On 14/06/2026 7:53 pm, Christian Moe wrote:
[[pdf:<path>::(:page 12 :edges (0.240196 0.478535 0.331699 0.494949))]]
The =::= separator is already in use for line numbers, text search,
headline names, custom IDs and code references. Its use for metadata
additions would not be generalizable to 'file:' and 'id:' links where
this search syntax is useful.
I think, "::(...)" is unique enough. Anyway there are options like
"::/.../" for regexp, so some ambiguity exists already: literal text vs.
specific target. From my point of view, the issue is that a way to
escape a character changing search strategy is not specified. Even
double colon may cause issues for Perl man pages. Org needs stricter
rules. There was an attempt to use percent encoding, but it was reverted
due to ambiguity if it is in the original URL or it was changed by Org.
File names may contains literal "%20" (or similar) sequences. Perhaps it
is possible to limit additional percent encoding pass to characters and
sequences like "#", "%", "%23", "%25".
E.g. URL text fragment feature is better designed.
To take my
web link example, an enhanced 'file:' link might take properties like
(:attr_html (:title My contact info :rel me)) and add them as HTML
attributes when publishing to web.
I raised the issue several times with various ideas how to specify
attributes for inline objects. Perhaps new "&custom{...}" syntax will be
implemented in future:
Juan Manuel Macías. Experimental public branch for inline special
blocks. Fri, 01 Mar 2024 20:34:35 +0000.
<https://list.orgmode.org/[email protected]>
Ihor usually links the following message in the context of this feature:
[HELP] Fwd: Org format as a new standard source format for GNU manuals.
Fri, 30 Sep 2022 11:31:03 +0800.
<https://list.orgmode.org/87bkqx4jyg.fsf@localhost>
Specifically to long attributes like link titles, I would consider new
type of links that are defined outside of paragraphs [[ext:some-link]]
#+name:some-link
- title :: Example of title
- url :: https://example.com
- rel :: nofollow,noreferrer
Definitions may be hidden from export using a special section or a
drawer. In some sense it is close to org-cite... MarkDown and
reStructuredText allows to avoid long URLs in text paragraphs.
As to fragments for other formats, I would check if there are RFC or at
least proposals. I discovered the spec for PDF when I noticed a mention
of a proposal for MarkDown. Even discussions of draft revisions may be
available with discarded variants of syntax and downsides of each option.
