[docs] [issue12731] python lib re uses obsolete sense of \w in full violation of UTS#18 RL1.2a
Tom Christiansen
report at bugs.python.org
Sat Aug 13 02:18:24 CEST 2011
Tom Christiansen <tchrist at perl.com> added the comment:
> Terry J. Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> added the comment:
> However desireable it would be, I do not believe there is any claim in the =
> manual that the re module follows the evolving Unicode consortium r.e. stan=
My from the hip thought is that if re cannot be fixed to follow
the Unicode Standard, it should be deprecated in favor of code
that can if such is available, because you cannot process Unicode
text with regular expressions otherwise.
> dard. If I understand, you are saying that this statement in the doc, "Matc=
> hes Unicode word characters;" is not now correct and should be revised. Was=
> it once correct? Could we add "by an older definition of 'word' character"=
> ?
Yes, your hunch is exactly correct. They once had a lesser definition that
they have now. It is very very old. I had to track this down for Java
once. There is some discussion of a "word_character class" at least
as far back as tr18v3 from back in 1998.
http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/tr18-3.html
By the time tr18v5 rolled around just a year later in 1999, the overall
document has changed substantially, and you can clearly see its current
shape there. Word characters are supposed to include all code points with
the Alphabetic property, for example.
http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/tr18-5.html
However, the word "alphabetic" has *never* been synonymous in
Unicode with
\p{gc=Lu}
\p{gc=Ll}
\p{gc=Lt}
\p{gc=Lm}
\p{gc=Lo}
as many people incorrectly assume, nor certainly to
\p{gc=Lu}
\p{gc=Ll}
\p{gc=Lt}
let alone to
\p{gc=Lu}
\p{gc=Ll}
Rather, it has since its creation included code points that are not
letters, such as all GC=Nl and also certain GC=So code points. And,
notoriously, U+0345. Indeed it is here I first noticed that that Python had
already broken with the Standard, because U+0345 COMBINING GREEK
YPOGEGRAMMENI is GC=Mn, but Alphabetic=True, yet I have shown that
Python's title method is messing up there.
I wouldn't spend too much in archaeological digs, though, because lots of
stuff has changed since the less millennium. It was in tr18v7 from 2003-05
that we hit paydirt, because this is when the famous Annex C of RL1.2a
fame first appeared:
http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/tr18-7.html#Compatibility_Properties
Notice how it defines \w to be nothing more than \p{alpha}, \p{digit}, and
\p{gc=Pc}. It does not yet contain the requirement that all Marks be
counted as part of the word, just the few that are alphas -- which the
U+0345 counts for, since it has an uppercase map of a capital iota!
That particular change did not occur until tr18v8 in 2003-08, barely
a scant three months later.
http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/tr18-8.html#Compatibility_Properties
Now at last we see word characters defined in the modern way that we
have become used to. They must match any of:
\p{alpha}
\p{gc=Mark}
\p{digit}
\p{gc=Connector_Punctuation}
BTW, Python is matching all of
\p{GC=N}
meaning
\p{GC=Nd}
\p{GC=Nl}
\p{GC=No}
instead of the required
\p{GC=Nd}
which is a synonym for \p{digit}.
I don't know had that happened, because \w has never included
all number code points in Unicode, only the decimal number ones.
That all goes to show why, when citing conformance to some aspect of
The Unicode Standard, one must be exceedingly careful just how one
does so!
The Unicode Consortium recognizes this is an issue, and I am pretty
sure I can hear it in your own subtext as well.
Kindly bear with and forgive me for momentarily sounding like a standard
lawyer. I do this because to show not just why it is important to get
references to the Unicode Standard correct, but indeed, how to do so.
After I have given the formal requirements, I will then produce
illustrations of various purported claims, some of which meet the
citation requirements, and others which do not.
=======================================================================
To begin with, there is an entire technical report on conformance.
It includes:
http://unicode.org/reports/tr33/
The Unicode Standard [Unicode] is a very large and complex standard.
Because of this complexity, and because of the nature and role of the
standard, it is often rather difficult to determine, in any particular
case, just exactly what conformance to the Unicode Standard means.
...
Conformance claims must be specific to versions of the Unicode
Standard, but the level of specificity needed for a claim may vary
according to the nature of the particular conformance claim. Some
standards developed by the Unicode Consortium require separate
conformance to a specific version (or later), of the Unicode Standard.
This version is sometimes called the base version. In such cases, the
version of the standard and the version of the Unicode Standard to
which the conformance claim refers must be compatible.
However, you don't need to read tr33, really, because *the* most important
thing bits about conformance are to be found on pp. 57-58 of Chapter 3 of
the published Unicode Standard:
http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/ch03.pdf
References to the Unicode Standard
The documents associated with the major, minor, and update versions are called the major
reference, minor reference, and update reference, respectively. For example, consider Uni-
code Version 3.1.1. The major reference for that version is The Unicode Standard, Version
3.0 (ISBN 0-201-61633-5). The minor reference is Unicode Standard Annex #27, "The Uni-
code Standard, Version 3.1." The update reference is Unicode Version 3.1.1. The exact list of
contributory files, Unicode Standard Annexes, and Unicode Character Database files can
be found at Enumerated Version 3.1.1.
The reference for this version, Version 6.0.0, of the Unicode Standard, is
The Unicode Consortium. The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0.0, defined
by: The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0 (Mountain View, CA: The Uni-
code Consortium, 2011. ISBN 978-1-936213-01-6)
References to an update (or minor version prior to Version 5.2.0) include a reference to
both the major version and the documents modifying it. For the standard citation format
for other versions of the Unicode Standard, see "Versions" in Section B.6, Other Unicode
Online Resources.
