On 10/21/2016 07:52 AM, Reuben Thomas wrote: > Since the regexp code is widely used, with mechanically-defined syntax > variants, in GNU grep, GNU sed etc., it would seem possible to have a > mechanically-generated manual, which takes a set of GNU regexp syntax > flags, as taken by re_set_syntax, and spits out suitably-configured > documentation. > > This could be either incorporated into other programs' manuals, or, perhaps > better, supplied as standalone info files and man pages, suitable for > cross-referencing from other programs' manuals, rather like a user-level > version of the current gnulib/regex.texi. > > In principle it would be possible to compile a manual for every possible > syntax variant, but in practice I imagine one would want to supply one for > POSIX BREs and EREs, GNU-extended EREs (i.e. GNU egrep syntax) and Emacs.
In fact, such documentation already exists, and IS used in other GNU manuals: at least findutils and m4 use the regexprops-generic module, which generates the gnulib file doc/regexprops-generic.texi as a human-readable user description of all regex flavors. -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
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