ietf-nntp Wildmats

[Clive D. W. Feather]

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In message <877l21qu5u.fsf at erlenstar.demon.co.uk>, Andrew Gierth 
<andrew at erlenstar.demon.co.uk> writes
> Clive>     wildmat = wildmat-pattern *("," ["!"] wildmat-pattern)
>
>I reiterate my objection that a single wildmat, and a comma-delimited
>list of (possibly negated) wildmats, are separate syntactic entities
>and should not be combined in this way.

I'm happy to let others argue this out.

I simply suggest that, if the consensus is with you, the single wildmat 
have the same syntax as "wildmat-pattern" does here; in particular, 
unescaped comma forbidden and must not start with an exclamation mark.

>In fact, the present text severely interferes with attempts to
>handle complex pattern lists efficiently.

Can you explain this point, please ?

> Clive> [W6: the grammar does not treat , in sets as special. This
> Clive> means that the wildmat "a[b,c]d" is a single pattern that
> Clive> matches the three strings "abd", "a,d", and "acd". Are we
> Clive> happy with this ? It matches existing practice
>
>it does no such thing. Existing practice, where a list of wildmats is
>expected, treats ',' as a delimiter without any escape mechanism (and
>none is needed).

This can be changed trivially if that's what people want. However, it 
will mean that there is no way to include a comma in a set.

- -- 
Clive D.W. Feather    | Internet Expert      | Work: <clive at demon.net>
Tel: +44 20 8371 1138 | Demon Internet       | Home: <clive at davros.org>
Fax: +44 20 8371 1037 | Thus plc             | Web:  <http://www.davros.org>
Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address

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