall,
Sandpiper Software, Inc.
- Deborah L. McGuinness,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Evan K.
Wallace, NIST
- Contributors:
- Li Ding, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute
- Ankesh Khandelwal,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Peter F.
Patel-Schneider, Bell Labs Research, Alcatel-Lucent
This document is also available in these non-normative formats: PDF version.
Copyright © 2008 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark and document use rules apply.
OWL 2 extends the W3C OWL Web Ontology Language
with a small but useful set of features that have been requested by
users, for which effective reasoning algorithms are now available,
and that OWL tool developers are willing to support. The new
features include extra syntactic sugar, additional property and
qualified cardinality constructors, extended datatype support,
simple metamodeling, and extended annotations.
This document is intended to provide a quick reference to the OWL 2
language, similar to what was provided in the
Language
Synopsis section of the
OWL Web Ontology Language
Overview. Inspiration for this effort includes work by the
ebiquity Research Group at the
University of Maryland Baltimore County
(UMBC) on earlier versions of a
Reference Card for
the Semantic Web.
A draft printable version is available
[1], but it is obsolete with respect to the current wiki
version.
May Be Superseded
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
This document is being published as one of a set of 11 documents:
- Structural Specification and Functional-Style Syntax
- Direct Semantics
- RDF-Based Semantics
- Conformance and Test
Cases
- Mapping to RDF Graphs
- XML Serialization
- Profiles
- Quick Reference Guide (this document)
- New Features and
Rationale
- Manchester Syntax
- rdf:text: A Datatype for Internationalized
Text
First Public Working Draft
This document is intended to provide a quick reference to the OWL 2 language, similar to what was provided in the Language Synopsis section of the OWL Web Ontology Language Overview. It complements the OWL 2 Primer, an updated version of which will be published in due course. Inspiration for this effort includes work by the ebiquity Research Group at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on earlier versions of a Reference Card for the Semantic Web.
The intended final status of this document has not yet been determined; since it may become a Recommendation, it should be considered a Recommendation-Track document for now.
Please Comment By 23 January 2009
The OWL Working Group seeks
public feedback on this First Public Working Draft. Please send your
comments to public-owl-comments@w3.org (public archive). If possible, please offer
specific changes to the text that would address your
concern. You may also wish to check the Wiki
Version of this document for internal-review comments and changes being
drafted which may address your concerns.
No Endorsement
Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
Patents
This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.
Editor's Note:
To do list:
1 OWL/OWL 2 Vocabulary
Shaded constructs are only available in OWL 2.
-
| all OWL individuals |
owl:Thing |
| empty class |
owl:Nothing |
- Connectives and Enumeration
-
| intersection |
IntersectionOf(C1
… Cn) |
x owl:intersectionOf [ C1 … Cn ]. |
Cj an OWL class |
| union |
UnionOf(C1
… Cn) |
x owl:unionOf [ C1 … Cn ]. |
Cj an OWL class |
| complement |
ComplementOf(C) |
x owl:complementOf C. |
C an OWL class |
| enumeration |
OneOf(i1
… in) |
x owl:oneOf [ i1 … in ]. |
ij an OWL individual |
- Restrictions Using Object Properties
owl:Restriction
- Every owl:Restriction is an owl:Class.
-
| universal |
AllValuesFrom(P C) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:allValuesFrom C |
P an object property. C an OWL class |
| existential |
SomeValuesFrom(P C) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:someValuesFrom C |
P an object property. C an OWL class |
| individual value |
HasValue(P i) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:hasValue i. |
P an object property. i an individual |
| self |
ExistsSelf(P) |
x rdf:type owl:SelfRestriction.
x owl:onProperty P. |
P an object property |
| Cardinality Restrictions |
| exact cardinality |
ExactCardinality(n P) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:cardinality n. |
P an object property. n a nonNegativeInteger |
| maximum cardinality |
MaxCardinality(n P) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:maxCardinality n. |
P an object property. n a nonNegativeInteger |
| minimum cardinality |
MinCardinality(n P) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:minCardinality n. |
P an object property. n a nonNegativeInteger |
| Qualified Cardinality
Restrictions |
| exact cardinality |
ExactCardinality(n P C) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:qualifiedCardinality n.
