Re: [9fans] simplicity

["Jack Johnson" <knapjack@gmail.com>]

On 10/9/07, erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:
> i think i see what the reasoning is.  the thought is that, e.g.,
> in spanish [a-z] should match ñ.

Ah, thanks!

I was thinking of the simplistic scenario, where someone might be
looking for niño in some file, regardless of what locale they might
happen to be in.  Now I can imagine the nightmare it must be for
non-English speakers looking for letter combinations irrespective of
accents.

But, it seems more like a problem with the shorthand than grep, per
se.  I could see an argument for [:alpha:] potentially matching n and
ñ depending on the locale, but [a-z] not matching ñ in any locale. But
even that, my tendency would be that [:alpha:] match ñ in every
locale.

But then, does [:alpha:] match ἄγαθος?  How ironic that it doesn't match α.

What an ugly problem.

-Jack