SPUG:m,n -- why?

[Tim Maher]

On Sat, Mar 15, 2003 at 12:45:27AM -0800, Shawn Wagner wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 14, 2003 at 11:24:15PM -0800, Michael R. Wolf wrote:
> > 
> > Does anyone know the historical roots of "n" and "m" for "min" and
> > "max" in the regex quantifiers?  I can never get a mnemonic for which
> > is which.  (Of course, the min is to the left of the max.)  Perhaps if
> > I know it's roots, I'll remember.
> > 
> 
> My guesses.
> 
> >From the ed manpage:
> ---
> \{n,m\}
> \{n,\}
> \{n\} 

You're looking at a Linux re-write of the ed manpage.  In my 1982
Western Electric UNIX User's Manual, and all other Bell Labs
documentation on the subject, it's shown as \{m,n\}.  What's
the difference?  The erroneous rewrite, by ruining the alphabetical
ordering, suggests mneomonics for the letters that don't apply (see
my early message on the Fortran connection).

> number. It makes sense to use it here. Then, 'at most m times'. Thus, think
> most, think m.
> 
> Or it could just be that m is right to the right of n on a qwerty
> keyboard...
> 
> -- 
> Shawn Wagner
> shawnw at speakeasy.org
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