Joseph Wright writes: > On 19/04/2011 22:36, Frank Mittelbach wrote: > > Bruno Le Floch writes: > > > > Within xtemplate, you'll find some places where we use the fact that the > > > > keys do have catcodes to pull off some 'special effects'. Now, we also > > > > remove spaces there, so spaces can also be used for said 'special > > > > effects'. But such a change would require some alterations. > > > > > > Ok, so my assumption was wrong. But really, playing with catcodes is evil > > > ;-). > > > > right and that was a fairly recent change in implementation, wasn't it. It > > might be worth while rethinking if we limit the nature of keys and their > > comparison even if we have to modify the xtemplate code for it > > I'd have to check the detail, but from memory this was the most > convenient way to store the key order within the template itself. There > is nothing to stop us moving it back out again to a dedicated location. I'm not claiming that the change to a restricted key set as suggested is the "right thing" to do, but I agree with Bruno's sentiment on the evility :-) of catcodes and thereis something to say for restricting "keys" to be string-like objects, ie behaving like they "look". frank