patchls-files: document that pathspecs are supported

From: Adam Johnson <me@adamj.eu>

The command has taken pathspecs, not just filenames, since f0096c06bcd (Convert read_tree{,_recursive} to support struct pathspec, 2011-03-25).

Signed-off-by: Adam Johnson <me@adamj.eu>
---
    ls-files: document that pathspecs are supported
    
    The command has taken pathspecs, not just filenames, since f0096c06bcd
    (Convert read_tree{,_recursive} to support struct pathspec, 2011-03-25).
    
    Signed-off-by: Adam Johnson me@adamj.eu

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-1466%2Fadamchainz%2Fdoc-ls-files-pathspecs-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-1466/adamchainz/doc-ls-files-pathspecs-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/1466

 Documentation/git-ls-files.txt | 11 +++++++----
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

"Adam Johnson via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

Isn't that commit about ls-tree? The commit does change how the tree overlay (i.e. the --with-tree=<tree-ish> option) interacts with the given pathspec arguments but that is only because that commit changes how read_tree_recursive() has to be called. The support of pathspec matching in ls-files dates back to 56fc5108 ([PATCH] git-ls-files: generalized pathspecs, 2005-08-21), arguably even before the commit "generalized" the already existing path pattern match feature.

Good.

This is no longer correct. "If no path that matches <pathspec> appears in the index". When we are given <pathspec>, say '*.txt', a path whose string is literally '*.txt' may not appear in the index, but as long as there is a path that matches the pattern exists, this option does not lead to an error.

The description also needs to be updated. "Limits the files to show to only those that match the given pathspec" or something along that line.

Thanks.

Thank you Junio, that's very good review feedback. Thank you for finding the correct past commit. I am submitting an updated patch now.

On Sat, Mar 11, 2023 at 8:33 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

From: Adam Johnson <me@adamj.eu>

The command has taken pathspecs, not just filenames, since at least 56fc5108 ([PATCH] git-ls-files: generalized pathspecs, 2005-08-21).

Signed-off-by: Adam Johnson <me@adamj.eu>
---
    ls-files: document that pathspecs are supported
    
    The command has taken pathspecs, not just filenames, since f0096c06bcd
    (Convert read_tree{,_recursive} to support struct pathspec, 2011-03-25).
    
    Signed-off-by: Adam Johnson me@adamj.eu

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-1466%2Fadamchainz%2Fdoc-ls-files-pathspecs-v2
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-1466/adamchainz/doc-ls-files-pathspecs-v2
Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/1466

Range-diff vs v1:

 1:  4a0417ba8e5 ! 1:  7c95f4f5a7d ls-files: document that pathspecs are supported
     @@ Metadata
       ## Commit message ##
          ls-files: document that pathspecs are supported
      
     -    The command has taken pathspecs, not just filenames, since f0096c06bcd
     -    (Convert read_tree{,_recursive} to support struct pathspec, 2011-03-25).
     +    The command has taken pathspecs, not just filenames, since at least 56fc5108
     +    ([PATCH] git-ls-files: generalized pathspecs, 2005-08-21).
      
          Signed-off-by: Adam Johnson <me@adamj.eu>
      
     @@ Documentation/git-ls-files.txt: OPTIONS
       
       --error-unmatch::
      -	If any <file> does not appear in the index, treat this as an
     -+	If any <pathspec> does not appear in the index, treat this as an
     - 	error (return 1).
     +-	error (return 1).
     ++	If no path that matches <pathspec> appears in the index, treat this as
     ++	an error (return 1).
       
       --with-tree=<tree-ish>::
       	When using --error-unmatch to expand the user supplied
     @@ Documentation/git-ls-files.txt: followed by the  ("attr/<eolattr>").
       	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
       
      -<file>::
     +-	Files to show. If no files are given all files which match the other
      +<pathspec>::
     - 	Files to show. If no files are given all files which match the other
     ++	Limits the files to show to only those that match any of the given
     ++	pathspecs. If no pathspecs are given, all files which match the other
       	specified criteria are shown.
      ++
      +For details on the <pathspec> syntax, see the 'pathspec' entry in

 Documentation/git-ls-files.txt | 16 ++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)