Re: numfmt (=print 'human' sizes) updates

[Pádraig Brady]

On 01/31/2013 05:01 PM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> I'm still a bit worried about the numbers rejected by numfmt.
> These (ordered in my opinon of importance) will all give errors:
>
> $ numfmt --ignore-errors -- -1 1.2 1e2 1,234 0xf 0xf.a
> numfmt: invalid number: '-1'
> -1
> numfmt: cannot process decimal-point value without scaling: '1.2' (consider 
> using --from)
> 1.2
> numfmt: invalid suffix in input: '1e2'
> 1e2
> numfmt: invalid suffix in input: '1,234'
> 1,234
> numfmt: invalid suffix in input: '0xf'
> 0xf
> numfmt: invalid suffix in input: '0xf.ap2'
> 0xf.ap2
>
> I'm thinking perhaps strtold could be used as
> the base conversion function rather than trying
> to parse everything ourselves.
> I would consider the first two numbers above to
> be very important to support in any case.
>
> Other things I noticed ....
>
> Without --field it might be better to convert all numbers,
> rather than just the first field (consider df output).
>
> We may be able to remove --grouping and --padding
> in preference to specifying those in the --format string.
> Note the format string has the advantage of auto accounting
> for the grouping chars and precision in the width if using
> printf to generate the base number.

I've updated the patch set again at:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/patches/coreutils/numfmt.14.patch.xz
to address the first 2 number formats not supported above.
I'm getting ready to push it soon, after squashing the commits.
Changes since patch 13 are:


    numfmt: Don't process fields in command args by default

    * src/numfmt.c (main): Not doing so will allow more natural processing
    of command line args as a single number, which is significant with
    spaces between number and suffix for example.


    numfmt: support a space between the number and suffix

    This is a common format and easily supported.

    * src/numfmt.c (simple_strtod_human): Skip blanks.
    * tests/misc/numfmt.pl: Add a test.


    numfmt: support floating point numbers without a suffix

    Store a precision to use based on the input number.
    Reset the precision to 0 if there is a a scaling suffix used.

    * src/numfmt.c: Add a size_t precision pointer for update
    by the number parsing functions.
    (double_to_human): Use the precision for non scaled output.
    * tests/misc/numfmt.pl: Add/adjust tests.


    numfmt: always use exit status 2 for input errors

    Also change --ignore-errors to the more flexible
    --invalid={abort. fail, warn, ignore}

    * src/numfmt.c: Always use EXIT_CONVERSION_WARNINGS for input errors,
    rather than using EXIT_FAILURE sometimes.  Also allow suppressing
    diagnostic messages and the exit status with --invalid={....}
    * doc/coreutils.texi (numfmt invocation): Adjust accordingly.
    * tests/misc/numfmt.pl: Likewise.


    numfmt: support negative numbers

    * src/numfmt.c (simple_strtod_int): Process a leading '-'
    as a negative number.
    * tests/misc/numfmt.pl: Add basica tests for negative numbers.

thanks,
Pádraig.