Re: Allow '-' in field names? Support for Debian's multi-line format?

[Jose E. Marchesi]

Hi Simon.

> Have you considered allowing '-' in field names?
>
> Currently the field names seems to be hard-coded to
> '[a-zA-Z%][a-zA-Z0-9_]*' in recutils.  Many files I encounter (e.g.,
> Debian archive Releases/Packages files, RFC2822 e-mails) also allows
> '-'.  How about changing the allowed field name regexp to
> '[a-zA-Z%][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*'?

Yes, I have considered it, with the same use-case in mind :)

The problem is that in selection expressions we are providing an infix
operator - for subtraction.

So, either:

- We add an alternative syntax to selection expressions that allows '-'
  in field names, such as lisp-like, or

- We expect '-' normalized to '_' when referring to field names in
  selection expressions, or

- We live with the limitation of not being able to refer to such fields
  in selection expressions.

> Debian uses a multi-line format like this:
>
> Foo: bar
>  baz
>  foo
>  .
>  foo
>  bar
>  baz
>
> What do you think of supporting that format as well?
>
> I could look into implementing it, but I thought I'd ask first if this
> has been discussed and rejected before for some reason that isn't clear
> to me.

Sure :)
The support Debian syntax has been in the TODO for ages :/