perl-unicode

Re: In-Band Information Considered Harmful

1998-10-29 13:32:31
(Again, this is not to resurrect the whole thread; we're just noodling
around with RE syntax.)

According to Andy Wardley:
Chip:
OTOH, all things being equal, I'd favor adding escape sequences
instead of adding new interpretations for existing characters and then
requiring new flags on the REs that use them.

Fair enough.  I wonder then if Ilya's suggestion of extending the 
syntax inside the braces, rather than using \m and \M is worth 
investigating?

   \m{?= bold}
   \m{?! bold?
   \m{?< bold}
   \m{?<! bold}

Well, I'd like to think we could dispense with the question marks.

OTOH, if were to mean _switch_ to the metadata stream, then:

   (?=\mbold)
   (?!\mbold)
   (?<\mbold)
   (?<!\mbold)

Or even add the 'm' after the '?' in a regular assertion:
   (?m= bold)
   (?m! bold)
   (?m< bold)
   (?m<! bold)

Yes, that's got potential as well.
-- 
Chip Salzenberg        - a.k.a. -        <chip(_at_)perlsupport(_dot_)com>
      "There -- we made them swerve slightly!"   //MST3K