Re: Changes to grep/doc/grep.1

[Benno Schulenberg]

Charles Levert wrote:
> +The
> +.B grep
> +command searches [...]

Sorry, but I don't like this -- because it is different from other 
man pages.  Also because it contains two unnecessary words, and (to 
really split hairs) a command doesn't search, but is given: the 
program does the searching.

The main point is that using "The" and "command" makes it different 
from other man pages.  Some examples:

  *arch* is equivalent...
  *bc* is a language...
  *cp* copies  files...
  *df* reports the amount...
  *ed* is a line-oriented...
  *fuser* displays the PIDs...

Of course, this is a carefully selected series of examples; there 
are many others that simply skip repeating the program's name, 
there are several that get it wrong (with an initial uppercase: 
file, gawk, less, ...), and there are a few that do it your way:

  The GNU *ar* program creates...
  The program *ls* lists...

If you really wish to start the sentence with "The", then at least 
use the word "program", not "command", as this is more something 
for a shell, and also not "utility", as it is nice to be able to 
tell from just the language whether one is reading a GNU or a POSIX 
man page:

  The _alias_ utility...
  The _batch_ utility...

But really I prefer the old way:

  *grep* searches through files...

>  For example, the shell command
> -.B "egrep '{1'"
> +.B "grep\ \-E\ '{1'"

Hmm, "shell command"?  Better simply "command" here.

Benno