Hi Jon, On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 10:26 PM, Jon Grant <jg@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi Michael > > I noticed there are a few different ways of explaining the null-terminating > '\0' character. Yes. There is some inconsistency. > Just thinking if this could be standardised, and the same > description of this used across all the string functions (and wide string): A good idea. > e.g.: > > http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/online/pages/man3/strnlen.3.html > > "terminating '\0' character" > > and also: > > "if there is no '\0' character" > > > My opinion would be that the phrase "null terminator '\0'" could be used for > the first mention, and then later references could just say "if there is no > null terminator". > > To give an example of a page with a different way of explaining: > > http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/online/pages/man3/strncat.3.html > > "plus the terminating null byte" > > http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/online/pages/man3/strcpy.3.html > "including the terminating null byte ('\0')" > > "If there is no null byte" > > Perhaps this could even be worth adding to the overview section: > http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/online/dir_section_7.html The preferred terms (more or less following POSIX) are "terminating null byte" (and terminating null wide character") and "null-terminated string" I've made a pass through the pages, bringing more consistency. Ideally, the first instance of "terminating null byte" on most pages also now includes mention of '\0'. Take a look through git (or man-pages-3.35 when it comes out). Cheers, Michael -- Michael Kerrisk Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/ Author of "The Linux Programming Interface"; http://man7.org/tlpi/ -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-man" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
