Re: documentation bug in 'join'

[Jim Meyering]

Bernhard Gabler <address@hidden> wrote:
> we found a bug in join's self-documentation:
>
> join --help
>
> produces a help text which uses 'SIDE' to describe the -a and -v
> options. However, the description of what SIDE stands for is missing.
>
> The same bug appears in the man page to 'join'.

Thank you for reporting that!
Here's how I've fixed it:

FYI, the textutils package has been subsumed by the GNU coreutils.
Here's the latest:

  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-4.5.7.tar.bz2
  (coreutils is the union of fileutils, textutils, and sh-utils)

Index: join.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /fetish/cu/src/join.c,v
retrieving revision 1.107
retrieving revision 1.108
diff -u -p -u -r1.107 -r1.108
--- join.c      31 Aug 2002 08:52:10 -0000      1.107
+++ join.c      19 Feb 2003 16:11:39 -0000      1.108
@@ -150,7 +150,8 @@ For each pair of input lines with identi
 standard output.  The default join field is the first, delimited\n\
 by whitespace.  When FILE1 or FILE2 (not both) is -, read standard input.\n\
 \n\
-  -a SIDE           print unpairable lines coming from file SIDE\n\
+  -a FILENUM        print unpairable lines coming from file FILENUM, where\n\
+                      FILENUM is 1 or 2, corresponding to FILE1 or FILE2\n\
   -e EMPTY          replace missing input fields with EMPTY\n\
 "), stdout);
       fputs (_("\
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@ by whitespace.  When FILE1 or FILE2 (not
   -t CHAR           use CHAR as input and output field separator\n\
 "), stdout);
       fputs (_("\
-  -v SIDE           like -a SIDE, but suppress joined output lines\n\
+  -v FILENUM        like -a FILENUM, but suppress joined output lines\n\
   -1 FIELD          join on this FIELD of file 1\n\
   -2 FIELD          join on this FIELD of file 2\n\
 "), stdout);
@@ -173,7 +174,7 @@ by whitespace.  When FILE1 or FILE2 (not
 Unless -t CHAR is given, leading blanks separate fields and are ignored,\n\
 else fields are separated by CHAR.  Any FIELD is a field number counted\n\
 from 1.  FORMAT is one or more comma or blank separated specifications,\n\
-each being `SIDE.FIELD' or `0'.  Default FORMAT outputs the join field,\n\
+each being `FILENUM.FIELD' or `0'.  Default FORMAT outputs the join field,\n\
 the remaining fields from FILE1, the remaining fields from FILE2, all\n\
 separated by CHAR.\n\
 "), stdout);