AIML

Overview

AIML is the Artificial Intelligence Markup Language. It is an XML standard for defining chat bot responses. Bot Libre bots support AIML, but are based on Self and have a knowledge base similar to the human brain.

About AIML

AIML defines how a bot should respond to a question using <pattern> and <template> elements. A pattern represents the user's question, and the template defines the bot's response. The pattern and template elements are grouped in a category element, which can be grouped under topic elements.

List of AIML template tags

Tags	Description
<star index="N"/>	Replaced with value of * in pattern (or Nth *).
<that index="M,N"/>	Replaced with value of bot's previous response (or Mth previous response, and N sentence of the response).
<input index="N"/>	Replaced with value of users's input (or Nth *).
<thatstar index="N"/>	Replaced with value of * in "that" (or Nth *).
<topicstar index="N"/>	Replaced with value of * in topic (or Nth *).
<get name="XXX"/>	Replaced by the value of the conversation specific variable.
<bot name="XXX"/>	Replaced by the value of the bot specific variable.
<sr/>	Short form for <srai><star/><srai> (replaced with response to value of * from pattern).
<person2/>	Converts the text (or <star/>) between 1st and 2nd person (I <-> he, etc.).
<person/>	Converts the text (or <star/>) between 1st and 3rd person (I <-> you, etc.).
<gender/>	Converts the text (or <star/>) between male and female (he <-> she).
<date/>	Replaced with the current date and time, a "format" attribute is also supported.
<id/>	Replaced by the client id.
<size/>	Replaced with the size of bot's memory.
<version/>	Replaced with the AI engine version.
<uppercase>	Converts the text to uppercase.
<lowercase>	Converts the text to lowercase.
<formal>	Converts all words in the text to be capitalized.
<sentence>	Converts the first word in the text to be capitalized.
<condition name="X" value="Y">	Defines an "if" condition based on comparing the value of a variable to a pattern.
<condition name="X">	Case statement.
<condition>	Multi-valued if/else statement.
<random>	Choose on of the nested <li> values at random.
<li name="X" value="Y">	Used in random and condition tags.
<li value="Y">	Used in random and condition tags.
<li>	Used in random and condition tags.
<set name="XXX">	Set the value of a variable.
<gossip>	Logs the text.
<srai>	Recursively evaluates the text and replaces it with the response.
<think>	Evaluates the nested statements but does not output any result.
<learn>	Load external AIML file, this is not currently allowed.
<system>	Executes a OS command, this is not currently allowed.
<javascript>	Executes JavaScript code.
<topic>	Category topic tags can now be set on a category to make it easier to add categories to topics.
<map>	Maps tag to allow the lookup of the element value in a predefined mapping, returning the mapped value.
<loop>	Condition loops tag to loop a conditional statement.
<var>	Local variables attribute for variables scoped to a category.
<sraix>	Remote requests tag to make a remote request of another bot instance, or service.
<normalize> and <denormalize>	Normalization and denormalization tags to convert special character into words, and back again.
<request>	Request tag to return the user's previous input request.
<response>	Response tag to return the bot's previous response.
<learn>, <learnf>, and <eval>	Learning tags to dynamically train a bot with new responses.
<explode>	Explode tag to split a word into its characters.
<oob>	Mobile (out of band) tag to support client and mobile device commands.
(<b>, <a>, <i>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <p>, <br>, <button>, <img>, <video>)	Various HTML tags are also allowed.
<self>	Evaluate Self code (Bot Libre extension).

List of AIML pattern operators

Tags	Description
*	Matches one or more words.
_	Matches one or more words, takes priority over all other words and wildcards, except $.
^	Matches zero or more words.
#	Matches zero or more words, takes priority over all other words and wildcards, except $.
$	Pattern priority marker to make a pattern word match highest priority.
()	Optional set of words (Bot Libre extension).
[]	Required set of words (Bot Libre extension).
<set>	Set tag to evaluate a pattern based on words defined in a predefined set.
/	Regular expression pattern (Bot Libre extension).
{}	Self code (Bot Libre extension).

Examples

Here is a simple 'Hello World' AIML example:
This code will make your bot respond with 'Hello to you too' to the question 'Hello World'.



Here is a simple wildcard example:
This code will make your bot respond with 'Hello to you too' to any question containing the word 'hello'.



Here is a joke 'that' example:
This code will make your bot tell a joke.



Here is a complex template example:
This code will make your bot respond to the question 'Do you like apples or do you like oranges' with 'I love apples and I love oranges'.



^ and # Wildcards



$ Priority



() and [] Lists



Regular expressions



Sets



AIML template to set a knowledge object's type:



Pattern tags



Attributes as Elements



Maps



Bot Libre extends the map operation to also allow setting the map value. This will set the value of a relationship on the knowledge object.



Conditions and Loops



Learning



Sraix



Self

See Also

• Scripting your bot with AIML
• What's new in AIML 2.0