x owl:onClass C. |
P an object property. n a nonNegativeInteger . C an OWL
class |
| maximum cardinality |
MaxCardinality(n P C) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:minQualifiedCardinality n.
x owl:onClass C. |
P an object property. n a nonNegativeInteger; C an OWL
class |
| minimum cardinality |
MinCardinality(n P C) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:maxQualifiedCardinality n.
x owl:onClass C. |
P an object property. n a nonNegativeInteger . C an OWL
class |
- Restrictions Using Data Properties owl:Restriction
- Every owl:Restriction is an owl:Class.
-
| universal |
AllValuesFrom(P D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:allValuesFrom D. |
P a data property. D a datatype |
| existential |
SomeValuesFrom(P D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:someValuesFrom D. |
P a data property. D a datatype |
| n-ary universal |
AllValuesFrom(P1 … Pn D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperties [ P1 … Pn ].
x owl:allValuesFrom D. |
Pi a data property. D an n-ary datatype |
| n-ary existential |
SomeValuesFrom(P1 … Pn D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperties [ P1 … Pn].
x owl:someValuesFrom D. |
Pi a data property. D an n-ary datatype |
| individual value |
HasValue(P v) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:hasValue v. |
P an object property. v a literal |
| Cardinality Restrictions |
| exact cardinality |
ExactCardinality(n P) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:cardinality n. |
P a data property. n a nonNegativeInteger |
| maximum cardinality |
MaxCardinality(n P) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:maxCardinality n. |
P a data property. n a nonNegativeInteger |
| minimum cardinality |
MinCardinality(n P) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:minCardinality n. |
P a data property. n a nonNegativeInteger |
| Qualified Cardinality
Restrictions |
| exact cardinality |
ExactCardinality(n P D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:qualifiedCardinality n.
x owl:onDataRange D. |
P a data property. n a nonNegativeInteger . D a datatype |
| maximum cardinality |
MaxCardinality(n P D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:maxQualifiedCardinality n.
x owl:onDataRange D. |
P a data property. n a nonNegativeInteger . D a datatype |
| minimum cardinality |
MinCardinality(n P D) |
x rdf:type owl:Restriction.
x owl:onProperty P.
x owl:minQualifiedCardinality n.
x owl:onDataRange D. |
P a data property. n a nonNegativeInteger . D a datatype |
-
| subclasses |
SubClassOf(C1
C2) |
C1 rdfs:subClassOf C2. |
Ci an OWL class |
| equivalent classes |
EquivalentClasses(C1
C2) |
C1 owl:equivalentClass C2. |
Ci an OWL class |
| disjoint classes |
DisjointClasses(C1
C2) |
C1 owl:disjointWith C2. |
Ci an OWL class |
| pairwise disjoint classes |
DisjointClasses(C1 … Cn) |
x rdf:type owl:AllDisjointClasses.
x owl:members [ C1 … Cn ]. |
Ci an OWL class |
| disjoint union |
DisjointUnionOf(C C1 … Cn) |
C owl:disjointUnionOf [ C1 … Cn ]. |
C an OWL class. Ci an OWL class |
-
| datatype complement |
ComplementOf(D) |
x owl:datatypeComplementOf D. |
D a datatype |
| enumeration |
OneOf(v1
… vn) |
x owl:oneOf [ v1 … vn ]. |
vj a literal |
| datatype restriction |
DatatypeRestriction(D
f1 v1 … fn vn) |
x owl:onDatatype D.
x owl:withRestrictions [y1 ... yn].
y1 f1 v1.
