Bruno Haible wrote, on 23 Jun 2022:
>
> https://posix.rhansen.org/p/gettext_draft
> Line 1067
>
> "Unlike shell command language strings, double-quoted strings in dot-po files
> cannot contain a literal <newline> character."
>
> Issue: This sentence should be part of the specification of the dot-po file
> format.
>
> Suggestion: Move this sentence from the APPLICATION USAGE section to the
> EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.
This sentence is in APPLICATION USAGE because it is an observation about
dot-po files that we felt was worth pointing out to application writers.
The normative text already clearly does not allow newlines in strings,
just from the first sentence describing the format (line 983):
A dot-po file contains zero or more lines, with each non-blank
line containing a comment, a statement, or a statement continuation.
(Although I suppose a reader might wonder whether a string could be
split across a statement and a statement continuation; they would soon
realise it cannot when they read, later in the same paragraph, that a
statement continuation is "a double-quoted string on a line by itself".)
So I don't see the need to move the sentence as you request.
--
Geoff Clare <g.cl...@opengroup.org>
The Open Group, Apex Plaza, Forbury Road, Reading, RG1 1AX, England
