Re: [Groff] strange defining of undefined names

[Bernd Warken]

On Thu, Jul 04, 2002 at 03:41:45PM +0200, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> 
> \c only suppresses output of the rest of the line, nevertheless it is
> parsed.  `s' isn't found, thus groff emits a warning and defines `s'
> to be empty.
> 
Yes, the trouble occurs from the feature "if a string is referred to, it
is automatically made into being defined."  This does not make sense, it
is counter-productive, and I'm not sure whether this was really intended. 
An undefined string is interpolated into the empty string - that means
the the string reference is replaced by the empty string, not that the 
string is set to the empty string.  I think this is an error, even if this 
misfeature existed in ancient roffs.  

Otherwise, `if d' would not make sense because then `if !d s' should
also define `s', which is quite perverse.  Furthermore, `.ig' and other
comment-like constructions will get dangerous, unwanted side-effects.

My bet is, keep this for compatibility mode if you think it's 
necessary, and otherwise deliver us from that evil.
> 
> This is already documented in groff.texinfo.

Amen.

Bernd Warken