Both styles are used, but I argue that the former fails to distinguish
between
$ program 'args in one shell word'
and
$ program one arg per shell word
It's a minor thing, imho, but perhaps we can decide for one and stick to
it throughout the tree?
Triple dots also make it immediately clear that many arguments may
follow, no matter what the "arg"ument is named.
Here's one examplatory diff for timeout(1).
Feedback?
Index: timeout.1
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/timeout/timeout.1,v
retrieving revision 1.3
diff -u -p -r1.3 timeout.1
--- timeout.1 4 Sep 2021 11:58:31 -0000 1.3
+++ timeout.1 29 Oct 2022 20:53:05 -0000
@@ -41,14 +41,14 @@
.Op Fl -preserve-status
.Ar duration
.Ar command
-.Op Ar args
+.Op Ar arg ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility executes
.Ar command ,
with any
-.Ar args ,
+.Ar arg ... ,
and kills it if it is still running after the
specified
.Ar duration .
Index: timeout.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/timeout/timeout.c,v
retrieving revision 1.21
diff -u -p -r1.21 timeout.c
--- timeout.c 2 Jul 2022 19:00:35 -0000 1.21
+++ timeout.c 29 Oct 2022 21:08:40 -0000
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ usage(void)
fprintf(stderr,
"usage: timeout [-k time] [-s sig] [--foreground]"
" [--preserve-status] duration\n"
- " command [args]\n");
+ " command [arg ...]\n");
exit(1);
}
