[MAN] Clarify syntax of the for command

Document that in a for loop 'in word ...' is optional, and if omitted,
'in "$@"' is used.

Lars Wilke noticed this, and reported through
 http://bugs.debian.org/387441

2 files changed, 6 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 4ea7374..003a0f7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 2007-09-25  Gerrit Pape <pape@smarden.org>
 
 	* Clarify description of -nt, -ot options to test builtin.
+	* Clarify syntax of the for command.
 
 2007-09-25  Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
 
diff --git a/src/dash.1 b/src/dash.1
index 3aefe21..9b8ab0e 100644
--- a/src/dash.1
+++ b/src/dash.1
@@ -640,17 +640,20 @@ repeat until the exit status of the first list is zero.
 .Pp
 The syntax of the for command is
 .Bd -literal -offset indent
-for variable in word ...
+for variable [ in [ word ... ] ]
 do   list
 done
 .Ed
 .Pp
-The words are expanded, and then the list is executed repeatedly with the
+The words following
+.Pa in
+are expanded, and then the list is executed repeatedly with the
 variable set to each word in turn.
 do and done may be replaced with
 .Dq {
 and
 .Dq } .
+Omitting in word ... is equivalent to in "$@".
 .Pp
 The syntax of the break and continue command is
 .Bd -literal -offset indent