The Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) [[!shacl]] is a language for validating RDF graphs against a set of conditions. SHACL consists of SHACL Core and SHACL-SPARQL which covers advanced features that use SPARQL-based constraints. The syntax of SHACL is RDF.

This document defines the Compact Syntax for a subset of SHACL Core. The Compact Syntax offers an alternative notation to the general RDF-based notations for SHACL, aimed at human editors and readers.

This specification was started by the RDF Data Shapes WG but is now continued within the SHACL Community Group.

Document Outline

Some examples in this document use Turtle [[!turtle]]. The reader is expected to be familiar with SHACL [[!shacl]].

Introduction

Document Conventions

Within this document, the following namespace prefix bindings are used:

Prefix Namespace
rdf: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
rdfs: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
sh: http://www.w3.org/ns/shacl#
xsd: http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#
ex: http://example.com/ns#

An Example of the SHACL Compact Syntax

The following example illustrates key features of the SHACL Compact Syntax. It is an extended version of the Person Example from [[!shacl]].

BASE <http://example.com/ns>

IMPORTS <http://example.com/person-ontology>

PREFIX ex: <http://example.com/ns#>

shape ex:PersonShape -> ex:Person {
	closed=true ignoredProperties=[rdf:type] . 

	ex:ssn       xsd:string [0..1] pattern="^\\d{3}-\\d{2}-\\d{4}$" .
	ex:worksFor  IRI ex:Company [0..*] .
	ex:address   BlankNode [0..1] {
		ex:city xsd:string [1..1] .
		ex:postalCode xsd:integer|xsd:string [1..1] maxLength=5 .
	} .
}

Using the this example is mapped to the following Turtle RDF graph:

@base <http://example.com/ns> .
@prefix ex: <http://example.com/ns#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix sh: <http://www.w3.org/ns/shacl#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

<http://example.com/ns>
	rdf:type owl:Ontology ;
	owl:imports <http://example.com/person-ontology> .

ex:PersonShape
	a sh:NodeShape ;
	sh:targetClass ex:Person ;
	sh:closed true ;
	sh:ignoredProperties ( rdf:type ) ;
	sh:property [
		sh:path ex:ssn ;
		sh:maxCount 1 ;
		sh:datatype xsd:string ;
		sh:pattern "^\\d{3}-\\d{2}-\\d{4}$" ;
	] ;
	sh:property [
		sh:path ex:worksFor ;
		sh:class ex:Company ;
		sh:nodeKind sh:IRI ;
	] ;
	sh:property [
		sh:path ex:address ;
		sh:maxCount 1 ;
		sh:nodeKind sh:BlankNode ;
		sh:node [
			sh:property [
				sh:path ex:city ;
				sh:datatype xsd:string ;
				sh:minCount 1 ;
				sh:maxCount 1 ;
			] ;
			sh:property [
				sh:path ex:postalCode ;
				sh:or ( [ sh:datatype xsd:integer ] [ sh:datatype xsd:string ] ) ;
				sh:minCount 1 ;
				sh:maxCount 1 ;
				sh:maxLength 5 ;
			] ;
		] ;
	] .

SHACL also supports a design pattern where shapes that are also declared to be classes apply to all instances of the class. The Compact Syntax includes the keyword shapeClass for this case, as shown in the snippet below:

shapeClass ex:Person {
	...
}

Compared to the example further above using shape, this would produce the following RDF triples (with no sh:targetClass triple):

ex:Person
	a sh:NodeShape, rdfs:Class ;
	...

The SHACL Compact Syntax can be used both as an exchange format but also as temporary editing input format. If SHACL Compact Syntax files are saved, the recommended file ending is .shaclc.

