Re: [Nano-devel] Space in syntax names

[Benno Schulenberg]

On Wed, Apr 6, 2016, at 05:22, Mike Scalora wrote:
> I noticed if you try to put a space in a syntax name in the config file you
> get an error [...]
> 
> It is not clear [if] the prohibition is intentional or not [...]

It may have been unintentional in the beginning, but since the
addition of the 'extendsyntax' command it is kind of necessary,
because that command only accepts unquoted syntax names.

> but I can't think
> of a good reason to quote the name if spaces are not permitted.

Probaly it was the intention that the name could contain spaces,
but... I can't think of a good reason why it should.  Such a name
is a kind of identifier, and in programs identifiers cannot contain
spaces either.  If people want a space there, they use an underscore.

> In any case
> the error is a bit misleading since the name is quoted.

It is.  I was considering (see https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?47324)
to allow the syntax name to be unquoted (and change all the
examples and the docs to have unquoted syntax names), but
haven't gotten around to doing that.

Benno

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