Jim Meyering wrote:
>
> No problem.
> BTW, I've already fixed it, but forgot to mention it in the log text.
Noticed that, thanks.
On a related note, would the attached patch be useful,
as I found inconsistent descriptions of ASCII NUL
throughout the info doc.
cheers,
Pádraig.
>From 3557a0e286fe526a6efd4227744cdfc8840d118a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?utf-8?q?P=C3=A1draig=20Brady?= <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 10:41:50 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] doc: Make descriptions of ASCII NUL and --zero-terminated option consistent
doc/coretuils.texi: Refactor shuf, sort and uniq --zero-terminated
option to use the same text. Also refer to NUL characters as
@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} consistently.
---
doc/coreutils.texi | 79 +++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------------
1 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 43 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index e331168..c9ff7c6 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -1835,7 +1835,7 @@ Output at most @var{bytes} bytes of the input. Prefixes and suffixes on
@cindex string constants, outputting
Instead of the normal output, output only @dfn{string constants}: at
least @var{bytes} consecutive @acronym{ASCII} graphic characters,
-followed by a null (zero) byte.
+followed by a zero byte (@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}).
Prefixes and suffixes on @code{bytes} are interpreted as for the
@option{-j} option.
@@ -1874,7 +1874,7 @@ hexadecimal
@end table
The type @code{a} outputs things like @samp{sp} for space, @samp{nl} for
-newline, and @samp{nul} for a null (zero) byte. Only the least significant
+newline, and @samp{nul} for a zero byte. Only the least significant
seven bits of each byte is used; the high-order bit is ignored.
Type @code{c} outputs
@samp{ }, @samp{\n}, and @code{\0}, respectively.
@@ -3267,16 +3267,17 @@ Print only the maximum line lengths.
@c texi2dvi (GNU Texinfo 4.11) 1.104
@c @cindex including files from @command{\cmd\}
Disallow processing files named on the command line, and instead process
-those named in file @var{file}; each name being terminated by a @sc{nul} byte.
+those named in file @var{file}; each name being terminated by a zero byte
+(@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}).
This is useful \withTotalOption\
when the list of file names is so long that it may exceed a command line
length limitation.
In such cases, running @command{\cmd\} via @command{xargs} is undesirable
because it splits the list into pieces and makes @command{\cmd\} print
\subListOutput\ for each sublist rather than for the entire list.
-One way to produce a list of @sc{nul} terminated file names is with @sc{gnu}
+One way to produce a list of @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} terminated file names is with @sc{gnu}
@command{find}, using its @option{-print0} predicate.
-If @var{file} is @samp{-} then the @sc{nul} terminated file names
+If @var{file} is @samp{-} then the @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} terminated file names
are read from standard input.
@end macro
@filesZeroFromOption{wc,,a total}
@@ -4003,9 +4004,8 @@ However, fields that extend to the end of the line,
as @option{-k 2}, or fields consisting of a range, as @option{-k 2,3},
retain the field separators present between the endpoints of the range.
-To specify a null character (@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}) as
-the field separator, use the two-character string @samp{\0}, e.g.,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -t '\0'}.
+To specify @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} as the field separator,
+use the two-character string @samp{\0}, e.g., @samp{sort -t '\0'}.
@item -T @var{tempdir}
@itemx [EMAIL PROTECTED]
@@ -4038,18 +4038,21 @@ For example, @code{sort -n -u} inspects only the value of the initial
numeric string when checking for uniqueness, whereas @code{sort -n |
uniq} inspects the entire line. @xref{uniq invocation}.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] zeroTerminatedOption
@item -z
@itemx --zero-terminated
@opindex -z
@opindex --zero-terminated
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sort zero-terminated lines
-Treat the input as a set of lines, each terminated by a null character
-(@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}) instead of a line feed
-(@acronym{ASCII} @sc{lf}).
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sort zero-terminated items
+Delimit items with a zero byte rather than (@acronym{ASCII} @sc{lf}).
+I.E. treat input as items separated by @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}
+and terminate output items with @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}.
This option can be useful in conjunction with @samp{perl -0} or
@samp{find -print0} and @samp{xargs -0} which do the same in order to
reliably handle arbitrary file names (even those containing blanks
or other special characters).
[EMAIL PROTECTED] macro
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
@end table
@@ -4301,14 +4304,8 @@ permutation to generate. @xref{Random sources}.
