* Fri 2008-02-01 Jakub Narebski <jnareb@xxxxxxxxx>
* Message-Id: m3y7a46vmf.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> It seems that I was mistaken about that. Junio suggestion of following
> others example and using "{}" curly brackets for grouping alternate
> choices is IMHO a good solution.
That is another common syntax which I presented previously.
> The traditional manpages use /italics/ (usually rendered as
> _underlined_ text on terminals) to denote placeholders (user supplied
> input).
That does not matter. The text should stand out as it it in environment,
which do not render termcap or other terminal capabilities.
> From http://www.linux.com/articles/34212
Here are the POSIX/Susv guidelines for the manual pages, I've marked the
relevant points with **....**. We were both right: Angles mean required
and grouping.
I think Git's manual pages should follow standard notation. E.g. the
use of parentheses should be replaced with curly braces.
Jari
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/xcu_chap01.html#tag_01_11
12.1 Utility Argument Syntax
http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap12.html#tag_12_01
[...]
4. Frequently, names of parameters that **require** substitution by
actual values are shown with embedded underscores. Alternatively,
parameters are shown as follows:
<parameter name>
The angle brackets are used for the symbolic grouping of a phrase
representing a single parameter and conforming applications shall
not include them in data submitted to the utility.
[...]
7. Arguments or option-arguments enclosed in the '[' and ']'
notation are **optional** and can be omitted. Conforming applications
shall not include the '[' and ']' symbols in data submitted to the
utility.
8. Arguments separated by the '|' vertical bar notation are
**mutually-exclusive.**
9. Ellipses ( "..." ) are used to denote that one or **more**
occurrences of an option or operand are allowed. When an option or
an operand followed by ellipses is enclosed in brackets, **zero** or
more options or operands can be specified.
utility_name [-g option_argument]...[operand...]
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