Re: [abnf-discuss] Wherefore no HTAB in literal text strings in ABNF

Sean Leonard <[email protected]> Thu, 18 Aug 2016 19:47:03 -0700
Newsgroups gmane.ietf.rfc822
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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> On Aug 15, 2016, at 2:02 AM, Paul Overell <[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
>=20
>=20
> On 15/08/16 02:34, Sean Leonard wrote:
>> Hello Knowledgeable ABNF Folks:
>>=20
>> I have been working with RFC 5234 lately. What is the rationale (or =
what are the rationales) for including SP %d32 but excluding HTAB %d9 in =
char-val, aka the literal text string? I am sure that this decision was =
not an oversight.
>>=20
>> It may be appreciated that the comment production is defined as WSP, =
which includes HTAB.
>>=20
>>=20
>=20
>    char-val       =3D  DQUOTE *(%x20-21 / %x23-7E) DQUOTE
>                                 ; quoted string of SP and VCHAR
>                                 ;  without DQUOTE
>=20
> So that the contents of a string literal are visible and unambiguous =
to a human reader - spaces and tabs look alike.  For comments is doesn't =
matter if the white space comprises of spaces or tabs, it doesn't change =
the meaning of a comment.  But for strings it's important for a human =
reader to know exactly what's in them.=20
>=20
>=20
> Regards
> --=20
> Paul Overell

Thank you. That was one of the justifications that I was thinking, and =
what I was looking for.

Best regards,

Sean=

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<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Aug 15, 2016, at 2:02 AM, Paul Overell &lt;<a href="mailto:[email protected]" class="">[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
  
    <meta content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv="Content-Type" class="">
  
  <div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class=""><p class=""><br class="">
    </p>
    <br class="">
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15/08/16 02:34, Sean Leonard wrote:<br class="">
    </div>
    <blockquote cite="mid:[email protected]" type="cite" class="">
      <pre wrap="" class="">Hello Knowledgeable ABNF Folks:

I have been working with RFC 5234 lately. What is the rationale (or what are the rationales) for including SP %d32 but excluding HTAB %d9 in char-val, aka the literal text string? I am sure that this decision was not an oversight.

It may be appreciated that the comment production is defined as WSP, which includes HTAB.


</pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br class="">
    <pre class="newpage">   char-val       =  DQUOTE *(%x20-21 / %x23-7E) DQUOTE
                                ; quoted string of SP and VCHAR
                                ;  without DQUOTE

</pre>
    So that the contents of a string literal are visible and unambiguous
    to a human reader - spaces and tabs look alike.&nbsp; For comments is
    doesn't matter if the white space comprises of spaces or tabs, it
    doesn't change the meaning of a comment.&nbsp; But for strings it's
    important for a human reader to know exactly what's in them.&nbsp;</div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class="">
    <br class="">
    <br class="">
    Regards<br class="">
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Paul Overell</pre>
  </div>

</div></blockquote></div><br class=""><div class=""><div>Thank you. That was one of the justifications that I was thinking, and what I was looking for.</div><div><br class=""></div><div>Best regards,</div><div><br class=""></div><div>Sean</div></div></body></html>
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