Re: Re: (any documentation for) linear syntax?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg107598] Re: [mg107569] Re: [mg107534] (any documentation for) linear syntax?
- From: DrMajorBob <btreat1 at austin.rr.com>
- Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:33:43 -0500 (EST)
- References: <2010218151942.349141@jfultz2winlap>
- Reply-to: drmajorbob at yahoo.com
Thanks! Bobby On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:19:42 -0600, John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com> wrote: > On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:50:32 -0600, DrMajorBob wrote: >>> Instead, use Edit->Enter Selection while you >>> have an instance of the thing you're looking for selected. >>> >> There is no "Enter Selection" option under "Edit" on my menu bar. > > On Mac, it's Edit->Find->Use Selection for Find. > > >> If that option DID exist, I couldn't do it unless I already had that >> symbol or group of symbols present in the notebook, in order to select >> them. > > True (except, technically, it would have to be in an open notebook; not > necessarily the notebook you were searching in). I didn't mean to imply > otherwise. > > >> $Version >> >> "7.0 for Mac OS X x86 (64-bit) (February 19, 2009)" >> >> So... tell me again how I'd search for a symbol such as esc elem esc?? > > You can use its longname. \[Element], in this case. > >> Bobby > > > Sincerely, > > John Fultz > jfultz at wolfram.com > User Interface Group > Wolfram Research, Inc. > >> >> On Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:03:48 -0600, John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com> >> wrote: >> >>> If you want to search for a typeset form in the Find/Replace dialog, I >>> strongly >>> recommend not doing this by hand. Instead, use Edit->Enter Selection >>> while you >>> have an instance of the thing you're looking for selected. Mathematica >>> will >>> automatically convert it to the right form for you. >>> >>> That's really all you need to know. The rest of my response is for >>> anyone who >>> wants to understand a bit more about the details of the system, and >>> cares to >>> hear any ramblings and ruminations I might have to offer about it. >>> >>> The form you're talking about is not documented exhaustively, but it is >>> documented. In the help viewer, enter the following to find it... >>> >>> tutorial/StringRepresentationOfBoxes >>> >>> This form is the only way in which boxes can be represented inside of >>> strings. >>> That is, by the way, where the term "linear syntax" comes from. In a >>> string, >>> you must have a linear representation (as opposed to an expression >>> tree) >>> because >>> strings are a linear sequence of characters. >>> >>> This is all a bit unfortunate, because linear syntax can get extremely >>> unwieldy, >>> and it's particularly inside of strings where it becomes most unwieldy >>> due to >>> subtle issues with how the backslash escaping mechanism works within >>> strings. >>> While it's possible to create such forms by hand, we generally don't >>> recommend >>> it, and recommend instead using the various built-in ways of >>> auto-converting >>> when necessary (the documentation points to some of these). >>> >>> If it sounds like I'm not exactly thrilled about how we designed this >>> aspect of >>> the system, that's because I'm not. There are several gotchas I >>> haven't >>> fleshed >>> out here, and with the hindsight that we now have, we could probably >>> have done >>> this better. Maybe we will someday. In the mean time, when you do >>> have >>> to >>> interact with it, it's best to let the system work it out for you. In >>> the case >>> of Find/Replace, that tends to be pretty simple using the method I >>> described in >>> my first paragraph. >>> >>> Sincerely, >>> >>> John Fultz >>> jfultz at wolfram.com >>> User Interface Group >>> Wolfram Research, Inc. >>> >>> >>> On Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:52:49 -0500 (EST), divisor wrote: >>>> Hello MathGroup: >>>> >>>> Solving a recent problem I had, Maxim mentioned that this string: >>>> >>>> Subscript[\[Alpha], 23]" >>>> >>>> can be used in the Find-Replace dialog by its evaluated equivalent >>>> using this string: >>>> >>>> \!\(\[Alpha]\_23\) >>>> >>>> He called this "linear syntax". >>>> >>>> Since I will have other expressions that I need to convert into a form >>>> like this, I tried to look this up in the help documentation. No luck >>>> when trying these pages: >>>> >>>> guide/Syntax >>>> tutorial/SpecialWaysToInputExpressions >>>> >>>> Can anyone tell me what this is called in the documentation or where I >>>> can find documentation describing it? >>>> >>>> Thanks in advance. >>>> >>>> Roger Williams >>>> Franklin Laboratory > > -- DrMajorBob at yahoo.com