Re: Unicode strings and invalid codepoints

On Mon, 9 Mar 2015, Chris Angelico wrote:

> There's a bit of a discussion happening on python-list about whether
> or not it should be legal to have codepoints like U+D800 in Unicode
> strings. Currently, both Python and Pike permit them, but reject them
> if you try to, for example, convert to UTF-8. But a suggestion has
> been made that the mere presence of \uD800 in a string literal should
> be a syntax error, and I'm wondering: Has anyone considered and
> rejected this, or is it simply something that nobody's thought to
> disallow?

Well, as U+D800 is legal in UTF-16 strings (which BTW is why it is 
reserved), I don't see a reason to prohibit it.

> Are there situations in which it's necessary to be able to store these
> kinds of noncharacters in a string?

Yes.

-- 
Henrik Grubbström					[email protected]
Roxen Internet Software AB