[issue28951] re.flags not documented in Module Contents as promised.
New submission from kevin: In the online documentation of module re (https://docs.python.org/3.5/library/re.html) under 6.2.1. Regular Expression Syntax for item (?aiLmsux) we are promised "The flags are described in Module Contents" but no description is found there. In fact a number of other references are found to flags, but no description of the individual flags. AFAICT the closest thing to a description is found at the original reference -- at least it gives a code and name for each one. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 283034 nosy: 4Dummies, docs@python priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: re.flags not documented in Module Contents as promised. type: enhancement versions: Python 3.5 _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
R. David Murray added the comment: When I follow the link to module contents, I find a list of the flags with their descriptions. (re.A, re.I, etc, etc). Perhaps you are confusing the letters used in the regular expression to represent the flags with the flags themselves? I'm not sure how we could make that clearer. ---------- nosy: +r.david.murray _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
kevin added the comment: Ordinarily when I see a cross-reference like that "the flags are described in foo" I expect foo to have a heading "FLAGS" so I can tell I'm looking at what was promised. Not knowing much about flags, it was not clear to me that those scattered lines re.A through re.X were the promised descriptions. I didn't even notice them until now, partly because it's made more confusing by all the stuff that's out of alphabetic order. Or I think it is -- it's hard to tell because of things like re.S and re.DOTALL being together. My current guess is that the uppercase things come before lowercase, but those odd pairings are definitely messing with my mind. All of which is just to say it probably makes perfect sense to someone who's used to it, but it's hard on someone new to these docs, and I'm not even new to Python, just to the re module. On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 11:03 AM, R. David Murray <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
R. David Murray added the comment:
When I follow the link to module contents, I find a list of the flags with their descriptions. (re.A, re.I, etc, etc). Perhaps you are confusing the letters used in the regular expression to represent the flags with the flags themselves? I'm not sure how we could make that clearer.
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-- Kevin O'Gorman #define QUESTION ((bb) || (!bb)) /* Shakespeare */ Please consider the environment before printing this email. ---------- Added file: http://bugs.python.org/file45934/unnamed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
R. David Murray added the comment: Making a 'flags' subheading in module contents would be reasonable. Alternatively we could just drop that parenthetical, since the descriptions for each flag are themselves cross-linked. ---------- _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
kevin added the comment: Well, my original problem is that I wanted to find out what the flags did and could not find any pointer in the table of contents. I think they deserve either really good cross-references, or a heading in the contents. And a non-confusing alphabetized list, if they're going to be mixed in with other module contents. On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 6:13 AM, R. David Murray <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
R. David Murray added the comment:
Making a 'flags' subheading in module contents would be reasonable. Alternatively we could just drop that parenthetical, since the descriptions for each flag are themselves cross-linked.
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-- Kevin O'Gorman #define QUESTION ((bb) || (!bb)) /* Shakespeare */ Please consider the environment before printing this email. ---------- Added file: http://bugs.python.org/file45940/unnamed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
kevin added the comment: Oh, and on the alphabetized list, I suggest NOT listing synonyms together, but just mark some as "synonym for X" and listing them all alphabetically (according to "en" collation, not "C" so upper- and lower-case sort together, not separately). On Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 6:13 AM, R. David Murray <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
R. David Murray added the comment:
Making a 'flags' subheading in module contents would be reasonable. Alternatively we could just drop that parenthetical, since the descriptions for each flag are themselves cross-linked.
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_______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
-- Kevin O'Gorman #define QUESTION ((bb) || (!bb)) /* Shakespeare */ Please consider the environment before printing this email. ---------- Added file: http://bugs.python.org/file45941/unnamed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
R. David Murray added the comment: (Please delete the message you are replying to when responding to bug tracker emails.) I think a section heading would be good (three subheads under module contents: functions, flags, and exceptions). I'm less in favor of alphabetical entries for synonyms. We'll see what others think. ---------- _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
Change by Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka+cpython@gmail.com>: ---------- components: +Regular Expressions nosy: +ezio.melotti, mrabarnett stage: -> needs patch versions: +Python 2.7, Python 3.6, Python 3.7 -Python 3.5 _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <https://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
Change by Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka+cpython@gmail.com>: Removed file: https://bugs.python.org/file45941/unnamed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <https://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
Change by Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka+cpython@gmail.com>: Removed file: https://bugs.python.org/file45940/unnamed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <https://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
Change by Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka+cpython@gmail.com>: Removed file: https://bugs.python.org/file45934/unnamed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <https://bugs.python.org/issue28951> _______________________________________
participants (3)
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kevin -
R. David Murray
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Serhiy Storchaka