7.6. Abstract Patterns (ISO Schematron Only)

The abstract rules you saw in the previous section are useful, but they are nothing more than a rather crude macro language feature, and they work well when the physical structure expected by the abstract rule is the same as the one that is expected by the rules that extend them.

Abstract rules shouldn't be confused with abstract patterns, which is a feature specific to ISO Schematron that can be used to define patterns that can map different physical structures.