Subject: bug#40586: date and '%-N' does not appear to remove leading zeros anymore, but trailing zeros.

From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:10:36 -0700

On 4/14/22 09:48, [email-masked] wrote:

> %N     nanoseconds (000000000..999999999)
> 
> The current description gives the impression that nanoseconds are an 
> integral quantity like seconds and minutes. This leads the user to 
> assume that leading zeros are being removed.

Similar wording is used elsewhere:

   %M   minute (00..59)
   %m   month (01..12)
   %H   hour (00..23)
   %W   week number of year, with Monday as first day of week (00..53)

It's true that nanoseconds are more complicated than the others. 
However, it's not clear whether all the little details need to be in the 
man page, or how to summarize those details concisely.