Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes: >>> - N_("git show-ref --exclude-existing[=pattern] < ref-list"), >>> + N_("git show-ref --exclude-existing[=<pattern>] < <ref-list>"), >> >> Should the '<' stdin redirection be shown? > > Hmm, that actually is an interesting thought,... Having said all that (i.e. I agree dropping "< $anything" may be a good idea in general), for this particular command, I suspect that the feature may have outlived its usefulness. It was introduced (silently) in ed9f7c95 (git-fetch: Avoid reading packed refs over and over again, 2006-12-17) as an optimisation that is very specific to the way how "git fetch" scripted Porcelain happened to be written back then. The way the feature is misdesigned clearly shows that it was not designed for general consumption---if it were, we would have made "show-ref" to be usable as a filter even when we are not excluding anything with "--exclude-existing" option. Of course, it is OK and definitely a lot safer to keep the "can work as a filter" feature for possible third-party uses, but if we were to go that route, it is not too late to extend the machinery so that "work as a filter" is not tied too closely to "exclude-existing". -- 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