In Super Smash Bros, when a player holds down the attack button there are different ways their attack can be affected.

In some cases the attack will keep spawning projectiles until the button is released, in some cases the attack will charge, gaining power until the button is released, and in some cases nothing will happen.

As these behaviours also have other parameters, a number is used in the text file to represent a 'hold value', a hold value of zero means that on holding the button down, nothing happens, a positive number as a hold value means the number of seconds the player has to hold the attack button to get maximum damage and knockback, which scales linearly up to that time. A negative number as the hold value means that this is a repeating attack, which gets repeated at intervals determined by the numerical value.

When a player uses a hold or repeat attack, it is stored as a paremeter so the character knows to either keep using that attack or perform it on release of the button.

Although this method saves on having to have each text file read differently, I am concerned that it may affect the clarity of the text files to create attacks.