Re: [Groff] Divert into string variable

[Carsten Kunze]

Hi Ralph,

> Disagree.  The venerable CSTR 54.
> 
>     7.1.  ...  Request, macro, and string names share the same name
>     list.

Yes, ok.  But I had stated that it is not specified in CSTR54 that macro 
contents can be accessed via \*(xx and that a string defined with ".ds xx ..." 
can be accessed with ".xx".  §7.1 does only say that there can't be a request, 
a macro or a string with the same name at the same time.  Nothing else.  It 
does not anyhow document whether a string and a macro have the same data type 
or the same internal representation (which is indeed documented in the groff 
manual).  Yes, it is imlemented that way, but if it's not documented it can't 
be used (in traditional troff).

>     7.4.  Diversions.  Processed output may be diverted into a macro for
>     purposes...
> 
> So it's not that diversions share request, macro, and string namespace,
> but that one diverts into a macro.

Yes.  But does this say that the diverted data can be accessed via \*(xx?

(As I said this is done in historical mdoc but does not work reliable.)

Carsten