NE-ON: multiline string support

[ViliamKopecky]

I tried to make a pull-request, but got lost in the Tokenizer insides.

I propose using the python multiline string syntax.

From NE-ON:

"""
this
is
"multiline"
'string'
"""

To PHP:

"this\nis\n\"multiline\"\n'string'"

[enumag]

Are you sure such string should be in config and not database or a template?

[vojtech-dobes]

@enumag I think that @ViliamKopecky would welcome it in Ristretto. Basically NEON is just data format, does not have to be necessarily for configuration (which should not contain such long strings).

[enumag]

In case of Ristretto, yes it might be a good thing. :-)

[ViliamKopecky]

@vojtech-dobes exactly ;)

[Majkl578]

It would be good for translations as well.

[dg]

In Neon is missing support for multiline strings, because I don't know how handle indentation in this:

item:
    inner: 
        "multi
        line
        string"

[enumag]

@dg I'd do it like this:

item:
    inner: 
        "multi
        line
        string"

= "multi\nline\nstring"

item:
    inner: 
        "multi
         line
         string"

= "multi\n line\n string"

[Majkl578]

Maybe something like HEREDOC in PHP? One line starts multiline content:

foo:
    bar: """
        abc
        def    
"""

But doesn't look good. :/

[enumag]

@Majkl578 What about this

foo:
    bar:
        """
        abc
        def    
        """

[Majkl578]

It's still confusing since indentation level normally means "array"... But probably best option.

[ViliamKopecky]

I think the indetation should be ignored (value should be as is, without removing indentation) inside the string. Its the value, what if you would want to have the indentation inside the string.

foo:
    bar:
        test:
            more:
"""
multi
line
string
"""
        blah: anything
    something:
        - 'i think'
        - 'this could work'

It's not nice, but multiline strings aren't nice anywhere :) so... And I presume it won't be widely used feature.

[vojtech-dobes]

In response to @dg's example - I think it should strip the indentation.

item:
    inner:
        multi
        line
        string

Should return:

multi
line
string

But

item:
    inner:
        multi
          line
         string

Should return:

multi
  line
 string

If I am right, then just text without - at beginning or text without : after key part does not mean anything in NEON now.

[JanTvrdik]

👎 all of the proposed syntaxes are ugly

[fprochazka]

What about:

item:
    inner: "multi
        line
        string"

should return

multi
        line
        string

and

item:
    inner: 
        """
        multi
        line
        string
        """

should return

multi
line
string

[Elijen]

What's wrong with:

item:
    inner: "multi\nline\nstring"

[fprochazka]

@Elijen nothing, it works. But you have to write those \n which is annoying.

[Majkl578]

Maybe not as annonying as telling your BFU translator to put "\n" instead of line break. :)

[milo]

I would prefer to strip indentation. There can be condition "only if exists on every next line". Neon content stay readable.

[milo]

Next question: Should be EOL normalized from \r\n to \n? I would prefer it.

[dg]

\n, sure

[ViliamKopecky]

What about, stripping indetation based on the ending """ indentation?

foo:
    bar: """
        this
        is
        string
"""

> "        this\n        is\n        string"

foo:
    bar: """
        this
        is
        string
        """

# or

foo:
    bar: """
this
is
string
"""

> "this\nis\nstring"

[hrach]

I think that the best distinctive solution is a different syntax.

With indentation

item:
    inner: 
        """
        multi
        line
        string
        """

No indentation

item:
    inner: 
        multi
        line
        string

[dg]

This is

item:
    inner: {
        multi
        items
        list
    }

so it is not good idea to confuse it with multi line string. And """ looks really weird.

Stripping base indentation in quoted string in block flow is probably good enough.

[Majkl578]

Stripping indentation is good.
There still must be way to use quotes, text often contains illegal characters which kill the parser, e.g. comma.

[ViliamKopecky]

""" are used in Python and CoffeeScript (these I know about, but there are probably more).

And both use singificant whitespace syntax similarly to NE-ON.

I see the advantage in not needing to escape single " - which when writing longer text can be annoying (especially when writing HTML or Texy).

[hrach]

""" is also used in Mozilla localization language. http://l20n.org/

[TomasVotruba]

What is the multiline syntax apart using `\n' then?

[JanTvrdik]

https://github.com/nette/neon/blob/master/tests/Neon/Decoder.multiline.phpt

[TomasVotruba]

I've read that and found only one liners. I'm looking for multiline string.

[JanTvrdik]

What can I say, read it again. Or maybe I don't understand your question at all.

[TomasVotruba]

I'm trying to write something like this but with no success:

key:
    multi
    line
    value

Edit: oh, so this is the syntax?

Is there any else?

---

key: """
    multi
    line
    value
"""

key: '''
    multi
    line
    value
''''

[JanTvrdik]

Let me be more specific

• https://github.com/nette/neon/blob/437defe8601611325c58c8afc0e159c24b7bceb9/tests/Neon/Decoder.multiline.phpt#L137-L140
• https://ne-on.org/

[TomasVotruba]

Thanks, much better!

I expected that in the begging, since that's the real issue.