Re: nocorrect documentation and behavior

[Bart Schaefer <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 9:17 AM Vincent Lefevre <vincent@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> "nocorrect" is documented under "PRECOMMAND MODIFIERS". So it is
> surprising that it can affect more than the corresponding command.

It's documented there because there was no better place to put it, I
vaguely recall.

> Is this the expected behavior?

It's the implemented behavior, at least.  This is an effect of it
being handled with a flag in the global parser state, which does not
reset at subshell or command boundaries.  This is hinted at by "with
the exception of nocorrect which is a reserved word ... interpreted
immediately, before any parsing".  Conversely, as I think was
discussed not that long ago, spelling correction is applied during
parsing as soon as each full word is seen, just like alias expansion.

>   Spelling correction is not done on any of the subsequent words
>   of the full command line. [...]

It also says "A simple command may be preceded ..." which is equally
inaccurate in this case, but there are a lot of bits of the doc that
colloquially assume that one interactive command line is the same as
one "simple command".

diff --git a/Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo b/Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo
index 915b93bc0..b80f9750c 100644
--- a/Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo
+++ b/Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo
@@ -100,14 +100,15 @@ More generally, a list can be seen as a set of
any shell commands
 whatsoever, including the complex commands below; this is implied wherever
 the word `list' appears in later descriptions.  For example, the commands
 in a shell function form a special sort of list.
+
 texinode(Precommand Modifiers)(Complex Commands)(Simple Commands &
Pipelines)(Shell Grammar)
 sect(Precommand Modifiers)
 cindex(precommand modifiers)
 cindex(modifiers, precommand)
-A simple command may be preceded by a em(precommand modifier),
-which will alter how the command is interpreted.  These modifiers are
-shell builtin commands with the exception of tt(nocorrect) which is
-a reserved word.
+With the exception of tt(nocorrect), which is a reserved word that
+affects further parsing when it is found in command position, each
+of the following builtin commands is a em(precommand modifier) which
+may precede a simple command to alter how that command is interpreted.

 startitem()
 findex(-)