> Should we allow syntax like #+KEYWORD:value to be correct or do we
> require a whitespace/space after colon all the time?

The spec as written is ambiguous/silent on this issue. In my work on
laundry tokenizer and grammar I have found keyword syntax to be a
thorny issue, and I strongly suggest that for the time being we either
make no ruling on this or we state that the colon that ends the
keyword should be followed by a space as a precautionary measure.
The safe thing to do is to always require whitespace after the colon
because it guarantees correct interpretation.

Requiring whitespace after the colon simplifies the grammar, however
it means that you can't compact keyword lines, and it induces an
annoying failure mode where missing spaces are no longer keywords.

However, it is technically possible to make keywords work without the
whitespace, so long as there is at least one whitespace prior to the
next colon (but not contained in square brackets, e.g. #+key:lol[ a b
c ]:value is a well formed keyword under a slighly generalized
grammar). The problem is that we would like to make keyword syntax
fully closed, and I need a bit more time to get that worked out before
any definitive conclusions are drawn.

The complexity of the generalized keyword syntax can be seen here
https://github.com/tgbugs/laundry/blob/5a396bef98d9a3cd9ee929f21cd47612dd6cb1ac/laundry/lex-abbrev.rkt#L107-L249

Best,
Tom

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