...
yn fn vn. |
fj a constraining facet,
vj a restriction value |
-
| universal object property |
owl:topObjectProperty |
|
= owl:Thing × owl:Thing |
| bottom object property |
owl:bottomObjectProperty |
|
empty binary relation |
| property chain |
PropertyChain(P1
… Pn) |
x owl:propertyChain [P1 … Pn]. |
Pi an object property |
-
| subproperty |
SubPropertyOf(P Q) |
P rdfs:subPropertyOf Q. |
P,Q object properties |
| complex subproperty |
SubPropertyOf(PropertyChain(P1 … Pn)
Q) |
x rdfs:subPropertyOf Q.
x owl:propertyChain [P1 … Pn]. |
Pi and Q object properties |
| property domain |
PropertyDomain(P
C) |
P rdfs:domain C. |
P an object property, C an OWL class |
| property range |
PropertyRange(P
C) |
P rdfs:range C. |
P an object property, C an OWL class |
| equivalent properties |
EquivalentProperties(P Q) |
P owl:equivalentProperty Q. |
P,Q object properties |
| disjoint properties |
DisjointProperties(P Q) |
P owl:propertyDisjointWith Q. |
P,Q object properties |
| pairwise disjoint properties |
DisjointProperties(P1 … Pn) |
x rdf:type owl:AllDisjointProperties.
x owl:members [ P1 … Pn ]. |
Pi an object property |
| inverse properties |
InverseProperties(P Q) |
P owl:inverseOf Q. |
P,Q object properties |
| functional property |
FunctionalProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:FunctionalProperty. |
P an object property
s P,o1. s P o2 => o1=o2
|
| inverse functional property |
InverseFunctionalProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:InverseFunctionalProperty. |
P an object property
s1 P,o. s2 P o => s1=s2
|
| reflexive property |
ReflexiveProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:ReflexiveProperty. |
P an object property
for all individual i, i P i
|
| irreflexive property |
IrreflexiveProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:IrreflexiveProperty. |
P an object property
i1 p i2 => i1≠i2
|
| symmetric property |
SymmetricProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:SymmetricProperty. |
P an object property
s p o => o p s
|
| asymmetric property |
AsymmetricProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:AsymmetricProperty. |
P an object property
s P o => not o P s |
| transitive property |
TransitiveProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:TransitiveProperty. |
P an object property
i1 P i2. i2 P i3 => i1 P i3 |
- Datatype Properties owl:DatatypeProperty
-
| universal datatype property |
owl:topDataProperty |
= owl:Thing × rdfs:Literal |
| bottom datatype property |
owl:bottomDataProperty |
empty binary relation |
-
| subproperty |
SubPropertyOf(P Q) |
P rdfs:subPropertyOf Q. |
P,Q datatype properties |
| property domain |
PropertyDomain(P
C) |
P rdfs:domain C. |
P a datatype property, C an OWL class |
| property range |
PropertyRange(P
C) |
P rdfs:range C. |
P a datatype property, C a datatype |
| equivalent properties |
EquivalentProperties(P Q) |
P owl:equivalentProperty Q. |
P,Q datatype properties |
| disjoint properties |
DisjointProperties(P Q) |
P owl:propertyDisjointWith Q. |
P,Q datatype properties |
| pairwise disjoint properties |
DisjointProperties(P1 … Pn) |
x rdf:type owl:AllDisjointProperties.
x owl:members [ P1 … Pn ]. |
Pi a datatype property |
| functional property |
FunctionalProperty(P) |
P rdf:type owl:FunctionalProperty. |
P a datatype property
s P,v1. s P v2 => v1=v2
|
-
| Keys |
HasKey(C P1 … Pn) |
C owl:hasKey [P1 … Pn]. |
C an OWL class, Pi an object property or datatype
property
x Pi zi. y Pi zi,
for i => x=y
|
-
| individual equality |
SameIndividual(a1,a2) |
a1 owl:sameAs a2. |
a1,a2 individuals |
| individual equality |
SameIndividual(a1
… an) |
ai owl:sameAs ai+1.
