Should changing the file/path of a source location keep the offset&length information?

[DavyLandman]

Both @joukestoel and I have recently run into this confusion:

rascal>x = |file:///test/path/file.name|(10,30);
loc: |file:///test/path/file.name|(10,30)

rascal>x[path="/other/file.name"]
loc: |file:///other/file.name|(10,30)

the location keeps the offset & length, I think that perhaps certain changes in the path should drop the offset information?

So what do you think, what would be more expected/consistent? And are there certain changes that might not drop the offset information?

[tvdstorm]

This needs to be documented. Let's not add magic. You change the path, you change the path only. What if the change in path represents a move? Then you might want to keep position info.

[PaulKlint]

I agree with @tvdstorm: the user can control all aspects of the location let's not introduce too much magic here. What we should also document is that the position information can be added in function call style. The other day I wrote this: getSearchPathLocation(l.path)(l.offset, l.length, l.begin,l.end) and that is very handy -- and explicit: get another location but preserve the original position information.

[DavyLandman]

You could also have written:

originalLoc[path=otherLoc.path]

And I see the point in not adding magic.

[DavyLandman]

A wait, it's the other way around in your example.