Multi-Line Pattern Matching with Line Continuations

[Kingflint]

Cannot easily parse multi-line formats with line continuations

Feature Request

pattern = """
Name: {name}
Age: {age:d}
Address: {address:ml} ml = multiline type
"""
Matches:
Name: John
Age: 30
Address: 123 Main St
Apt 4B
City, State

Add :ml multiline type that continues until next pattern match
Support continuation characters (\, ...)
Add MULTILINE flag handling
Handle indentation-based blocks
Support mixed multiline and single-line fields

Test Complexity
Variable indentation
Continuation characters
Empty lines within multiline blocks
Multiple multiline fields
Greedy vs non-greedy multiline matching

Why Complex
Determining where multiline field ends
Handling various continuation styles
Maintaining line number information
Backtracking in multiline context

[eddiethedean]

formatparse supports multi-line captures and long-pattern ergonomics:

• {name:ml} — multiline field (non-greedy through newlines until the next literal/field), with the same width/precision/fill/alignment rules as documented for string fields (see project docs / issue trackers for :ml details).
• Line continuations in the pattern string — a backslash at end-of-line continues the pattern on the next line (with defined rules for doubled backslashes and leading whitespace on continuation lines).

Same top-level API as parse (parse, search, findall, compile). pip install formatparse — https://github.com/eddiethedean/formatparse