From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Unquoted special characters in regexps Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2006 07:52:07 -0500 Message-ID: References: <4400AD8E.5050001@gmx.at> <4400BBB1.2050800@gmx.at> <200602252213.k1PMDBP24413@raven.dms.auburn.edu> <4401A98D.3070809@gmx.at> <4401E0F2.7030800@gmx.at> <4401FCBA.1070206@gmx.at> <200602280059.k1S0xYD07415@raven.dms.auburn.edu> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1141673537 19838 80.91.229.6 (6 Mar 2006 19:32:17 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 19:32:17 +0000 (UTC) Cc: rudalics@gmx.at, schwab@suse.de, emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Mar 06 20:31:41 2006 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1FGLQj-00064z-00 for ; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 20:31:41 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FGLQt-0001Oj-5U for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:31:51 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FGLAV-0000FT-Sw for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:14:56 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FGLAR-0000DK-9J for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:14:54 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FGJyG-0003hW-GI for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 12:58:12 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FGFES-0007LL-OC for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 07:54:36 -0500 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.34) id 1FGFC3-00079F-G2; Mon, 06 Mar 2006 07:52:07 -0500 Original-To: Luc Teirlinck In-reply-to: <200602280059.k1S0xYD07415@raven.dms.auburn.edu> (message from Luc Teirlinck on Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:59:34 -0600 (CST)) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org X-Spam-Report: 5.0 points; * 0.0 BAYES_50 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 50 to 56% * [score: 0.5000] * 5.0 RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET RBL: Received via a relay in bl.spamcop.net * [Blocked - see ] Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:51282 Archived-At: The basic concept of a character class is an entity surrounded by matching parentheses. However, quirks such as quoting make it necessary to understand the construct in terms of left-to-right parsing for complete understanding of the details. I think the manual needs to explain both levels--the first level so beginners can begin to understand, and the second level for precise thinking about counterintuitive regexps. I could certainly do that, but I am terribly overloaded. Would someone else like to try it? Meanwhile, I sure wish the quoting conventions for regexps were more rational. But that would be an incompatible change and I think the minuses will always outweigh the pluses.