[Python-Dev] should we keep the \xnnnn escape in unicode strings?

Fredrik Lundh Fredrik Lundh" <effbot@telia.com
Sun, 16 Jul 2000 13:04:45 +0200


mal wrote:

> >     1. treat \x as a hexadecimal byte, not a hexadecimal
> >     character.  or in other words, make sure that
> >=20
> >         ord("\xabcd") =3D=3D ord(u"\xabcd")
> >=20
> >     fwiw, this is how it's done in SRE's parser (see the
> >     python-dev archives for more background).
...
> >     5. leave it as it is (just fix the comment).
>=20
> I'd suggest 5 -- makes converting 8-bit strings using \x
> to Unicode a tad easier.

if that's the main argument, you really want alternative 1.

with alternative 5, the contents of the string may change
if you add a leading "u".

alternative 1 is also the only reasonable way to make ordinary
strings compatible with SRE  (see the earlier discussion for why
SRE has to be strict on this one...)

so let's change the question into a proposal:

    for maximum compatibility with 8-bit strings and SRE,
    let's change "\x" to mean "binary byte" in unicode string
    literals too.

</F>