Re: Meaning of offset in notmuch search --output=files --offset=

[Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi>]

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* 2024-05-27 09:05:01-0400, Daniel Kahn Gillmor wrote:

> I don't see much difference between any of these versions,

Then it needs more work still. We want to make it clear for everybody,
don't we? Let's go back to my original confusion. Currently it reads:

    --offset=[-]N
            Skip displaying the first N results. With the leading '-',
            start at the Nth result from the end.

What "results"? The search match or the output? Two interpretations:

 1. "Notmuch search" results an internal message list. "--offset=N" will
    skip N messages in the internal message list and then starts
    printing the rest of the messages in the "--output" format. [This is
    what Notmuch really does.]

 2. "Notmuch search" results an internal message list and it starts
    printing them in "--output" format. It will use "--offset=N" to skip
    N output items, regardless of what they are: summary, threads,
    messages, files, tags. [This is the wrong interpretation.]

So, how do we improve the notmuch-search manual so that everybody
understands "--offset=N" correctly?

-- 
/// Teemu Likonen - .-.. https://www.iki.fi/tlikonen/
// OpenPGP: 6965F03973F0D4CA22B9410F0F2CAE0E07608462

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