Handle special characters in variable names. #49

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1. Øyvind Kallstad (gravejester)

   added

   bug

   on Aug 31, 2017
2. Øyvind Kallstad (gravejester)

   added this to the v2 milestone on Sep 4, 2017
3. Øyvind Kallstad (gravejester)

   self-assigned this

   on Sep 4, 2017
4. omniomi commented on May 21, 2018

   

   Nick James (omniomi)

   on May 21, 2018

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   Is there a list of special characters that don't require ${ } anywhere? Ie, $Foo*bar is allowed but you need to use ${Foo*bar}. I assume it's every special character that isn't an operator or keyword but I could be wrong.
5. Nick James (omniomi)

   changed the title [-]Syntax highlighting for variables incorrect where ? is treated as token separator[/-] [+]Handle special characters in variable names.[/+] on May 21, 2018
6. Nick James (omniomi)

   unassigned

   Øyvind Kallstad (gravejester)

   on May 21, 2018
7. TylerLeonhardt commented on May 21, 2018

   

   TylerLeonhardt

   on May 21, 2018

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   Hmm I think James Truher (@JamesWTruher), Dongbo Wang (@daxian-dbw), or Steve Lee (@SteveL-MSFT) might know the answer to that.
8. daxian-dbw commented on May 21, 2018

   

   Dongbo Wang (daxian-dbw)

   on May 21, 2018

   Last edited by daxian-dbw

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   one more instance I know of is $a:b. There are a few well-known prefixes like $private:, $script:, $global:, but this syntax applies to more scenarios beyond, such as

   $function:SayHello = {"Hello"}
   SayHello
   > Hello
   
   $f:myfile = "content for my file"
   $f:myfile
   > content for my file
   cat F:\myfile
   > content for my file
   
   $f:myfile:alternateDataStream = "hidden content"
   $f:myfile:alternateDataStream
   > hidden content
   cat F:\myfile:alternateDataStream
   > hidden content
   

   👍React with 👍2Reacted by TylerLeonhardt and Nick James
9. SteveL-MSFT commented on May 22, 2018

   

   Steve Lee (SteveL-MSFT)

   on May 22, 2018

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   You can look at the tokenizer code to see what characters are valid. Basically almost anything and if you use a brace, pretty much anything (including whitespace) until a closing brace.

   👍React with 👍2Reacted by Nick James and TylerLeonhardt
10. omniomi commented on May 22, 2018

    

    Nick James (omniomi)

    on May 22, 2018

    Last edited by omniomi

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    Thanks Steve Lee (@SteveL-MSFT).

    Will need to give some thought to the best way to tackle variables. With so many ways to PowerShell a cat I want to cover all of the variable variants in as concise a manner as possible. The current definitions are not great.

    Dongbo Wang (@daxian-dbw), part of me hates that those are real... part of me thinks that's super cool lol.
11. SteveL-MSFT commented on May 22, 2018

    

    Steve Lee (SteveL-MSFT)

    on May 22, 2018

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    Nick James (@omniomi) It seems that the main set of characters is [A-z0-9_?:]. However, if it's a colon followed by another colon, it's a static member and not part of the variable name like $a::b. And if a brace follows the $, then anything until the closing brace is part of the variable name.
12. omniomi commented on May 22, 2018

    

    Nick James (omniomi)

    on May 22, 2018

    Last edited by omniomi

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    Steve Lee (@SteveL-MSFT) that works and should probably cover most cases.

    I just need to figure out the best way to split everything in the repository so that it can be logically included in other places. How things are highlighted on their own, in strings, in sub-expressions, etc adds to the complexity. Can't just have one variable definition and use it everywhere. Splatting adds to complexity as well since Get-Something @Splat is a variable but $ByLine = "Author: @omniomi" is not.