OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Quick Reference Guide (original) (raw)

W3C Recommendation 27 October 2009

This version:

http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/REC-owl2-quick-reference-20091027/

Latest version (series 2):

http://www.w3.org/TR/owl2-quick-reference/

Latest Recommendation:

http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-quick-reference

Previous version:

http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/PR-owl2-quick-reference-20090922/ (color-coded diff)

Editors:

Jie Bao, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Elisa F. Kendall, Sandpiper Software, Inc.

Deborah L. McGuinness, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Peter F. Patel-Schneider, Bell Labs Research, Alcatel-Lucent

Contributors:

Li Ding, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ankesh Khandelwal, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Please refer to the errata for this document, which may include some normative corrections.

This document is also available in these non-normative formats: PDF version, Reference Card.

See also translations.

Copyright © 2009 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark and document use rules apply.

Abstract

The OWL 2 Web Ontology Language, informally OWL 2, is an ontology language for the Semantic Web with formally defined meaning. OWL 2 ontologies provide classes, properties, individuals, and data values and are stored as Semantic Web documents. OWL 2 ontologies can be used along with information written in RDF, and OWL 2 ontologies themselves are primarily exchanged as RDF documents. The OWL 2 Document Overview describes the overall state of OWL 2, and should be read before other OWL 2 documents.

This document provides a non-normative quick reference guide to the OWL 2 language. It also provides links to other documents, including the OWL 2 Primer for language introduction and examples, the OWL 2 Structural Specification and Functional Syntax document for more details of the functional syntax, and the OWL 2 New Features and Rationale document for new feature descriptions.

Status of this Document

May Be Superseded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/.

XML Schema Datatypes Dependency

OWL 2 is defined to use datatypes defined in the XML Schema Definition Language (XSD). As of this writing, the latest W3C Recommendation for XSD is version 1.0, with version 1.1 progressing toward Recommendation. OWL 2 has been designed to take advantage of the new datatypes and clearer explanations available in XSD 1.1, but for now those advantages are being partially put on hold. Specifically, until XSD 1.1 becomes a W3C Recommendation, the elements of OWL 2 which are based on it should be considered optional, as detailed in Conformance, section 2.3. Upon the publication of XSD 1.1 as a W3C Recommendation, those elements cease to be optional and are to be considered required as otherwise specified.

We suggest that for now developers and users follow the XSD 1.1 Candidate Recommendation. Based on discussions between the Schema and OWL Working Groups, we do not expect any implementation changes will be necessary as XSD 1.1 advances to Recommendation.

Summary of Changes

Please Send Comments

Please send any comments to public-owl-comments@w3.org (public archive). Although work on this document by the OWL Working Group is complete, comments may be addressed in the errata or in future revisions. Open discussion among developers is welcome at public-owl-dev@w3.org (public archive).

Endorsed By W3C

This document has been reviewed by W3C Members, by software developers, and by other W3C groups and interested parties, and is endorsed by the Director as a W3C Recommendation. It is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited from another document. W3C's role in making the Recommendation is to draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment. This enhances the functionality and interoperability of the Web.

Patents

This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. This document is informative only. 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.

Table of Contents

• 1 Names, Prefixes, and Notation
• 2 OWL 2 constructs and axioms
  • 2.1 Class Expressions
  • 2.2 Properties
  • 2.3 Individuals & Literals
  • 2.4 Data Ranges
  • 2.5 Axioms
  • 2.6 Declarations
  • 2.7 Annotations
  • 2.8 Ontologies
• 3 Built-in Datatypes and Facets
  • 3.1 Built-in Datatypes
  • 3.2 Facets
• 4 Appendix
  • 4.1 New Features in OWL 2
  • 4.2 Additional Vocabulary in OWL 2 RDF Syntax
• 5 Appendix: Change Log (Informative)
  • 5.1 Changes Since Proposed Recommendation
  • 5.2 Changes Since Last Call
• 6 Acknowledgments

1 Names, Prefixes, and Notation

Names in OWL 2 are IRIs, often written in a shorthand prefix:localname, where prefix: is a prefix name that expands to an IRI, and localname is the remainder of the name. The standard prefix names in OWL 2 are:

We use notation conventions in the following tables*:

* All of the above can have subscripts. ** as a shorthand for "n"^^xsd:nonNegativeInteger

2 OWL 2 constructs and axioms

For an OWL 2 DL ontology, there are some global restrictions on axioms.

