SHACL Course Playground

Playground

SHACL Shapes Editor

Write your shapes graph (left) and data graph (right) in Turtle syntax. Use the preloaded examples or start from scratch.

Shapes Graph

Data Graph

Output / Notes

Reference

SHACL Reference

Quick-reference material from the book. Pick a topic below.

Core Constraint Components (Ch. 6)

Category	Constraint	SHACL Property	Description	Example Value
Shape	Property	`sh:property`	Links a node shape to its property shapes	`rule:Book-author`
Shape	Node	`sh:node`	Inherit constraints from another node shape	`rule:Work`
Shape	Qualified Value Shape	`sh:qualifiedValueShape`	Constraints for a number of value nodes conforming to a shape	`[ sh:class ex:Finger ]`
Value Type	Class	`sh:class`	Value node must be instance of given class	`foaf:Person`
Value Type	Datatype	`sh:datatype`	Value node must be literal of given datatype	`xsd:integer`
Value Type	Node Kind	`sh:nodeKind`	Value node must be IRI, Literal, or BlankNode	`sh:IRI`
Cardinality	Min Count	`sh:minCount`	Minimum occurrences of the property	`1`
Cardinality	Max Count	`sh:maxCount`	Maximum occurrences of the property	`1`
Value Range	Min Exclusive	`sh:minExclusive`	Value must be > given value	`"1999-12-31"^^xsd:date`
Value Range	Min Inclusive	`sh:minInclusive`	Value must be ≥ given value	`0`
Value Range	Max Exclusive	`sh:maxExclusive`	Value must be < given value	`10000`
Value Range	Max Inclusive	`sh:maxInclusive`	Value must be ≤ given value	`10000`
String	Min Length	`sh:minLength`	Minimum character count	`2`
String	Max Length	`sh:maxLength`	Maximum character count	`11`
String	Pattern	`sh:pattern`	Must match regular expression	`"^(?:\d{9}[\dX]\|\d{13})$"`
String	Language In	`sh:languageIn`	Language tag must be in given list	`("en" "no" "de")`
String	Unique Lang	`sh:uniqueLang`	Only one value per language tag	`true`
Prop. Pair	Equals	`sh:equals`	Values must equal those of another property	`ex:mainTitle`
Prop. Pair	Disjoint	`sh:disjoint`	Values must not overlap with another property	`ex:editor`
Prop. Pair	Less Than	`sh:lessThan`	Value must be less than other property's value	`ex:secondEdition`
Prop. Pair	Less Than Or Eq.	`sh:lessThanOrEquals`	Value must be ≤ other property's value	`ex:endDate`
Logical	Not	`sh:not`	Must NOT conform to given shape (negation, ¬x)	`rule:Agent-status`
Logical	And	`sh:and`	Must conform to ALL shapes in list (x ∧ y)	`( rule:A rule:B )`
Logical	Or	`sh:or`	Must conform to at least ONE shape (x ∨ y)	`( rule:A rule:B )`
Logical	Xone	`sh:xone`	Must conform to exactly ONE shape (x ⊕ y)	`( rule:A rule:B )`
Other	Closed	`sh:closed`	Only declared properties allowed	`true`
Other	Ignored Properties	`sh:ignoredProperties`	Properties excluded from closed check	`(rdf:type)`
Other	Has Value	`sh:hasValue`	At least one value node must equal given value	`ex:Fantasy`
Other	In	`sh:in`	Value node must be in given list	`( ex:Fantasy ex:SciFi )`

Targets

Target Types (Ch. 5)

Target	SHACL Property	Targets
Target Class	`sh:targetClass`	All instances of a class
Target Node	`sh:targetNode`	One specific node
Target Subjects Of	`sh:targetSubjectsOf`	All subjects of a property (domain)
Target Objects Of	`sh:targetObjectsOf`	All objects of a property (range)
Implicit Class Target	Shape typed as `rdfs:Class`	The class itself is the target

Property Paths

Property Paths (Ch. 5.5)

