Am 15.04.2022 00:10, schrieb Paul Eggert:
On 4/1hour...4/22 09:48, joerg.boeh...@snafu.de 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.
The problem is imo the naming: second, minute, hour ... are all integral
values counting from 0 to some max. value. Thus everybody expects that
zeros are padded to the left side.
But %N is now considered the fractional part of the second in
nanoseconds granularity or the positions after decimal point. Thus
everybody can assume that the padding is applied to the right.
I think it's very important that the user quickly grasps the meaning of
the formats from the man page to avoid frustration.
