GNU bug report logs - #31873
head/tail --help K != N

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Package: coreutils;

Reported by: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>

Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2018 21:48:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Tags: notabug

Done: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: head/tail --help K != N
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2018 21:47:20 GMT

It's just an idea, and a tiny one at that, but I was momentarily
perplexed by the lines like
  -n, --lines=[-]K
in head --help, making it look like the number is given in kilobytes,
when I knew that was not correct :).

So I suggest replacing K with N in the --help messages when the metavar
is standing for just a number, especially/only a number that takes a
suffix. FWIW ... --best, karl.
This bug report was last modified 7 years and 35 days ago.

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