<nav class="toc" role="toc"><ul><li><a href="../../introduction/dita-release-overview.html">Introduction</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/dita-terminology.html">DITA terminology, notation, and conventions</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/introduction-to-dita.html">Overview of DITA</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/accessibility-and-translation.html">Accessibility and translation</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/dita-map-processing.html">DITA map processing</a><ul class="nav nav-list"><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/dita-maps-and-their-usage.html">DITA maps and their usage</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/subject-scheme-maps-and-usage.html">Subject scheme maps and their usage</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/map-cascading.html">Metadata cascading</a><ul class="nav nav-list"><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/cascading-in-a-ditamap.html">Cascading of metadata attributes in a DITA map</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/reconciling-topic-and-map-metadata.html">Reconciling topic and map metadata elements</a></li><li class="active"><a href="../../archSpec/base/map-to-map-cascading-of-metadata.html">Map-to-map cascading behaviors</a><ul class="nav nav-list"><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/cascading-of-attributes-from-map-to-map.html">Cascading of attributes from map to map</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/cascading-of-metadata-elements-from-map-to-map.html">Cascading of metadata elements from map to map</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/examples-of-cascading.html">Examples of metadata cascading</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/chunking.html">Chunking</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/ditaaddressing.html">DITA addressing</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/behaviors.html">DITA processing</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/configuration-specialization-and-constraints.html">Configuration and specialization </a></li><li><a href="../../langRef/langRef-base.html">Element reference</a></li><li><a href="../../conformance/conformance.html">Conformance</a></li><li><a href="../../acknowledgments/acknowledgments.html">Acknowledgments</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/aggregated-RFC-2119-statements.html">Aggregated RFC-2119 statements</a></li><li><a href="../../archSpec/base/coding-requirements.html">Coding practices for DITA grammar files</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/developing-constraint-and-expansion-modules.html">Constraint modules</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/expansion-modules.html">Expansion modules</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/elementsMerged.html">Element-by-element recommendations for translators</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/formatting-expectations.html">Formatting expectations</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/migrating-to-dita-2.0.html">Migrating to DITA 2.0</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/basedoctypes.html">OASIS grammar files</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/interoperability-considerations.html">Processing interoperability considerations</a></li><li><a href="../../non-normative/revision-history.html">Revision history</a></li></ul></nav><main role="main" class=""><article role="article" aria-labelledby="ariaid-title1"> <h1 class="title topictitle1" id="ariaid-title1">Map-to-map cascading behaviors</h1> <p class="shortdesc">When a DITA map or <span style="color:red;" class="ph">map branch</span> is referenced by another DITA map, by default certain rules apply. These rules pertain to the cascading behaviors of attributes, metadata elements, and <span style="color:red;" class="ph">the</span> roles <span style="color:red;" class="ph">that are</span> assigned to content <span style="color:red;" class="ph">, for</span> example, the role of "Chapter" <span style="color:red;" class="ph">that is</span> assigned by a <code class="keyword markupname xmlelement">&lt;chapter&gt;</code> element. Attributes and elements that cascade within a map generally follow the same rules when cascading from one map to another map, but there are some exceptions and additional rules that apply.</p> <nav role="navigation" class="related-links"><ul class="ullinks"><li class="link ulchildlink"><strong><a href="../../archSpec/base/cascading-of-attributes-from-map-to-map.html">Cascading of attributes from map to map</a></strong><div class="desc">Certain <span style="color:red;" class="ph">attributes</span> cascade from map to map.</div></li><li class="link ulchildlink"><strong><a href="../../archSpec/base/cascading-of-metadata-elements-from-map-to-map.html">Cascading of metadata elements from map to map</a></strong><div class="desc">Elements that are contained within <code class="keyword markupname xmlelement">&lt;topicmeta&gt;</code> elements follow the same rules for cascading from map to map as the rules that apply within a single DITA map.</div></li></ul><div class="familylinks"><div class="parentlink"><strong>Parent topic:</strong> <a class="link" href="../../archSpec/base/map-cascading.html" title="Metadata cascading is the process by which metadata elements and attributes specified for a map or for a topic reference cascade to nested references. This allows metadata properties to be set once and apply to an entire map or branch of a map.">Metadata cascading</a></div></div></nav><aside class="section-toc" role="aside"></aside></article></main>