Yep! And, Yep! If only it could all be more straightforward… still keeps things interesting ;-). Further, I have a curious kind of love for system builders and a great sympathy for the constraints upon them. If I spend a little time reflecting on the work done from generation to generation (that in a way is necessarily ad hoc) and their working circumstances all I’m left with is reverent admiration and gratitude.
To my mind it would be lovely if there was an account of sutta numbering (taking in its historical layers to facilitate understanding), but I do wonder if Access to Insight’s John Bullitt covers everything in need of covering with his simple explanation that:
Over the years, Pali and Buddhist scholars have used a bewildering array of numbering schemes to refer to suttas and other passages in the Tipitaka.
I for one am keenly hopeful that the good folks of SC have/are establishing an eminently logical and sensitive standard that can be adopted by all.
In case it is at all helpful to you (it wouldn’t be at all useful in the above case), here is a rough-&-ready tool I fashioned for myself for quick PTS reference conversion by the mighty power of crtl+f (it includes the 4 nikayas, the Snp, vinaya books 1-4 and possibly a few errors/ formatting funkinesses, and gives SC ready URL extensions for quick cut & paste).
PTS-finder.zip (34.3 KB)