attached-modifier-edge-cases.norg

* Attached Modifier Edge Cases and How to Handle Them

  Attached modifiers are a difficult construct to parse even by modern standards.
  While Norg would love to substitute them for a less ambiguous syntax, attached modifiers
  are so engrained in our expectations for markup today that they are simply impossible to replace.

** Attached Modifier Conflicts

   We define an "opening/closing conflict" as an opening/closing attached modifier that does not have
   a respective counterpart. Complicated cases arise when unclosed markup meets closed markup, forcing
   parsers to be very vigilent at all times despite the strict rules imposed by the Norg specification.

* Conflicts vs. Closed Markup

  Left-flanking, internal:

  |example
  */hello*
  |end

  Left-flanking, external:

  |example
  /*hello*
  |end

  Right-flanking, internal:

  |example
  *hello/*
  |end

  Right-flanking, external - this particular case is especially tricky as the `/` could accidentally
  be considered an opening modifier by an unsuspecting parser.

  |example
  *hello*/ world
  |end

* Consecutive

  Duplex, dissimilar:

  |example
  *hello*/world/
  |end

  Duplex, similar - note that as per the specification consecutive attached modifiers should be
  ignored and treated as raw text, therefore the below example becomes a single, monolithic `bold`:

  |example
  *hello**world*
  |end

* Nested

  Multiplex, intertwined with duplication - a very daunting edge case, where the inner `*` cannot be
  disambiguated with a `GLR(1)` and the same character is surrounding the `*`. Do not mistake it for italic!:

  |example
  */hello/*/world/
  |end

  ===

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