Nickolay> (defvar aaa ?\x9216) This is parsed as (defvar aaa ?\x92 16). You maybe should be getting a syntax error, since (char-int-p #x9216) returns nil, even in Mule. However, '(?car) => (?c ar). And almost surely defvar should complain bitterly about a non-string as a docstring. I'll document this in the manuals. "GNU compatibility" is never going to happen here. (However, if the noises Ken'ichi Handa is making mean anything, "XEmacs compatibility" may very well happen to GNU Emacs.) case '0': case '1': case '2': case '3': case '4': case '5': case '6': case '7': /* An octal escape, as in ANSI C. */ { REGISTER Ichar i = c - '0'; REGISTER int count = 0; while (++count < 3) { if ((c = readchar (readcharfun)) >= '0' && c <= '7') i = (i << 3) + (c - '0'); else { unreadchar (readcharfun, c); break; } } if (i >= 0400) syntax_error ("Attempt to create non-ASCII/ISO-8859-1 character", make_int (i)); return i; } case 'x': /* A hex escape, as in ANSI C, except that we only allow latin-1 characters to be read this way. What is "\x4e03" supposed to mean, anyways, if the internal representation is hidden? This is also consistent with the treatment of octal escapes. */ { REGISTER Ichar i = 0; REGISTER int count = 0; while (++count <= 2) -- Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN Ask not how you can "do" free software business; ask what your business can "do for" free software.

To leave alone the ?\xAAAA question the problem is with `defvar' treatment of documentation. If you look at the code of Fdefvar you'll find that if (!NILP (args = XCDR (args))) { Lisp_Object doc = XCAR (args); Fput (sym, Qvariable_documentation, doc); if (!NILP (args = XCDR (args))) signal_error (Qwrong_number_of_arguments, "too many arguments", Qunbound); } When documentation property is an integer it is treated by `documentation-property' as a position in the standard doc file. This caused obscure results from my posting. May be defvar should be a little more careful about docstring specification? Nickolay. intro: "SJT" == Stephen J Turnbull <stephen(a)xemacs.org&gt; writes: Nickolay> (defvar aaa ?\x9216) SJT> This is parsed as (defvar aaa ?\x92 16). SJT> You maybe should be getting a syntax error, since (char-int-p #x9216) SJT> returns nil, even in Mule. However, '(?car) => (?c ar). And almost SJT> surely defvar should complain bitterly about a non-string as a SJT> docstring. SJT> I'll document this in the manuals. "GNU compatibility" is never going SJT> to happen here. (However, if the noises Ken'ichi Handa is making mean SJT> anything, "XEmacs compatibility" may very well happen to GNU Emacs.) SJT> case '0': case '1': case '2': case '3': case '4': case '5': case '6': SJT> case '7': /* An octal escape, as in ANSI C. */ { REGISTER Ichar i = c - SJT> '0'; REGISTER int count = 0; while (++count < 3) { if ((c = readchar SJT> (readcharfun)) >= '0' && c <= '7') i = (i << 3) + (c - '0'); else { SJT> unreadchar (readcharfun, c); break; } } if (i >= 0400) syntax_error SJT> ("Attempt to create non-ASCII/ISO-8859-1 character", make_int (i)); SJT> return i; } SJT> case 'x': /* A hex escape, as in ANSI C, except that we only allow SJT> latin-1 characters to be read this way. What is "\x4e03" supposed to SJT> mean, anyways, if the internal representation is hidden? This is also SJT> consistent with the treatment of octal escapes. */ { REGISTER Ichar i = SJT> 0; REGISTER int count = 0; while (++count <= 2) SJT> -- Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences SJT> http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 SJT> Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN Ask not how you can "do" free software business; SJT> ask what your business can "do for" free software.