help-sentence
A deny rule by default: it refuses a sentence of help text over 40 words.
What it catches
A sentence of help text over 40 words.
Dimension
economy: words that carry nothing. A finding is counted on
the dimension of its rule, the cost it names to the reader.
Why
A reader scans help in a terminal while deciding what to type. The federal plain-language quick tips ask for no sentence over 40 words. Over the 326 flag usage strings magus binds (median 11 words, 90th percentile 25, longest 56) one runs past it.
Default decision
The code is PRF9010. The decision depends on the kind of text judged:
| Kind | Default |
|---|---|
cli-help |
deny |
Changing it
A decisions table sets this rule to deny, advise or off, for everything judged
or for the files a glob matches. Proofread reads the table from the file its
-decisions flag names:
{
"rules": {"help-sentence": "advise"},
"paths": {"blog/**": {"help-sentence": "off"}}
}
rules applies to every file. A glob in paths applies to the files it matches, and the
last match wins. A rule set to off never reports.
Seeing it
A finding names the rule, its code and the decision that applies, and links here:
{"rule": "help-sentence", "code": "PRF9010", "decision": "deny", "url": "https://eli.gladman.cc/magus/reference/proofread/help-sentence/"}
proofread rules prints this entry with every other rule's.
See also
- All proofread rules - every rule, grouped by what it checks
- Writing rules - how the rules apply to this repository's pages and pull requests
- The findings contract - the fields every finding carries