Why does sql-mode think -* starts a block comment?

Asked May 07 '19 at 14:52

Active May 07 '19 at 15:05

Viewed 66 times

While typing in a SQL mode buffer, I noticed that -* starts a block comment. Why?

It happens whenever I type an asterisk/star character (ASCII 42) directly after a simple dash/hyphen/minus character (ASCII 45).

I thought it might be due to -*- something -*- buffer hints, but it does not happen in other modes like C++ mode, so it seems to be something else. It does not depend on the SQL dialect I choose.

I tried searching in code but gave up as -* gave way too many hits (match zero or more dashes) and -\* gave none.

Maybe it's because - is the first (and second) character of a comment-start sequence (--) and * is the second character of a comment-start sequence (/*). I used M-x describe-char to find this. Following this rationale *- should work as a comment-end sequence, but it does not.

I only tested GNU Emacs version 26.2 (on Windows).

Is there any way to fix this behavior?

edited May 07 '19 at 15:05

asked May 07 '19 at 14:52

Michel de Ruiter

I wonder if this is a bug or typo? I've only used `--` for line comments and `/*` and `*/` for block comments in SQL. – Melioratus May 07 '19 at 15:15
1

See the definition of `sql-mode-syntax-table`, though I'm not sure how to fix it. – npostavs May 07 '19 at 22:43
@npostavs: this can be fixed with an appropriate dose of `syntax-propertize-function`. – Stefan May 08 '19 at 15:08
See https://emacs.stackexchange.com/q/50398/8706 – Michel de Ruiter May 08 '19 at 21:09
I reported this as a minor Emacs bug: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=35646 – Michel de Ruiter May 09 '19 at 08:01

Why does sql-mode think -* starts a block comment?

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