[Bug 55371] printf: a conversion specifier doesn't necessarily ask for an argument

[bugzilla-daemon-590EEB7GvNiWaY/ihj7yzEB+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org]

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55371

Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|REOPENED                    |RESOLVED
                 CC|                            |mtk.manpages-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
         Resolution|---                         |CODE_FIX

--- Comment #3 from Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> ---
(In reply to Filipus Klutiero from comment #0)
> The format string of printf is quite complicated, and while its
> documentation is extensive, it has a bit too many errors and needs some
> cleanup for comprehensibility.
> 
> In particular, man 3 printf contains:
> 
> By default, the arguments are used in the order given, where each '*' and
> each conversion specifier asks for the next argument (and it is an error if
> insufficiently many arguments are given).
> 
> This is inexact, as "%" is defined as a conversion specifier and doesn't
> consume any argument.

Yes, but that's explained no less than twice further down the page.

> It's also unclear in that sentence what "next argument" refers to. 

It seems clear enough to me. But, if you have a better proposal let me know.

> And "*"
> hasn't been introduced at that point, so that part is hard to follow ("*" is
> defined in section The precision).

For this piece, I changed the text to:

       By default, the arguments are used in the order
       given, where each '*' (see Field width and Pre‐
       cision below)  and  each  conversion  specifier
       asks  for the next argument

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