[pmwiki-users] random musings

[Patrick R. Michaud]

On Mon, Dec 19, 2005 at 04:23:15PM -0500, Martin Fick wrote:
> > > But then how do you evaluate: ?
> > > 
> > >  "fullname=2005.*,-*.GroupHeader,2006.*,-*.HomePage"
> > 
> > All pages in the 2005 and 2006 group except for GroupHeader and
> > HomePage.
> 
> I'll assume your answer means all pages in: 
> 
>   (2005.* UNION 2006.*) MINUS *.GroupHeader MINUS *.HomePage

Yes.

> ...
>   So then it becomes impossible to create ceratin exact sets.  
> I was hoping I could get it to instead mean:
> 
>   (2005.* MINUS *.GroupHeader) UNION (2006.* MINUS *.HomePage)
> 
> I don't see a way for someone to define something like that?

What about...?

    fullname=2005.*,2006.*,-2005.GroupHeader,-2006.HomePage

Seems pretty straightforward to me.  :-)

More to the point, PmWikiPhilosophy #3 applies here.  *If* 
someone comes up with a definite query (as opposed to a conjectural 
"someone might want" query) that can't be solved by one or more of 
the fullname=, trail=, and list= parameters, *then* I might see
about adjusing the syntax (most likely by using '+' signs to
indicate unions or additions.  But I don't want to spend much 
time defining and implementing a conjectural query syntax until
there's an actual problem to be solved.

Pm