[DFDL-WG] clarification question on terminators vs. enclosing group separators/terminators

[Mike Beckerle]

The DFDL Spec says:

12.3.2    dfdl:lengthKind 'delimited'

On parsing, the length of an element with dfdl:lengthKind 'delimited' is
determined by scanning the datastream for the delimiter.

The data stream is scanned for any of

·         the element's terminator (if specified)

·         an enclosing construct's separator or terminator

·         the end of an enclosing element designated by its known length

·         the end of the data stream

So if an element has a terminator, are the enclosing constructs' separator
or terminator also relevant? Or is ONLY the element's own terminator
relevant for scanning, and hence, only the element's own terminator must be
escaped if it appears in the content.

For example, in a space-separated group, an enclosed element has a
terminator ";". When parsing that element, do spaces have to be escaped if
they appear in the content, or does only the terminator ";" have to be
escaped?

Strictly speaking it seems enclosing delimiters shouldn't have to be
escaped, because the data must have the ";", and spaces are only
significant as separators after finding the ";" terminator.




Mike Beckerle | OGF DFDL Workgroup Co-Chair | Tresys Technology |
www.tresys.com
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