bug#41859: 27.0.91; docstring for 'man' command

bug#41859: 27.0.91; docstring for 'man' command

[Ron Mitchell]

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C-h f man (describe-function "man")

brings up the docstring for the 'man' function. Several of the usages
described involve an argument string containing a space, namely

1 cat
-a chmod
-l somefile.1
-k pattern

But these argument strings cannot be entered because argument entry is
performing a completing read on available man pages.

The 'Info' documentation does not mention these usages.


In GNU Emacs 27.0.91 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.22.30)
of 2020-04-30 built on tessa
Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11906000
System Description: Linux Mint 19.3

Recent messages:
Invoking man krc.1 in the background
Can't find the krc.1 manpage
Invoking man ./krc.1 in the background
./krc.1 man page formatted
Mark saved where search started
Quit [2 times]
Mark saved where search started
Type C-x 1 to delete the help window, C-M-v to scroll help.
GNU Emacs 27.0.91 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.22.30) 
of 2020-04-30
previous-line: Beginning of buffer
previous-line: Beginning of buffer
Configured features:
XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG SOUND GPM DBUS GSETTINGS GLIB NOTIFY INOTIFY
ACL LIBSELINUX GNUTLS LIBXML2 FREETYPE HARFBUZZ M17N_FLT LIBOTF XFT ZLIB
TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS GTK3 X11 XDBE XIM MODULES THREADS PDUMPER LCMS2 GMP

Important settings:
value of $LANG: en_GB.UTF-8
locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix

Major mode: Help

Minor modes in effect:
global-magit-file-mode: t
magit-auto-revert-mode: t
global-git-commit-mode: t
async-bytecomp-package-mode: t
org-roam-mode: t
override-global-mode: t
helm-cider-mode: t
shell-dirtrack-mode: t
display-time-mode: t
tooltip-mode: t
global-eldoc-mode: t
electric-indent-mode: t
mouse-wheel-mode: t
file-name-shadow-mode: t
global-font-lock-mode: t
font-lock-mode: t
auto-composition-mode: t
auto-encryption-mode: t
auto-compression-mode: t
buffer-read-only: t
line-number-mode: t

Load-path shadows:
None found.

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug sendmail tabify man macrostep-c cmacexp
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magit-notes magit-worktree magit-tag magit-merge magit-branch
magit-reset magit-files magit-refs magit-status magit magit-repos
magit-apply magit-wip magit-log which-func magit-diff smerge-mode diff
magit-core magit-autorevert autorevert filenotify magit-margin
magit-transient magit-process magit-mode git-commit transient magit-git
magit-section magit-utils crm log-edit pcvs-util add-log with-editor
async-bytecomp server calc-menu calc-aent calc calc-loaddefs calc-macs
mule-util cal-move scheme misearch multi-isearch org-goto vc-git
diff-mode flyspell ispell dired-aux sh-script smie executable
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url-auth url url-proxy url-privacy url-expand url-methods url-history
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tex-site debian-el kotl-autoloads rx slime-autoloads info package
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eieio-core cl-macs eieio-loaddefs password-cache json subr-x map
url-vars seq byte-opt gv bytecomp byte-compile cconv cl-loaddefs cl-lib
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lisp-mode prog-mode register page tab-bar menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch
timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu
font-core term/tty-colors frame minibuffer cl-generic cham georgian
utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean
japanese eucjp-ms cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european
ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese composite charscript charprop
case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev obarray
cl-preloaded nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files
text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule
custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote threads dbusbind
inotify lcms2 dynamic-setting system-font-setting font-render-setting
move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty make-network-process emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 774771 113262)
(symbols 48 44906 1)
(strings 32 195931 27114)
(string-bytes 1 6228911)
(vectors 16 72916)
(vector-slots 8 1775941 136538)
(floats 8 952 636)
(intervals 56 37282 2586)
(buffers 1000 61))

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bug#41859: 27.0.91; docstring for 'man' command

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Ron Mitchell <ron@ronmitchell.co.uk>
> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2020 19:46:27 +0100
> 
> C-h f man (describe-function "man") 
> 
> brings up the docstring for the 'man' function. Several of the usages 
> described involve an argument string containing a space, namely 
> 
> 1 cat 
> -a chmod 
> -l somefile.1 
> -k pattern 
> 
> But these argument strings cannot be entered because argument entry is 
> performing a completing read on available man pages. 

Thank you for your report.

However, I cannot reproduce the problem.  The first example works
as-is for me, and the others work if I use "C-q SPC" to insert a
space.

bug#41859: 27.0.91; docstring for 'man' command

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2020 00:25:34 +0100
> From: "Ron Mitchell" <ron@ronmitchell.co.uk>
> 
> Hi Eli,
> 
> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> I agree that '1 cat' can indeed be entered as is.
> 
> However even as a user of emacs for over twenty years it did not occur to me to use C-q to enter the required space in the other examples.  Could I suggest that the docstring be amended to provide this hint?

Fair enough, I added a note to the doc string to that effect.