bug#4848: 23.1.50; \u and \x in string

[Richard Stallman]

"\ue1" gives the error "Non-hex digit used for Unicode escape".
Why doesn't it work to give the Unicode character á?

Note that \xe1 does not work for this any more.
It gives a different character, which displays as \341 and
is described as follows by C-x =.

  Char: \341 (4194273, #o17777741, #x3fffe1, raw-byte) point=442 of 2980 (15%) 
column=0

That too is confusing, and certainly not documented clearly where \x
is explained.  Is there any way to specify unicode e1 with \x?


In GNU Emacs 23.1.50.4 (mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.12.12)
 of 2009-08-11 on theobromine2
configured using `configure  'CFLAGS=-O0 -g -Wno-pointer-sign' 
'mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu' 'build_alias=mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu' 
'host_alias=mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu' 'target_alias=mipsel-unknown-linux-gnu''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: RMAIL Edit

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  diff-auto-refine-mode: t
  gpm-mouse-mode: t
  display-battery-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  global-auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  abbrev-mode: t

Recent input:
b R TAB RET ESC < C-u C-n C-u C-u C-n C-u C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-f 4 b o u t C-_ C-x b o u t - 2 2 RET C-a C-p 
C-x 4 b R TAB RET C-u ESC x c o m p a r e RET C-x o 
C-x o C-x b RET C-b C-b C-b C-b | ESC C-x C-x C-s C-x 
b RET C-x o C-b C-b C-x ESC ESC ESC p ESC p RET C-x 
o C-x o C-x o C-x C-g C-x 4 b RET C-a ESC f C-f C-@ 
ESC C-f ESC w ESC : C-y RET C-x o ESC : ( l o o k i 
n g - a t SPC C-y ) RET C-x o C-e ESC b ESC d 2 4 0 
ESC C-x C-x o ESC : ESC p RET C-x = C-x o o C-_ C-x 
o ESC : ESC p C-e ESC DEL ESC DEL ESC DEL " \ 2 4 0 
DEL DEL DEL x a 0 " ) RET C-u C-x = C-\ a ' C-g e C-x 
= C-f a ' C-b C-x = ESC : ESC p C-e C-b C-b ESC DEL 
DEL C-\ a ' C-e RET C-x = ESC : ESC p C-e C-b C-b DEL 
\ 3 4 1 RET C-x = ESC : ESC p C-e C-b C-b DEL DEL DEL 
x e 1 RET C-x = ESC : ESC p C-e C-b C-b C-b C-b DEL 
u C-e RET ESC : ESC p C-e C-b C-b C-b C-b ESC u C-e 
RET ESC : ESC p C-e C-b C-b C-b C-b 0 0 C-e RET ESC 
x r e p o r t SPC e m a c s SPC b u g RET

Recent messages:
Char: =e1 (225, #o341, #xe1) point=1382 of 28873 (5%) column=57
t
Char: =e1 (225, #o341, #xe1) point=1382 of 28873 (5%) column=57
nil
Char: =e1 (225, #o341, #xe1) point=1382 of 28873 (5%) column=57
nil
Char: =e1 (225, #o341, #xe1) point=1382 of 28873 (5%) column=57
let: Non-hex digit used for Unicode escape [2 times]
t
Source file `/home/rms/emacs-cvs/lisp/mail/emacsbug.el' newer than 
byte-compiled file

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