Typo in the Python Tutorial

[Flyagin]

Documentation

In "The Python Tutorial", chapter "3. An Informal Introduction to Python", section "3.1.2. Text", in the 3rd sentence of the 2nd paragraph under the 4th example, the following phrase contains a typo:

"End of lines are automatically included in the string"

Should be: "Ends of lines ..." (the letter 's' after "End" is missing).

Linked PRs

• gh-122876: Fix "End of lines" typo #125310
• [3.13] gh-122876: Fix "End of lines" typo (GH-125310) #130315
• [3.12] gh-122876: Fix "End of lines" typo (GH-125310) #130316

[picnixz]

Not sure whether it's a typo or not if we are expanding the technical term "EOLs" as in "End-of-line [character sequence]s" (note the fact that I am using dashes here to make EOL a single word).

@AA-Turner Do you think we should put an "s" at "end" here? (possibly adding dashes to make a single word and not three?) Instinctively I would have said "no" but I am now unsure.

[AA-Turner]

Using 'End of line characters' here seems appropriate, but otherwise I agree with the description in the issue.

A

[Flyagin]

Here is a similar sentence with 's' in "ends of lines" occurring in a similar context in another place of the docs (this is in the version 3.8 though, -- newer versions contain neither "end of lines", nor "ends of lines"):

"The default is to consider only \n characters as ends of lines and to do no newline translation." (3.8.19 Documentation » The Python Standard Library » Generic Operating System Services » io — Core tools for working with streams).

[terryjreedy]

Without checking the context, "An end-of-line character is added ..." EDIT might work.

[Flyagin]

Without checking the context, "An end-of-line character is added ..." EDIT might work.

@AA-Turner proposed the same phrase, but in plural: 'End of line characters'. I think that plural is more appropriate here, isn't it? Here is how this phrase occurs in the context:

String literals can span multiple lines. One way is using triple-quotes: """...""" or '''...'''. End of lines are automatically included in the string, but it’s possible to prevent this by adding a \ at the end of the line. (The Python Tutorial, § 3.1.2. Text).

@picnixz mentioned another similar term, "End-of-line [character sequence]s". In The Python Language Reference both terms occur:

A physical line is a sequence of characters terminated by an end-of-line sequence (emphasis mine). (The Python Language Reference, § 2.1.2. Physical lines)

Two or more physical lines may be joined into logical lines using backslash characters (\), as follows: when a physical line ends in a backslash that is not part of a string literal or comment, it is joined with the following forming a single logical line, deleting the backslash and the following end-of-line character (emphasis mine). (The Python Language Reference, § 2.1.5. Explicit line joining)

So which term is better in this situation (i.e. in The Python Tutorial), 1) "end-of-line character", 2) "end-of-line characters", 3) "end-of-line sequence", 4) "end-of-line sequences"?

Finally, unlike The Python Language Reference, The Python Tutorial is meant to be less formal, and none of the four terms mentioned in the previous paragraph occur there, so maybe "ends of lines" would be better because this term is less formal?

[Ko496-glitch]

@Flyagin is this still open because i would like to take on this issue.