Grammar and Production Rules

The following grammar (in ANTLR format) defines the parsing rules for the SHACL Compact Syntax. Valid SHACL Compact Syntax documents must be parseable against this grammar, must not cause any errors during the application of the production rules and furthermore produce no ill-formed nodes.

grammar SHACLC;

shaclDoc            : directive* (nodeShape|shapeClass)* EOF;

directive           : baseDecl | importsDecl | prefixDecl ;
baseDecl            : KW_BASE  IRIREF ;
importsDecl         : KW_IMPORTS IRIREF ;
prefixDecl          : KW_PREFIX PNAME_NS IRIREF ;

nodeShape           : KW_SHAPE iri targetClass? nodeShapeBody ;
shapeClass          : KW_SHAPE_CLASS iri nodeShapeBody ;
nodeShapeBody       : '{' constraint* '}';
targetClass         : '->' iri+ ;

constraint          : ( nodeOr+ | propertyShape ) '.' ;
nodeOr              : nodeNot ( '|' nodeNot) * ;
nodeNot             : negation? nodeValue ;
nodeValue           : nodeParam '=' iriOrLiteralOrArray ;

propertyShape       : path ( propertyCount | propertyOr )* ;
propertyOr          : propertyNot ( '|' propertyNot) * ;
propertyNot         : negation? propertyAtom ;
propertyAtom        : propertyType | nodeKind | shapeRef | propertyValue | nodeShapeBody ;
propertyCount       : '[' propertyMinCount '..' propertyMaxCount ']' ;
propertyMinCount    : INTEGER ;
propertyMaxCount    : (INTEGER | '*') ;
propertyType        : iri ;
nodeKind            : 'BlankNode' | 'IRI' | 'Literal' | 'BlankNodeOrIRI' | 'BlankNodeOrLiteral' | 'IRIOrLiteral' ;
shapeRef            : ATPNAME_LN | ATPNAME_NS | '@' IRIREF ;
propertyValue       : propertyParam '=' iriOrLiteralOrArray ;
negation            : '!' ;

path                : pathAlternative ;
pathAlternative     : pathSequence ( '|' pathSequence )* ;
pathSequence        : pathEltOrInverse ( '/' pathEltOrInverse )* ;
pathElt             : pathPrimary pathMod? ;
pathEltOrInverse    : pathElt | pathInverse pathElt ;
pathInverse         : '^' ;
pathMod             : '?' | '*' | '+' ;
pathPrimary         : iri | '(' path ')' ;

iriOrLiteralOrArray : iriOrLiteral | array ;
iriOrLiteral        : iri | literal ;

iri                 : IRIREF | prefixedName ;
prefixedName        : PNAME_LN | PNAME_NS ;

literal             : rdfLiteral | numericLiteral | booleanLiteral ;
booleanLiteral      : KW_TRUE | KW_FALSE ;
numericLiteral      : INTEGER | DECIMAL | DOUBLE ;
rdfLiteral          : string (LANGTAG | '^^' datatype)? ;
datatype            : iri ;
string              : STRING_LITERAL_LONG1 | STRING_LITERAL_LONG2 | STRING_LITERAL1 | STRING_LITERAL2 ;

array               : '[' iriOrLiteral* ']' ;

nodeParam           : 'targetNode' | 'targetObjectsOf' | 'targetSubjectsOf' |
                      'deactivated' | 'severity' | 'message' |
                      'class' | 'datatype' | 'nodeKind' |
                      'minExclusive' | 'minInclusive' | 'maxExclusive' | 'maxInclusive' |
                      'minLength' | 'maxLength' | 'pattern' | 'flags' | 'languageIn' |
                      'equals' | 'disjoint' |
                      'closed' | 'ignoredProperties' | 'hasValue' | 'in' ;

propertyParam       : 'deactivated' | 'severity' | 'message' |
                      'class' | 'datatype' | 'nodeKind' |
                      'minExclusive' | 'minInclusive' | 'maxExclusive' | 'maxInclusive' |
                      'minLength' | 'maxLength' | 'pattern' | 'flags' | 'languageIn' | 'uniqueLang' |
                      'equals' | 'disjoint' | 'lessThan' | 'lessThanOrEquals' |
                      'qualifiedValueShape' | 'qualifiedMinCount' | 'qualifiedMaxCount' | 'qualifiedValueShapesDisjoint' |
                      'closed' | 'ignoredProperties' | 'hasValue' | 'in' ;

