GNU bug report logs - #50202
bibtex-mode: unescaped dollar sign in file field leads to wrong highlighting

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Message #20 received at 50202 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Monnier <monnier <at> iro.umontreal.ca>
To: Roland Winkler <winkler <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>, 50202 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Yuu Yin <yuuyin <at> protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#50202: bibtex-mode: unescaped dollar sign in file field
 leads to wrong highlighting
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2022 13:41:00 -0400

>> But I wonder how important it is for `bibtex-mode` to try and recognize
>> the (La)TeX meaning of the $ character.
>> Maybe we should just give $ the punctuation syntax in the syntax-table.
>
> The (La)TeX meaning of the $ character is relevant for titles that my
> contain formulas.  The question is what is in the end more acceptable:
> formulas in titles that do not receive special treatment by font-lock.
> Or $ being mis-treated in url and file fields (which goes beyond these
> fields).  Maybe it is best to let the user decide whether $ should be
> treated as math delimiter (the default) or as punctation.

The downside of treating $ as punctuation is that $^2$ won't be
highlighted specially, but the upside is that "foo$bar" won't be
mishighlighted in a url.

To me the highlighting of math formulas is sufficiently secondary that
I'd err on the safe side (i.e. avoid mishighlighting).  The other option
is to try and make this choice on a field-by-field basis, which seems
like a lot of work for fairly little benefit.


        Stefan

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