| Convention | Symbol | Description/Example |
|---|---|---|
| Mutually exclusive parameters | (Parentheses | and | vertical | bars) | Within a code description, bar separators denote options from which one must be chosen. % data = hdfread (start | stride | edge) |
| Optional parameters | [square brackets] | Within a code description, square brackets denote completely optional commands or parameters. % sed [-n, -quiet] |
| Variables | <arrow brackets> | Within a code sample, arrow brackets denote a variable that must be replaced with a valid value. % ec2-register <your-s3-bucket>/image.manifest |