[bug #49640] Refer to numeric arguments as n|-n|+n or [-+]n instead of n in the manpages

[Patrick M.]

URL:
  <http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?49640>

                 Summary: Refer to numeric arguments as n|-n|+n or [-+]n
instead of n in the manpages
                 Project: findutils
            Submitted by: fuujuhi
            Submitted on: Fri 18 Nov 2016 06:39:15 AM GMT
                Category: documentation
                Severity: 3 - Normal
              Item Group: None
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: 
        Originator Email: 
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                 Release: 4.6.0
           Fixed Release: None

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Details:

Despites years of usage of find I still choke on the following subtlety of
find numerical arguments, that 'n' means 'exactly n', whereas '+n' means
'greater than n' and '-n' means 'less than n'.

This is clearly stated at the start of the TESTS section, but for someone that
would only cursorily read the manpage, like searching for 'mtime' directly,
you might easily miss this information.

I suggest then to edit the manpage such that all numerical arguments are
listed as n|-n|+n or [-+]n instead of simply n.

       -amin n
              File was last accessed n minutes ago.

would become

       -amin n|-n|+n
              File was last accessed n minutes ago.

or alternatively 

       -amin [-+]n
              File was last accessed n minutes ago.


In case of extreme motivation, the text body could also be edited to replace
'n' by '(exactly/at least/at most) n' or something alike. But tmo changing the
argument specification is already enough.




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