i=1…n-1 |
ai an individual |
| individual inequality |
DifferentIndividuals(a1 a2) |
a1 owl:differentFrom a2. |
a1,a2 individuals |
| pairwise individual inequality |
DifferentIndividuals(a1
… an) |
x rdf:type owl:AllDifferent.
x owl:members [a1 … an]. |
ai an individual |
| class assertion |
ClassAssertion(C
a) |
a rdf:type C. |
a an individual, C an OWL class |
| positive object property assertion |
PropertyAssertion( P a1 a2 ) |
a1 P a2. |
P an object property, ai an individual |
| negative object property
assertion |
NegativePropertyAssertion(P a1 a2 ) |
x rdf:type owl:NegativePropertyAssertion.
x owl:sourceIndividual a1.
x owl:assertionProperty P.
x owl:targetIndividual a2 |
P an object property, ai an individual |
| negative datatype property
assertion |
NegativePropertyAssertion(P a1 a2 ) |
x rdf:type owl:NegativePropertyAssertion.
x owl:sourceIndividual a1.
x owl:assertionProperty P.
x owl:targetValue a2 |
P a datatype property, a1 an individual,
a2 a literal |
- Lists rdf:List (an RDF feature)
- Note: in everywhere else of the document, we use only the
concise N3 syntax.
-
| concise N3 syntax |
[a1 … an] |
| triple-based N3 syntax |
x1 rdf:type rdf:List.
x1 rdf:first a1.
x1 rdf:rest x2.
…
xn rdf:type rdf:List.
xn rdf:first an.
xn rdf:rest rdf:nil.
|
-
| class |
Declaration( Class( x ) ) |
x rdf:type owl:Class. |
| datatype |
Declaration( Datatype( x ) ) |
x rdf:type rdfs:Datatype. |
| object property |
Declaration( ObjectProperty( x ) ) |
x rdf:type owl:ObjectProperty. |
| datatype property |
Declaration( DataProperty( x ) ) |
x rdf:type owl:DatatypeProperty. |
| annotation property |
Declaration( AnnotationProperty( x ) ) |
x rdf:type owl:AnnotationProperty. |
| named individual |
Declaration( NamedIndividual( x ) ) |
x rdf:type owl:NamedIndividual. |
- If an axiom, when removed of all annotations, can be translated
in a single RDF triple s p o, it can also be mapped to the
following reificated form
-
| axioms |
s p o |
x rdf:type owl:Axiom.
x owl:subject s.
x owl:predicate p.
x owl:object o. |
s the subject, p the predicate, o the object of the
triple. |
-
| annotations |
Annotation(
P v) |
x rdf:type owl:Annotation.
x owl:subject y.
x owl:predicate P.
x owl:object v. |
y the annotated resource
P annotation property
v a resource. |
| annotations |
Annotation( P v) |
y P v. |
y the annotated resource
P annotation property
v a resource |
- Note: an annotated resource can be an ontology, an ontology
entity, an axiom, an anonymous individual, or even another
annotation.
- Annotation Properties owl:AnnotationProperty
-
| human-readable name |
Label |
rdfs:label |
| human-readable description |
Comment |
rdfs:comment |
| additional information |
|
rdfs:seeAlso |
| defining agent |
|
rdfs:isDefinedBy |
| deprecation |
Deprecated |
owl:deprecated |
- Annotation Property Axioms
-
| annotation subproperties |
SubPropertyOf(P Q) |
P rdfs:subPropertyOf Q. |
P,Q annotation properties |
| annotation property domain |
PropertyDomain(P U) |
P rdfs:domain U. |
P an annotation property, U a URI |
| annotation property range |
PropertyRange(P U) |
P rdfs:range U. |
P an annotation property, U a URI |
- Deprecation
-
| deprecated class |
C Deprecated |
C rdf:type owl:DeprecatedClass. |
C an OWL class or a datatype |
| deprecated property |
P Deprecated |
P rdf:type owl:DeprecatedProperty. |
P an object property, datatype property or annotation
property. |
- Note: "Deprecated" is the short for owl:deprecated
"true"^^xsd:boolean
-
| OWL ontology |
Ontology (O V) |
O rdf:type owl:Ontology.
