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01525: Line continuation in Page Text Variables

Summary: Line continuation in Page Text Variables
Created: 2025-08-27 22:13
Status: Open
Category: Bug
From: simon
Assigned:
Priority: 3
Version: latest
OS: PHP 8.3

Description:

declaring a page text variable 
:mypagetextvariable : some \
concatenated \
lines
mypagetextvariable
some concatenated lines
viewing declared page text variable 
{PITS/01525$:mypagetextvariable}
other text

some other text

I had hoped the 'line joining' ("\") would be done prior to page text variable assembly. I expected the see the output:

some concatenated lines
simon

great examples, some thoughts below

simon

How about these cases below, what would you expect: 

otherpagetextvariable: some 
concatenated 
lines

{$:otherpagetextvariable}
other text

otherpagetextvariable: some concatenated lines

some other text

this is effectively the same as the primary example, so should work the same 
:otherpagetextvariable1 : some \\
split \\
lines

{$:otherpagetextvariable1}
other text
otherpagetextvariable1
some
split
lines

some
other text

line break works as expected 
:otherpagetextvariable2 : [=some
concatenated
lines=]

{$:otherpagetextvariable2}
other text
otherpagetextvariable2
some concatenated lines

[=some other text

arguably the "tokenisation" should occur first, so the text variable should include all the text in the brackets [= =] 
:otherpagetextvariable3 : [@some
split
lines@]

{$:otherpagetextvariable3}
other text
otherpagetextvariable3 
some
split
lines

[@some other text

arguably the "tokenisation" should occur first, so the text variable should include all the text in the brackets [@ @] 
[@
:otherpagetextvariable4 : some
split
lines@]

{$:otherpagetextvariable4}
other text

:otherpagetextvariable4 : some
split
lines

some other text

if the "tokenisation" came first, so the text variable would not exist 
(:if false:)
:otherpagetextvariable5 : some text
(:ifend:)

{$:otherpagetextvariable5}
other text

some text other text

this is understandable given the parsing priority (tokenisation before in-line markup before multi-line markup) 
(:WrappingPTV:
:otherpagetextvariable6 : something else
:otherpagetextvariable7 : nothing else
at all
:)

* {$:otherpagetextvariable6}
* {$:otherpagetextvariable7}

{$:WrappingPTV}
other text
  • something else
  • nothing else
otherpagetextvariable6
something else
otherpagetextvariable7
nothing else

at all other text

interesting example

This page text variable pattern is designed to only take the text up to the end of line. The trailing backslash will be included and processed later - possibly joining the next line in the place the PTV is inserted. Petko

thanks for the interesting examples. I'm not trying to relitigate markup processing order. Just to understand it and to ensure that design choices are logical, made deliberately, and intuitively make sense simon 
otherpagetextvariable8: some 
 concatenated 
 lines

{$:otherpagetextvariable8}
 other text

otherpagetextvariable8: some 

 concatenated 
 lines

some 

 other text

We could allow for custom functions to be configured, one could pre-process the page text before searching for the page text variables. For example, it could join the lines ending in backslash, and tokenize the escaped texts. The variables could then be assigned. A post-processing function could then restore the escaped markup. Since this would change the existing processing, webmasters would have the responsibility to maintain it (and some core functions and templates may stop working). Petko