usage: do not insist that standard input must come from a file

The synopsys text and the usage string of subcommands that read list
of things from the standard input are often shown like this:

git gostak [--distim] < <list-of-doshes>

This is problematic in a number of ways:

* The way to use these commands is more often to feed them the
output from another command, not feed them from a file.

* Manual pages outside Git, commands that operate on the data read
from the standard input, e.g "sort", "grep", "sed", etc., are not
described with such a "< redirection-from-file" in their synopsys
text.  Our doing so introduces inconsistency.

* We do not insist on where the output should go, by saying

git gostak [--distim] < <list-of-doshes> > <output>

* As it is our convention to enclose placeholders inside <braket>,
the redirection operator followed by a placeholder filename
becomes very hard to read, both in the documentation and in the
help text.

Let's clean them all up, after making sure that the documentation
clearly describes the modes that take information from the standard
input and what kind of things are expected on the input.

[jc: stole example for fmt-merge-msg from Jonathan]

Helped-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

diff --git a/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt b/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt
index 3105fc07205ac19805a753603940f9add612d4ae..eb3d6945a9e508c9a1d0af63e838a627311631bc 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-cat-file.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git cat-file' (-t [--allow-unknown-type]| -s [--allow-unknown-type]| -e | -p | <type> | --textconv ) <object>
-'git cat-file' (--batch | --batch-check) [--follow-symlinks] < <list-of-objects>
+'git cat-file' (--batch | --batch-check) [--follow-symlinks]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------

diff --git a/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt b/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
index 00e2aa2df259d449602f59cbec33599346ebd8a0..aa3b2bf2fcf764ca22f44bcfc081afd4e09328bb 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git check-attr' [-a | --all | attr...] [--] pathname...
-'git check-attr' --stdin [-z] [-a | --all | attr...] < <list-of-paths>
+'git check-attr' --stdin [-z] [-a | --all | attr...]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ OPTIONS
        Consider `.gitattributes` in the index only, ignoring the working tree.
 
 --stdin::
-       Read file names from stdin instead of from the command-line.
+       Read pathnames from the standard input, one per line,
+       instead of from the command-line.
 
 -z::
        The output format is modified to be machine-parseable.

diff --git a/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt b/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt
index e35cd0489b6961a5322ea49eeb769bbfb883070e..59531abba481c4788357fc07342fcc7672727fbf 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-check-ignore.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git check-ignore' [options] pathname...
-'git check-ignore' [options] --stdin < <list-of-paths>
+'git check-ignore' [options] --stdin
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ OPTIONS
        for each given pathname.
 
 --stdin::
-       Read file names from stdin instead of from the command-line.
+       Read pathnames from the standard input, one per line,
+       instead of from the command-line.
 
 -z::
        The output format is modified to be machine-parseable (see

diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
index a0b5457304008cec1cf728e5ac168c5f547173eb..48c33d7ed7323c7fc4776ffeb98aad9b41b23744 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ git-commit-tree - Create a new commit object
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git commit-tree' <tree> [(-p <parent>)...] < changelog
+'git commit-tree' <tree> [(-p <parent>)...]
 'git commit-tree' [(-p <parent>)...] [-S[<keyid>]] [(-m <message>)...]
                  [(-F <file>)...] <tree>
 

diff --git a/Documentation/git-fmt-merge-msg.txt b/Documentation/git-fmt-merge-msg.txt
index 55a9a4b93a2cba2d1d760b3529f1604b61359004..6526b178e87f9cbf1c2032bd63023295cf1d190e 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-fmt-merge-msg.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-fmt-merge-msg.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ git-fmt-merge-msg - Produce a merge commit message
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git fmt-merge-msg' [-m <message>] [--log[=<n>] | --no-log] <$GIT_DIR/FETCH_HEAD
+'git fmt-merge-msg' [-m <message>] [--log[=<n>] | --no-log]
 'git fmt-merge-msg' [-m <message>] [--log[=<n>] | --no-log] -F <file>
 
 DESCRIPTION
@@ -57,6 +57,18 @@ merge.summary::
        Synonym to `merge.log`; this is deprecated and will be removed in
        the future.
 
