Make help entries alphabetical

[git.git] / Documentation / git-format-patch.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
index ee27eff3b1139f54784876cac0a61d6b6383f37e..11a7d772618f48b961d41fb5fe1cb269d7ae7cd1 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git-format-patch' [-k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread]
+'git format-patch' [-k] [-o <dir> | --stdout] [--thread]
                   [--attach[=<boundary>] | --inline[=<boundary>]]
                   [-s | --signoff] [<common diff options>]
                   [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ DESCRIPTION
 Prepare each commit with its patch in
 one file per commit, formatted to resemble UNIX mailbox format.
 The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
-for use with linkgit:git-am[1].
+for use with 'git-am'.
 
 There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.
 
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ applies to that command line and you do not get "everything
 since the beginning of the time".  If you want to format
 everything since project inception to one commit, say "git
 format-patch \--root <commit>" to make it clear that it is the
-latter case.
+latter case.  If you want to format a single commit, you can do
+this with "git format-patch -1 <commit>".
 
 By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the
 first line of the commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as
@@ -58,10 +59,12 @@ output, unless the --stdout option is specified.
 If -o is specified, output files are created in <dir>.  Otherwise
 they are created in the current working directory.
 
-If -n is specified, instead of "[PATCH] Subject", the first line
-is formatted as "[PATCH n/m] Subject".
+By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] First Line" and
+the subject when multiple patches are output is "[PATCH n/m] First
+Line". To force 1/1 to be added for a single patch, use -n.  To omit
+patch numbers from the subject, use -N
 
-If given --thread, git-format-patch will generate In-Reply-To and
+If given --thread, 'git-format-patch' will generate In-Reply-To and
 References headers to make the second and subsequent patch mails appear
 as replies to the first mail; this also generates a Message-Id header to
 reference.
@@ -81,7 +84,7 @@ include::diff-options.txt[]
 
 -n::
 --numbered::
-       Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format.
+       Name output in '[PATCH n/m]' format, even with a single patch.
 
 -N::
 --no-numbered::
@@ -147,9 +150,9 @@ include::diff-options.txt[]
        to any configured headers, and may be used multiple times.
 
 --cover-letter::
-       Generate a cover letter template.  You still have to fill in
-       a description, but the shortlog and the diffstat will be
-       generated for you.
+       In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file
+       containing the shortlog and the overall diffstat.  You can
+       fill in a description in the file before sending it out.
 
 --suffix=.<sfx>::
        Instead of using `.patch` as the suffix for generated
@@ -175,10 +178,10 @@ and file suffix, and number patches when outputting more than one.
 
 ------------
 [format]
-        headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
-        subjectprefix = CHANGE
-        suffix = .txt
-        numbered = auto
+       headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
+       subjectprefix = CHANGE
+       suffix = .txt
+       numbered = auto
        cc = <email>
 ------------
 
@@ -187,10 +190,10 @@ EXAMPLES
 --------
 
 * Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of
-the current branch using `git-am` to cherry-pick them:
+the current branch using 'git-am' to cherry-pick them:
 +
 ------------
-$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git-am -3 -k
+$ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k
 ------------
 
 * Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the
@@ -206,7 +209,7 @@ For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.
 project:
 +
 ------------
-$ git format-patch \--root origin
+$ git format-patch --root origin
 ------------
 
 * The same as the previous one: