Type: string
Pattern: ^\w[^:]+:.+$
Description: A string that refers to an object uniquely. The lifetime and scope of an id is defined by the sender.

VR does not impose any contraints on strings used as ids in messages. However, to maximize sharability of data, the VR Specification RECOMMENDS that implementations use W3C Compact URI (CURIE) syntax.

String CURIEs are represented as prefix:reference (W3C terminology), but often referred to as namespace:accession or namespace:local id colloquially.

The VR specification also RECOMMENDS that prefix be defined in identifiers.org.

The reference component is an unconstrained string.

A CURIE is a URI. URIs may locate objects (i.e., specify where to retrieve them) or name objects conceptually. VR uses CURIEs primarily as a naming mechanism.

Implementations MAY provide CURIE resolution mechanisms for prefixes to make these objects locatable.

Using internal ids in public messages is strongly discouraged.

Curie Value Examples

"ga4gh:GA.01234abcde"

"DUO:0000004"

"orcid:0000-0003-3463-0775"

"PMID:15254584"