// Keywords
KW_BASE             : 'BASE' ;
KW_IMPORTS          : 'IMPORTS' ;
KW_PREFIX           : 'PREFIX' ;

KW_SHAPE_CLASS      : 'shapeClass' ;
KW_SHAPE            : 'shape' ;

KW_TRUE             : 'true' ;
KW_FALSE            : 'false' ;

// Terminals
PASS                : [ \t\r\n]+ -> skip;
COMMENT             : '#' ~[\r\n]* -> skip;

IRIREF              : '<' (~[\u0000-\u0020=<>\"{}|^`\\] | UCHAR)* '>' ;
PNAME_NS            : PN_PREFIX? ':' ;
PNAME_LN            : PNAME_NS PN_LOCAL ;
ATPNAME_NS          : '@' PN_PREFIX? ':' ;
ATPNAME_LN          : '@' PNAME_NS PN_LOCAL ;
LANGTAG             : '@' [a-zA-Z]+ ('-' [a-zA-Z0-9]+)* ;
INTEGER             : [+-]? [0-9]+ ;
DECIMAL             : [+-]? [0-9]* '.' [0-9]+ ;
DOUBLE              : [+-]? ([0-9]+ '.' [0-9]* EXPONENT | '.'? [0-9]+ EXPONENT) ;
fragment EXPONENT   : [eE] [+-]? [0-9]+ ;
STRING_LITERAL1     : '\'' (~[\u0027\u005C\u000A\u000D] | ECHAR | UCHAR)* '\'' ;
STRING_LITERAL2     : '"' (~[\u0022\u005C\u000A\u000D] | ECHAR | UCHAR)* '"' ;
STRING_LITERAL_LONG1: '\'\'\'' (('\'' | '\'\'')? (~[\'\\] | ECHAR | UCHAR))* '\'\'\'' ;
STRING_LITERAL_LONG2: '"""' (('"' | '""')? (~[\"\\] | ECHAR | UCHAR))* '"""' ;
fragment UCHAR      : '\\u' HEX HEX HEX HEX | '\\U' HEX HEX HEX HEX HEX HEX HEX HEX ;
fragment ECHAR      : '\\' [tbnrf\\\"\'] ;
fragment WS         : [\u0020\u0009\u000D\u000A] ;
fragment PN_CHARS_BASE: [A-Z] | [a-z] | [\u00C0-\u00D6] | [\u00D8-\u00F6] | [\u00F8-\u02FF] | [\u0370-\u037D]
                       | [\u037F-\u1FFF] | [\u200C-\u200D] | [\u2070-\u218F] | [\u2C00-\u2FEF] | [\u3001-\uD7FF]
                       | [\uF900-\uFDCF] | [\uFDF0-\uFFFD]
					   		   ;
fragment PN_CHARS_U : PN_CHARS_BASE | '_' ;
fragment PN_CHARS   : PN_CHARS_U | '-' | [0-9] | [\u00B7] | [\u0300-\u036F] | [\u203F-\u2040] ;
fragment PN_PREFIX  : PN_CHARS_BASE ((PN_CHARS | '.')* PN_CHARS)? ;
fragment PN_LOCAL   : (PN_CHARS_U | ':' | [0-9] | PLX) ((PN_CHARS | '.' | ':' | PLX)* (PN_CHARS | ':' | PLX))? ;
fragment PLX        : PERCENT | PN_LOCAL_ESC ;
fragment PERCENT    : '%' HEX HEX ;
fragment HEX        : [0-9] | [A-F] | [a-f] ;
fragment PN_LOCAL_ESC: '\\' ('_' | '~' | '.' | '-' | '!' | '$' | '&' | '\'' | '(' | ')' | '*' | '+' | ','
                       | ';' | '=' | '/' | '?' | '#' | '@' | '%') ;
			

A parser for the SHACL Compact Syntax receives as input a (text) document plus an optional base URI which is used as initial value for the variable ?baseURI. The parser uses a prefix mapping which has initial mappings for the following namespaces:

Prefix Namespace
rdf: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
rdfs: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
sh: http://www.w3.org/ns/shacl#
xsd: http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#

It then produces a new RDF graph with the triples produced by the following rules.

baseDecl: set ?baseURI to the IRI specified by IRIREF.

importsDecl: add the IRI specified by IRIREF into a set ?imports.

prefixDecl: add to the prefix mapping a mapping from the prefix PNAME_NS (without the ':') to the namespace specified by IRIREF.

