inline link syntax question

[Fletcher T. Penney]

I think a space *should* be allowed.  Some text editors seem to wrap between those characters, IIRC, which leads to problems if a space is not allowed.

Short of convincing argument to the contrary, I plan on keeping the optional space between the two in MultiMarkdown.  So, for selfish reasons, I would love it if you keep it in peg-markdown so I don't have to revert the change. :)

Fletcher

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 12, 2012, at 5:53 PM, John MacFarlane <jgm at berkeley.edu> wrote:


> I don't believe this question has been discussed before on

> this list:  Should whitespace be allowed between the bracketed

> and parenthesized parts of an inline link?  For example,

> 

>    [foo] (/url)

> 

> The markdown syntax documentation says explicitly that a

> space is allowed between the two parts of a *reference-style* link:

> 

>> Reference-style links use a second set of square brackets, inside which

>> you place a label of your choosing to identify the link:

> 

>>    This is [an example][id] reference-style link.

>> 

>> You can optionally use a space to separate the sets of brackets:

>> 

>>   This is [an example] [id] reference-style link.

> 

> It does not make the same claim about inline links. All it says

> is:

> 

>> To create an inline link, use a set of regular parentheses immediately

>> after the link text’s closing square bracket.

> 

> "Immediately after" is most naturally interpreted as ruling out

> whitespace.  (Note also that this passage comes before the passage

> quoted above.)  This interpretation is confirmed by Markdown.pl,

> which allows

> 

>    [foo] [id]

> 

> as a reference-style link, but does not treat

> 

>    [foo] (/url)

> 

> as an inline link.

> 

> Anyway, this was the reasoning the led me to disallow a space between

> the two components of an inline link in pandoc. To me it would be more

> natural to allow a space either in both kinds of links, but I tried to

> stick to the spec. I note, though, that some implementations do allow a

> space.

> 

> I'm curious whether those who do allow the space have any justification

> for going against the natural interpretation of the spec here (and

> against Markdown.pl), or whether this is just an oversight. I think

> it would be good if implementations did not diverge on this.

> 

> John

> 

> PS.  My own peg-markdown does allow the space. I think I'd just

> forgotten that the spec treats inline and reference-style links

> differently in this respect.

> 

> PPS.  This query was prompted by a bug report against pandoc.

> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=687453

> 

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