Re: [PATCH] builtin-mailinfo.c: Trim only first pair of square brackets in subject

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 02:26:45PM -0700, Jakub Narebski wrote:

Roger Leigh [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

Use a regular expression to match text after "Re:" or any text in the
first pair of square brackets such as "[PATCH n/m]".  This replaces
the complex hairy string munging with a simple single  pattern match.

[...]

quoted

+	/* Strip off 'Re:' and/or the first text in square brackets, such as
+	   '[PATCH]' at the start of the mail Subject. */
+	status = regcomp(&regex,
+			 "^([Rr]e:)?([^]]*\\[[^]]+\\])(.*)$",
+			 REG_EXTENDED);

Sidenote: it probably didn't worked before either, but there are some
broken mail readers in the wold (*cough* MS Outlook *cough*), that
misinterpret RFCs and use translated form of "Re:" e.g. "Odp:" (Polish),
or not strip "Re:" when replying resulting in string of "Re: Re: Re: ...",
or use capitalized form of "Re:", i.e. "RE:", or use yet another form 
e.g. compact form of repeated "Re: Re: Re: ..." in form of "Re(3):".

But I guess it didn't worked before either.

One could update the regex to cope with that easily enough such as

  "^([Rr]e:[[:space:]]*)*([^]]*\\[[^]]+\\])(.*)$"

for the "Re: Re: Re:" case, though I can't say I've seen anything
except "Re:" for years.  Maybe I just don't get mail and patches
from Outlook users ;-)


Regards,
Roger

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