Re: colon in indices

[Werner LEMBERG]

> >   If I now press `i :', info should handle this as `i <colon>'
> 
> That's an interesting idea, but it will require changes in display
> code, in addition to the index-searching commands (because you will
> want the user to see a `:', not a "<colon>", when the index entry is
> displayed, like when I look through the Index node manually, or when
> the index entry is echoed in the echo area).

No, I really suggest that if you press `:', you get and see `<colon>'.
This is similar to seeing `<prior>' while pressing the PgUp key in
Emacs.

The produced info files shouldn't contain `:' any more, so no special
handling is necessary.  With other words, entering the sequence `i
<colon>' is really equivalent to `i :'.

There are alreaady postfixes <1>, <2>, etc. for references, so the
user is already accustomed to the <...> notation.

> Also, the mappings should be somehow made known to the Info reader,
> if we indeed make it open-ended like you suggest.

What about a small extension to the info file format, which could
recognize at the very beginning something like the following section:

  Keymap Table
  : <colon>
  . <period>
  End Keymap Table

Shouldn't be too hard to implement IMHO.


    Werner