Re: [Docutils-users] Cloning option_list format

[Kent L. <ke...@br...>]

Thanks David. 

> 
> An alternative is to adapt your list as follows:
> 
>    --select expr  select matching source names
>    --start expr   set starting point for reading (expr = pktid or time)

The main problem was actually not with the '{pktid|time}' argument, it was with the multi-letter options preceded by only a single hyphen. Were I to double the hyphen so those options conform to POSIX usage, as you suggest, the option_list parsing would recognize them properly as options, however they would then no longer match the multi-million line code-base I'm documenting. 

> My first reaction is to answer "mu" -- unask the question. Rethink the
> problem, maybe use the workaround above. Why do you want to exactly
> reproduce a construct without using that construct?

First of all I like the looks of it, it's compact and elegant; second I'd like to use the option_list auto-parsing for most of the code base, most of which has POSIX-compliant options. That would mean I would have to hand-construct just a few option tables for the non-POSIX options, however I'd like them to match the style of everything else. 

> Seems like you'd
> be going to a lot of effort for little return.

Well, I was hoping it would be easy. 

> You could use a table without inline literals, but inline markup:
> 
>    .. class:: my-option-list
> 
>    =================  ======================================================
>    \--select *expr*   select matching source names
>    \--start *expr*    set starting point for reading (expr = pktid or time)
>    =================  ======================================================
> 
> The backslashes prevent the options from being parsed as option lists.
> You'd have to figure out the "my-option-list" style to apply. I'm
> pretty sure it can be done, but I'd have to look it up.

I guess that was the point of my question, though perhaps as a restructured-text newbie I didn't pose it well. How do I figure out, cast, and invoke the "my-option-list" style to match the installed default? 

Web-surfing and docutils source-code diving haven't yet proven fruitful for me. I'm not sure where to look. If this is truly a big challenge I may indeed have to punt and do something approximate as you suggest. Clearly the docutils package knows somewhere how to format option_list output tables, so I was hoping it wouldn't be too much of a treasure hunt to reproduce its recipe for that. Clues welcome -- 

Thanks, 
Kent