Re: Embedding pod in other languages

[John M. Dlugosz]

Verbatim lines need some sort of special identification (currently =v followed by whitespace) to allow processed lines to begin in some column other than 0.

I don't like that. It will be a bear to use, unless your editor handles that for you.

'^.*#\s*ifdef\s+pod\b'

That will find a #ifdef pod anywhere on the line, even with other stuff on it. In C, the # has to be the first non-whitespace character on a line, and it won't tolerate stuff after the expression other than whitespace and comments. In fact /^.*/ seems kind of silly, since the two cancel out. If it's not anchored to the front, you don't need to skip stuff! I think you wanted /^\s*# .../.

I like the idea of embedding extraction details for known languages, to encourage standardization, but still allow it to be customized.

[jpl]

Good catch on the ^.* typo!

I'm not thrilled with the =v tag for verbatim lines, but I couldn't think of a better alternative. I considered a mechanism for starting and ending a "verbatim block", but controlling the amount of indent on each line fights with the desire to allow extra content up front. Assuming you start with a block of "verbatim text", most editors I know make it easy to paste a =v at the start of each line, after which you can adjust what comes before to suit the language and style.

[John M. Dlugosz]

Is there some flaw in my suggestion of matching the indent level of the =code line that initiates it?

[jpl]

There is no perfect solution. "Matching the indent level" of a mixture of blanks and tabs relies on knowing where the tab-stops are. We could add a bunch more options to support the notion of tab-stops, as perltidy does, but that doesn't protect you from an inadvertent (or deliberate) leading space that turns a line into a verbatim line when that wasn't the intent. For what I have been trying to do, verbatim lines are relatively uncommon, so I don't mind going a little out of my way to make other stuff foolproof, if that makes verbatim lines a bit clumsier.

Given the response to this thread that could most charitably be described as "tepid", I have what I need, and I'm pleased that I'm not reinventing some existing wheel. If you have a preference for an alternative that works better for you, go for it. I'm not eager to push the idea much further.