[Doc-SIG] Local References

Tony J Ibbs (Tibs) tony@lsl.co.uk
Thu, 22 Mar 2001 10:15:30 -0000


> Clarification on the syntax..  is *anything* that looks like [this] a
> local reference, or does it have to be preceeded by "a parenthetical
> like"[this] or "a parenthetical and a colon like":[this]?

Anything that looks like [this] is a local reference. It should be
rendered exactly as it looks in the ST text (i.e., as I said in another
message, in HTML it might be::

	<a href="#this">[this]</a>

> What happens if the referent is missing?

If validation is on, the user gets a warning (i.e., the implementation
is expected to be able to detect this case). docutils doesn't do this
yet, but it clearly should.

> What is acceptable content for [this]?  '[\w_-]+'?

Acceptable contents is::

	[-_A-Za-z] [-_A-Za-z0-9]* | [0-9]+

(i.e., there are two legitimate forms - the first is a a traditional
"identifier", and the second is a simple integer - this latter is
included because it is a common form in text as people write it - cf:
PEPs. Looking at it, I'm not sure I should allow a hyphen as the first
character of the "identifier" form - that may be a typo.)

Tibs


--
Tony J Ibbs (Tibs)      http://www.tibsnjoan.co.uk/
Give a pedant an inch and they'll take 25.4mm
(once they've established you're talking a post-1959 inch, of course)
My views! Mine! Mine! (Unless Laser-Scan ask nicely to borrow them.)