I don't think it makes it clearer; it makes it more confusing. The usage messages of programs are not a sufficent grammer to exactly describe what conflicts with what. Taken too far, it would bewilder newcomers.
> the command line arguments -h and -R for chgrp and chown are mutually > exclusive. The patch below changes the markup and the usage strings to > make this clearer. > > Cheers, > Frederic > > Index: bin/chmod/chgrp.1 > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/chmod/chgrp.1,v > retrieving revision 1.16 > diff -u -p -r1.16 chgrp.1 > --- bin/chmod/chgrp.1 21 Jan 2014 22:35:44 -0000 1.16 > +++ bin/chmod/chgrp.1 5 Nov 2015 17:09:11 -0000 > @@ -40,9 +40,7 @@ > .Nd change group > .Sh SYNOPSIS > .Nm chgrp > -.Op Fl h > -.Oo > -.Fl R > +.Oo Fl h | R > .Op Fl H | L | P > .Oc > .Ar group > Index: bin/chmod/chmod.c > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/chmod/chmod.c,v > retrieving revision 1.38 > diff -u -p -r1.38 chmod.c > --- bin/chmod/chmod.c 9 Oct 2015 01:37:06 -0000 1.38 > +++ bin/chmod/chmod.c 5 Nov 2015 17:09:11 -0000 > @@ -350,11 +350,11 @@ usage(void) > __progname, ischmod ? "mode" : "flags"); > else > fprintf(stderr, > - "usage: %s [-h] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] %s file ...\n", > + "usage: %s [-h | -R [-H | -L | -P]] %s file ...\n", > __progname, ischown ? "owner[:group]" : "group"); > if (ischown) > fprintf(stderr, > - " %s [-h] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...\n", > + " %s [-h | -R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...\n", > __progname); > exit(1); > } > Index: bin/chmod/chown.8 > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/chmod/chown.8,v > retrieving revision 1.19 > diff -u -p -r1.19 chown.8 > --- bin/chmod/chown.8 14 Sep 2015 20:06:58 -0000 1.19 > +++ bin/chmod/chown.8 5 Nov 2015 17:09:11 -0000 > @@ -37,17 +37,13 @@ > .Nd change file owner and group > .Sh SYNOPSIS > .Nm chown > -.Op Fl h > -.Oo > -.Fl R > +.Oo Fl h | R > .Op Fl H | L | P > .Oc > .Ar owner Ns Op : Ns Ar group > .Ar > .Nm chown > -.Op Fl h > -.Oo > -.Fl R > +.Oo Fl h | R > .Op Fl H | L | P > .Oc > .Pf : Ar group >