Syntax of prov:QUALIFIED_NAME

Syntax of prov:QUALIFIED_NAME

1. Introduction

PROV-DM defines a PROV Identifier as a Qualified Name, which is a name subject to namespace interpretation. It consists of a namespace, denoted by an optional prefix, and a local name_. PROV-DM stipulates that a qualified name can be mapped into an IRI by concatenating the IRI associated with the prefix and the local part. Before 0.7.0, ProvToolbox was complying with this definition.

However, PROV-N provides a concrete syntax for prov:QUALIFIED_NAME, further noting that a PROV-N qualified name QUALIFIED_NAME can be mapped to a valid IRI [RFC3987] by concatenating the namespace denoted its local name to the local name, whose -escaped characters have been unescaped by dropping the character '' (backslash). Before 0.7.0, ProvToolbox was not providing any support for this type of escaping.

2. -Escaping for Qualified Names

=	\\=
'	\\'
(	\\(
)	\\)
,	\\,
:	\\:
;	\\;
[	\\[
]	\\]
-		Should not be escaped since - is accepted by PN_CHARS
.		hould not be escaped since - is accepted by PN_CHARS, except for the last one
<		Is it an oversight in PROV-N, should we have escaped it?
>		Is it an oversight in PROV-N, should we have escaped it?

5. ProvToolbox support

The class org.openprovenance.prov.model.QualifiedNameUtils offers conversion methods implementing the encoding describe in this section.