GNU bug report logs - #37604
man page description of -i confused someone

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Tom Limoncelli <tal <at> whatexit.org>
Subject: bug#37604: closed (Re: bug#37604: man page description of -i
 confused someone)
Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2019 22:26:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#37604: man page description of -i confused someone

which was filed against the grep package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 37604 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
37604: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=37604
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Tom Limoncelli <tal <at> whatexit.org>
Cc: 37604-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#37604: man page description of -i confused someone
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2019 15:25:30 -0700

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Thanks for the bug report. I installed the attached, which should make 
things clearer, albeit a bit more tersely than you suggested.

[0001-grep-tighten-i-doc.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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From: Tom Limoncelli <tal <at> whatexit.org>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: man page description of -i confused someone
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2019 09:08:59 -0400

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There's an interesting question about grep posted on StackOverflow.com:

       https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45717127

The user was confused why "-i" didn't apply to the NAMES of the files on
the command line.  Obviously this is a misunderstanding of the separation
of duties between the shell and the commands (shell expands wildcards, not
the command).  The top ranked answer for the question gently explained the
difference.

That said, I do take pity on the person, who may have been an early
beginner or possibly not a native English speaker.  The man page says:


       *-i*, *--ignore-case*

              Ignore case distinctions in both the PATTERN and the input

              files.


Taking off my developer hat and putting on my writer/author hat, I have to
agree that the man page could be phrased better.  I think the person got
caught up by seeing the word "files" instead of "contents". (I could also
make the case that the fact that stdin isn't really a file means the
sentence is inaccurate.)

My suggestion is to change the description to be:

   Ignore case distinctions in both the PATTERN and the contents being
searched.

even better would be to break it into multiple sentences. This would make
it perfectly clear:

   Ignore case during the search. Case is ignored in both the input
contents PATTERN and the contents being searched.

Tom

-- 
Email: tal <at> whatexit.org    Work: tlimoncelli <at> StackOverflow.com
Blog:  http://EverythingSysadmin.com/

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