[GSoC][PATCH] doc: fix doubled words in gitdiffcore documentation

[GSoC][PATCH] doc: fix doubled words in gitdiffcore documentation

[Noman]

Hello Git community,
I am Naorem Ngathoiba Singh, a GSoC 2026 applicant interested in the
'Improve the new git repo command' project. As my microproject, I have
identified and fixed some doubled words in the documentation. Below is
my patch.

From 3d7b15e3bb99878a7121d8372c6298b9be930346 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Naorem Singh <necrospre@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2026 10:53:36 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] doc: fix doubled words in gitdiffcore documentation

Signed-off-by: Naorem Singh <necrospre@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc b/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc
index 642c51227b..2b3fd5a259 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ input contained these filepairs:
 :000000 100644 0000000... 0123456... A file0
 ------------------------------------------------

-and the contents of the deleted file fileX is similar enough to
+and the contents of the deleted file X is similar enough to
 the contents of the created file file0, then rename detection
 merges these filepairs and creates:

@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ When the "-C" option is used, the original
contents of modified files,
 and deleted files (and also unmodified files, if the
 "--find-copies-harder" option is used) are considered as candidates
 of the source files in rename/copy operation.  If the input were like
-these filepairs, that talk about a modified file fileY and a newly
+these filepairs, that talk about a modified file Y and a newly
 created file file0:

 ------------------------------------------------
--
2.45.1.windows.1

Re: [GSoC][PATCH] doc: fix doubled words in gitdiffcore documentation

[Junio C Hamano]

Noman <necrospre@gmail.com> writes:

> diff --git a/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc b/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc
> index 642c51227b..2b3fd5a259 100644
> --- a/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc
> +++ b/Documentation/gitdiffcore.adoc
> @@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ input contained these filepairs:
>  :000000 100644 0000000... 0123456... A file0
>  ------------------------------------------------
>
> -and the contents of the deleted file fileX is similar enough to
> +and the contents of the deleted file X is similar enough to
>  the contents of the created file file0, then rename detection
>  merges these filepairs and creates:

Please pay attention to the line just before the pre-context of the
above hunk, which says

    :100644 000000 0123456... 0000000... D fileX

and "the deleted file fileX" is a reference to it.

It indeed results in an awkward-sounding sentence, and I agree that
it would have been better if we used sample filenames that sounded
distinctly different from "file" 20 years ago when we wrote the
first edition of this document, but that water under the bridge has
poured out to the ocean long ago ;-)

In principle, I would not mind an update that consistently moves us
away from file0, file1, ... to something else both in examples and
explanations, but the cost of doing such a change and the cost of
reviewing such a change to make sure no unintended mistakes sneak
in, feels rather high, relative to the benefit.  So, I dunno.

> @@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ When the "-C" option is used, the original
> contents of modified files,
>  and deleted files (and also unmodified files, if the
>  "--find-copies-harder" option is used) are considered as candidates
>  of the source files in rename/copy operation.  If the input were like
> -these filepairs, that talk about a modified file fileY and a newly
> +these filepairs, that talk about a modified file Y and a newly
>  created file file0:
>
>  ------------------------------------------------
> --
> 2.45.1.windows.1

Re: [GSoC][PATCH] doc: fix doubled words in gitdiffcore documentation

[Siddharth Shrimali]

Hello Noman,

> Hello Git community,
> I am Naorem Ngathoiba Singh, a GSoC 2026 applicant interested in the
> 'Improve the new git repo command' project. As my microproject, I have
> identified and fixed some doubled words in the documentation. Below is
> my patch.

Thank you for your patch and your interest in GSoC 2026

> -and the contents of the deleted file fileX is similar enough to
> +and the contents of the deleted file X is similar enough to

> -these filepairs, that talk about a modified file fileY and a newly
> +these filepairs, that talk about a modified file Y and a newly

I believe these changes are incorrect because the current wording
appears to be intentional.
In the context of gitdiffcore.adoc, "fileX" and "fileY" are used as
specific variable identifiers for the files being discussed in the
diff examples.

In this instance, "file" is the noun and "fileX" is the name of that
file in the example (similar to how one says "the variable varX").
Changing "fileX" to "X" actually changes the identifier, which might
make the documentation harder to follow for a reader trying to track
which file is which.

Since "fileX" and "fileY" are used consistently as placeholders in
this document, I would suggest leaving them as they are.

Regards,
Siddharth Shrimali
r.siddharth.shrimali@gmail.com