+=encoding utf8
=head1 NAME
=head1 Pod Definitions
-Pod is embedded in files, typically Perl source files -- although you
+Pod is embedded in files, typically Perl source files, although you
can write a file that's nothing but Pod.
A B<line> in a file consists of zero or more non-newline characters,
than space or tab (and terminated by a newline or end-of-file).
(I<Note:> Many older Pod parsers did not accept a line consisting of
-spaces/tabs and then a newline as a blank line -- the only lines they
+spaces/tabs and then a newline as a blank line. The only lines they
considered blank were lines consisting of I<no characters at all>,
terminated by a newline.)
Pod content is contained in B<Pod blocks>. A Pod block starts with a
line that matches <m/\A=[a-zA-Z]/>, and continues up to the next line
-that matches C<m/\A=cut/> -- or up to the end of the file, if there is
+that matches C<m/\A=cut/> or up to the end of the file if there is
no C<m/\A=cut/> line.
=for comment
In other words, the Pod processing handler for "head1" will apply the
same processing to "Did You Remember to CE<lt>use strict;>?" that it
-would to an ordinary paragraph -- i.e., formatting codes (like
+would to an ordinary paragraph (i.e., formatting codes like
"CE<lt>...>") are parsed and presumably formatted appropriately, and
whitespace in the form of literal spaces and/or tabs is not
significant.
B<< $foo->bar(); >>
With this syntax, the whitespace character(s) after the "CE<lt><<"
-and before the ">>" (or whatever letter) are I<not> renderable -- they
+and before the ">>" (or whatever letter) are I<not> renderable. They
do not signify whitespace, are merely part of the formatting codes
themselves. That is, these are all synonymous:
and so on.
+Finally, the multiple-angle-bracket form does I<not> alter the interpretation
+of nested formatting codes, meaning that the following four example lines are
+identical in meaning:
+
+ B<example: C<$a E<lt>=E<gt> $b>>
+
+ B<example: C<< $a <=> $b >>>
+
+ B<example: C<< $a E<lt>=E<gt> $b >>>
+
+ B<<< example: C<< $a E<lt>=E<gt> $b >> >>>
+
=back
In parsing Pod, a notably tricky part is the correct parsing of
=item Second:
-The possibly inferred link-text -- i.e., if there was no real link
+The possibly inferred link-text; i.e., if there was no real link
text, then this is the text that we'll infer in its place. (E.g., for
"LE<lt>Getopt::Std>", the inferred link text is "Getopt::Std".)
=item Third:
The name or URL, or undef if none. (E.g., in "LE<lt>Perl
-Functions|perlfunc>", the name -- also sometimes called the page --
+Functions|perlfunc>", the name (also sometimes called the page)
is "perlfunc". In "LE<lt>/CAVEATS>", the name is undef.)
=item Fourth:
L<B<ummE<234>stuff>|...>
For C<LE<lt>...E<gt>> codes without a "name|" part, only
-C<EE<lt>...E<gt>> and C<ZE<lt>E<gt>> codes may occur -- no
-other formatting codes. That is, authors should not use
-"C<LE<lt>BE<lt>Foo::BarE<gt>E<gt>>".
+C<EE<lt>...E<gt>> and C<ZE<lt>E<gt>> codes may occur. That is,
+authors should not use "C<LE<lt>BE<lt>Foo::BarE<gt>E<gt>>".
Note, however, that formatting codes and ZE<lt>>'s can occur in any
and all parts of an LE<lt>...> (i.e., in I<name>, I<section>, I<text>,
At time of writing, C<LE<lt>nameE<gt>> values are of two types:
either the name of a Pod page like C<LE<lt>Foo::BarE<gt>> (which
might be a real Perl module or program in an @INC / PATH
-directory, or a .pod file in those places); or the name of a UNIX
+directory, or a .pod file in those places); or the name of a Unix
man page, like C<LE<lt>crontab(5)E<gt>>. In theory, C<LE<lt>chmodE<gt>>
in ambiguous between a Pod page called "chmod", or the Unix man page
"chmod" (in whatever man-section). However, the presence of a string
in parens, as in "crontab(5)", is sufficient to signal that what
is being discussed is not a Pod page, and so is presumably a
-UNIX man page. The distinction is of no importance to many
+Unix man page. The distinction is of no importance to many
Pod processors, but some processors that render to hypertext formats
may need to distinguish them in order to know how to render a
given C<LE<lt>fooE<gt>> code.
happens that "outer" is the format name of a higher-up region.) This is
an error. Processors must by default report this as an error, and may halt
processing the document containing that error. A corollary of this is that
-regions cannot "overlap" -- i.e., the latter block above does not represent
+regions cannot "overlap". That is, the latter block above does not represent
a region called "outer" which contains X and Y, overlapping a region called
"inner" which contains Y and Z. But because it is invalid (as all
apparently overlapping regions would be), it doesn't represent that, or
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