From 700e8cae791e528df855a36d499564ad06f4a74e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "G. Branden Robinson" Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2025 21:45:49 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] find.1: improve table formatting MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit * find/find.1: - Use paragraphing macros to put vertical space above and below the tables (where not already present) so that they looks more like typographical "displays".[1] - Simplify "XY" table definition (see groff's tbl(1) man page). This simpler definition has the same result (and is more adaptable in the event the text of the table is revised). - Put horizontal rule below column headings in table that uses them. - Use thin space escape sequences `\|` between the dots of an ellipsis; the effect is visible only on typesetting devices.[2] I left the dummy character escape sequence `\&` trailing it intact, but observe for the edification of nit-pickers that it has no effect in this context.[3] [1] man(7) implementations are historically inconsistent with respect to whether a `TS` macro call should put any vertical space on the output, and compositional practices on the part of man page authors have thus been, to quote Ingo Schwarze, "wildly inconsistent". https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?62841 [2] groff_man_style(7): Examples of ellipsis usage are shown above, in subsection “Synopsis macros”. The idiomatic roff ellipsis is three dots (periods) with thin space escape sequences \| internally separating them. [3] tbl(1): Ordinarily, a table entry is typeset rigidly. It is not filled, broken, hyphenated, adjusted, or populated with supplemental inter‐ sentence space. Discussed at: https://lists.gnu.org/r/bug-findutils/2025-11/msg00094.html Copyright-paperwork-exempt: Yes --- find/find.1 | 8 +++----- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git a/find/find.1 b/find/find.1 index 36011651..7c3bbad8 100644 --- a/find/find.1 +++ b/find/find.1 @@ -937,18 +937,16 @@ Fails if the timestamps are .BR equal . The letters \fIX\fR and \fIY\fR can be any of the following letters: . +.IP .TS -ll -ll -ll -ll -llw(2i). +LL. a The access time of the file \fIreference\fR B The birth time of the file \fIreference\fR c The inode status change time of \fIreference\fR m The modification time of the file \fIreference\fR t \fIreference\fR is interpreted directly as a time .TE +.IP . Some combinations are invalid; for example, it is invalid for .I X