%o and %x can now format signed integers

Optionally treat integers as signed numbers with %o
and %x format specifiers, instead of treating them as
a machine-dependent two’s complement representation.
This option is more machine-independent, allows formats
like "#x%x" to be useful for reading later, and is
better-insulated for future changes involving bignums.
Setting the new variable ‘binary-as-unsigned’ to nil
enables the new behavior (Bug#32252).
This is a simplified version of the change proposed in:
https://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-devel/2018-07/msg00763.html
I simplified that proposal by omitting bitwidth modifiers, as
I could not find an any example uses in the Emacs source code
that needed them and doing them correctly would have been
quite a bit more work for apparently little benefit.
* doc/lispref/strings.texi (Formatting Strings):
Document that %x and %o format negative integers in a
platform-dependent way.  Also, document how to format
numbers so that the same values can be read back in.
* etc/NEWS: Document the change.
* src/editfns.c (styled_format): Treat integers as signed
numbers even with %o and %x, if binary-as-unsigned is nil.
Support the + and space flags with %o and %x, since they’re
about signs.
(syms_of_editfns): New variable binary-as-unsigned.
* test/src/editfns-tests.el (read-large-integer):
Test that maximal integers can be read after printing
with all integer formats, if binary-as-unsigned is nil.

1 files changed, 9 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 995ceb67b78..089fc4053b1 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -812,6 +812,15 @@ between two strings.
 ** 'print-quoted' now defaults to t, so if you want to see
 (quote x) instead of 'x you will have to bind it to nil where applicable.
 
++++
+** Numbers formatted via %o or %x may now be formatted as signed integers.
+This avoids problems in calls like (read (format "#x%x" -1)), and is
+more compatible with bignums, a planned feature.  To get this
+behavior, set the experimental variable binary-as-unsigned to nil,
+and if the new behavior breaks your code please email
+32252@debbugs.gnu.org.  Because %o and %x can now format signed
+integers, they now support the + and space flags.
+
 ** To avoid confusion caused by "smart quotes", the reader signals an
 error when reading Lisp symbols which begin with one of the following
 quotation characters: ‘’‛“”‟〞＂＇.  A symbol beginning with such a