Chapter 11: Phrases
11.12. Phrase options

There are often several slightly different ways to perform a given task but which have substantially the same definition. In the following example:

To go hiking, into the woods or up the mountain:
    if into the woods then say "Watch out for badgers.";
    if up the mountain then say "Better take your compass.";
    say "You go hiking."

...a phrase has been set up which can be used in three ways:

go hiking;
go hiking, into the woods;
go hiking, up the mountain;

Note that commas must be used to divide these "phrase options" from the rest of the text of the phrase. Within the definition of the phrase, the option's name is a valid condition, and

if up the mountain then ...

is true if the phrase was called with "up the mountain" specified and false otherwise, in the obvious way. A more substantial example from the standard rules is given by the Inform list-writer, which produces lists of things to specifications we choose. For instance:

list the contents of Marley Wood, as a sentence, with newlines
and including all contents;

Note that this phrase is allowed to have multiple options specified, whereas "go hiking" above was not: this is because it was defined thus:

To list the contents of (something - an object), with newlines, indented, as a sentence, including contents, including all contents, giving inventory information, giving brief inventory information, using the definite article, listing marked items only, prefacing with is/are, not listing concealed items, suppressing all articles and/or with extra indentation: ...

The significant difference is the word "and/or" instead of "or", which signals that more than one option can apply at a time.

(As it happens, not all of the above options are equally useful: "not listing concealed items", for instance, is probably helpful only to people creating projects which mingle Inform 6 and Inform 7 material. "Concealed" is a concept no longer in use.)


139
 Example  Equipment List
Overview of all the phrase options associated with listing, and examples of how to change the inventory list into some other standard formats.


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