Hi Nicolas,
Nicolas Goaziou <m...@nicolasgoaziou.fr> writes:
> Also, AFAIU, the syntax for valid citations is not defined explicitly so
> far. For example, I don't think it was discussed if any subset of Org
> objects (e.g., macros or bold text) is allowed in a citation.
This is a good question that, as you say, deserves more discussion.
I am not sure, but I am *thinking* that inline citations are objects
(not elements) that can contain some other objects.
Specifically I think we need the following categories, all of which
would be objects:
- key
- prefix / pre-text
- suffix / post-text
- locator
- individual citation
- bracketed citation
- unbracketed citation
These should have a grammar like the following, based on my
(reverse-engineered) understanding of the Pandoc syntax for citations:
- A bracketed citation is a list of one or more individual citations,
separated by ';' if there are two or more, and surrounded by '[' ']'
- An individual citation is formatted like: PREFIX KEY LOCATOR SUFFIX
The key is obligatory, and the prefix, locator and suffix
are optional.
- A key optionally begins with '-', and obligatorily contains '@'
followed by a string of charcters which begins with a letter or '_',
and may contain alphanumeric characters and the following internal
punctuation characters:
:.#$%&-+?<>~/
- A prefix or suffix is a text object (that may contain markup like
emphasis or macros)
- An unbracketed citation consists of a key, optionally followed by a
locator which is enclosed in '[' ']'
I am not sure about the syntax of locators. In particular, I do not
know if they should allow internal markup, I do not know if they have an
internal syntax, and I do not know if a comma is required to separate
them from a key in a bracketed citation.
Best,
Richard
