^L character in Lib/email/generator.py

[hexchain]

BPO	33434
Nosy	@njsmith, @hexchain

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2018-05-06.08:12:55.736>
created_at = <Date 2018-05-06.07:54:27.707>
labels = ['3.8', '3.7', 'library', 'invalid']
title = '^L character in Lib/email/generator.py'
updated_at = <Date 2018-05-06.08:15:25.223>
user = 'https://github.com/hexchain'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2018-05-06.08:15:25.223>
actor = 'njs'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2018-05-06.08:12:55.736>
closer = 'serhiy.storchaka'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2018-05-06.07:54:27.707>
creator = 'hexchain'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 33434
keywords = []
message_count = 3.0
messages = ['316229', '316230', '316231']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['njs', 'hexchain']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue33434'
versions = ['Python 2.7', 'Python 3.4', 'Python 3.5', 'Python 3.6', 'Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8']

[hexchain]

There is a "^L" character in line 25 of the Lib/email/generator.py file, and it seems it's there for a long time (since commit 8b3febe).

Is it intended or some carelessness? It does not seem to have any functional impact, though.

[serhiy-storchaka]

It is intended. Emacs use it for separating sections of code. Python parser specially supports this character.

[njsmith]

That's a "form feed" or "page break" character: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_break

Quoting that page: "The form feed character is sometimes used in plain text files of source code as a delimiter for a page break, or as marker for sections of code. Some editors, in particular emacs and vi, have built-in commands to page up/down on the form feed character. This convention is predominantly used in Lisp code, and is also seen in C and Python source code."

It's perhaps a bit old-fashioned, but some of us are old-fashioned kinds of people :-).