From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Structural regular expressions Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:48:01 +0200 Message-ID: <jwvd3sjxekd.fsf-monnier+emacs@gnu.org> References: <loom.20100907T212314-566@post.gmane.org> <AANLkTimYvE0aqrG-OQxuY6BTca7ngzrfQUa62mOxyV=+@mail.gmail.com> <loom.20100907T222143-475@post.gmane.org> <87sk1lt4uf.fsf@gmail.com> <jwvsk1kaav2.fsf-monnier+emacs@gnu.org> <pvhphbi0wq0d.fsf@gmx.li> <jwvlj7c9ura.fsf-monnier+emacs@gnu.org> <46875.130.55.118.19.1284065220.squirrel@webmail.lanl.gov> <AANLkTimUS7zL77TGiWoEdS+=nuww=TSABKMZuSiYPaCc@mail.gmail.com> <E1Ou5lY-0006Jj-MB@fencepost.gnu.org> <AANLkTi=dv8n40x-rTtz@mail.gmail.com> <loom.20100910T221237-941@post.gmane.org> <E1OuSKz-0004vv-Gp@fencepost.gnu.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1284299455 21682 80.91.229.12 (12 Sep 2010 13:50:55 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:50:55 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Tom <levelhalom@gmail.com>, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: rms@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Sep 12 15:50:54 2010 Return-path: <emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org> Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from <emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org>) id 1OumxK-0000xj-8b for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:50:54 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:57325 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OumxJ-0001Cy-SP for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:50:53 -0400 Original-Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=58892 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Oumub-0008Me-PI for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:48:07 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>) id 1Oumua-0001u1-KZ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:48:05 -0400 Original-Received: from impaqm4.telefonica.net ([213.4.138.4]:26215) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>) id 1Oumua-0001tc-Ce for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:48:04 -0400 Original-Received: from IMPmailhost6.adm.correo ([10.20.102.127]) by IMPaqm4.telefonica.net with bizsmtp id 5pjZ1f00p2kvMAa3Qpo292; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:48:02 +0200 Original-Received: from ceviche.home ([83.61.39.212]) by IMPmailhost6.adm.correo with BIZ IMP id 5po11f0064aeRwb1mpo1N5; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:48:02 +0200 X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAA== X-TE-authinfo: authemail="monnier$movistar.es" |auth_email="monnier@movistar.es" X-TE-AcuTerraCos: auth_cuTerraCos="cosuitnetc01" Original-Received: by ceviche.home (Postfix, from userid 20848) id 2FEEB660D2; Sun, 12 Sep 2010 15:48:01 +0200 (CEST) In-Reply-To: <E1OuSKz-0004vv-Gp@fencepost.gnu.org> (Richard Stallman's message of "Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:49:57 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." <emacs-devel.gnu.org> List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-devel>, <mailto:emacs-devel-request@gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel> List-Post: <mailto:emacs-devel@gnu.org> List-Help: <mailto:emacs-devel-request@gnu.org?subject=help> List-Subscribe: <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-devel>, <mailto:emacs-devel-request@gnu.org?subject=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 Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:130013 Archived-At: <http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel/130013> > Thanks for the explanation. I think the term "structural regular > expressions" is misleading because its grammatical construction > implies a different kind of regexp, rather than a different way of > applying them. > V/pattern select all matches > V|pattern select all lines with match > V{scope select all matching scopes > Vatype select all objects (inclusive) > Vttype select all objects (exclusive) > Y/pattern select everything but matches > Y|pattern select all lines without match > Y{scope select everything but scope > Yatype select everything but objects (inclusive) > Yttype select everything but objects (exclusive) > Are `V/' etc. literal, or do they stand for some other text? > Where would this syntax be used? The term "structural regular expression" is indeed misleading, I think. They use it to refer to the combination of 2 things: 1- the ability to select particular kinds of elements in the text (which we could do in Emacs with non-contiguous regions). The main example being commands that select "all the strings" or "all the comments" or that inverts the selection (select everything that wasn't selected before). 2- the ability to apply regexp-operations to only those selected parts of the text (to the extent that we already have commands that apply only to the active region, we already have that, although it would probably require several tweaks to make it work right in the face of non-contiguous regions). Together this allows you to do things like apply query-replace to all non-string non-comment parts of the buffer, which is why they call it "structural" regexps. Stefan