A line can be continued via a backquote-LF and can be chomped at a
comment character. But that is not specific to string-typed values.
It is common to all, just like unquoted leading and trailing
whitespaces are stripped and inter-word spacing are retained.
Move the description around and desribe these structural rules
first, then introduce the double-quote facility as a way to override
them, and finally mention various types of values.
Note that these structural rules only apply to the value part of the
configuration file. E.g.
[aSection] \
name \
= value
does not work, because the rules kick in only after seeing "name =".
Both the original and the updated text are phrased in an awkward way
by singling out the "value" part of the line because of this.
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/config.txt | 31 +++++++++++++++----------------
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 405bf25..1444614 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -59,32 +59,31 @@ is taken as 'name' and the variable is recognized as boolean "true".
The variable names are case-insensitive, allow only alphanumeric characters
and `-`, and must start with an alphabetic character.
-Leading and trailing whitespace in a variable value is discarded.
-Internal whitespace within a variable value is retained verbatim.
+A line that defines a value can be continued to the next line by
+ending it with a `\`; the backquote and the end-of-line are
+stripped. Leading whitespaces after 'name =', the remainder of the
+line after the first comment character '#' or ';', and trailing
+whitespaces of the line are discarded unless they are enclosed in
+double quotes. Internal whitespaces within the value are retained
+verbatim.
-The values following the equals sign in variable assign are all either
-a string, an integer, or a boolean. Boolean values may be given as yes/no,
-1/0, true/false or on/off. Case is not significant in boolean values, when
-converting value to the canonical form using '--bool' type specifier;
-'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or "false".
-
-String values may be entirely or partially enclosed in double quotes.
-You need to enclose variable values in double quotes if you want to
-preserve leading or trailing whitespace, or if the variable value contains
-comment characters (i.e. it contains '#' or ';').
-Double quote `"` and backslash `\` characters in variable values must
-be escaped: use `\"` for `"` and `\\` for `\`.
+Inside double quotes, double quote `"` and backslash `\` characters
+must be escaped: use `\"` for `"` and `\\` for `\`.
The following escape sequences (beside `\"` and `\\`) are recognized:
`\n` for newline character (NL), `\t` for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
and `\b` for backspace (BS). No other char escape sequence, nor octal
char sequences are valid.
-Variable values ending in a `\` are continued on the next line in the
-customary UNIX fashion.
+The values following the equals sign in variable assign are all either
+a string, an integer, or a boolean. Boolean values may be given as yes/no,
+1/0, true/false or on/off. Case is not significant in boolean values, when
+converting value to the canonical form using '--bool' type specifier;
+'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or "false".
Some variables may require a special value format.
+
Includes
~~~~~~~~
--
2.3.1-316-g7c93423
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html