From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#31698: 27.0; `rx' help: Show equivalent regexp constructs Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2018 21:30:18 +0300 Message-ID: <83efhnd8p1.fsf@gnu.org> References: <66469700-731c-4a05-a06e-51dba8dd8149@default> <83fu23dc85.fsf@gnu.org> <8e6225c9-73f1-4d5c-b62e-26596d556433@default> Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1528050552 19926 195.159.176.226 (3 Jun 2018 18:29:12 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2018 18:29:12 +0000 (UTC) Cc: 31698@debbugs.gnu.org To: Drew Adams Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Jun 03 20:29:08 2018 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXkV-00050S-48 for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 20:29:03 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:36206 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXmc-0000Do-5U for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:31:14 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:59259) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXmU-0000De-NM for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:31:07 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXmQ-0001q3-4n for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:31:06 -0400 Original-Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.43]:52621) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXmQ-0001pe-03 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:31:02 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXmP-00004q-Nv for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:31:01 -0400 X-Loop: help-debbugs@gnu.org Resent-From: Eli Zaretskii Original-Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-CC: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Resent-Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2018 18:31:01 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: help-debbugs@gnu.org X-GNU-PR-Message: followup 31698 X-GNU-PR-Package: emacs X-GNU-PR-Keywords: Original-Received: via spool by 31698-submit@debbugs.gnu.org id=B31698.152805062732716 (code B ref 31698); Sun, 03 Jun 2018 18:31:01 +0000 Original-Received: (at 31698) by debbugs.gnu.org; 3 Jun 2018 18:30:27 +0000 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:60518 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXlr-0008Vc-5B for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:30:27 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:39739) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXlp-0008VN-4y for 31698@debbugs.gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:30:25 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXlf-0001GP-DJ for 31698@debbugs.gnu.org; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:30:19 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::e]:34053) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXlf-0001GE-9J; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:30:15 -0400 Original-Received: from [176.228.60.248] (port=4560 helo=home-c4e4a596f7) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1fPXld-0007j0-7N; Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:30:13 -0400 In-reply-to: <8e6225c9-73f1-4d5c-b62e-26596d556433@default> (message from Drew Adams on Sun, 3 Jun 2018 10:53:29 -0700 (PDT)) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 208.118.235.43 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "bug-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:146919 Archived-At: > Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2018 10:53:29 -0700 (PDT) > From: Drew Adams > Cc: 31698@debbugs.gnu.org > > > Given it's not-so-widespread use (and even outright critique of its > > very raison d'être), I see no need to describe this in the manual. If > > and when its use becomes more widespread, we could consider that. For > > now, it will just bloat the manual. > > Perhaps its not-so-widespread use is _partly_ due to the lack > of more helpful doc? I very much doubt that, and the recent discussion seems to concur. > I'm thinking, in particular, of people who are familiar > with regexps (Elisp or other) but not with `rx'. I'm one such person, and yet I see no problem with the current documentation. > > > 2. Please document (in the doc string of `rx', if nowhere else) the > > > correspondences between each of the `rx' constructs and regexp > > > syntax. At least please document the most important ones. For > > > example, `zero-or-more' presumably corresponds to postfix regexp > > > char `*'. > > > > Really? Doesn't "zero-or-more" define the effect as clearly as > > possible? I think it does. > > Perhaps you're missing the point. Yes, `zero-or-more' > describes the effect. No, it does not tell you which > `rx' construct corresponds to `*' in a regexp. Again, > I'm thinking, in particular, of people who are familiar > with regexps (Elisp or other) but not with `rx'. Again, I'm one such person, and it was immediately clear to me what 'zero-or-more' translates to. > You must scan 212 lines (!) of doc string before you get to > `and' (aka `seq', aka `:', aka `sequence'), which tells you > how to write a sequence of patterns. There will always be something for which you will need to scan 212 lines before you get to it. There isn't too much one can say on a single line, so something's gotta give. > > Having said all that, if someone wants to work on this and thinks they > > can improve on the current state of affairs, feel free. > > I certainly _hope_ people feel free to help. I guess > you say that to make clear that you are leaving the > request open. Did you see me close it?