Re: revised restatement of the RE rules

Everyone seems to be ignoring Michael's immediately preceding posting, which
contains all that an XML user will need to know about RE handling, so I'll
repeat it here:

> RE is insignificant
>(i.e. not passed to any downstream application, not part of the
>XML grove plan) when it occurs in any of the following patterns:

>  start-tag nondata* RE
>  RE nondata* end-tag
>  RS nondata+ RE

>where non-data is defined this way:

>  nondata ::= comment declaration
>             | processing instruction
>             | character reference
>             | entity reference
>             | entity-end
>             | marked section declaration
>             | included subelement
>             | short reference
>             | shortref use declaration
>             | link set use declaration

For the record, both James Clark and myself agree with this statement, which is
both concise and formal.

Michael then went on to provide some examples:

>The element Q contains no REs in any of the following cases:

>  <q>
>  Listen to my heart beat.
>  </q>

>This is the simple case:  RE adjacent to a start-tag or end-tag.

>  <q>
>  <!-- sound track is silent -->
>  Listen to my heart beat <!-- --
>  ><?DIRECTOR begin: audio>
>  and beat and beat and beat.
>  </q>

>Here rule (a) takes care of line 1, rule (c) of line 2, the comment of
>line 3, rule (c) again of line 4, and rule (b) of line 5.

>  <q><!-- sound track is silent -->
>  Listen to my heart beat.
>  </q>

>This is the one case I can think of where the first RE is not
>actually adjacent to the start-tag.

>-C. M. Sperberg-McQueen

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Charles F. Goldfarb * Information Management Consulting * +1(408)867-5553
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