1. foo
1. bar
2. baz
2. lorem
ipsum
This table is just showing ownership for the plain list items, not the containing plain list nor the elements inside each item.
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines |
|---|---|
| foo (includes bar baz) | Yes |
| bar | Yes |
| baz | Yes |
| lorem | No |
In this test case, we see that the only list item that doesn’t own its trailing blank lines is “lorem”, the final list item of the outer-most list.
We add “cat” as a paragraph at the end of foo which makes “baz” lose its trailing blank lines.
1. foo
1. bar
2. baz
cat
2. lorem
ipsum
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines |
|---|---|
| foo -> cat (includes bar baz) | Yes |
| bar | Yes |
| baz | No |
| lorem | No |
In isolation, this implies that the final plain list item does not own its trailing blank lines, which conflicts with “baz” from test 1.
New theory: List items own their trailing blank lines unless they are both the final list item and not the final element of a list item.
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines | Why |
|---|---|---|
| foo -> cat (includes bar baz) | Yes | Not the final list item |
| bar | Yes | Not the final list item |
| baz | No | Final item of bar->baz and not the final element of “foo” |
| lorem | No | Final item of foo->lorem and not contained in a list item |
So if that theory is true, taking the entire (foo -> lorem) list from test 1 and nesting it inside a list should coerce “lorem” to own its trailing blank lines since it would then be a final list item (of foo -> lorem) and the final element of the new list.
1. cat
1. foo
1. bar
2. baz
2. lorem
ipsum
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines |
|---|---|
| cat (includes foo -> lorem) | No |
| foo (includes bar baz) | Yes |
| bar | Yes |
| baz | Yes |
| lorem | No |
Against expectations, we did not coerce lorem to consume its trailing blank lines. What is different between “baz” and “lorem”? Well, “baz” is contained within “foo” which has a “lorem” after it, whereas “lorem” is contained within “cat” which does not have any list items after it.
New theory: List items own their trailing blank lines unless they are both the final list item and not the final element of a non-final list item.
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines | Why |
|---|---|---|
| cat (includes foo -> lorem) | No | Final list item and not contained in a list item |
| foo (includes bar baz) | Yes | Not the final list item |
| bar | Yes | Not the final list item |
| baz | Yes | Final element of non-final list item |
| lorem | No | Final list item and final element of final list item |
So if that theory is true, then we should be able to coerce lorem to consume its trailing blank lines by adding a second item to the cat list.
1. cat
1. foo
1. bar
2. baz
2. lorem
2. dog
ipsum
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines |
|---|---|
| cat (includes foo -> lorem) | Yes |
| foo (includes bar baz) | Yes |
| bar | Yes |
| baz | Yes |
| lorem | Yes |
| dog | No |
For the first time our expectations were met!
Enduring theory: List items own their trailing blank lines unless they are both the final list item and not the final element of a non-final list item.
| Plain List Item | Owns trailing blank lines | Why |
|---|---|---|
| cat (includes foo -> lorem) | Yes | Not the final list item |
| foo (includes bar baz) | Yes | Not the final list item |
| bar | Yes | Not the final list item |
| baz | Yes | Final element of non-final list item |
| lorem | Yes | Final element of non-final list item |
| dog | No | Final list item and not contained in a list item |