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Included in:

- user-manual: Internal cross references
- writers-guide
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In Asciidoctor, the inline xref macro is used to create cross references (also called in-text or page citations) to content elements (sections, blocks, or phrases) that have an ID (regardless of whether that ID is explicit or auto-generated).

You create a cross reference by enclosing the ID of the target block or section (or the path of another document with an optional anchor) in double angled brackets.

.Cross reference using the ID of the target section
[source]
----
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=base]
----

.Rendered cross reference using the ID of the target section
====
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=base]
====

You can also link to a block or section using the title by referencing its title, referred to as a [.term]_natural cross reference_.
The title must contain at least one space character or contain at least one uppercase letter.
(If you are using Ruby < 2.4, that uppercase letter is restricted to the basic Latin charset).

.Cross reference using a section's title
[source]
----
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=xref-title]
----

.Rendered cross reference using a section's title
====
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=xref-title]
====

Converters usually use the reftext of the target as the default text of the link.
When the document is parsed, attribute references in the reftext are substituted immediately.
When the reftext is displayed, additional reftext substitutions are applied to the text (specialchars, quotes, and replacements).

You can override the reftext of the target by specifying alternative text at the location of the cross reference.
After the ID, add a comma and then enter the custom text you want the cross reference to display.

.Cross reference with custom xreflabel text
[source]
----
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=text]
----

.Rendered cross reference using custom xreflabel text
====
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=text]
====

You can also use the inline xref macro as an alternative to the double angled bracket form.

.Inline xref macro
[source]
----
include::ex-xref.adoc[tag=xref-macro]
----