+EXAMPLE
+-------
+
+--
+$ git fetch origin master
+$ git fmt-merge-msg --log <$GIT_DIR/FETCH_HEAD
+--
+
+Print a log message describing a merge of the "master" branch from
+the "origin" remote.
+
+
 SEE ALSO
 --------
 linkgit:git-merge[1]

diff --git a/Documentation/git-get-tar-commit-id.txt b/Documentation/git-get-tar-commit-id.txt
index 1e2a20dd265c2c41aef0ea66ca9831321d951d5c..ac44d85b0b5c7f12a2d5473b3be0b0e4511cf58f 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-get-tar-commit-id.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-get-tar-commit-id.txt
@@ -9,17 +9,19 @@ git-get-tar-commit-id - Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-arch
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git get-tar-commit-id' < <tarfile>
+'git get-tar-commit-id'
 
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-Acts as a filter, extracting the commit ID stored in archives created by
-'git archive'.  It reads only the first 1024 bytes of input, thus its
-runtime is not influenced by the size of <tarfile> very much.
+
+Read a tar archive created by 'git archive' from the standard input
+and extract the commit ID stored in it.  It reads only the first
+1024 bytes of input, thus its runtime is not influenced by the size
+of the tar archive very much.
 
 If no commit ID is found, 'git get-tar-commit-id' quietly exists with a
-return code of 1.  This can happen if <tarfile> had not been created
+return code of 1.  This can happen if the archive had not been created
 using 'git archive' or if the first parameter of 'git archive' had been
 a tree ID instead of a commit ID or tag.
 

diff --git a/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt b/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt
index 0c75f3b610678d9a6811ac73d208cabd706b2276..814e74406ae4fb6ac68213df1f7e8e0192d1dbaf 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-hash-object.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git hash-object' [-t <type>] [-w] [--path=<file>|--no-filters] [--stdin [--literally]] [--] <file>...
-'git hash-object' [-t <type>] [-w] --stdin-paths [--no-filters] < <list-of-paths>
+'git hash-object' [-t <type>] [-w] --stdin-paths [--no-filters]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ OPTIONS
        Read the object from standard input instead of from a file.
 
 --stdin-paths::
-       Read file names from stdin instead of from the command-line.
+       Read file names from the standard input, one per line, instead
+       of from the command-line.
 
 --path::
        Hash object as it were located at the given path. The location of

diff --git a/Documentation/git-mktag.txt b/Documentation/git-mktag.txt
index 3ca158b05e2792de404c9f0622bf4eb41af6b5e9..fa6a7561236f70808994cf63c37b400b6e337318 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-mktag.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-mktag.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ git-mktag - Creates a tag object
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git mktag' < signature_file
+'git mktag'
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ The output is the new tag's <object> identifier.
 
 Tag Format
 ----------
-A tag signature file has a very simple fixed format: four lines of
+A tag signature file, to be fed to this command's standard input,
+has a very simple fixed format: four lines of
 
   object <sha1>
   type <typename>

diff --git a/Documentation/git-patch-id.txt b/Documentation/git-patch-id.txt
index 31efc587ee694da6885ed1ce9d1a4c1419808397..cf71fba1c0a9c18ea6428ab49820cb9e707608c6 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-patch-id.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-patch-id.txt
@@ -8,10 +8,12 @@ git-patch-id - Compute unique ID for a patch
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git patch-id' [--stable | --unstable] < <patch>
+'git patch-id' [--stable | --unstable]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
+Read a patch from the standard input and compute the patch ID for it.
+
 A "patch ID" is nothing but a sum of SHA-1 of the file diffs associated with a
 patch, with whitespace and line numbers ignored.  As such, it's "reasonably
 stable", but at the same time also reasonably unique, i.e., two patches that

diff --git a/Documentation/git-show-index.txt b/Documentation/git-show-index.txt
index fbdc8adae5b10a8ed88883647d2f0ccc3636cddc..a8a9509e0eb0bb416ce0a32f76c964a505da8f61 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-show-index.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-show-index.txt
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@ git-show-index - Show packed archive index
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git show-index' < idx-file
+'git show-index'
 
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-Reads given idx file for packed Git archive created with
-'git pack-objects' command, and dumps its contents.
+Read the idx file for a Git packfile created with
+'git pack-objects' command from the standard input, and
+dump its contents.
 
 The information it outputs is subset of what you can get from
 'git verify-pack -v'; this command only shows the packfile

diff --git a/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt
index 2a6f89b235f10ea6d41047a2a42a133531ea3cab..3a324519842bd709a8ad440905fb9a9e7eaa889d 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-show-ref.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 'git show-ref' [-q|--quiet] [--verify] [--head] [-d|--dereference]
             [-s|--hash[=<n>]] [--abbrev[=<n>]] [--tags]
             [--heads] [--] [<pattern>...]
-'git show-ref' --exclude-existing[=<pattern>] < ref-list
+'git show-ref' --exclude-existing[=<pattern>]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -23,8 +23,9 @@ particular ref exists.
 
