Re: [PATCH v13 00/12] port tag.c to use ref-filter APIs

Matthieu Moy [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

For the current code %(if:empty)%(align)%(end)%(then)Empty%(else)Not Empty%(end)
would print non-empty, I guess the documentation holds in that case.
Not sure if we require it to print non-empty.

You don't want the %(if) condition to depend on whether
--shell/--python/... is used. Since %(if:empty)%(align)%(end)%(then)
holds when you don't use --shell, you also want it to hold when you
quote. IOW, you should check for emptyness before (or actually without)
doing the quoting. I guess this is what you're doing, and if so, I think
it's "The Right Thing".

I agree that %(align)%(end) should expand to empty and %(if:empty)...%(then)
should look at that empty string without quoting.  So 

    %(if:empty)%(align)%(end)%(then)Empty%(else)Not Empty%(end)

should give "Empty"; otherwise the code is buggy, I think.