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* [PATCH v1 1/2] man/man3/str*.3: NAME: Explain the names
@ 2026-07-02 12:33 Alejandro Colomar
  2026-07-02 12:33 ` [PATCH v1 2/2] man/man3/strpbrk.3: BUGS: Clarify the NAME Alejandro Colomar
  2026-07-03  5:03 ` [PATCH v1 1/2] man/man3/str*.3: NAME: Explain the names Mark Harris
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Alejandro Colomar @ 2026-07-02 12:33 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-man; +Cc: Alejandro Colomar, Serge E. Hallyn

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Reported-by: "Serge E. Hallyn" <serge@hallyn.com>
Signed-off-by: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
---

Hi Serge,

I finally took some time to do this that you asked me to do some time
ago.  I've edited all the str*(3) manual pages so that the NAME section
actually explains the name of the function.

There's an exception: strpbrk(3).  I refuse to explain that name.  I've
explained it as if it were called strchrs(), which is a name that Plan9
uses for that function, and which would have been a better name for it.
(See patch 2/2).


Have a lovely day!
Alex

 man/man3/strcasecmp.3 | 2 +-
 man/man3/strchr.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strcmp.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strcoll.3    | 2 +-
 man/man3/strcpy.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strdup.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strerror.3   | 5 +++--
 man/man3/strfmon.3    | 2 +-
 man/man3/strfromd.3   | 3 +--
 man/man3/strfry.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strftime.3   | 2 +-
 man/man3/string.3     | 5 +----
 man/man3/strlen.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strncat.3    | 5 +----
 man/man3/strnlen.3    | 2 +-
 man/man3/strpbrk.3    | 2 +-
 man/man3/strptime.3   | 2 +-
 man/man3/strsep.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strsignal.3  | 2 +-
 man/man3/strspn.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strtod.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strtoimax.3  | 2 +-
 man/man3/strtok.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strtol.3     | 2 +-
 man/man3/strtoul.3    | 2 +-
 man/man3/strverscmp.3 | 2 +-
 man/man3/strxfrm.3    | 2 +-
 27 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 35 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man/man3/strcasecmp.3 b/man/man3/strcasecmp.3
index aa554341da4c..65941ddf6524 100644
--- a/man/man3/strcasecmp.3
+++ b/man/man3/strcasecmp.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strcasecmp 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strcasecmp, strncasecmp \- compare two strings ignoring case
+strcasecmp, strncasecmp \- strings case-insensitive compare
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strchr.3 b/man/man3/strchr.3
index 4e6a96d8cde6..12d08f63ddbb 100644
--- a/man/man3/strchr.3
+++ b/man/man3/strchr.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strchr 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strchr \- locate character in string
+strchr \- string search character
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strcmp.3 b/man/man3/strcmp.3
index a088412917d2..0a573e52d936 100644
--- a/man/man3/strcmp.3
+++ b/man/man3/strcmp.3
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strcmp 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strcmp, strncmp \- compare two strings
+strcmp, strncmp \- strings compare
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strcoll.3 b/man/man3/strcoll.3
index 32d620f52c51..ea94f2a90224 100644
--- a/man/man3/strcoll.3
+++ b/man/man3/strcoll.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strcoll 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strcoll \- compare two strings using the current locale
+strcoll \- strings collate
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strcpy.3 b/man/man3/strcpy.3
index cea24ff04020..d4d0e4246545 100644
--- a/man/man3/strcpy.3
+++ b/man/man3/strcpy.3
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strcpy 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strcpy, strcat \- copy or catenate a string
+strcpy, strcat \- string copy/catenate
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strdup.3 b/man/man3/strdup.3
index b4026ed41b4a..05671cd936c2 100644
--- a/man/man3/strdup.3
+++ b/man/man3/strdup.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strdup 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strdup, strndup \- duplicate a string
+strdup, strndup \- string duplicate
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strerror.3 b/man/man3/strerror.3
index e3306c7e1608..637d1d812d52 100644
--- a/man/man3/strerror.3
+++ b/man/man3/strerror.3
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@
 .\"
 .TH strerror 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strerror, strerrorname_np, strerrordesc_np, strerror_r, strerror_l \-
-return string describing error number
+strerror, strerrorname_np, strerrordesc_np, strerror_r, strerror_l
+\-
+string error-string
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strfmon.3 b/man/man3/strfmon.3
index e0d9790395cb..dee915c8a9f4 100644
--- a/man/man3/strfmon.3
+++ b/man/man3/strfmon.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strfmon 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strfmon, strfmon_l \- convert monetary value to a string
+strfmon, strfmon_l \- string format monetary value
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strfromd.3 b/man/man3/strfromd.3
index c221f82df0a8..fa8a10feec01 100644
--- a/man/man3/strfromd.3
+++ b/man/man3/strfromd.3
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strfromd 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strfromd, strfromf, strfroml \- convert a floating-point value into
-a string
+strfromd, strfromf, strfroml \- string from float
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strfry.3 b/man/man3/strfry.3
index 99917e4a6261..54ea313ea262 100644
--- a/man/man3/strfry.3
+++ b/man/man3/strfry.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strfry 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strfry \- randomize a string
+strfry \- string fry
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strftime.3 b/man/man3/strftime.3
index 66351f6bd43a..bdba4089b934 100644
--- a/man/man3/strftime.3
+++ b/man/man3/strftime.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strftime 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strftime \- format date and time
+strftime \- string format date and time
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/string.3 b/man/man3/string.3
index 89fe51fba609..2141822e1fd1 100644
--- a/man/man3/string.3
+++ b/man/man3/string.3
