[Info-vax] bizarre SEARCH bug (7.3-2 Alpha)

[Dave Froble]

On 11/11/2019 9:12 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
> I realize that this is an old version of VMS; I just want to understand
> the problem.
>
> When checking a LaTeX document for unmatched (, ), [, and ] (unmatched {
> or } will cause a LaTeX error), I noticed the following:
>
> $ creat x.x
> \cite[see \eg{}~][for \tIas{} data]{AConleyetal11a}
> $ sea x.x [,]/match=and
> \cite[see \eg{}~][for \tIas{} data]{AConleyetal11a}
>
> What is strange is that the second "]" is not highlighted.  The text
> contains many examples of two of each in one line, and the others look
> OK, whether or not there is text between the matching pairs or not.
> Here is a minimal example:
>
> $ creat y.y
> [][] Exit
> $ sea y.y [,]/match=and
> [][]
>
> Again, the second "]" is not highlighted.
>
> On 8.4, there are no problems.
>
> Can anyone else reproduce this?
>
> Whatever could cause it?
>

I did the test on VAX/VMS V7.2 and it worked as you desired, ie; all 
characters highlighted.

I have no actual knowledge why an old Alpha version would not work the 
same, and I do not have any Alpha systems running such an old version of 
VMS.  Note, Steve is going to beat you with an ugly stick for using such 
old software.

I can speculate, and my best guess would be that DCL is confused.  When 
searching for non-alpha/numeric characters, I always use quotes ("") to 
assist DCL in understanding.  Of course, it's only a guess.

You could test on your ancient OS.

$ search y.y "[","]" /match=and


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David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
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