Re: Autoexpand

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from TBaehr@xxxxxxxx Thu, 23 Jan 1997 01:40:59 -0500 (EST)
 
> Be careful with 3-byte chars., however. I haven't been able to get most of
> them to work. It would be nice to be able to expand "emd" to an em-dash, but
> no go.

In principle, its possible: almost all 3-byte chars work fine. The
problem with em dash (I assume we're referring to extended char 260 here)
is the specific composition of this character, which is 255-4-0. That
terminal null is the stumbling block, because the personal SPell file
treats all of its text as absolute $tring literals -- no "interpretation"
whatsoever, prior to introducing the text into the XyWrite text window or
command line. In other words, "[260]" is not treated as a 3-byte unit, but
as three discreet chars. Unfortunately, Ascii-0, by itself, cannot be
introduced into Xy4|XyWin no how no way, but only as a constituent of a
3-byter. This means that all extended chars between [256] and [511] will
fail, because they all terminate with Ascii-0. [512] also fails, because
Ascii-0 is in the second position (254-0-1); but starting with [513], the
facility works fine! (513+ terminate with Ascii-1). Try it.

Incorporating Ascii-0, 26, 254, and 255 into important functions
and 3-byters (remember the wierd behavior of func WC in v3+?) has always
caused problems, to which the designer paid insufficient attention.



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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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