[swift-evolution] multi-line string literals

[Jason Dusek]

On Thu, 10 Dec 2015 at 21:45, Travis Tilley via swift-evolution <
swift-evolution at swift.org> wrote:

The ruby <<- heredoc syntax, unlike the << heredoc syntax, will strip
> indentation if necessary. Technically, it searches for the "least indented
> line" in the whole string, and removes exactly that amount from each line.
> So yes, the indentation problem -is- solved in ruby (though it might break
> entirely if you have empty lines, since the least indented line has no
> indentation).
>
To my mind, the rules should be:

   1. The indentation level is set from the least indented line that is not
   the first line and is not empty.
   2. A leading empty line is removed.
   3. The leading line, if there is any text in it, is not subject to
   de-indentation.

I genuinely believe these three rules taken together address all the errors
and infelicities to which triple quotes and HEREDOCs subject us. Here are
some examples:

text = """
    Some

  Features
    Are
    Discussed
"""# From (1): The indentation is taken from the third line below
`text`, so it's 2.# From (2): First line is: "\n" so it is removed.#
>From (3): No effect.

text = """  Some

          Features
            Are
            Discussed
"""# From (1): The indentation is taken again from the line reading
"Features". Here it is 10.# From (2): No effect.# From (3): The
leading whitespace in `  Some` is preserved.

Do you all think these rules pass muster?

A fourth rule — one which seems advisable but also less necessary than the
others — is that a string constructed in this way always ends with a
newline. It is a rule that perhaps leads to surprises and inconsistencies.

Best Regards,

Jason
​
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.swift.org/pipermail/swift-evolution/attachments/20151211/fc814401/attachment.html>