From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-alma10-1.taild15c8.ts.net [100.103.45.18]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 57813355F46 for ; Thu, 2 Jul 2026 12:33:32 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=100.103.45.18 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1782995613; cv=none; b=W3zfaPccPKiz2VbXT4JHbsh6HoirHBNX2fJkXoyXEhtjMx0YrnyV0LwbnhVI1/DxzpncCZR5c29RT6Lr84/TWfbfKgLEi5PIGBw90R32mL+mjyRA64bP2/LSt7YCTNbrRm3o2XbgxcFwxVSkNDLD0qEicDFZLOodtG31r3e71Gg= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1782995613; c=relaxed/simple; bh=ZsTDOqLKh3E/i37SOUvLD5zrYH+PLFLOLoit15V/w2k=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:MIME-Version:Content-Type: Content-Disposition; b=eGsVKEBWaZbqjz7u3fRZYy3KQP2DNByHsSdAaYZ6ZKSkFzMtuSP4ZSj3epUkmobzUo6GToDTT9+T7uIplFdnhq9UjoBiKXha343zz1Y0kcqo/BQH2TVW6fiL0NPteatCrAqPwcV9yvXt4s2LJbrh6QP0nhjOhyqiTyb38qhzyCs= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=BjLt6IU/; arc=none smtp.client-ip=100.103.45.18 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="BjLt6IU/" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 2A3471F000E9; Thu, 2 Jul 2026 12:33:31 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=kernel.org; s=k20260515; t=1782995612; bh=t87TxBawHsqAPWOwF+eKXFvvMzlV9hZpI1shE1xlhxc=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject; b=BjLt6IU/7nrEBn8sXLKQUHbkMuioIR/oRDfH0pSrDoENtXi46v4lYSYzwmqACTq9v 4P6DALYbFZ5o4oy91ZefVAyQKOeTq0ytS/RTzZ08QzlshLR+Qxsptn5dCM+3hNYQKG If5GGonmenU/S4cbqkFenmDh8PInVnYPTbB3PKfJtui167j3nnAklj1gWT92JT8x3V ZvZbVOxtAD2qFXm3jJtASMt4hBA83s+iGhLTMSvjpI/T6RF17jk3A8aNZo5dty9lgV sUZjWt+l549Ejyu3hC/UJWAeUUEhYCp5Ychxu8BHRbiVNM1A7zsVO7V43pbsWJvSK/ 05tw4jYYZhNKQ== Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 14:33:29 +0200 From: Alejandro Colomar To: linux-man@vger.kernel.org Cc: Alejandro Colomar , "Serge E. Hallyn" Subject: [PATCH v1 1/2] man/man3/str*.3: NAME: Explain the names Message-ID: X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.53.0 Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-man@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="3xkqsqpph2vh64pw" Content-Disposition: inline --3xkqsqpph2vh64pw Content-Type: text/plain; protected-headers=v1; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: Alejandro Colomar To: linux-man@vger.kernel.org Cc: Alejandro Colomar , "Serge E. Hallyn" Subject: [PATCH v1 1/2] man/man3/str*.3: NAME: Explain the names Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Reported-by: "Serge E. Hallyn" Signed-off-by: Alejandro Colomar --- 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 \- 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