@itemx --zero-terminated
@opindex -z
@opindex --zero-terminated
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sort zero-terminated lines
-Treat the input and output as a set of lines, each terminated by a zero byte
-(@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} (Null) character) instead of an
[EMAIL PROTECTED] @sc{lf} (Line Feed).
-This option can be useful in conjunction with @samp{perl -0} or
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -print0} and @samp{xargs -0} which do the same in order to
-reliably handle arbitrary file names (even those containing blanks
-or other special characters).
[EMAIL PROTECTED] shuffle zero-terminated items
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
@end table
@@ -4476,13 +4473,13 @@ This is equivalent to @option{--all-repeated} (@option{-D}).
@item prepend
Output a newline before each group of repeated lines.
-With @option{--zero-terminated} (@option{-z}), use
-an @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} (zero) byte instead of a newline.
+With @option{--zero-terminated} (@option{-z}), use a zero
+byte (@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}) instead of a newline.
@item separate
Separate groups of repeated lines with a single newline.
-With @option{--zero-terminated} (@option{-z}), use
-an @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} (zero) byte instead of a newline.
+With @option{--zero-terminated} (@option{-z}), use a zero
+byte (@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}) instead of a newline.
This is the same as using @samp{prepend}, except that
no delimiter is inserted before the first group, and hence
may be better suited for output direct to users.
@@ -4516,14 +4513,8 @@ compared.
@itemx --zero-terminated
@opindex -z
@opindex --zero-terminated
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sort zero-terminated lines
-Treat the input as a set of lines, each terminated by a null character
-(@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}) instead of a line feed
-(@acronym{ASCII} @sc{lf}).
-This option can be useful in conjunction with @samp{sort -z}, @samp{perl -0} or
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -print0} and @samp{xargs -0} which do the same in order to
-reliably handle arbitrary file names (even those containing blanks
-or other special characters).
[EMAIL PROTECTED] unique items, zero-terminated
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
@end table
@@ -5032,10 +5023,10 @@ disabled, width of references is not taken into account in the output
line width computations.
@item
-All 256 bytes, even null bytes, are always read and processed from
-input file with no adverse effect, even if @sc{gnu} extensions are disabled.
-However, System V @command{ptx} does not accept 8-bit characters, a few
-control characters are rejected, and the tilde @kbd{~} is also rejected.
+All 256 bytes, even @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul} bytes, are always read and
+processed from input file with no adverse effect, even if @sc{gnu} extensions
+are disabled. However, System V @command{ptx} does not accept 8-bit characters,
+a few control characters are rejected, and the tilde @kbd{~} is also rejected.
@item
Input line length is only limited by available memory, even if @sc{gnu}
@@ -7704,7 +7695,7 @@ The @samp{excl} and @samp{nocreat} conversions are mutually exclusive.
Do not truncate the output file.
@item sync
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sync @r{(padding with nulls)}
[EMAIL PROTECTED] sync @r{(padding with @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}s)}
Pad every input block to size of @samp{ibs} with trailing zero bytes.
When used with @samp{block} or @samp{unblock}, pad with spaces instead of
zero bytes.
@@ -10091,9 +10082,10 @@ is at level 0, so @code{du --max-depth=0} is equivalent to @code{du -s}.
@itemx --null
@opindex --null
@cindex output null-byte-terminated lines
-Output a null byte at the end of each line, rather than a newline.
-This option enables other programs to parse the output of @command{du}
-even when that output would contain file names with embedded newlines.
+Output a zero byte (@acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}) at the end of each line,
+rather than a newline. This option enables other programs to parse the
+output of @command{du} even when that output would contain file names
+with embedded newlines.
@optSi
@@ -12070,7 +12062,8 @@ May be negated.
@item ofdel
@opindex ofdel
@cindex pad character
-Use delete characters for fill instead of null characters. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+Use @acronym{ASCII} @sc{del} characters for fill instead of
[EMAIL PROTECTED] @sc{nul} characters. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
May be negated.
@item nl1
@@ -14036,8 +14029,8 @@ These operands are evaluated left-to-right, so if two operands
mention the same variable the earlier is ignored.
Environment variable names can be empty, and can contain any
-characters other than @samp{=} and the null character (@acronym{ASCII}
[EMAIL PROTECTED]). However, it is wise to limit yourself to names that
+characters other than @samp{=} and @acronym{ASCII} @sc{nul}.
+However, it is wise to limit yourself to names that
consist solely of underscores, digits, and @acronym{ASCII} letters,
and that begin with a non-digit, as applications like the shell do not
work well with other names.
--
1.5.3.6
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