Re: [PATCH 1/2] pathspec magic: add '^' as alias for '!'

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 8, 2017, 23:05 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq37fouvu3.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <20170208223532.GB108686@google.com>

Brandon Williams <bmwill@google.com> writes:

Show 7 quoted lines

> git cmd -- :^dir
>
> would produce some output which says:
> ':^dir': pathspec magic not supported by this command: 'exclude' (mnemonic: '!')
>
> And the user may scratch their head for a second since they didn't
> supply the '!' character, but rather '^'.

Yup, I am tempted to tweak Cornelius's glossary fixup and squash this into the series, for two purposes.

 - it makes it clear that '^' and '!' mean the same thing (and
   clearer than Cornelius's original, "! or ^", which could leave
   the reader wondering "ok there are two ways to say negative; do
   they subtly mean different things?").

 - it hints that '!' is the more official spelling, making the
   output you showed above acceptable.

diff --git a/Documentation/glossary-content.txt b/Documentation/glossary-content.txt
index 8ad29e61a9..822ca83264 100644
--- a/Documentation/glossary-content.txt
+++ b/Documentation/glossary-content.txt
@@ -386,8 +386,8 @@ Glob magic is incompatible with literal magic.
 
 exclude;;
 	After a path matches any non-exclude pathspec, it will be run
-	through all exclude pathspec (magic signature: `!`). If it
-	matches, the path is ignored.
+	through all exclude pathspec (magic signature: `!` or its
+	synonym `^`). If it matches, the path is ignored.
 --
 
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