symbol

Symbol

Stores the symbol (for example, an asterisk, numeral, section mark) that was displayed in the original document to identify a specific footnote, if this symbol is to be preserved.

Remarks

For example, it might be useful to store the symbol to disambiguate mis-tagged cases in which an author has stated “see footnote b” or “see footnote 14” in the text, but the “see” note has not been tagged as an <xref> element. When the cross-reference has not been tagged, the normal ID/IDREF connection between footnote and reference is missing, and the only connection between the two is the visually matching symbols (“b” and “14”, respectively).

Attribute Values

In Element

<fn>
ValueMeaning
Text, numbers, or special charactersThe symbol used to mark a footnote, such as a dagger “†”.
Restriction: This is an optional attribute; there is no default.