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH string 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-stpcpy, strcasecmp, strcat, strchr, strcmp, strcoll, strcpy, strcspn,
-strdup, strfry, strlen, strncat, strncmp, strncpy, strncasecmp, strpbrk,
-strrchr, strsep, strspn, strstr, strtok, strxfrm
-\- string operations
+string \- string operations
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strlen.3 b/man/man3/strlen.3
index 1dd99bd8e250..639bdd6ac2d2 100644
--- a/man/man3/strlen.3
+++ b/man/man3/strlen.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strlen 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strlen \- calculate the length of a string
+strlen \- string length
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strncat.3 b/man/man3/strncat.3
index 4b0217b02673..dd39d54939d9 100644
--- a/man/man3/strncat.3
+++ b/man/man3/strncat.3
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strncat 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strncat
-\-
-append non-null bytes from a source array to a string,
-and null-terminate the result
+strncat \- nonstring catenate
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strnlen.3 b/man/man3/strnlen.3
index fbd719ee4888..553a39a9ec7a 100644
--- a/man/man3/strnlen.3
+++ b/man/man3/strnlen.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strnlen 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strnlen \- determine the length of a fixed-size string
+strnlen \- nonstring length
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strpbrk.3 b/man/man3/strpbrk.3
index 1f56cf18dbac..6e5b79a48bbe 100644
--- a/man/man3/strpbrk.3
+++ b/man/man3/strpbrk.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strpbrk 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strpbrk \- search a string for any of a set of bytes
+strpbrk \- string search characters
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strptime.3 b/man/man3/strptime.3
index 979bffea7bf8..4502acfe6d1e 100644
--- a/man/man3/strptime.3
+++ b/man/man3/strptime.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strptime 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strptime \- convert a string representation of time to a time tm structure
+strptime \- string parse time
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strsep.3 b/man/man3/strsep.3
index 46ba6c5819bd..98859f64909f 100644
--- a/man/man3/strsep.3
+++ b/man/man3/strsep.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strsep 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strsep \- extract token from string
+strsep \- string separate
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strsignal.3 b/man/man3/strsignal.3
index 4a4e8c86e71d..964a5e5aacaf 100644
--- a/man/man3/strsignal.3
+++ b/man/man3/strsignal.3
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 .TH strsignal 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
 strsignal, sigabbrev_np, sigdescr_np, sys_siglist \-
-return string describing signal
+string signal description
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strspn.3 b/man/man3/strspn.3
index fe4414317df6..7c85d209c59d 100644
--- a/man/man3/strspn.3
+++ b/man/man3/strspn.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strspn 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strspn, strcspn \- get length of a prefix substring
+strspn, strcspn \- string [complementary] span
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strtod.3 b/man/man3/strtod.3
index 15147ee51006..84a9934ba267 100644
--- a/man/man3/strtod.3
+++ b/man/man3/strtod.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strtod 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strtod, strtof, strtold \- convert ASCII string to floating-point number
+strtod, strtof, strtold \- string to float
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strtoimax.3 b/man/man3/strtoimax.3
index 71267754ed7a..08413a9f8101 100644
--- a/man/man3/strtoimax.3
+++ b/man/man3/strtoimax.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strtoimax 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strtoimax, strtoumax \- convert string to integer
+strtoimax, strtoumax \- string to [u]intmax_t
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strtok.3 b/man/man3/strtok.3
index 2d733e886086..4ce708ecbcb4 100644
--- a/man/man3/strtok.3
+++ b/man/man3/strtok.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strtok 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strtok \- extract tokens from strings
+strtok \- string tokenize
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strtol.3 b/man/man3/strtol.3
index f88b717780f3..4d9c49eaf28a 100644
--- a/man/man3/strtol.3
+++ b/man/man3/strtol.3
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strtol 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strtol, strtoll, strtoq \- convert a string to a long integer
+strtol, strtoll, strtoq \- string to long int
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strtoul.3 b/man/man3/strtoul.3
index a6f6fd4a8ada..670fcb3868a1 100644
--- a/man/man3/strtoul.3
+++ b/man/man3/strtoul.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strtoul 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strtoul, strtoull, strtouq \- convert a string to an unsigned long integer
+strtoul, strtoull, strtouq \- string to unsigned long int
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strverscmp.3 b/man/man3/strverscmp.3
index d072471b1431..caadb9717a3b 100644
--- a/man/man3/strverscmp.3
+++ b/man/man3/strverscmp.3
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strverscmp 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strverscmp \- compare two version strings
+strverscmp \- strings version compare
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
diff --git a/man/man3/strxfrm.3 b/man/man3/strxfrm.3
index d4ac57006eb0..a892bf4c813b 100644
--- a/man/man3/strxfrm.3
+++ b/man/man3/strxfrm.3
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 .\"
 .TH strxfrm 3 (date) "Linux man-pages (unreleased)"
 .SH NAME
-strxfrm \- string transformation
+strxfrm \- string transform
 .SH LIBRARY
 Standard C library
 .RI ( libc ,\~ \-lc )
-- 
2.53.0


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^ permalink raw reply related	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2026-07-03 11:16 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2026-07-02 12:33 [PATCH v1 1/2] man/man3/str*.3: NAME: Explain the names Alejandro Colomar
2026-07-02 12:33 ` [PATCH v1 2/2] man/man3/strpbrk.3: BUGS: Clarify the NAME Alejandro Colomar
2026-07-03  5:03 ` [PATCH v1 1/2] man/man3/str*.3: NAME: Explain the names Mark Harris
2026-07-03 11:16   ` Alejandro Colomar

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