Setext

Setext (Structure Enhanced Text)[1] is a lightweight markup language used to format plain text documents such as e-newsletters, Usenet postings, and e-mails. In contrast to some other markup languages (such as HTML), the markup is easily readable without any parsing or special software.

Setext
Filename extension
.etx
Developed byIan Feldman
Initial release1992 (1992)
Type of formatMarkup language

Setext was first introduced in 1991 by Ian Feldman for use in the TidBITS electronic newsletter.

Purpose

Setext allows viewing of marked-up documents without special viewing software. To prevent errors, most large setext publications are created using a markup language such as HTML or SGML and then converted. The setext document can then be distributed without the need for the recipient to use a HTML email or web viewer.

Setext tags

The following are the most common setext tags.[2]

Name setext pattern Example Comments
title-tt 
Title 
=====

This is a long title
====================
A distinct title identified by the text, maximum one per setext.

Must start at the beginning of the line.

subhead-tt 
Subhead 
-------

Subheading One 
--------------
A distinct subheading identified by the text, zero or more per text.

Must start at beginning of line. See note in title-tt about handling.

indent-tt 66-char lines indented by 2 spaces 
  preFirst paragraph...
  ...more of paragraph.
  [blank line]
  Next paragraph...
 Lines undented and unfolded (longer lines are generally tolerated by most parsers).

This is primary body text, generally plain undented in emails, etc. currently.

bold-tt 
**[multi]word**

This is **very important**...
One or more bold words, generally *word* or **word** in emails
italic-tt 
~word~

This is an ~italic~ word.
Single italicized word; unclear why multi-word form not available.

Multi-word form of ~first~second~third~ supported by setext2latex.

underline-tt 
[_multi]_word_

This is _underlined_text_.
Display in a (user) selected style, preferably with underlining--except in browsers where underlining corresponds to hot links.

One or more underlined words

hot-tt 
[multi_]word_

This is a hot_word_.
include-tt 
> [space][text]

> This is quoted text... 
> ...more...
Displayed in a user selected style, preferably monospaced with the leading ">"
bullet-tt 
 * [space][text]

 * Item 1 that is... 
   ...really long 
 * Item 2
Displayed in bullet or list format.

Standalone Setext files

By default all properly setext-ized files will have an ".etx" or ".ETX" suffix. This stands for an "emailable/enhanced text",

gollark: In practice nobody actually cares, but it's moderately funny.
gollark: C's address space is limited by the spec, yes.
gollark: Indeed.
gollark: I didn't claim you did. This is a relevant point when discussing Turing-completeness.
gollark: No language functionally is due to memory limits, but quirks of the C spec directly limit addressable memory to a finite value while other language specs don't.

See also

Other lightweight markup languages (inspired by Setext):

References
  1. Engst, Adam C. "comp.sys.mac.announce / TidBITS file server available". UseNet. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  2. http://valdemar.net/~erik/site-features/setext/ Setext command reference

Implementations
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