On Friday 30 June 2017, J William Piggott wrote: > On 06/29/2017 04:12 PM, Karel Zak wrote: > > On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 10:46:50AM -0400, J William Piggott wrote: > >>> (William, can you update your "standardize USAGE_COLUMNS" > >>> patches? Please.) > >> > >> Sure, one clarification please: you want only the columns header > >> in all caps? So: > >> > >> Usage: > >> Options: > >> Functions: > >> Commands: > >> COLUMNS: > > > > ha.. that's a good question. Suggestions? > > > > For example coreutils project uses uppercase for keywords only, for > > example dd(1) > > > > Each FLAG symbol may be: > > ... > > Each CONV symbol may be: > > ... > > > > it seems like original Rudi's idea > > > > Available COLUMNS: > > But they also use: > of=FILE > conv=CONVS > > So we cannot completely follow that paradigm. The above are not > option args, and you do not want option args in all caps. > > The columns situation is unique, we don't have to play follow the > leader. > > Comparing: > > --output <list> COLUMNS to display (see below) > ... > Available COLUMNS: > > With: > --output <list> columns to display (see Columns:) > ... > Columns: > > > What does the reader learn by yelling COLUMNS at them. It's just de-facto standard for "--help/man"-like technical documentation. If you would write html or info docs, then you would not use capital letters but links to click on. Compare: $ man bash | grep -i EXPANSION $ man bash | grep EXPANSION or $ xz --help | grep -i FILE $ xz --help | grep FILE It's a very useful style and users *use* this by case-sensitive search in less or grep. This style is not always used 100% consistently but I'm happy whenever I see it, saves me a lot of time usually. cu, Rudi > Sometimes a > vague reference like 'see below' is required. In this case the reader > can be told exactly what they a looking for. It also keeps our > usage() headings consistent. > > The two are not so different; I just think my solution is less > ambiguous, is easier to read, and looks a bit cleaner. > > It's your call to make Karel. > > > it's more compatible with the rest than alone "COLUMNS". So I vote > > this one. > > > > Karel -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe util-linux" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
