Restrictions

Restrictions are special type of Classes in ontology.

Restrictions on a Property

>>> from owlready import *

>>> onto = Ontology("http://test.org/onto.owl")

>>> class Drug(Thing):
...     ontology = onto

>>> class ActivePrinciple(Thing):
...     ontology = onto

>>> class has_for_active_principle(Property):
...     ontology = onto
...     domain   = [Drug]
...     range    = [ActivePrinciple]

For example, a Placebo is a Drug with no Active Principle:

>>> class Placebo(Drug):
...     equivalent_to = [Drug & NOT(restriction(has_for_active_principle, SOME, ActivePrinciple))]

In the example above, ‘restriction(has_for_active_principle, SOME, ActivePrinciple)’ is the Class of all objects that have at least one Active Principle. The NOT() function returns the negation of a Class. The & operator returns the intersection of two Classes.

Another example: an Association Drug is a Drug that associates two or more Active Principle:

>>> class DrugAssociation(Drug):
...     equivalent_to = [Drug & restriction(has_for_active_principle, MIN, 2, ActivePrinciple)]

Owlready provides the following types of restrictions (they have the same names than in Protégé):

  • some : restriction(Property Class, SOME, Range Class)
  • only : restriction(Property Class, ONLY, Range Class)
  • min : restriction(Property Class, MIN, cardinality, Range Class)
  • max : restriction(Property Class, MAX, cardinality, Range Class)
  • exactly : restriction(Property Class, EXACTLY, cardinality, Range Class)
  • value : restriction(Property Class, VALUE, Range Instance)

Class operators

Owlready provides the following operators between Classes (normal Classes but also restrictions):

  • & : and operator (intersection). For example: Class1 & Class2

  • : or operator (union). For example: Class1 | Class2

  • NOT() : not operator (negation). For example: NOT(Class1)

One Of restrictions

In ontologies, a ‘One Of’ statement is used for defining a Class by extension, i.e. by listing its Instances rather than by defining its properties.

>>> class DrugForm(Thing):
...     ontology = onto

>>> tablet     = DrugForm()
>>> capsule    = DrugForm()
>>> injectable = DrugForm()
>>> pomade     = DrugForm()

# Assert that there is only four drug forms possible
>>> DrugForm.is_a.append(one_of(tablet, capsule, injectable, pomade))