Re: [Docutils-users] Re: Dash-transformation

[David G. <go...@py...>]

[David Goodger]
 >> I don't know about inserting a set of predefined substitution
 >> definitions into the parser.  But we could certainly include a set
 >> of substitution files in Docutils.  Then the author could do:
 >>
 >>      .. include:: <dashes.txt>

[Felix Wiemann]
 > I'm not sure if the benefit is big enough enough to justify the
 > effort of adding such a feature and maintaining a set of 'standard'
 > substitution files.

I think it may be justified, although it doesn't have to be done right
away.  I'm -1 on adding any built-in substitution definitions; a set
of standard substitution definition files is the closest I'd agree to.

 > But what about multi-line unicode definitions?  Recognize the option
 > iff the last line is ':trim:'?

That's not an issue.  It's taken care of by the directive parsing
code.  I added a "trim" option to the "unicode" directive; it doesn't
do anything except set an attribute.  Here's the result:

$ quicktest.py <<EOF
.. |x| unicode:: U+0041
    U+0042
    :trim:

|x|
EOF
<document source="<stdin>">
     <substitution_definition name="x" trim="1">
         A
         B
     <paragraph>
         <substitution_reference refname="x">
             x

Note the 'trim="1"' in <substitution_definition ...>.

 >> And other characters can be used as markup delimiters, not just
 >> spaces.  For example, hyphens can be used.
 >
 > I think that would be over-engineering.  We don't *really* need it,
 > do we?

Perhaps not right away, but I anticipate it may become necessary if
the feature becomes popular.  I'd be happy just to add it to the to-do
list with a big "?", for now.

-- 
David Goodger <http://python.net/~goodger>