 By default, shows the tags, heads, and remote refs.
 
-The --exclude-existing form is a filter that does the inverse, it shows the
-refs from stdin that don't exist in the local repository.
+The --exclude-existing form is a filter that does the inverse. It reads
+refs from stdin, one ref per line, and shows those that don't exist in
+the local repository.
 
 Use of this utility is encouraged in favor of directly accessing files under
 the `.git` directory.

diff --git a/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt b/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt
index 60328d5d08d43d31dd80e14b07fe75257a1f4446..2438f76da05ebf013103a08962d634c4baa9ea15 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt
@@ -9,14 +9,15 @@ git-stripspace - Remove unnecessary whitespace
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git stripspace' [-s | --strip-comments] < input
-'git stripspace' [-c | --comment-lines] < input
+'git stripspace' [-s | --strip-comments]
+'git stripspace' [-c | --comment-lines]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 
-Clean the input in the manner used by Git for text such as commit
-messages, notes, tags and branch descriptions.
+Read text, such as commit messages, notes, tags and branch
+descriptions, from the standard input and clean it in the manner
+used by Git.
 
 With no arguments, this will:
 

diff --git a/Documentation/git-unpack-objects.txt b/Documentation/git-unpack-objects.txt
index 07d432988f249d7439ae56699496da97b7d6f828..3e887d16109c48f4f906d8a7c5c0c860bbd6123d 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-unpack-objects.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-unpack-objects.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ git-unpack-objects - Unpack objects from a packed archive
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git unpack-objects' [-n] [-q] [-r] [--strict] < <packfile>
+'git unpack-objects' [-n] [-q] [-r] [--strict]
 
 
 DESCRIPTION

diff --git a/builtin/cat-file.c b/builtin/cat-file.c
index 07baad1e59c1977e5fce04d4c7288f8263947f4e..c0fd8dbb1c1bed55f541569e0c13cc865c39ec4f 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/cat-file.c
+++ b/builtin/cat-file.c
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ static int batch_objects(struct batch_options *opt)
 
 static const char * const cat_file_usage[] = {
        N_("git cat-file (-t [--allow-unknown-type]|-s [--allow-unknown-type]|-e|-p|<type>|--textconv) <object>"),
-       N_("git cat-file (--batch | --batch-check) [--follow-symlinks] < <list-of-objects>"),
+       N_("git cat-file (--batch | --batch-check) [--follow-symlinks]"),
        NULL
 };
 

diff --git a/builtin/check-attr.c b/builtin/check-attr.c
index 21d2bedcc930ab216f2a55ec90ba188b2b66dfce..265c9ba02264d29eb3f63f1a8264c9fe7e642332 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/check-attr.c
+++ b/builtin/check-attr.c
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ static int cached_attrs;
 static int stdin_paths;
 static const char * const check_attr_usage[] = {
 N_("git check-attr [-a | --all | <attr>...] [--] <pathname>..."),
-N_("git check-attr --stdin [-z] [-a | --all | <attr>...] < <list-of-paths>"),
+N_("git check-attr --stdin [-z] [-a | --all | <attr>...]"),
 NULL
 };
 

diff --git a/builtin/check-ignore.c b/builtin/check-ignore.c
index dc8d97c56c60991ec5c1b5cc9eb6e20a76e5e405..43f361797ac73b64c79bb163cbb38baf78981fc9 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/check-ignore.c
+++ b/builtin/check-ignore.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 static int quiet, verbose, stdin_paths, show_non_matching, no_index;
 static const char * const check_ignore_usage[] = {
 "git check-ignore [<options>] <pathname>...",
-"git check-ignore [<options>] --stdin < <list-of-paths>",
+"git check-ignore [<options>] --stdin",
 NULL
 };
 

diff --git a/builtin/commit-tree.c b/builtin/commit-tree.c
index 25aa2cdef3557c67a9482492a4d0294bc7b89b04..8747c0f2fbe6426b97571bd29df0892efd1fa810 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/commit-tree.c
+++ b/builtin/commit-tree.c
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 #include "utf8.h"
 #include "gpg-interface.h"
 
-static const char commit_tree_usage[] = "git commit-tree [(-p <sha1>)...] [-S[<keyid>]] [-m <message>] [-F <file>] <sha1> <changelog";
+static const char commit_tree_usage[] = "git commit-tree [(-p <sha1>)...] [-S[<keyid>]] [-m <message>] [-F <file>] <sha1>";
 
 static const char *sign_commit;
 

diff --git a/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c b/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c
index 6f4147ad02b98de298fb054f38fab8e6d10e7335..e21c5416cd478eab3b0dddcba5ca9eeefad83d34 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c
+++ b/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #include "quote.h"
 
 static const char builtin_get_tar_commit_id_usage[] =
-"git get-tar-commit-id < <tarfile>";
+"git get-tar-commit-id";
 