Once the whole document has been completed, produce a triple ?baseURI rdf:type owl:Ontology using the final value of baseURI. Report an error if baseURI has no value but imports is not empty. For each iri in imports, produce a triple ?baseURI owl:imports ?iri.

nodeShape: Produce a triple ?shape rdf:type sh:NodeShape where ?shape is derived from the iri using iri. Use ?shape as context shape for the targetClass and nodeShapeBody.

shapeClass: Produce the triples ?shape rdf:type sh:NodeShape and ?shape rdf:type rdfs:Class where ?shape is derived from the iri using iri. Use ?shape as context shape for the nodeShapeBody.

targetClass: For each iri, produce a triple ?shape sh:targetClass ?iri where ?iri is derived from iri.

nodeShapeBody: Handle each constraint using the context shape ?shape.

constraint: Handle each nodeOr or propertyShape using the context shape ?shape.

nodeOr: If there is more than one nodeNot, then produce an RDF list ?or where for each nodeNot, there is a new blank node, and that blank node is used as context shape for the nodeNot. Then produce a triple ?shape sh:or ?or. If there is only one nodeNot, handle the nodeNot using the context shape ?shape.

nodeNot: If there is a negation, produce a new blank node ?not and produce a triple ?shape sh:not ?not. Then handle the nodeValue using ?not as context shape. If there is no negation, handle the nodeValue using the context shape ?shape.

nodeValue: Produce a triple ?shape ?predicate ?object where ?predicate is the IRI produced by concatenating the sh namespace with string value of nodeParam (for example "minLength" becomes sh:minLength), and ?object is derived from the iriOrLiteralOrArray.

propertyShape: Using a new blank node ?property, produce a triple ?shape sh:property ?property. Produce a triple ?property sh:path ?path where ?path is the result of path. Use ?property as context shape for propertyCount and propertyOr.

propertyCount: If propertyMinCount is not "0", produce a triple ?property sh:minCount ?minCount using the xsd:integer derived from propertyMinCount as ?minCount. If propertyMaxCount is not "*", produce a triple ?property sh:maxCount ?maxCount using the xsd:integer derived from propertyMaxCount as ?maxCount.

propertyOr: If there is more than one propertyNot, then produce an RDF list ?or where for each propertyNot, there is a new blank node, and that blank node is used as context shape for the propertyNot. Then produce a triple ?property sh:or ?or. If there is only one propertyNot, handle the propertyNot using the context shape ?property.

propertyNot: If there is a negation, produce a new blank node ?not and produce a triple ?property sh:not ?not. Then handle the propertyAtom using ?not as context shape. If there is no negation, handle the propertyAtom using the context shape ?property.

propertyAtom: Use ?property as context shape for any of the child elements. For a nested nodeShapeBody, produce a new blank node ?node and use that as the context shape ?shape. Then produce a triple ?property sh:node ?node.

propertyType: Let ?iri be the IRI derived from the propertyType using iri. If ?iri is one of the RDF datatypes supported by SPARQL 1.1 (such as xsd:string) then produce a triple ?property sh:datatype ?iri, otherwise ?property sh:class ?iri.

nodeKind: Produce a triple ?property sh:nodeKind ?nodeKind where ?nodeKind is the IRI produced by concatenating the sh namespace with the text value of nodeKind (e.g., sh:Literal).

shapeRef: Produce a triple ?property sh:node ?node where ?node is the IRI derived from the substring of shapeRef after the '@' character using iri.