Precision in Version Citation
Because Unicode has an open repertoire with relatively frequent updates, it is important
not to over-specify the version number. Wherever the precise behavior of all Unicode char-
acters needs to be cited, the full three-field version number should be used, as in the first
example below. However, trailing zeros are often omitted, as in the second example. In such
a case, writing 3.1 is in all respects equivalent to writing 3.1.0.
1. The Unicode Standard, Version 3.1.1
2. The Unicode Standard, Version 3.1
3. The Unicode Standard, Version 3.0 or later
4. The Unicode Standard
Where some basic level of content is all that is important, phrasing such as in the third
example can be used. Where the important information is simply the overall architecture
and semantics of the Unicode Standard, the version can be omitted entirely, as in example 4.
References to Unicode Character Properties
Properties and property values have defined names and abbreviations, such as
Property: General_Category (gc)
Property Value: Uppercase_Letter (Lu)
To reference a given property and property value, these aliases are used, as in this example:
The property value Uppercase_Letter from the General_Category prop-
erty, as specified in Version 6.0.0 of the Unicode Standard.
Then cite that version of the standard, using the standard citation format that is provided
for each version of the Unicode Standard.
When referencing multi-word properties or property values, it is permissible to omit the
underscores in these aliases or to replace them by spaces.
When referencing a Unicode character property, it is customary to prepend the word "Uni-
code" to the name of the property, unless it is clear from context that the Unicode Standard
is the source of the specification.
References to Unicode Algorithms
A reference to a Unicode algorithm must specify the name of the algorithm or its abbrevia-
tion, followed by the version of the Unicode Standard, as in this example:
The Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm, as specified in Version
6.0.0 of the Unicode Standard.
See Unicode Standard Annex #9, "Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm,"
(http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr9/tr9-23.html)
=======================================================================
Now for some concrete citation examples, both correct and dubious.
In the JDK7 documentation for on the Character class we find:
Character information is based on the Unicode Standard, version 6.0.0.
That one is a perfectly good conformance citation, even if there seems
a bit of wiggle in "is based on", but no matter. It is short and does
everything it needs to.
However, in the JDK7 documentation for the Pattern class we
somewhat problematically find:
Unicode support
This class is in conformance with Level 1 of Unicode Technical
Standard #18: Unicode Regular Expression, plus RL2.1 Canonical
Equivalents.
And similarly, in the JDK7 documentation for the Normalizer class we find:
This class provides the method normalize which transforms Unicode
text into an equivalent composed or decomposed form, allowing for
easier sorting and searching of text. The normalize method supports
the standard normalization forms described in Unicode Standard
Annex #15 — Unicode Normalization Forms.
The problem with those second two Java refs is that they to my reading
appear to be in technical violation, for they give neither a full
version number nor a date of publication.
You *have* to give one or the other, or both.
Java got themselves into a heap of trouble (so to speak) over
this once before because it turned out that the version of the
document they were actually in conformance with was quite
literally from the previous millennium!!
That's why you need to give versions and publication dates.
Here are some other citations.
First, from the perldelta manpage that the Perl 5.14 release ships with:
Perl comes with the Unicode 6.0 data base updated with Corrigendum
#8 <http://www.unicode.org/versions/corrigendum8.html>, with one
exception noted below. See <http://unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/>
for details on the new release. Perl does not support any Unicode
provisional properties, including the new ones for this release.
That is quite complete, as it even includes the specific which
corrigenda we follow and explains the matter of properties.
Or this from the perlunicode manpage of that same release:
Unicode Regular Expression Support Level
The following list of Unicode supported features for
regular expressions describes all features currently
directly supported by core Perl. The references to "Level
N" and the section numbers refer to the Unicode Technical
Standard #18, "Unicode Regular Expressions", version 13,
from August 2008.
See all that? Notice how it gives the name of the document, its revision
number, and its publication date. You don't have to do all that for the
main Unicode release, but you really ought to when referring to individual
technical reports BECAUSE THESE GET UPDATED ASYNCRONOUSLY.
I would suggest you pick a version of tr18 that you conform to,
and state which of its requirements you do and do not meet.
However, I cannot find any version of tr18 that has existed during the
present millennium that Python comes even close to meeting more than one
or two requirements for. Given that, it may be better to no longer make
any claims regarding Unicode at all. That seems like back-peddaling to
me, not future-thinking.
Matthew's regex module, however, does *almost* everything right that re
does wrong. It may be that as with Java's io vs nio classes (and now
heaven forbid nio2!), you actually can't fix the only module and must
create a wholly new namespace. I cannot answer that.
For RL1.2 proper, the first properties requirement, Java was only missing a
few, so they went and added the missing properties. I strongly urge you to
do so because you cannot handle Unicode without properties. Rl1.2 requires
only 11 of them, so it isn't too hard. Matthew supports many many more.
However, because the \w&c issues are bigger, Java addressed the tr18 RL1.2a
issues differently, this time by creating a new compilation flag called
UNICODE_CHARACTER_CLASSES (with corresponding embedded "(?U)" regex flag.)
Truth be told, even Perl has secret pattern compilation flags to govern
this sort of thing (ascii, locale, unicode), but we (well, I) hope you
never have to use or even notice them.
That too might be a route forward for Python, although I am not quite sure
how much flexibility and control of your lexical scope you have. However,
the "from __future_" imports suggest you may have enough to do something
slick so that only people who ask for it get it, and also importantly that
they get it all over the place so don't have to add an extra flag or u'...'
or whatever every single time.
This isn't something I've looked much into, however.
Hope this clarifies things.
--tom
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