Subject: [Dime] Meaning of '*{...}'?

From: Ralph Loader <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:01:21 +1200

Hi,

What is the exact meaning of '*{...}' in a grammar: 0 or more
occurrences or 1 or more occurrences?

+ If you read the quantifier '*' to override the 'must-occur'
quantification implicit in '{...}', then it means 0-or-more.

+ If you read '*{...}' to require both the quantifier '*' and the
implicit quantification in '{...}' be satisfied, then it means
1-or-more.

Reading RFC 3588, I believe that the intent might have been the first
(e.g., note the text on 0*1fixed and also various usages of '{...}'
with an explicit quantifier in RFC 3588.  [This is also the RFC 2234
meaing of '*'].

Reading RFC 3588 strictly, the MUST in the definition of required
doesn't seem to have any exceptions, which suggests the
second interpretation?

3gpp specs use '*{...}' in at least one place where the context makes
me suspect they mean 1-or-more.

Ralph.
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