Path Type	SPARQL	SHACL (in sh:path)
Predicate	`iri`	`sh:path ex:author`
Inverse	`^iri`	`sh:inversePath ex:author`
Sequence	`a/b`	`( ex:author ex:name )`
Alternative	`a\|b`	`sh:alternativePath ( a b )`
Zero-or-more	`a*`	`sh:zeroOrMorePath ex:a`
One-or-more	`a+`	`sh:oneOrMorePath ex:a`
Zero-or-one	`a?`	`sh:zeroOrOnePath ex:a`

Operation	Operator	Notation	SHACL
Conjunction	AND	x ∧ y	`sh:and`
Disjunction	OR	x ∨ y	`sh:or`
Exclusive OR	XOR	x ⊕ y	`sh:xone`
Negation	NOT	¬x	`sh:not`

x	y	x ∧ y sh:and	x ∨ y sh:or	x ⊕ y sh:xone	¬x sh:not
0	0	0	0	0	1
1	0	0	1	1	0
0	1	0	1	1	1
1	1	1	1	0	0

Course Day

The Shape of the Day

A one-day introduction to SHACL. About 4½ hours of instruction, with roughly a third of it (~90 minutes) spent hands-on in this playground. The rhythm is deliberate: ~35 minutes of teaching, then a hands-on, then a debrief — repeated.

Time	Duration	Block	Hands-on
09:00 – 09:20	20 min	Introduction	—
09:20 – 10:15	55 min	Why SHACL (use cases, motivation)	—
10:15 – 10:30	15 min	☕ Break	—
10:30 – 11:30	60 min	Shapes, targets & paths (Ch. 5)	Exercise 1
11:30 – 12:30	60 min	Core constraints I (§6.1–6.5)	Exercises 2, 3
12:30 – 13:30	60 min	🍽️ Lunch	—
13:30 – 14:30	60 min	Core constraints II (§6.6–6.8) + SHACL engine (Ch. 8)	Exercises 4, 5, 6
14:30 – 14:45	15 min	☕ Break	—
14:45 – 15:00	15 min	Free practice & wrap-up	Capstone

Exercises · ~90 min hands-on

Six exercises plus a capstone challenge, sequenced to match the teaching blocks. 1 follows Shapes & Targets, 2–3 follow Core Constraints I, 4–5 follow Core Constraints II, and the Capstone is for free practice. See the Exercises tab.

What each block does

Introduction + Why SHACL. Set the scene: OWA vs. CWA, where SHACL fits alongside OWL, the data-pipeline architecture. Use cases and motivation — why validation matters.

Shapes, targets & paths (Ch. 5). Node vs. property shapes, target kinds, property-path kinds, and the linking convention. Lord of the Rings as the running example. Then Exercise 1 — deliberately small, a "does everyone's setup work?" checkpoint.

Core constraints I (§6.1–6.5). Value type, cardinality, value range, string-based. Then Exercises 2 and 3 back-to-back. Exercise 3 is where the Turtle-string escaping gotcha for sh:pattern bites — a good pain point to have in class.

Core constraints II (§6.6–6.8) + SHACL engine (Ch. 8). Logical constraints with the truth tables (walk them live — see the Reference → Logic tab), then sh:closed, sh:hasValue, sh:in. Segue into the SHACL engine: validation report structure, result vocabulary, severity levels. Exercises 4, 5, 6. (SHACL-SPARQL from Ch. 7 gets a two-minute mention, not a demo.)

Free practice & wrap-up. The Capstone exercise: bring your own domain, design shapes, read validation reports. This is where SHACL becomes real. Closes with Q&A and pointers for post-course reading.

Running long? Ch. 6 always eats time. If the morning constraints block overruns, drop Exercise 3 and give the ten minutes back to the afternoon. The engine block (Exercise 6) is the one not to squeeze.

Exercises

Hands-on Exercises

Pick a block below to start. Each block has exercises, a shapes editor and pre-loaded data to validate your answers against.

Shapes, Targets & Paths

Your first shape — node shapes, target classes, property paths, cardinality and datatype.

Exercise 1 · Ch. 5

Core Constraints I

Value range, string patterns, the Turtle-escaping gotcha for sh:pattern.

Exercises 2 – 3 · §6.1 – 6.5

Core Constraints II

Logical constraints (sh:or, sh:xone) and closed shapes.

Exercises 4 – 5 · §6.6 – 6.8

The SHACL Engine

Read a validation report: focus nodes, result paths, constraint components, severity.

