a new quotation operator to automatically unindent %q and %Q

[Suraj Kurapati]

Hello everyone,

Many times I have faced the situation of embedding multi-line strings in
my programs while wanting to preserve the indentation of the surrounding
code:

module Foo
class Bar
def to_s
%q{
This block of text will,

unfortunately,

contain the indentation of

the
surrounding
code!

Unless we manually remove it,
as shown by the gsub() below:

}.gsub(/^ /, '')
end
end
end

The same problem occurs for "here documents" as well. We are forced to
manually remove the indentation.

I would like to propose a new set of string quotation operators %s and
%S which behave just like %q and %Q respectively, except that they are
automatically unindented by the Ruby interpreter using the first line of
non-whitespace text:

amount_to_unindent = input_string[/\A(?:\r?\n)+([ \t]+)(?=\S)/, 1]
input_string.gsub! /^#{amount_to_unindent}/, ''

What do you think?

Thanks for your consideration.

 

[Ken Bloom]

Hello everyone,

Many times I have faced the situation of embedding multi-line strings in
my programs while wanting to preserve the indentation of the surrounding
code:

module Foo
class Bar
def to_s
%q{
This block of text will,

unfortunately,

contain the indentation of

the
surrounding
code!

Unless we manually remove it,
as shown by the gsub() below:

}.gsub(/^ /, '')
end
end
end

The same problem occurs for "here documents" as well. We are forced to
manually remove the indentation.

I would like to propose a new set of string quotation operators %s and
%S which behave just like %q and %Q respectively, except that they are
automatically unindented by the Ruby interpreter using the first line of
non-whitespace text:

amount_to_unindent = input_string[/\A(?:\r?\n)+([ \t]+)(?=\S)/, 1]
input_string.gsub! /^#{amount_to_unindent}/, ''

What do you think?

Thanks for your consideration.

Use the facets gem's String#margin instead?

--Ken

 

[Michael Guterl]

Hello everyone,

Many times I have faced the situation of embedding multi-line strings in
my programs while wanting to preserve the indentation of the surrounding
code:

module Foo
class Bar
def to_s
%q{
This block of text will,

unfortunately,

contain the indentation of

the
surrounding
code!

Unless we manually remove it,
as shown by the gsub() below:

}.gsub(/^ /, '')
end
end
end

The same problem occurs for "here documents" as well. We are forced to
manually remove the indentation.

I would like to propose a new set of string quotation operators %s and
%S which behave just like %q and %Q respectively, except that they are
automatically unindented by the Ruby interpreter using the first line of
non-whitespace text:

amount_to_unindent = input_string[/\A(?:\r?\n)+([ \t]+)(?=\S)/, 1]
input_string.gsub! /^#{amount_to_unindent}/, ''

What do you think?

%s is already in use for symbols.

 

[Trans]

Hello everyone,

Many times I have faced the situation of embedding multi-line strings in
my programs while wanting to preserve the indentation of the surrounding
code:

=A0 module Foo
=A0 =A0 class Bar
=A0 =A0 =A0 def to_s
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 %q{
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 This block of text will,

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 unfortunately,

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 contain the indentation of

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 the
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 surrounding
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 code!

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Unless we manually remove it,
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 as shown by the gsub() below:

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 }.gsub(/^ =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0/, '')
=A0 =A0 =A0 end
=A0 =A0 end
=A0 end

The same problem occurs for "here documents" as well. =A0We are forced to
manually remove the indentation.

I would like to propose a new set of string quotation operators %s and
%S which behave just like %q and %Q respectively, except that they are
automatically unindented by the Ruby interpreter using the first line of
non-whitespace text:

=A0 amount_to_unindent =3D input_string[/\A(?:\r?\n)+([ \t]+)(?=3D\S)/, 1= ]
=A0 input_string.gsub! /^#{amount_to_unindent}/, ''

What do you think?

Hi--

This is not an uncommon request. Consider:

http://rcrchive.net/rcrs/2

Long long ago I proposed %l and %L:

%l{
|This block of text will,
|
| unfortunately,
|
|contain the indentation of
|
| the
| surrounding
| code!
|
|Unless we manually remove it,
|as shown by the gsub() below:
}

But matz does not seem to see merit in any of this. I'm not sure why.

T.

 

[Ken Bloom]

Hello everyone,

Many times I have faced the situation of embedding multi-line strings
in my programs while wanting to preserve the indentation of the
surrounding code:

  module Foo
    class Bar
      def to_s
        %q{
          This block of text will,

            unfortunately,

          contain the indentation of

            the
                surrounding
                            code!

          Unless we manually remove it,
          as shown by the gsub() below:

        }.gsub(/^          /, '')
      end
    end
  end

The same problem occurs for "here documents" as well.  We are forced to
manually remove the indentation.

I would like to propose a new set of string quotation operators %s and
%S which behave just like %q and %Q respectively, except that they are
automatically unindented by the Ruby interpreter using the first line
of non-whitespace text:

  amount_to_unindent = input_string[/\A(?:\r?\n)+([ \t]+)(?=\S)/, 1]
  input_string.gsub! /^#{amount_to_unindent}/, ''

What do you think?

Hi--

This is not an uncommon request. Consider:

http://rcrchive.net/rcrs/2

Long long ago I proposed %l and %L:

%l{
|This block of text will,
|
| unfortunately,
|
|contain the indentation of
|
| the
| surrounding
| code!
|
|Unless we manually remove it,
|as shown by the gsub() below:
}

But matz does not seem to see merit in any of this. I'm not sure why.

T.

Probably because it can easily be done in a library. See the facets gem's
String#margin

 

[Brian Candler]

What do you think?

Just an observation: it will require all the quoted lines to use tabs
and spaces for indenting in an exactly consistent way, otherwise it
probably won't work.

Using an explicit marker like | is probably better for that reason.