Editing Resource Description Framework (section)

=== Validation and description ===
{{main|RDF query language}}

The predominant language for describing and validating RDF graphs is [[SHACL]] (Shapes Constraint Language).<ref>[https://www.w3.org/TR/shacl/] SHACL Specification</ref> SHACL specification is divided in two parts: SHACL Core and SHACL-SPARQL. SHACL Core consists of a list of built-in constraints such as cardinality, range of values and many others. SHACL-SPARQL describes SPARQL-based constraints and an extension mechanism to declare new constraint components.

Other non-standard ways to describe and validate RDF graphs include:
* [[SPARQL Inferencing Notation]] (SPIN)<ref>[https://spinrdf.org/] SPIN website</ref> was based on SPARQL queries. It has been effectively deprecated in favor of SHACL.<ref>[https://spinrdf.org/spin-shacl.html] Comparison of SHACL with SPIN</ref>
* [[ShEx]] (Shape Expressions)<ref>[http://shex.io/shex-semantics/index.html] ShEx Specification</ref> is a concise language for RDF validation and description.