Expressions

The Structurizr DSL supports a number of expressions for use when including or excluding elements/relationships on views (except dynamic views). Expressions should be surrounded in quotes if they contain whitespace; for example:

  • include "element.tag==Tag 1" (correct)
  • include element.tag=="Tag 1" (incorrect)

Expressions can also be used with the !elements and !relationships keywords to perform bulk operations on a set of items.

Element expressions

  • -><identifier|expression>: the specified element(s) plus afferent couplings
  • <identifier|expression>->: the specified element(s) plus efferent couplings
  • -><identifier|expression>->: the specified element(s) plus afferent and efferent couplings
  • element.type==<type>: elements of the specified type (Person, SoftwareSystem, Container, Component, DeploymentNode, InfrastructureNode, SoftwareSystemInstance, ContainerInstance, Custom)
  • element.parent==<identifier>: elements with the specified parent
  • element.tag==<tag>[,tag]: all elements that have all of the specified tags
  • element.tag!=<tag>[,tag]: all elements that do not have all of the specified tags
  • element.technology==<technology>: all elements with the specified technology
  • element.technology!=<technology>: all elements without the specified technology
  • element.properties[name]==value: all elements that have the specified property with the specified value
  • element==-><identifier>: the specified element (or group) plus afferent couplings
  • element==<identifier>->: the specified element (or group) plus efferent couplings
  • element==-><identifier>->: the specified element (or group) plus afferent and efferent couplings

Relationship expressions

  • *->*: all relationships
  • <identifier>->*: all relationships with the specified source element
  • *-><identifier>: all relationships with the specified destination element
  • relationship==*: all relationships
  • relationship==*->*: all relationships
  • relationship.tag==<tag>[,tag]: all relationships that have all of the specified tags
  • relationship.tag!=<tag>[,tag]: all relationships that do not have all of the specified tags
  • relationship.properties[name]==value: all relationships that have the specified property with the specified value
  • relationship.source==<identifier>: all relationships with the specified source element
  • relationship.destination==<identifier>: all relationships with the specified destination element
  • relationship==<identifier>->*: all relationships with the specified source element
  • relationship==*-><identifier>: all relationships with the specified destination element
  • relationship==<identifier>-><identifier>: all relationships between the two specified elements

Combining expressions

Two expressions can be combined with the && or || operators. For example: "element.type==Container && element.parent==abc" (where abc is a software system identifier). DSL scripts or plugins are recommended for more complicated expressions.