O owl:versionInfo V. |
O a URI; V a URI (optional) |
| Ontology Properties
owl:OntologyProperty |
| importing |
O Import(U) |
O owl:imports U. |
O an ontology, U an ontology URI |
| backwards compatibility |
|
O owl:backwardCompatibleWith U. |
O an ontology, U an ontology URI |
| incompatibility |
|
O owl:incompatibleWith U. |
O an ontology, U an ontology URI |
| prior version |
|
O owl:priorVersion U. |
O an ontology, U an ontology URI |
- Deprecated Vocabulary in OWL 2
-
| owl:DataRange |
replaced by rdfs:Datatype |
| owl:distinctMembers |
replaced by owl:members |
2 Built-in Datatypes and
Facets
2.1 Built-in Datatypes
- The value space is a set determining the set of values
of the datatype. A literal value "abc" of the datatype DT can be
given in the form "abc"^^DT.
- owl:realPlus and owl:real: (base datatype for other
numeric datatypes, should not be directly instantiated)
-
| owl:realPlus |
the set of all real numbers plus
+INF(positive infinity), -INF(negative infinity),
-0(negative zero), NaN (not-a-number) |
| owl:real |
the set of all real numbers |
- Other numeric Datatypes
-
| xsd:double |
xsd:nonNegativeInteger |
xsd:long |
xsd:unsignedLong |
| xsd:float |
xsd:nonPositiveInteger |
xsd:int |
xsd:unsignedInt |
| xsd:decimal |
xsd:positiveInteger |
xsd:short |
xsd:unsignedShort |
| xsd:integer |
xsd:negativeInteger |
xsd:byte |
xsd:unsignedByte |
- Strings: value space is of the form <"abc",
tag>
- Strings with a Language Tag: tag is either an empty
string or a lowercase language tag
-
| rdf:text |
internationalized strings |
- Strings without a Language Tag: tag is an empty
string
-
| xsd:string |
xsd:NCName |
| xsd:normalizedString |
xsd:NMTOKEN |
| xsd:token |
xsd:language |
| xsd:Name |
|
-
| xsd:Boolean |
value space has only two values: true and
false |
-
| xsd:base64Binary |
| xsd:hexBinary |
-
- OWL 2 datatype
-
| owl:dateTime |
value space is set of numbers that represent
difference
between the time instant and the first time instant of the
1st
of January 1 AD in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, in seconds
|
- XSD datatypes
-
| xsd:date |
xsd:gDay |
xsd:gYear |
| xsd:dateTime |
xsd:gMonth |
xsd:gYearMonth |
| xsd:duration |
xsd:gMonthDay |
xsd:time |
-
2.2 Facets
The facet space is a set of pairs of the form <
f v >, where f is a URI called a
constraining facet, and v is a value. Each such pair is
mapped to a subset of the value space of the datatype.
Notations:
- Numeric Datatype, String Datatype and Binary datatype refer to
a set of datatypes based on the classification done in the prior
section.
-
| Facet f |
Datatype |
Value v |
Explanation |
xsd:minInclusive,
xsd:maxInclusive,
xsd:minExclusive,
xsd:maxExclusive |
Numeric Datatype DT,
owl:dateTime DT |
Literal in DT |
Restricts the value-space to greater than (equal to)
or lesser than (equal to) a value |
xsd:minLength,
xsd:maxLength,
xsd:length |
String Datatype,
Binary Datatype,
xsd:anyURI |
Nonnegative integer |
Restricts the value-space based on the
lengths of the literals |
| xsd:pattern |
String Datatype,
xsd:anyURI |
xsd:string literal whose value is a regular expression |
Restricts the value space to literals that
match the regular expression |
| rdf:langPattern |
rdf:text |
xsd:string literal whose value is a regular expression |
Restricts the value space to literals with
language tags that match the regular expression |
3 Name Spaces
Standard Namespaces and Prefixes used in OWL 2
-