Hi Joel,
Thus spake Valdis(_dot_)Kletnieks(_at_)vt(_dot_)edu:
That was a copy and paste from one of the four other man pages
that has "thru". I'll change them all to "to", though my American
English upbringing might suggest "through".
My Pedantic English upbringing points out that "this to that" isn't
clear about whether the endpoints are included, but "this through
that" includes the endpoints. (Mathematicians, the ultimate
pendants, refer to the distinction as open or closed intervals).
Speaking as a logician (and logicians are the mathematician's
pedants), "this to that" is a half-open interval. :)
I think it's being tainted by maths that's causes the doubt, at least
for me. In English, `Monday to Friday' and `closed 13th to 15th' have
accepted meanings by the populous. `inclusive' can be added for stress,
as that link I gave earlier states, but isn't normally required.
Once http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_%28mathematics%29 rears its
head we question the English but the hoi polloi don't. Note, [a, b] is
inclusive at both ends, it's [a, b) that excludes b, so the `default'
notation of matching brackets is also inclusive. :-)
Cheers, Ralph.
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