Rst Block Syntax

Rst Block Syntax#

For creating blocks of restructured text content in C++ documentation comments that will be rendered by Sphinx.

TLDR; Recommended Syntax#

if you want to use the shortest possible syntax use Markdown Fences with directive autodetection.
if you’re coming from breathe and already have your code commented with breathe markers or if you want to have maximum compatibility: use Doxygen aliases.

However if you experience any problems with doxygen parsing etc. you might try one of the other options described in Supported rst block delimiters in doxygen comments.

Markers#

For doxysphinx to be able to identify a rst block we only need to have some kind of “verbatim block” in html output and a special marker at the beginning of the content.

The marker can be one of these:

{rst} -> our (doxysphinx) own marker
embed:rst
embed:rst:leading-asterisk
embed:rst:leading-slashes -> breathe compatibility markers

After any marker there has to be a new line (content can start at next line).

Directive Autodetection#

As chances are quite big that you just want to use a sphinx directive we’ve also got an autodetection feature: if the “verbatim content” starts with a directive you can leave out the markers (in that case the directive syntax is the marker), for example…

/// ```
/// .. directive:: title
///    DIRECTIVE CONTENT
/// ```

…will also be identified by doxysphinx as a rst block (and processed).

Supported rst block delimiters in doxygen comments#

Technically doxysphinx searches for <pre>- or <div class="fragment">-elements in doxygen html output because these are the elements it uses for verbatim code block content. There are several ways in doxygen to create these kind of elements:

Markdown Fences#

You can use the markdown code fences syntax as follows (you need to have markdown enabled in doxygen to use it):

/// ...
///
/// ```
/// {rst}
/// enter your rst content,
/// like directives, free text rst content,
/// etc...
/// ```
///
/// ...

Warning

In markdown it’s typical to have a language identifier right behind the beginning “fence”. Something like ```cpp for example. However the doxygen markdown parser will swallow anything behind the delimiters (which means we couldn’t make use of information there). So please do not fall into the trap trying to start a rst block with e.g. ```{rst}. The {rst} marker (or any content used by doxysphinx) has to be on the next line. (This is only true if you use markdown code fences - not for the other options below).

`\verbatim` special command#

You can use the verbatim special command in doxygen to create a pre-element:

/// ...
///
/// \verbatim {rst}
/// enter your rst content,
/// like directives, free text rst content,
/// etc...
/// \endverbatim
///
/// ...

`<pre>`-html-element#

As you can also use html in doxygen you can use the html <pre>-element directly:

/// ...
///
/// <pre> {rst}
/// enter your rst content,
/// like directives, free text rst content,
/// etc...
/// </pre>
///
/// ...

Doxygen aliases#

As another shortcut you can also use doxygen aliases to create your own rst-block delimiters:

ALIAS       =  "rst=\verbatim embed:rst"
ALIAS       += "endrst=\endverbatim"

And then use the alias like this:

/// ...
///
/// \rst
/// enter your rst content,
/// like directives, free text rst content,
/// etc...
/// \endrst
///
/// ...

More examples#

can be found in our demo documentation here.