Re: Clarify the meaning of "character" in the documentation

["brian m. carlson" <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1099 bytes --]

On 2024-03-05 at 09:00:06, Kristoffer Haugsbakk wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2024, at 09:43, Manlio Perillo wrote:
> > I sent this email after reading the documentation of "git diff
> > --color-moved=blocks, where the text says:
> >> Blocks of moved text of at least 20 alphanumeric characters are detected greedily.
> >
> > In this case it is not clear if the number of characters are counted
> > as UTF-8 or normal 8bit bytes.
> 
> Alphanumeric characters (a-z and A-Z and 0-9) are ASCII. And one ASCII
> char is represented using one byte in UTF-8. This already looks precise
> to me.

I don't believe that's an appropriate definition. é is an alphanumeric
character, as is ç.  ½ is numeric.  I would argue an alphanumeric
character comprises at least Unicode classes Ll, Lm, Lo, Lt, Lu, and Nd.
Unicode TR#18 agrees with my assessment.

If we wanted to restrict it ASCII, we need to state that explicitly.
Alternately, if the constraint is 20 UTF-8 octets or something else, we
should state that instead.
-- 
brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 262 bytes --]