bug#13081: 24.3.50; doc of `compare-strings' says nothing about the compare function used

bug#13081: 24.3.50; doc of `compare-strings' says nothing about the compare function used

[Drew Adams]

The doc mentions case-sensitivity, and it says what the function does if
the specified portions match etc.  But it says NOTHING (apart from
possibly ignoring case) about what "matching" means.  Is lexicographic
order used?
 
How can you document a function about comparing two sequences without
defining/mentioning the helper function that is used to compare two
elements, one from each sequence?
 

In GNU Emacs 24.3.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2012-12-03 on MS-W7-DANI
Bzr revision: 111077
agustin.martin@hispalinux.es-20121203172342-ifsebjmhksk28qa9
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
Configured using:
 `configure --with-gcc (4.7) --no-opt --enable-checking --cflags
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.10/include -Ic:/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.10/src
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/libpng-1.2.37-lib/include -Ic:/emacs/libs/zlib-1.2.5
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/giflib-4.1.4-1-lib/include
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/jpeg-6b-4-lib/include
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/tiff-3.8.2-1-lib/include
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/libxml2-2.7.8-w32-bin/include/libxml2
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/gnutls-3.0.9-w32-bin/include
 -Ic:/emacs/libs/libiconv-1.9.2-1-lib/include'
 

bug#13081: 24.3.50; doc of `compare-strings' says nothing about the compare function used

[Drew Adams]

1. I should have said that the doc problem applies to both the doc string and
Elisp manual.

2. What's more, the doc string says that "END1 and END2 default to".  This
language is incorrect - there is no defaulting.  These parameters are mandatory,
so they do not have any default values.

What the doc should say is two things:

a. START1, START2, END1, and END2 are either 0-based indexes into the string.
(This information is missing.)

b. START1, START2, END1, and END2 can each alternatively be nil.  For START1 and
START2, nil is the same as 0.  For END1 and END2, nil is the same as the length
of STR1 and STR2, respectively.

bug#13081: 24.3.50; doc of `compare-strings' says nothing about the compare function used

[Drew Adams]

> a. START1, START2, END1, and END2 are either 0-based indexes 
> into the string.  (This information is missing.)
> 
> b. START1, START2, END1, and END2 can each alternatively be 
> nil.

Typo in above text: strike the "either".  Or else add "or nil" after "either"
and rephrase (b) to just say what happens when nil.

bug#13081: 24.3.50; doc of `compare-strings' says nothing about the compare function used

[Chong Yidong]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> The doc mentions case-sensitivity, and it says what the function does if
> the specified portions match etc.  But it says NOTHING (apart from
> possibly ignoring case) about what "matching" means.  Is lexicographic
> order used?

Fixed, thanks.  (The other issues too.)