RFC 3676 (rfc3676) - Page 1 of 20
The Text/Plain Format and DelSp Parameters
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group R. Gellens
Request for Comments: 3676 Qualcomm
Obsoletes: 2646 February 2004
Category: Standards Track
The Text/Plain Format and DelSp Parameters
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This specification establishes two parameters (Format and DelSP) to
be used with the Text/Plain media type. In the presence of these
parameters, trailing whitespace is used to indicate flowed lines and
a canonical quote indicator is used to indicate quoted lines. This
results in an encoding which appears as normal Text/Plain in older
implementations, since it is in fact normal Text/Plain, yet provides
for superior wrapping/flowing, and quoting.
This document supersedes the one specified in RFC 2646, "The
Text/Plain Format Parameter", and adds the DelSp parameter to
accommodate languages/coded character sets in which ASCII spaces are
not used or appear rarely.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Conventions Used in this Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1. Paragraph Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2. Embarrassing Line Wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.3. New Media Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. The Format and DelSp Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1. Interpreting Format=Flowed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2. Generating Format=Flowed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.3. Usenet Signature Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.4. Space-Stuffing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Gellens Standards Track
