Re: Why would I use .namespace.myvar?

[Bart Schaefer <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Mar 10, 2024 at 3:16 PM Ray Andrews <rayandrews@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> In a sentence or two, what is a namespace and why do we want it?

Quoting the updated FAQ file:

2.9: What is a `namespace' anyway?

  As of this writing, namespaces in zsh are little more than syntactic
  sugar for grouping related parameters.  For example, as of the update
  to PCRE2, the parameters ${.pcre.match} and ${.pcre.subject} are used
  for regular expression substring capture.  The `.pcre.' part is
  the namespace, and when you refer to a parameter that has one, you
  *must* use the `${...}' braces around the name.  Assignments
  are not special, they have the form `.nspace.var=value' as usual.

  Parameters using a namespace have the additional property that, like
  file names beginning with a dot for globbing, they're hidden from
  `typeset' output unless explicitly asked for.