--- title: "Conventions | Microsoft Docs" ms.custom: "" ms.date: "11/04/2016" ms.reviewer: "" ms.suite: "" ms.technology: - "cpp-tools" ms.tgt_pltfrm: "" ms.topic: "article" dev_langs: - "C++" helpviewer_keywords: - "preprocessor" - "preprocessor, conventions" ms.assetid: 469ce448-dc6c-4d0e-ba2b-e2e7a10155e1 caps.latest.revision: 6 author: "corob-msft" ms.author: "corob" manager: "ghogen" translation.priority.ht: - "cs-cz" - "de-de" - "es-es" - "fr-fr" - "it-it" - "ja-jp" - "ko-kr" - "pl-pl" - "pt-br" - "ru-ru" - "tr-tr" - "zh-cn" - "zh-tw" --- # Conventions The conventions use different font attributes for different components of the syntax. The symbols and fonts are as follows: |Attribute|Description| |---------------|-----------------| |*nonterminal*|Italic type indicates nonterminals.| |#include|Terminals in bold type are literal reserved words and symbols that must be entered as shown. Characters in this context are always case sensitive.| |opt|Nonterminals followed by opt are always optional.| |default typeface|Characters in the set described or listed in this typeface can be used as terminals in statements.| A colon (:) following a nonterminal introduces its definition. Alternative definitions are listed on separate lines. ## See Also [Grammar Summary (C/C++)](../preprocessor/grammar-summary-c-cpp.md)