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Setext

Basic Information About Setext

Setext is a simple text formatting language that was originally
designed for use in simple email and USENET exchanges. It has
gradually fallen by the wayside to HTML; however, it remains an
extremely simple and useful way of presenting text in a
structured fashion.

Programs

• setext2html.pl – original script from BSDi.com for
setext2html conversion
• setext2latex.pl – my own perl setext to latex converter
(Revised 16 Sep 2007; v 1.13)
• setext2html.pl – my own perl setext to html converter
(Revised 9 Sep 2007; v 1.9)

Tag Reference

Name Setext Example Displayed As /
Pattern Comments
Displayed literally
w/ minimal number of
headers.
Mail/USENET headers.
These bits of
information
primarily relate to
mail/news. Can
accomplish a third
Subject: Re: SGML vs. Setext level of hierarchy.
(a) Subject: … From: [email protected] Note, my
subject-tt [From: … & Date: 10 Apr 2001 setext2latex parser
Date: … ] requires that the
headers be at the
start of the line
and only recognizes
“Subject”, “Date”,
and “From”
translating them to
the \title, \author,
and \date, of the
LaTeX title page
respectively.
Displayed in a
(user) selected
style for titles.A
distinct title
identified by the
text, maximum one
per setext. Must
start at the
beginning of the
line.First title-tt,
subhead-tt, or
subject-tt found
This is a long title scanning the file
(b) title-tt “Title ==================== from top to bottom
=====” will become the
LaTeX \title.
Therefore a
subject-tt should be
before a title-tt
which should be
before an
subhead-tt. No error
is raised by the
parser on multiple
title-tt’s or
multiple
subject-tt’s after
the first one.
Displayed in a
(user) selected
style for
subheadings. A
Subheading One distinct subheading
(c) “Subhead——-“ -------------- identified by the
subhead-tt text, zero or more
per text. Must start
at beginning of
line. See note in
title-tt about
handling.
Lines undented and
unfolded (longer
66-char First paragraph.. lines are generally
(d) lines more of paragraph. tolerated by most
indent-tt indented by parsers). This is
2 spaces Next paragraph... primary body text,
generally plain
undented in emails,
etc. currently.
Display in a (user)
selected style,
(e) bold-tt **[multi] This is **very important**... preferrably bold.One
word** or more bold words,
generally *word* or
**word** in emails
Display in a (user)
selected style,
preferrably
italics.Single
italicized word;
(f) ~word~ This is an ~italic~ word. unclear why
italic-tt multi-word form not
available.Multi-word
form of
~first~second~third~
supported by
setext2latex.
Display in a (user)
selected style,
preferrably with
(g) [_multi] This is _underlined_text_. underlining–except
underline-tt _word_ in browsers where
underlining
corresponds to hot
links.One or more
underlined words
Used in conjunction
with href-tt to make
footnotes or
hyperlinks. In
setext.pl provided
at home page it
makes the hot-tt a
[multi_] This is a hot_word_. hyperlink to the
(h) hot-tt word_ corresponding
href-tt. In my LaTeX
converter
the href-tt becomes
a footnote
associated with just
after the
hot-tt.Hypertextual
1+ word
Displayed in a user
selected style,
> This is quoted text... preferrably
(i) >[space] > ...more... monospaced with the
include-tt [text] leading “>”Normal
text quoting style
of news/mail user
agents.
Displayed in bullet
or list format.
Ambiguity as to
whether “*” has to
be in leftmost
non-space
position or absolute
first position,
(j) *[space] * Item 1 that is... actual practice
bullet-tt [text] ...really long* Item 2 suggests first
non-space position.
Also, handling of
run-on lines with
bullets is
ambiguous, I resolve
by allowing lines to
be wrapped according
to 2-char indent
rule.
Displayed literally,
e.g as if containing
typotag was not
therein. Probably
could omit “`” marks
in display.
Mostly useful for
presenting stuff
`[typo tags about setext in
(k) quote-tt from (a)- `here's some _underlined_text_ to show literally` setext.
(p)]` Implementation is
ambiguous,
setext2latex handles
“ as a literal `.
Otherwise handles
everything from the
first ` to the next
` as a literal
string even across
multiple lines.
Not directly
realized except with
hot-tt. URL could
also be some text
^.. ^.. _hot_word http://www.this url for a footnote.
(l) href-tt _hot_word Modified in version
URL 1.11 to allow wrap
around onto multiple
lines that start
with “^.. “.
[hypertext link def]
Generate an error.
Unclear why this is
even a typotag;
^.. unclear why/how to
(m) note-tt _hot_word ^.. _hot_word Note:("Here's an error") use. One possibility
Note:(“*”) would be to use for
footnotes while
href-tt is used for
hyperlinks.
[hypertext note def]
[start parsing a new
setext within this
file]
Used to mark the end
of the first (or
(n) $$[at end of This is the end of this setext. $$ only) setext in a
twobuck-tt line] file. Generally
appears at the end
of the file since
most files include
only a single
setext.
(o) ^..[space] .. This won't show up. [not shown] not
supress-tt [not dot] presently used in
email/etc. generally
(p) ^..[alone on .. [noted; not shown]
twodot-tt line] logical end of text

Comments

The authoritative reference is no longer available at BSDI;
however, the existing table lacks concrete examples. My
examples attempt to correspond to the usage in the setext.pl
script from BSDI, usage by others, e.g. Tidbits, and my own
usage.The specification is somewhat inadequate for describing
behavior, e.g. title-tt and subhead-tt have to be at the start
of the line, etc.Similarly, from an implementation standpoint
the existing parsers for setext that I have encountered do not
properly handle multiple layers of include-tt or even typo-tags
within include-tt.

Note: only one instance of the element (c) (or, in its absence,
(b)) is absolutely required for a text to be considered a valid
setext.

All the elements but (c) are in effect optional, not necessary
for a setext to be declared as such. Element (a) deals with
setexts that arrive via email and end up being parsed
(processed) as unedited mailbox files; fully employed the (a),
(b) and (c) make it possible to distribute “multisetexts”, i.e.
setexts with one additional level of logical structure (= more
than one setext per message; more than one message in a
mailbox). If such file is viewed as a multisetext it will
result in 3-level-outline structure: mail-subjects become
top-level chapters, setext titles denote subchapters (topics)
and the subheads yet finer threads within these (still a notch
ABOVE mere “paragraphs of text”).

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