Merge branch 'patterns' into 'main'

add: simple word pattern kinds

Closes #85

See merge request larswirzenius/subplot!73

1 files changed, 19 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/subplot.md b/subplot.md
index 5bb4779..ec0ca43 100644
--- a/subplot.md
+++ b/subplot.md
@@ -431,13 +431,30 @@ In the example above, there are four bindings:
 * A binding for a "then everything is OK" step, which captures nothing,
   and calls the `check_everything_is_ok` function.
 
-The simple patterns (`{name}`) capture white-space delimited words. A
-pattern uses simple patterns by default, or if the `regex` field is
+## Simple patterns
+
+The simple patterns are of the form `{name}` and match a single word
+consisting of printable characters. This can be varied by adding a
+suffix, such as `{name:text}` which matches any text. The following
+kinds of simple patterns are supported:
+
+* `{name}` or `{name:word}` – a single word
+* `{name:text}` – any text
+* `{name:int}` – any whole number, including negative
+* `{name:uint}` – any unsigned whole number
+* `{name:number}` – any number
+
+A pattern uses simple patterns by default, or if the `regex` field is
 set to false. To use regular expressions, `regex` must be set to true.
 Subplot complains if typical regular expression characters are used,
 when simple patterns are expected, unless `regex` is explicitly set to
 false.
 
+## Regular expression patterns
+
+Regular expression patterns are used only if the binding `regex` field
+is set to `true`.
+
 The regular expressions use [PCRE][] syntax as implemented by the Rust
 [regex][] crate. The `(?P<name>pattern)` syntax is used to capture
 parts of the step. The captured parts are given to the bound function
@@ -447,7 +464,6 @@ as arguments, when it's called.
 [regex]: https://crates.io/crates/regex
 
 
-
 ## Functions file
 
 Functions implementing steps are supported in Bash and Python. The