Strings

There are 3 ways to represent a string. There are the c-string, the line-string and the multiline-string. The c-string is very simple. However, the line-string and multiline-string are quite complex, so some details will be left out when they are presented.

C-string

The c-string — named as such because it is used in the C programming language — is delimited by quotes. Everything within is part of the string.

"this is a c-string"

Single quotes are not usable as delimiters — in fact, they do nothing in WebSSON.

Line-string

The line-string is declared with a colon. Only characters on the same line as the colon are part of the string. All whitespace before the first non-whitespace char and after the last non-whitespace char is ignored.

For example, : a string , would be equivalent to "a string".

Multiline-string

The multiline-string is declared by two colons put together, followed by braces.

::
{
	This is a
	multiline-string
}

Each line behaves exactly like a line-string. The lines are appended together, separated by a space. The above example would be equivalent to "this is a multiline-string".

Escape characters

A character is escaped by using the backslash, immediately followed by another character.

\ [ 0 | a | b | c | e | f | n | r | s | t | v | x## | u#### | U######## ]

The characters a, b, f, n, r, t, v, x, u, and U have the same meaning than in the C programming language. There are also the chars e, for empty, s, for space, and c, for escape (Ascii char). The escape s puts a space, which can be useful if a space is needed at the start or end of a line-string. The escape e puts nothing. It can be useful to make it explicit that a string is empty.

The escape 0 represents the null char. It is not an octal escape! There are no octal escapes in WebSSON.

All printable Ascii non-digit and non-letter chars are escapable. This means \\, \", \^, \:, etc., are all valid escapes.

Escaped entities

An entity can be escaped by immediately preceding its name with a caret (^). Only entities of type string are allowed to be escaped.

?name: First Last
result: My name is ^name!

The content associated with result would be My name is First Last!.

Entities can be escaped in any kind of string.