GNU bug report logs - #62272
Erroneous claim in grep man page

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: dakra137 <at> gmail.com
Subject: bug#62272: closed (Re: bug#62272: Erroneous claim in grep man page)
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2023 01:55:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#62272: Erroneous claim in grep man page

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 62272 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
62272: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=62272
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: dakra137 <at> gmail.com
Cc: 62272-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#62272: Erroneous claim in grep man page
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2023 18:54:32 -0700

tags notabug 62272
stop

On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 5:47 AM David Kra <dakra137 <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> This is a request and further endorsement of a report from 2008, ending
> with https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-grep/2008-08/msg00002.html
>
> Request: Either add four words to the manpage or delete the entire
> sentence.
> ASIS: "In GNU grep there is no difference in available functionality
> between basic and extended syntaxes."
>
> TOBE: "Although the syntaxes differ, in GNU grep there is no difference in
> available functionality between basic and extended syntaxes."
>
> Reasoning: The user should not suffer for not realizing that "no difference
> in available functionality" does not imply "no difference in syntax."

Thanks, but that sentence already says there are two different
syntaxes: basic and extended.
Those are different names, which usually implies they denote different things.
So adding those four words at the beginning of the sentence would be
unnecessary and repetitive.

I'm marking this as done, but discussion may continue.

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From: David Kra <dakra137 <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: Erroneous claim in grep man page
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2023 11:27:41 +0200

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This is a request and further endorsement of a report from 2008, ending
with https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-grep/2008-08/msg00002.html

Request: Either add four words to the manpage or delete the entire
sentence.
ASIS: "In GNU grep there is no difference in available functionality
between basic and extended syntaxes."

TOBE: "Although the syntaxes differ, in GNU grep there is no difference in
available functionality between basic and extended syntaxes."

Reasoning: The user should not suffer for not realizing that "no difference
in available functionality" does not imply "no difference in syntax."
Example:
*$* *grep -i "([A-Z])\1\1" *
grep: Invalid back reference
#but no problem with:
*$* *grep -i -E "([A-Z])\1\1"*
or
*$* *grep -i "\([A-Z]\)\1\1" *
---
Thank you,
*David A. Kra*
__________________________________________________________________

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