Re: ${parameter+word} not documented in bash.info or bash(1)

[Bob Proulx]

Martin Schwenke wrote:
> Paul Jarc writes:
> > It's documented, but it's easy to miss.  Just before the
> > list of parameter expansion forms is this paragraph:
> >
> >        In each of the cases below, word is subject to tilde
> >        expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution,
> >        and arithmetic expansion.  When not performing
> >        substring expansion, bash tests for a parameter that
> >        is unset or null; omitting the colon results in a
> >        test only for a parameter that is unset.
> 
> Ouch!  Can I suggest that this documentation could be improved, since
> it is so easy to miss and that I missed it at least 4 times when
> actually looking for it?  ;-)

Let me cast a vote for this too.  I know what it does but have also
found myself "looking for it" specifically because I am looking for
":" and not "colon".  If the colon character ':' were mentioned in the
description I think that would make this much clearer.  Let me suggest
that something similar to the following addition would help here.

  is unset or null; omitting the colon (':') results in a
  test only for a parameter that is unset.

Then searches on ":" would also find that descriptive text too.

Bob