Re: is \1 vs $1 a necessary distinction?

[Richard Proctor]

Dave,

> Both \1 and $1 refer to what is matched by the first set of parens in a
> regex.  AFAIK, the only difference between these two notation is that \1
> is used within the regex itself and $1 is used outside of the regex.  Is
> there any reason not to standardize these down to one notation (i.e.,
> eliminate one or the other)?

I think this is fixable.  The only real need for this at the moment is to
overcome limitations in the order of expansion of regexes.  RFCs 112, 166,
276... all depend on fixing this.  If the regex compiler gets in before the
expansion of the variables to make these work, it could handle $1 in all cases
\1 can be retained for compatibility.

Richard