 /* ustar header + extended global header content */
 #define RECORDSIZE     (512)

diff --git a/builtin/hash-object.c b/builtin/hash-object.c
index 07fef3cc6b832c257bd3256dc6fff3d4c51760d9..43b098b76c0db28a93c6b1ebf1ea1131b0d67a0b 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/hash-object.c
+++ b/builtin/hash-object.c
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ int cmd_hash_object(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
        static const char * const hash_object_usage[] = {
                N_("git hash-object [-t <type>] [-w] [--path=<file> | --no-filters] [--stdin] [--] <file>..."),
-               N_("git hash-object  --stdin-paths < <list-of-paths>"),
+               N_("git hash-object  --stdin-paths"),
                NULL
        };
        const char *type = blob_type;

diff --git a/builtin/mktag.c b/builtin/mktag.c
index 640ab64f418208842ae3901ce37ac8918740037e..031b750f068dea5e1652129a5df6d684f6bca850 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/mktag.c
+++ b/builtin/mktag.c
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ int cmd_mktag(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
        unsigned char result_sha1[20];
 
        if (argc != 1)
-               usage("git mktag < signaturefile");
+               usage("git mktag");
 
        if (strbuf_read(&buf, 0, 4096) < 0) {
                die_errno("could not read from stdin");

diff --git a/builtin/patch-id.c b/builtin/patch-id.c
index ba34dac4d2fae9bce24932c92fcee2a4bfc0f102..366ce5a5d419649dba34f607ed3f54b6a28bd3ea 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/patch-id.c
+++ b/builtin/patch-id.c
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ static void generate_id_list(int stable)
        strbuf_release(&line_buf);
 }
 
-static const char patch_id_usage[] = "git patch-id [--stable | --unstable] < patch";
+static const char patch_id_usage[] = "git patch-id [--stable | --unstable]";
 
 static int git_patch_id_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {

diff --git a/builtin/show-ref.c b/builtin/show-ref.c
index 131ef28e5cb5d0a08bc00a7ad99e137bdd44eb66..264c3920075952b179170b65960e47b3a5b06c61 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/show-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/show-ref.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 static const char * const show_ref_usage[] = {
        N_("git show-ref [-q | --quiet] [--verify] [--head] [-d | --dereference] [-s | --hash[=<n>]] [--abbrev[=<n>]] [--tags] [--heads] [--] [<pattern>...]"),
-       N_("git show-ref --exclude-existing[=<pattern>] < <ref-list>"),
+       N_("git show-ref --exclude-existing[=<pattern>]"),
        NULL
 };
 

diff --git a/builtin/stripspace.c b/builtin/stripspace.c
index 1259ed708b6b5dd1322b6db5683cf5555f41570f..958567a0cd0f3b676f2a46a699b34a67d14f129a 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/stripspace.c
+++ b/builtin/stripspace.c
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ static void comment_lines(struct strbuf *buf)
 }
 
 static const char *usage_msg = "\n"
-"  git stripspace [-s | --strip-comments] < input\n"
-"  git stripspace [-c | --comment-lines] < input";
+"  git stripspace [-s | --strip-comments]\n"
+"  git stripspace [-c | --comment-lines]";
 
 int cmd_stripspace(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {

diff --git a/builtin/unpack-objects.c b/builtin/unpack-objects.c
index 7cc086f5f2fb4c4aa9a24a6b676f1bd6626f1b69..7c3e79c48d68251f8af94d91ef51d22567c53c07 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/unpack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/unpack-objects.c
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 #include "fsck.h"
 
 static int dry_run, quiet, recover, has_errors, strict;
-static const char unpack_usage[] = "git unpack-objects [-n] [-q] [-r] [--strict] < pack-file";
+static const char unpack_usage[] = "git unpack-objects [-n] [-q] [-r] [--strict]";
 
 /* We always read in 4kB chunks. */
 static unsigned char buffer[4096];

diff --git a/show-index.c b/show-index.c
index 5a9eed7fd858b6f2e454421d68e884a21acb7a23..d9e4903fed24f5916962f8d315eb680f9b4013ff 100644 (file)
--- a/show-index.c
+++ b/show-index.c
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #include "pack.h"
 
 static const char show_index_usage[] =
-"git show-index < <packed archive index>";
+"git show-index";
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {