Standard Generalized Markup Language
| Filename extension |
.sgml |
|---|---|
| Internet media type |
application/sgml, text/sgml |
| Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | public.xml |
| Developed by | ISO |
| Type of format | Markup language |
| Extended from | GML |
| Extended to | HTML, XML |
| Standard | ISO 8879 |
The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986) is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents. ISO 8879 Annex A.1 states that generalized markup is "based on two postulates":
- Declarative: Markup should describe a document's structure and other attributes rather than specify the processing that needs to be performed, because it is less likely to conflict with future developments.
- Rigorous: In order to allow markup to take advantage of the techniques available for processing, markup should rigorously define objects like programs and databases.
DocBook SGML and LinuxDoc are examples which used SGML tools.