The artist formerly known as {expand}. See TIP 293 [L1 ] for details.
RLH This is much better IMHO.
jcw - HURRAY!
RS Note that in re_syntax, * stands for "zero or more", which is exactly the unique cardinality of an {expand}ed item...
DKF: Similarly in string match syntax.
SYStems I vote yes. I don't think though that its necessary to deprecate {expand}, but I agree on deprecating {} it does look like syntax error rather than a feature.
RLH I think {expand} should be removed completely. It is not in the language "official" yet and so it should be yanked to make sure no abuse occurs.