SNOMED CT® Release Format 1 (RF1) Guide - ihtsdo

In certain cases, an RF1 data file will be adequately identified by the information appearing in the ContentType,
so that there is no information that is required to appear in the ContentSubType element. In such cases, a
placeholder should be used to avoid giving this element a NULL value. The allowable placeholders are:
• "Core" - for files that are part of the SNOMED CT International Release;
• "National" - for files that are part of the National Release of an IHTSDO Member country; and;
• "Local" - for files that are released by an Affiliate Licensee or other authorized 3 rd party.
These placeholders should not be used in file names for RF2 -format files.
• Implementation Resource Tool ("tls") - the value of this element may be determined on a case-by-case
basis but, in conjunction with the ContentType element, should be adequate to identify the content and
purpose of the file. If appropriate, the element may contain a status tag with one of the values described
below under Documentation.
• Documentation ("doc") - the element should contain at least two components: a status tag and a language
code (see above). Additional components may be added to this element if necessary to fully identify the
document. Possible values for the document status tag are:
• "Current" - indicates that the document is up-to-date and complete for the current release of SNOMED
CT, as indicated by the VersionDate element;
• "Draft" - indicates that the document is a draft version; it may be incomplete and has not been approved
in a final version;
• "Review" - indicates that the document has been released for review and comments from SNOMED
CT users and other stakeholders.
• Archival & Test/Beta File ("z"+ code or "x"+ code) - the value of the element should be determined
according to the rules for a normal file of the same type ("sct", "der", "res" or "tls").
3.4.4.3. Language Usage
For files released as part of a National or local release, and which do not appear in the SNOMED CT
International Release, the value of the ContentSubType element may be given in a language other than
English, with the following limitation:
• Any of the four sets of defined values for the ContentSubType element that are present in the file name
may not be translated, but must appear as specified herein. These are: language code, Release Type
flags ("Full", "Snapshot", "Delta"), placeholders ("Core", "National", "Local"), and status tags ("Current",
"Draft", "Review").
3.4.4.4. Language Codes
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Where it is necessary to specify the language of a file, a language code must be included in the
ContentSubType element. A language code is a string identifying the language and, if appropriate, the dialect
of a file, and consists of a code and optionally a sub-code. If a sub-code is present it is separated from the
code by a hyphen ("- ").
The code is the two-character ISO 639-1 language code. ISO 639 is the International Standard for "Codes
for the representation of names of languages". The sub code is a string of upper-case letters that represent
the dialect. This deliberately mirrors the W3C approach and will either be:
• If the dialect is general to an entire country, the two-letter ISO 3166 country code is used. ISO 3166 is the
International Standard for "Codes for the representation of names of countries".
• If dialects are used that are less common or not country or language linked, the IANA approach is used;
this code consists of a string of more than two letters. IANA is the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
This structure follows Internet conventions. Examples: "en" for English, "es" for Spanish, " en-US " for United
States English, " en-GB " for British English.
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