Exercise 6 · Ch. 8

★

Free Practice & Capstone

Combine four or more constraint categories in one shape — or bring your own domain.

Capstone Challenge

Block A

Shapes, Targets & Paths

Ch. 5

Exercise 1 — First Shape

Target Class, Property Path, Cardinality & Datatype

Create a node shape rule:Book that targets every instance of ont:Book via sh:targetClass. Give it one property shape on the path ont:mainTitle requiring exactly one value, typed as xsd:string.

Concepts: sh:NodeShape, sh:targetClass, sh:property, sh:path, sh:datatype, sh:minCount, sh:maxCount.

Reference Solution

Try it — write your shapes and validate

Write your shape in the Shapes Graph. The data graph has test data: one valid book, one with no title, and one with a non-string title. A correct shape should produce two violations.

Shapes Graph

Data Graph

Validation Output

Block B

Core Constraints I

§6.1 – 6.5

Exercise 2 — Value Type & Range

Age Constraints

Create a shape rule:Person targeting ont:Person with a property shape on ont:age: it must be an xsd:integer, at least 0 (sh:minInclusive) and at most 150 (sh:maxInclusive).

Concepts: sh:datatype, sh:minInclusive, sh:maxInclusive.

Reference Solution

Exercise 3 — String Constraints

Email Pattern (watch the escaping!)

Add a property shape on ont:email that requires the value to look like an email address using sh:pattern. Remember: a backslash inside a Turtle string must be doubled, so \s becomes \\s. Add sh:flags "i" for case-insensitive matching.

Concepts: sh:pattern, sh:flags. Also try: sh:minLength, sh:maxLength.

Reference Solution

Try it — write your shapes and validate

Write both your Person shape (age + email constraints) in the shapes graph. The data has conforming and violating persons — a correct pair of shapes should flag the violations.

Shapes Graph

Data Graph

Validation Output

Block C

Core Constraints II

§6.6 – 6.8

Exercise 4 — Logical Constraints

sh:or (and how it differs from sh:xone)

Every ont:Person must record their birth in at least one way: a full ont:birthDate (xsd:date) or just a ont:birthYear (xsd:gYear). Model this with sh:or. Bonus: swap for sh:xone — what changes for a person who has both?

Concepts: sh:or, sh:xone. See also the truth tables in Reference → Logic.

Reference Solution

Exercise 5 — Closed Shapes

sh:closed & sh:ignoredProperties

Lock down rule:Book so that only declared properties are allowed. Set sh:closed true, declare shapes for ont:mainTitle and ont:author, and use sh:ignoredProperties ( rdf:type ). An undeclared ont:colour should violate.

Concepts: sh:closed, sh:ignoredProperties. The CWA-like constraint.

Reference Solution

Try it — write your shapes and validate

Write both shapes: a Person shape with sh:or (birth date/year) and a closed Book shape. The test data has both conforming and violating instances.

Shapes Graph

Data Graph

Validation Output

Block D

The SHACL Engine

Ch. 8

Exercise 6 — Reading a Validation Report

Focus Node, Result Path, Source Constraint Component

The editor below is pre-loaded with shapes and intentionally broken data. Hit Validate and read the report. Answer: (1) How many sh:ValidationResults? (2) For each, what is the sh:focusNode, sh:resultPath, and sh:sourceConstraintComponent? (3) What sh:resultSeverity is used?

Reference Answer

Pre-loaded: shapes + broken data

Just hit Validate and study the report. The data has three deliberate violations for you to find.

Shapes Graph

Data Graph

Validation Output

Capstone

Free Practice & Capstone

Combine everything

Capstone — Combined Constraints

Bring It All Together

Design one complete rule:Book shape using constraints from at least four categories: cardinality + datatype on ont:mainTitle, a value-type rule on ont:author, a string rule (sh:pattern) on ont:isbn, a logical rule (sh:or), and optionally sh:closed.

Or: bring your own domain! Movies, recipes, employees, sensors — model shapes and validate real data.

Reference Solution

Your playground

Write your shapes on the left. The data graph has test books — some conforming, some violating multiple constraints at once. Or clear it and bring your own domain.