propertyValue: Produce a triple ?property ?predicate ?object where ?predicate is the IRI produced by concatenating the sh namespace with the string value of propertyParam, and ?object is derived from the iriOrLiteralOrArray.

path: If there is more than one pathSequence, produce a new RDF list ?list where there is one list member for the paths derived from each pathSequence. Then produce a triple ?alt sh:alternativePath ?list where ?alt is a new blank node, and return ?alt. If there is only one pathSequence, return the path derived from pathSequence.

pathSequence: If there is more than one pathEltOrInverse, produce a new blank node RDF list ?list where there is one list member for the path derived from each pathEltOrInverse. Return ?list. If there is only one pathEltOrInverse, return the path derived from pathEltOrInverse.

pathEltOrInverse: If there is a pathInverse, produce a triple ?path sh:inversePath ?inverse where ?path is a new blank node and ?inverse is the path derived from pathElt. Return ?path. If there is only one pathElt, return the path derived from pathElt.

pathElt: Let ?primary be the path derived from pathPrimary. If pathMod does not exist, return ?primary. Otherwise, produce and return a new blank node ?path with one of the following triples: If pathMod equals "?" produce a triple ?path sh:zeroOrOnePath ?primary. If pathMod equals "+" produce a triple ?path sh:oneOrMorePath ?primary. If pathMod equals "*" produce a triple ?path sh:zeroOrMorePath ?primary.

pathPrimary: If iri exists, return the predicate derived from that IRI. Otherwise, return the path derived from path.

iriOrLiteralOrArray: If there is an array, produce and return an RDF list where each iriOrLiteral is a member. Otherwise, return iriOrLiteral for iriOrLiteral.

iriOrLiteral: If there is an iri, return the node derived from iri. Otherwise, apply Turtle's parsing rules to turn the string literal into an RDF literal.

iri: If there is a IRIREF, return the result of IRIREF. Otherwise, return an IRI applying the current prefix mapping on prefixedName. Report an error if there is no matching prefix.

IRIREF: Return the IRI consisting of the substring of IRIREF between the leading < and the trailing >, turning relative IRIs into absolute IRIs using the current ?baseURI.

Developers may find the Test Cases useful. Each test consists of a .shaclc file and an associated .ttl file. Parsing the .shaclc file must produce a graph that is isomorphic to the .ttl file. The test cases are not normative.

IANA Considerations

This section reviewed, approved, and registered with IANA by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), see https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/text/shaclc.

text/shaclc

Type name:
text
Subtype name:
shaclc
Required parameters:
None
Encoding considerations:
SHACL Compact Syntax (SHACLC) is a text language encoded in UTF-8.
Security considerations:

Revealing the structure of an RDF graph can reveal information about the content of conformant data. For instance, a schema with a predicate to describe cancer stage indicates that conforming graphs describe patients with cancer.

The process of testing a graph's conformance to a schema could draw significant system resources and be a vector for Denial of Service attacks.

RDF Turtle security considerations about IRI spoofing may also apply here.

Interoperability considerations:
Not Applicable
Published specification:
This document
Applications that use this media type:
An implementations of SHACLC is part of the TopQuadrant SHACL API
Additional information:
Magic number(s):
SHACLC documents will likely have the words PREFIX or BASE (case sensitive) near the beginning of the document. However, the same words may appear in Turtle and SPARQL documents.
File extension(s):
.shc, .shaclc
Macintosh file type code(s):
TEXT
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Vladimir Alexiev <vladimir.alexiev@ontotext.com>
Intended usage:
Common
Restrictions on usage:
None
Author(s):
Holger Knublauch, TopQuadrant
Change controller:
W3C SHACL Community Group

Acknowledgements

This document is heavily inspired by the ShEx Compact Syntax, a version of which was provided as input to the RDF Data Shapes Working Group. The IANA Considerations section has been adapted from the same document.

The ShEx Compact Syntax was primarily developed by the following people:

Eric Prud'hommeaux, Iovka Boneva, Jose Labra, Harold Solbrig