4 ms·

User-agent: googlebot #User-agent: bing User-agent: yandex Disallow: / why would it be interpreted as a blank line? If you remove everything after the #,

by iams 6y ago

User-agent: googlebot #User-agent: bing User-agent: yandex Disallow: / why would it be interpreted as a blank line? If you remove everything after the #, that includes the new line characters at the end of the line. Leaving: User-agent: googlebot User-agent: yandex Disallow: /

franze 6y ago
here the problem comes in, as people write User-agent: googlebot User-agent: bing #behaved-badly User-agent: yandex Disallow: / if # removes everythin afer the #, then it would be User-agent: googlebot User-agent: bing User-agent: yandex Disallow: / which results into the whole line " User-agent: bing User-agent: yandex" beeing thrown out as malformed, so only googlebot would be disallowed.
eyelidlessness 6y ago
It's ambiguous, and this is why significant whitespace can be so frustrating. Unless it's specified, some people will interpret a full-line comment as a blank line with a comment ending it (`^#.$`), and others will interpret it as you have (`^#.?\n`). Neither is obviously correct (even if it's obvious to you). Edit: I don't know how to escape in HN formatting. Obviously there are italics where literal asterisks should be.
- traes 6y ago
  *** You can just use three asterisks. *** * You can just use three asterisks. * Unfortunately you need something after them though. *** Unfortunately you need something after them though.
  - eyelidlessness 6y ago
    Thanks, that's good to know!
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  If you indent it two spaces, I think that should solve that problem: *(`^#.$`), and others will interpret it as you have (`^#.?\n`)* (Not sure where you intended those asterisks. I made my best inference.)
  - eyelidlessness 6y ago
    Yeah I was hoping to keep them inline, but indenting surely would have helped. I intended them after the dots (`.*`, dot asterisk in case I get the escaping wrong, is 0 or more characters in regex).

by iams 6y ago

franze 6y ago

here the problem comes in, as people write User-agent: googlebot User-agent: bing #behaved-badly User-agent: yandex Disallow: / if # removes everythin afer the #, then it would be User-agent: googlebot User-agent: bing User-agent: yandex Disallow: / which results into the whole line " User-agent: bing User-agent: yandex" beeing thrown out as malformed, so only googlebot would be disallowed.

eyelidlessness 6y ago

It's ambiguous, and this is why significant whitespace can be so frustrating. Unless it's specified, some people will interpret a full-line comment as a blank line with a comment ending it (`^#.$`), and others will interpret it as you have (`^#.?\n`). Neither is obviously correct (even if it's obvious to you). Edit: I don't know how to escape in HN formatting. Obviously there are italics where literal asterisks should be.

traes 6y ago
*** You can just use three asterisks. *** * You can just use three asterisks. * Unfortunately you need something after them though. *** Unfortunately you need something after them though.
- eyelidlessness 6y ago
  Thanks, that's good to know!
DoreenMichele 6y ago
If you indent it two spaces, I think that should solve that problem: *(`^#.$`), and others will interpret it as you have (`^#.?\n`)* (Not sure where you intended those asterisks. I made my best inference.)
- eyelidlessness 6y ago
  Yeah I was hoping to keep them inline, but indenting surely would have helped. I intended them after the dots (`.*`, dot asterisk in case I get the escaping wrong, is 0 or more characters in regex).