GNU bug report logs - #46179
Tweak to man page

Previous Next

To add a comment to this bug, you must first unarchive it, by sending
a message to control AT debbugs.gnu.org, with unarchive 46179 in the body.
You can then email your comments to 46179 AT debbugs.gnu.org in the normal way.

Toggle the display of automated, internal messages from the tracker.

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

From: Robert Bruntz <robert.bruntz <at> cnu.edu>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: Tweak to man page
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2021 14:38:18 -0500

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

Hi there -
  I would like to recommend a minor tweak to the man page for GNU grep.
(The version I'm looking at is 2.20, but I doubt that matters.)
  I would recommend changing the description of the -l and -L options from
this:
The scanning will stop on the first match.
  to something like this:
The scanning of a file will stop on the first match.
  The reason for this is that the first version is ambiguous, in that it
could be read as the grep command itself will stop at the first match, thus
printing only the name of the first file that matches (-l) or doesn't match
(-L), rather than the scanning of each file will stop on the first match
and start again on the next file.
  Admittedly, this functionality doesn't make much sense, but most users
don't use all the functionality of a command, so some of it doesn't make
sense on the first encounter (or even much later), and I admit that at one
point that's exactly what happened to me in this very case ("Why would you
only want the name of the first file that matches and none of the others?
That's kind of bizarre.")
  Please let me know if any of the above is unclear (unless, of course, you
stopped reading at the first nonsensical part and skipped on to the next
email).
  Thanks!
---
Robert Bruntz, PhD
Associate Scientist, PCSE dept. at CNU
robert.bruntz <at> cnu.edu
757-594-8570 (office)
817-899-7716 (cell)

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #10 received at 46179-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: Robert Bruntz <robert.bruntz <at> cnu.edu>
Cc: 46179-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#46179: Tweak to man page
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2021 09:33:37 -0800

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

On Fri, Jan 29, 2021 at 11:51 AM Robert Bruntz <robert.bruntz <at> cnu.edu> wrote:
>   I would like to recommend a minor tweak to the man page for GNU grep.
> (The version I'm looking at is 2.20, but I doubt that matters.)
>   I would recommend changing the description of the -l and -L options from
> this:
> The scanning will stop on the first match.
>   to something like this:
> The scanning of a file will stop on the first match.
>   The reason for this is that the first version is ambiguous, in that it
> could be read as the grep command itself will stop at the first match, thus
> printing only the name of the first file that matches (-l) or doesn't match
> (-L), rather than the scanning of each file will stop on the first match
> and start again on the next file.

Thanks for the report. That has highlighted the fact that the sentence
in question doesn't even make sense for -L, so I've deleted it. Note
that for the -l option, this was documented properly in grep.texi (the
primary documentation -- you can read via "info grep"), but I've
tweaked the wording there slightly and propagated that wording to the
man page.

I'll push the attached later today.

[0001-doc-man-fix-L-description-and-improve-l-s.patch (application/octet-stream, attachment)]

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.