Key to the Near & Far® Diagrams

Element Occurrences
Required
Optional. May occur zero or one time.
Required, repeatable. May occur one or more times.
Optional, repeatable. May occur zero or more times.
Additional Symbols Associated with Elements
Element content is expanded elsewhere in the diagram.
The element has attributes.
One or more elements collapsed for clarity
Element is the root element of the model.
Text, numbers, and special characters
Excluded elements that are prohibited from being within the current element
Grouping elements
Required sequence: Element1 followed by Element2 followed by Element3
Choice of sequence: Element1 or Element2 or Element3
Compound Examples
Zero or more repetitions of Element1 or Element2 or Element3 followed by zero or one occurrences of Element4
Zero or one occurrence of either Element1 followed by Element2 followed by Element3 or one or more occurrences of Element4
Either one or more repetitions of Element1 followed by Element2 or one or more occurrences of Element4