GNU bug report logs - #23665
spaces in keys: doc, --debug in LC_ALL=C

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Message #32 received at 23665 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 23665 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
Subject: Re: bug#23665: spaces in keys: doc, --debug in LC_ALL=C
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2016 12:05:07 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 01/06/16 03:15, Assaf Gordon wrote:
>
>> On May 31, 2016, at 20:54, Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 01/06/16 01:38, Assaf Gordon wrote:
>>>
>>> 2. add a bit more verbose progress information to the 'sort-debug-warn.sh' test - just so it'll be easier to discuss to the changed messages.
>>>
>>> 3. removes the 'maybe_space_aligned' and modifies the condition a bit.
>>
>> 2 and 3 are good to push.
>
> Thank you, pushed in:
>   http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/commit/?id=d548f87595a193e21b170368bc8fc2ded4dadb73
>   http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/commit/?id=6223bf94bfeac75fb4252095864a80545ba00a0d
>
> ====
>
> Regarding documentation: how about the following?
>
> 'sort' without '-t' separates fields by whitespace (tab and space characters) and considers the whitespace characters to be part of the field's text. Use 'b' sorting option to skip leading spaces.
>

I've added essentially that summary to the --key description in the attached.

> Example:

I think these examples are a bit verbose for the info docs
for the amount of info they convey. There are so many combinations
of field handling options that it's best to give the rules
and defer to the --debug option for what's actually happening.

What I have done is to expand this discussion on field handling in:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/coreutils-gotchas.html#sort

and drilling down from there have given an example of a comparison
where leading blanks are significant (and useful) at the bottom of:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/patches/coreutils/sort-debug/

cheers,
Pádraig.

[sort-key-docs.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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