* wcschr(3): add special case for NUL, as in strchr(3)
@ 2021-07-12 9:37 Stefan Kanthak
2021-07-12 16:09 ` Jakub Wilk
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Stefan Kanthak @ 2021-07-12 9:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: mtk.manpages, alx.manpages; +Cc: linux-man
Hi,
in the section return value, strchr(3) and strrchr(3) explicitly
state the behaviour for NUL:
<https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/strstr.3.html#RETURN_VALUE>
<https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/strrchr.3.html#RETURN_VALUE>
| The terminating null byte is considered part of the string, so
| that if c is specified as '\0', these functions return a pointer
| to the terminator.
JFTR: to avoid any possible confusion of "null byte" alias NUL with
the "null pointer" alias NULL (C macro) or nullptr (C++),
"null byte" should be replaced with "NUL byte"!
The same explicit statement is but missing from both
<https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/wcschr.3.html#RETURN_VALUE>
and
<https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/wcsrchr.3.html#RETURN_VALUE>
and should be added there.
regards
Stefan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: wcschr(3): add special case for NUL, as in strchr(3)
2021-07-12 9:37 wcschr(3): add special case for NUL, as in strchr(3) Stefan Kanthak
@ 2021-07-12 16:09 ` Jakub Wilk
2021-07-12 18:41 ` Stefan Kanthak
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Jakub Wilk @ 2021-07-12 16:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Stefan Kanthak; +Cc: mtk.manpages, alx.manpages, linux-man
* Stefan Kanthak <stefan.kanthak@nexgo.de>, 2021-07-12, 11:37:
>JFTR: to avoid any possible confusion of "null byte" alias NUL with the
>"null pointer" alias NULL (C macro) or nullptr (C++), "null byte"
>should be replaced with "NUL byte"!
"NUL byte" looks like a typo for "NULL byte", so if anything, it makes
the potential for confusion greater.
Anyway, "null byte" is the preferred term in the man-pages style guide;
see the "NULL, NUL, null pointer, and null character" subsection in
man-pages(7).
--
Jakub Wilk
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: wcschr(3): add special case for NUL, as in strchr(3)
2021-07-12 16:09 ` Jakub Wilk
@ 2021-07-12 18:41 ` Stefan Kanthak
2021-08-10 6:40 ` Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Stefan Kanthak @ 2021-07-12 18:41 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Jakub Wilk; +Cc: mtk.manpages, alx.manpages, linux-man
"Jakub Wilk" wrote:
>* Stefan Kanthak <stefan.kanthak@nexgo.de>, 2021-07-12, 11:37:
>>JFTR: to avoid any possible confusion of "null byte" alias NUL with the
>>"null pointer" alias NULL (C macro) or nullptr (C++), "null byte"
>>should be replaced with "NUL byte"!
>
> "NUL byte" looks like a typo for "NULL byte", so if anything, it makes
> the potential for confusion greater.
>
> Anyway, "null byte" is the preferred term in the man-pages style guide;
> see the "NULL, NUL, null pointer, and null character" subsection in
> man-pages(7).
Despite the statement
| Avoid also the terms "zero byte" and "null character".
the heading of said subsection itself but says "null character" instead
of the preferred "null byte"!
JFTR: the search function on <https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/index.html>
gives 21 matches for "zero byte", 46 matches for "null character",
and 146 matches for "null byte", i.e. the preferred term is not used
in 1 of 3 cases.
And despite the statement
| The preferred term for the pointer is "null pointer" or simply
| "NULL"; avoid writing "NULL pointer".
plus a changelog entry (for version 3.56)
| Various pages
| Michael Kerrisk
| Global fix of "NULL pointer"
| Change "NULL pointer" to "NULL" or null pointer".
| POSIX uses the term "null pointer", not "NULL pointer".
43 pages still contain "NULL pointer", while 197 pages say "null pointer".
There's plenty room for improvement!
Stefan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: wcschr(3): add special case for NUL, as in strchr(3)
2021-07-12 18:41 ` Stefan Kanthak
@ 2021-08-10 6:40 ` Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)
0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) @ 2021-08-10 6:40 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Stefan Kanthak; +Cc: Jakub Wilk, Alejandro Colomar (man-pages), linux-man
On Mon, 12 Jul 2021 at 20:44, Stefan Kanthak <stefan.kanthak@nexgo.de> wrote:
>
> "Jakub Wilk" wrote:
>
> >* Stefan Kanthak <stefan.kanthak@nexgo.de>, 2021-07-12, 11:37:
> >>JFTR: to avoid any possible confusion of "null byte" alias NUL with the
> >>"null pointer" alias NULL (C macro) or nullptr (C++), "null byte"
> >>should be replaced with "NUL byte"!
> >
> > "NUL byte" looks like a typo for "NULL byte", so if anything, it makes
> > the potential for confusion greater.
Exactly my concern.
> > Anyway, "null byte" is the preferred term in the man-pages style guide;
> > see the "NULL, NUL, null pointer, and null character" subsection in
> > man-pages(7).
Also, "null byte" is the term used in the C standard.
> Despite the statement
>
> | Avoid also the terms "zero byte" and "null character".
>
> the heading of said subsection itself but says "null character" instead
> of the preferred "null byte"!
That's fixed now.
> JFTR: the search function on <https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/index.html>
> gives 21 matches for "zero byte", 46 matches for "null character",
Sure, but that presumably is because of pages in other projects.
(man7.org renders pages from 100+ projects.)
> and 146 matches for "null byte", i.e. the preferred term is not used
> in 1 of 3 cases.
>
> And despite the statement
>
> | The preferred term for the pointer is "null pointer" or simply
> | "NULL"; avoid writing "NULL pointer".
>
> plus a changelog entry (for version 3.56)
>
> | Various pages
> | Michael Kerrisk
> | Global fix of "NULL pointer"
> | Change "NULL pointer" to "NULL" or null pointer".
> | POSIX uses the term "null pointer", not "NULL pointer".
>
> 43 pages still contain "NULL pointer", while 197 pages say "null pointer".
>
> There's plenty room for improvement!
I agree, but I think the issue is mostly fixed in man-pages.
Thanks,
Michael
--
Michael Kerrisk
Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
Linux/UNIX System Programming Training: http://man7.org/training/
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
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2021-07-12 9:37 wcschr(3): add special case for NUL, as in strchr(3) Stefan Kanthak
2021-07-12 16:09 ` Jakub Wilk
2021-07-12 18:41 ` Stefan Kanthak
2021-08-10 6:40 ` Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)
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