title: Encoding of Sz Metadata
role: manual
tags: #api #manual #reference #zettelstore
syntax: zmk

A single metadata (""metadatum"") is represented by a triple: a symbol representing the type, a symbol representing the key, and either a string or a list that represent the value.

The symbol depends on the [[metadata key type|00001006030000]].
The value also depends somehow on the key type: a set of values is represented as a list, all other values are represented by a string, even if it is a number.

The following table maps key types to symbols and to the type of the value representation.

|=Key Type<| Symbol<| Value<
| [[Credential|00001006031000]] | ''CREDENTIAL'' | string
| [[EString|00001006031500]] | ''EMPTY-STRING'' | string
| [[Identifier|00001006032000]] | ''ZID'' | string
| [[IdentifierSet|00001006032500]] | ''ZID-SET'' | ListValue
| [[Number|00001006033000]] | ''NUMBER'' | string
| [[String|00001006033500]] | ''STRING'' | string
| [[TagSet|00001006034000]] | ''TAG-SET'' | ListValue
| [[Timestamp|00001006034500]] | ''TIMESTAMP'' | string
| [[URL|00001006035000]] | ''URL'' | string
| [[Word|00001006035500]] | ''WORD'' | string
| [[Zettelmarkup|00001006036500]] | ''ZETTELMARKUP'' | string

:::syntax
__ListValue__ **=** ''('' String,,1,, String,,2,, &hellip; String,,n,, '')''.
:::

Examples:
* The title of this zettel is represented as: ''(EMPTY-STRING title "Encoding of Sz Metadata")''
* The tags of this zettel are represented as: ''(TAG-SET tags ("#api" "#manual" "#reference" "#zettelstore"))''