OurBigBook
Arguments that are opened with more than one square brackets
[ or curly braces { are literal arguments.In literal arguments, OurBigBook is not parsed, and the entire argument is considered as text until a corresponding close with the same number of characters.
Therefore, you cannot have nested content, but it makes it extremely convenient to write code blocks or mathematics.
For example, a multiline code block with double open and double close square brackets inside can be enclosed in triple square brackets:
A literal argument looks like this in OurBigBook:
\C[[
\C[
A multiline
code block.
]
]]
And another paragraph.which renders as:
A literal argument looks like this in OurBigBook:\C[ A multiline code block. ]And another paragraph.
The same works for inline code:
The program \c[[puts("]");]] is very complex.which renders as:
The programputs("]");is very complex.
Within literal blocks, only one thing can be escaped with backslashes are:
- leading open square bracket
[ - trailing close square bracket
]
The rule is that:
- if the first character of a literal argument is a sequence of backslashes (
\), and it is followed by another argument open character (e.g.[, remove the first\and treat the other characters as regular text - if the last character of a literal argument is a
\, ignore it and treat the following closing character (e.g.]) as regular text
See the following open input/output pairs:
and close examples:
\c[[\ b]]
<code>\ b</code>
\c[[\a b]]
<code>\a b</code>
\c[[\[ b]]
<code>[ b</code>
\c[[\\[ b]]
<code>\[ b</code>
\c[[\\\[ b]]
<code>\\[ b</code>\c[[a \]]
<code>a \</code>
\c[[a \]]]
<code>a ]</code>
\c[[a \\]]]
<code>a \]</code>