Remove setting.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR, replacing it with SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_REGEX and SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE. This allows simple yet powerful control over the error output without needing to overload the parser.

evennia/commands/cmdparser.py

@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ import re
 from django.conf import settings
 from evennia.utils.logger import log_trace
 
-_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR = settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR
-_MULTIMATCH_REGEX = re.compile(r"([0-9]+)%s(.*)" % _MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR, re.I + re.U)
+_MULTIMATCH_REGEX = re.compile(settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_REGEX, re.I + re.U)
 
 def cmdparser(raw_string, cmdset, caller, match_index=None):
     """
@@ -92,8 +91,9 @@ def cmdparser(raw_string, cmdset, caller, match_index=None):
         num_ref_match = _MULTIMATCH_REGEX.match(raw_string)
         if num_ref_match:
             # the user might be trying to identify the command
-            # with a #num-command style syntax.
-            mindex, new_raw_string = num_ref_match.groups()
+            # with a #num-command style syntax. We expect the regex to
+            # contain the groups "number" and "name".
+            mindex, new_raw_string = num_ref_match.group("number"), num_ref_match.group("name")
             return cmdparser(new_raw_string, cmdset,
                                  caller, match_index=int(mindex))
 

evennia/objects/manager.py

@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ _GA = object.__getattribute__
 # delayed import
 _ATTR = None
 
-_MULTIMATCH_REGEX = re.compile(r"([0-9]+)%s(.*)" %
-        settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR, re.I + re.U)
+_MULTIMATCH_REGEX = re.compile(settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_REGEX, re.I + re.U)
 
 # Try to use a custom way to parse id-tagged multimatches.
 
@@ -389,7 +388,7 @@ class ObjectDBManager(TypedObjectManager):
             match_number = None
             if match:
                 # strips the number
-                match_number, searchdata = match.groups()
+                match_number, searchdata = match.group("number"), match.group("name")
                 match_number = int(match_number) - 1
                 match_number = match_number if match_number >= 0 else None
             if match_number is not None or not exact:

evennia/server/evennia_launcher.py

@@ -791,6 +791,12 @@ def error_check_python_modules():
         raise DeprecationWarning(deprstring % "PLAYER_TYPECLASS_PATHS")
     if hasattr(settings, "CHANNEL_TYPECLASS_PATHS"):
         raise DeprecationWarning(deprstring % "CHANNEL_TYPECLASS_PATHS")
+    if hasattr(settings, "SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR"):
+        raise DeprecationWarning(
+        "settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR was replaced by "
+        "SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_REGEX and SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE. "
+        "Update your settings file (see evennia/settings_default.py "
+        "for more info).")
 
     from evennia.commands import cmdsethandler
     if not cmdsethandler.import_cmdset(settings.CMDSET_UNLOGGEDIN, None):

evennia/settings_default.py

@@ -249,13 +249,26 @@ CONN_MAX_AGE = 3600 * 7
 COMMAND_PARSER = "evennia.commands.cmdparser.cmdparser"
 # On a multi-match when search objects or commands, the user has the
 # ability to search again with an index marker that differentiates
-# the results. If multiple "box" objects are found, they can by
-# default use 1-box, 2-box etc to refine the search. Below you
-# can change the index separator character used.
-SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR = '-'
+# the results. If multiple "box" objects
+# are found, they can by default be separated as 1-box, 2-box. Below you
+# can change the regular expression used. The regex must have one
+# have two capturing groups (?P<prefix>...) and (?P<name>...) - the default
+# parser expects this. It should
+# also involve a number starting from 1. When changing this you must also
+# update SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE to properly describe the syntax.
+SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_REGEX = r"(?P<number>[0-9]+)-(?P<name>.*)"
+# To display multimatch errors we must display each multimatch in a way that
+# instructs users to separate their multimatches in a way SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_REGEX
+# above understands; for example by making sure they must write 1-box, 2-box etc.
+# The template must contain {number} - a number to separate multi-matches, starting
+# from 1; {name} - the name of the multimatched entity; {aliases} - eventual
+# aliases for the entity; {info} - extra info like #dbrefs for staff. Don't
+# forget a line break if you want one match per line.
+SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE = " {number}-{name}{aliases}{info}\n"
 # The handler that outputs errors when using any API-level search
 # (not manager methods). This function should correctly report errors
-# both for command- and object-searches.
+# both for command- and object-searches. This allows full control
+# over the error output (it uses SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE by default).
 SEARCH_AT_RESULT = "evennia.utils.utils.at_search_result"
 # The module holding text strings for the connection screen.
 # This module should contain one or more variables

evennia/utils/utils.py

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from django.utils import timezone
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
 from evennia.utils import logger
 
-_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR = settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR
+_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE = settings.SEARCH_MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE
 _EVENNIA_DIR = settings.EVENNIA_DIR
 _GAME_DIR = settings.GAME_DIR
 
@@ -1712,15 +1712,15 @@ def at_search_result(matches, caller, query="", quiet=False, **kwargs):
         matches = None
     elif len(matches) > 1:
         error = kwargs.get("multimatch_string") or \
-                _("More than one match for '%s' (please narrow target):" % query)
+                _("More than one match for '%s' (please narrow target):\n" % query)
         for num, result in enumerate(matches):
             # we need to consider Commands, where .aliases is a list
             aliases = result.aliases.all() if hasattr(result.aliases, "all") else result.aliases
-            error += "\n %i%s%s%s%s" % (
-                num + 1, _MULTIMATCH_SEPARATOR,
-                result.get_display_name(caller) if hasattr(result, "get_display_name") else query,
-                " [%s]" % ";".join(aliases) if aliases else "",
-                result.get_extra_info(caller))
+            error += _MULTIMATCH_TEMPLATE.format(
+                 number=num + 1,
+                 name=result.get_display_name(caller) if hasattr(result, "get_display_name") else query,
+                 aliases=" [%s]" % ";".join(aliases) if aliases else "",
+                 info=result.get_extra_info(caller))
         matches = None
     else:
         # exactly one match