GNU bug report logs - #22801
status on committed change: upgrading 'sed' RE's to include perlRE syntax.

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Linda A. Walsh" <gnu <at> tlinx.org>
To: bug-sed <at> gnu.org
Subject: status on committed change: upgrading 'sed' RE's to include perlRE
 syntax.
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:04:49 -0800

Hmm....  while the maintainers of sed, said that it was a no-brainer
to add in another RE engine (like grep) corresponding to the perlRE,
and said it would be out by August of 2014, I see no version with
this update nor do I see it mentioned in the latest online documentation.

Does anyone know what happened to this?



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: RFE: upgrade 'sed' RE's to include perlre syntax.
Date: 	Fri, 12 Feb 2016 12:30:05 -0800
References: 	<53CE1FCC｡7070607＠tlinx｡org> <53D11BCF｡20400＠gnu｡org> 
<87fvhqyams｡fsf＠gnu｡org> <53D1C11E｡3040806＠tlinx｡org>




Hey anyone -- I know it's been a while though I don't wanna be
pushy or such.. ;-)

But, um, anyone know where or what happened
to this change that was to have gone in 1.5 - 2 years ago? 

Source RPM  : sed-4.2.2-5.1.2.src.rpm
Build Date  : Thu 25 Sep 2014 01:15:55 AM PDT
Vendor      : openSUSE
Distribution: openSUSE 13.2

Thanks!
linda

p.s. - Had to work to try to make the quoting legible,
so original is in HTML, but am including txt as
well, but have no idea how clear it will be
considering how the HTML looks... ;-)


On 2014/07/24 at 19:29, Linda A. Walsh wrote:
>
> On 2014/07/24 at 09:39, Jose E. Marchesi wrote:
>>
>> On 2014/07/22 at 07:44, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
>>>
>>> Il 22/07/2014 10:24, Linda A. Walsh ha scritto:
>>>> Both simple atoms such as "\d" for [0-9] or "\S" for non-space 
>>>> characters are supported in awk and have been added to grep with 
>>>> the -P switch.
>>>>
>>>> Would it be possible to add a -P type switch to 'sed' so that 
>>>> PCRE-compat RE's could be used? 
>>>
>>> Yes, indeed part of the work is already done and part of the GNU sed 
>>> tarball (search for REG_PERL). Though the option was -R, not -P.
>>>
>>> Paolo 
>>
>> I want to release a new version of sed this August (it is time!) and 
>> I would love to include this functionality on it. I think it is not 
>> too late to use -P instead of -R, to keep some uniformity with the 
>> other tools. 
>
> I can try... :)
> Jose, in the meanwhile can you update gnulib in the sed repository?
> Paolo
>
>>
>> On 2014/07/24 at 09:52, Jose E. Marchesi wrote:
>>
>>     Done. 
>>
>
> Awesome. I don't have a heavy preference on -R v. -P, but trying to 
> keep similar function switches the same between tools would be a bonus.
>
> It is REALLY a headache remember what the switch is to specify the 
> "delimiter" char in sort vs. cut, et al. I always seem to pick the 
> wrong one. 

Message #8 received at 22801 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: jemarch <at> gnu.org (Jose E. Marchesi)
To: "Linda A. Walsh" <gnu <at> tlinx.org>
Cc: 22801 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#22801: status on committed change: upgrading 'sed' RE's to
 include perlRE syntax.
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 16:19:31 -0800

Hi Linda.

    Hmm....  while the maintainers of sed, said that it was a no-brainer
    to add in another RE engine (like grep) corresponding to the perlRE,
    and said it would be out by August of 2014, I see no version with
    this update nor do I see it mentioned in the latest online documentation.
    
    Does anyone know what happened to this?

It was never completed.  I will look at it.

Message #11 received at 22801 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Linda A. Walsh" <gnu <at> tlinx.org>
To: "Jose E. Marchesi" <jemarch <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 22801 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#22801: status on committed change: upgrading 'sed' RE's to
 include perlRE syntax.
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 17:08:26 -0800

Jose E. Marchesi wrote:
> Hi Linda.
>
>     Hmm....  while the maintainers of sed, said that it was a no-brainer
>     to add in another RE engine (like grep) corresponding to the perlRE,
>     and said it would be out by August of 2014, I see no version with
>     this update nor do I see it mentioned in the latest online documentation.
>     
>     Does anyone know what happened to this?
>
> It was never completed.  I will look at it.
>   
I was afraid it fell into one of those 'cracks'...though from
what was said at the time, some part of the work was already
done and it looked like a matter of docs and packaging...
(though, I admit, in Computer Sci, the last 10% of the work
often takes 90% of the time... I'm wondering when Clark's
3rd law will kick in:

 "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

:-)
*cheers* and thanks!
Linda

Message #14 received at 22801 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: "Linda A. Walsh" <gnu <at> tlinx.org>
Cc: 22801 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, "Jose E. Marchesi" <jemarch <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#22801: status on committed change: upgrading 'sed' RE's to
 include perlRE syntax.
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2017 03:16:04 +0000

tags 22801 wontfix
close 22801
stop

Hello,

On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 05:08:26PM -0800, Linda A. Walsh wrote:
>Jose E. Marchesi wrote:
>>    Does anyone know what happened to this?
>>
>>It was never completed.  I will look at it.
>
>I was afraid it fell into one of those 'cracks'...though from
>what was said at the time, some part of the work was already
>done and it looked like a matter of docs and packaging...

Work on this feature (pcre support in GNU sed) was
never fully completed, and is currently shelved indefinitely.

It would be inordinately difficult to make it as good as perl
(especially with regard to multi-line processing),
and would complicate sed while providing little gain (when
perl itself is readily available).

I'm thus closing and marking this item as 'wontfix'.
However discussion can continue by replying to this thread.

regards,
- assaf

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