* Re: UTF-8 FAQs
2005-01-09 3:33 UTF-8 FAQs Clint Adams
@ 2005-01-11 17:37 ` Peter Stephenson
2005-01-11 18:23 ` Clint Adams
2005-03-23 0:51 ` Clint Adams
0 siblings, 2 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Peter Stephenson @ 2005-01-11 17:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: zsh-workers
Clint Adams wrote:
> The number of questions I've been getting about zsh and UTF-8
> have skyrocketed over the past couple of weeks.
>
> Perhaps some of these belong in the zsh FAQ. Corrections to my stock
> answers are welcome.
I imported it like this. It needs to go into the copy at the web site
(which used to be the master copy, but effectively this one is now;
they're both in CVS).
Index: Etc/FAQ.yo
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/zsh/zsh/Etc/FAQ.yo,v
retrieving revision 1.10
diff -u -r1.10 FAQ.yo
--- Etc/FAQ.yo 16 Aug 2004 09:53:10 -0000 1.10
+++ Etc/FAQ.yo 11 Jan 2005 17:35:54 -0000
@@ -43,14 +43,14 @@
whenman(report(ARG1)(ARG2)(ARG3))\
whenms(report(ARG1)(ARG2)(ARG3))\
whensgml(report(ARG1)(ARG2)(ARG3)))
-myreport(Z-Shell Frequently-Asked Questions)(Peter Stephenson)(2004/08/13)
+myreport(Z-Shell Frequently-Asked Questions)(Peter Stephenson)(2005/01/11)
COMMENT(-- the following are for Usenet and must appear first)\
description(\
mydit(Archive-Name:) unix-faq/shell/zsh
-mydit(Last-Modified:) 2001/08/13
+mydit(Last-Modified:) 2005/01/11
mydit(Submitted-By:) email(pws@pwstephenson.fsnet.co.uk (Peter Stephenson))
mydit(Posting-Frequency:) Monthly
-mydit(Copyright:) (C) P.W. Stephenson, 1995--2004 (see end of document)
+mydit(Copyright:) (C) P.W. Stephenson, 1995--2005 (see end of document)
)
This document contains a list of frequently-asked (or otherwise
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@
2.4. tcsh?
2.5. bash?
2.6. Shouldn't zsh be more/less like ksh/(t)csh?
+2.7. What is zsh's support Unicode/UTF-8?
Chapter 3: How to get various things to work
3.1. Why does `$var' where `var="foo bar"' not do what I expect?
@@ -935,6 +936,46 @@
help.
+sect(What is zsh's support for Unicode/UTF-8?)
+
+ `Unicode', or UCS for Universal Character Set, is the modern way
+ of specifying character sets. It replaces a large number of ad hoc
+ ways of supporting character sets beyond ASCII. `UTF-8' is an
+ encoding of Unicode that is particular natural on Unix-like systems.
+
+ Q: Does zsh support UTF-8?
+
+ A: zsh's built-in printf command supports "\u" and "\U" escapes
+ to output arbitrary Unicode characters. ZLE (the Zsh Line Editor) has
+ no concept of character encodings, and is confused by multi-octet
+ encodings.
+
+ Q: Why doesn't zsh have proper UTF-8 support?
+
+ A: The code has not been written yet.
+
+ Q: What makes UTF-8 support difficult to implement?
+
+ A: In order to handle arbitrary encodings the correct way, significant
+ and intrusive changes must be made to the shell.
+
+ Q: Why can't zsh just use readline?
+
+ A: ZLE is not encapsulated from the rest of the shell. Isolating it
+ such that it could be replaced by readline would be a significant
+ effort. Furthermore, using readline would effect a significant loss of
+ features.
+
+ Q: What changes are planned?
+
+ A: Introduction of Unicode support will be gradual, so if you are
+ interested in being involved you should join the zsh-workers mailing
+ list. As a first step ZLE will be rewritten to use wide characters
+ internally. Character based widgets can then operate on a single wide
+ character instead of a single byte, and the proper display width can be
+ calculated with wcswidth().
+
+
chapter(How to get various things to work)
sect(Why does mytt($var) where mytt(var="foo bar") not do what I expect?)
--
Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com> Software Engineer
CSR PLC, Churchill House, Cambridge Business Park, Cowley Road
Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, UK Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070
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