In the following tables the first column provides links to the Primer (if applicable), the second column provides links to the Functional Syntax, and the third column gives RDF triples in the Turtle syntax.

2.1 Class Expressions

Predefined and Named Classes

Boolean Connectives and Enumeration of Individuals

Object Property Restrictions

Data Property Restrictions

Restrictions Using n-ary Data Range

In the following table 'Dn' is an n-ary data range.

2.2 Properties

Object Property Expressions

Data Property Expressions

2.3 Individuals & Literals

2.4 Data Ranges

Data Range Expressions

2.5 Axioms

Class Expression Axioms

Object Property Axioms

Data Property Axioms

Datatype Definitions

Assertions

Keys

2.6 Declarations

2.7 Annotations

Annotations

Annotation Properties

Annotation Axioms

2.8 Ontologies

Ontologies

1. [ ] represents optional constructs
2. In the RDF syntax _:x is used in place of ON if there is no ontology name.
3. RDF syntax is in Turtle, other RDF serializations may vary.

3 Built-in Datatypes and Facets

3.1 Built-in Datatypes

3.2 Facets

4 Appendix

4.1 New Features in OWL 2

4.2 Additional Vocabulary in OWL 2 RDF Syntax

5 Appendix: Change Log (Informative)

5.1 Changes Since Proposed Recommendation

This section summarizes the changes to this document since the Proposed Recommendation of 22 September, 2009.

• Minor editorial changes to "Annotations" table.
• Minor editorial change to the explanation of table headers and others.
• Link to a pdf version of the guide, i.e., the OWL 2 Reference Card.

5.2 Changes Since Last Call

This section summarizes the changes to this document since the Candidate Recommendation of 11 June, 2009.

• The "Features At Risk" note w.r.t. the owl:rational and rdf:XMLLiteral datatypes was removed: implementation support has been adequately demonstrated, and the features are no longer considered at risk (see Resolution 5 and Resolution 6, 05 August 2009).
• Some minor editorial changes were made.

6 Acknowledgments

The starting point for the development of OWL 2 was the OWL1.1 member submission, itself a result of user and developer feedback, and in particular of information gathered during the OWL Experiences and Directions (OWLED) Workshop series. The working group also considered postponed issues from the WebOnt Working Group.

This document has been produced by the OWL Working Group (see below), and its contents reflect extensive discussions within the Working Group as a whole. The editors extend special thanks to Bernardo Cuenca Grau (Oxford University), Christine Golbreich (Université de Versailles St-Quentin and LIRMM), Ivan Herman (W3C/ERCIM), and Bijan Parsia (University of Manchester) for their thorough reviews.

The regular attendees at meetings of the OWL Working Group at the time of publication of this document were: Jie Bao (RPI), Diego Calvanese (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano), Bernardo Cuenca Grau (Oxford University Computing Laboratory), Martin Dzbor (Open University), Achille Fokoue (IBM Corporation), Christine Golbreich (Université de Versailles St-Quentin and LIRMM), Sandro Hawke (W3C/MIT), Ivan Herman (W3C/ERCIM), Rinke Hoekstra (University of Amsterdam), Ian Horrocks (Oxford University Computing Laboratory), Elisa Kendall (Sandpiper Software), Markus Krötzsch (FZI), Carsten Lutz (Universität Bremen), Deborah L. McGuinness (RPI), Boris Motik (Oxford University Computing Laboratory), Jeff Pan (University of Aberdeen), Bijan Parsia (University of Manchester), Peter F. Patel-Schneider (Bell Labs Research, Alcatel-Lucent), Sebastian Rudolph (FZI), Alan Ruttenberg (Science Commons), Uli Sattler (University of Manchester), Michael Schneider (FZI), Mike Smith (Clark & Parsia), Evan Wallace (NIST), Zhe Wu (Oracle Corporation), and Antoine Zimmermann (DERI Galway). We would also like to thank past members of the working group: Jeremy Carroll, Jim Hendler, Vipul Kashyap.