---
title "Semantic links and definition lists"
author {
  name "CentrMark Team"
  role "Documentation"
}
tags "example", "xref", "links"
version 1.0.0
status "Final"
---

# Semantic links and definition lists

CentrMark’s native cross-reference primitive is the Semantic Link: `[[url | text]]`.

Writers use one syntax, and renderers decide how to treat `url`:

* If `url` targets a known internal page/anchor in any content source, it behaves like an xref (jump + navigation).
* Otherwise it behaves like a normal link.

## Examples

Semantic link to the tabs example in this repository’s examples set:

[[examples/tabs.cmk#multi-language-code-references | Go to the tabbed HTTP example]]

Cross-source page anchor (same style as other docs in this repo):

[[docs/README.adoc#what-this-improves | see the improvements breakdown]]

External link:

[[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html | AGPL]]

Or learn about these terms:

~ URI
  Uniform Resource Identifier.
~ SDL
  **Simple Declarative Language**. The modern typing layer for configuration.