[tex-hyphen] Preferences for hyphenation/word-breaking points?

[Javier Bezos]

> I'm having great trouble to understand this Web site. The earliest point 
> that I don't understand is this:
> 
>  > a pattern with the string to be handled (here ck);


> What is “ck” in “here ck”: the pattern (and the string to be handled is 
> contained in ck, i.e., one of the four substrings of ck) or the string to 
> be handled itself?

Sorry, I don’t understand what those “four substrings of ck” are,
but anyway, “ck” is a lua pattern, in this case matching the string
“ck”.

> What exactly is the said replacement and what is the said list in { no = c, 
> pre = k- },{} ?

As explained in the page, it defines a discretionary. The three
parameters of a discretionary are explained in the TeXbook, p. 95,
or:

http://latexref.xyz/_005cdiscretionary.html

Javier