canonicalize "upper-case" -> "uppercase"; "lower-case" -> "lowercase" #88211

jugmac00 · 2021-05-05T06:55:03Z

BPO	44045
Nosy	@ericvsmith, @merwok, @jugmac00, @nanjekyejoannah, @akulakov
PRs	bpo-44045: fix spelling of uppercase vs upper-case #25985

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2021-05-05.06:55:02.631>
labels = []
title = 'canonicalize "upper-case" -> "uppercase"; "lower-case" -> "lowercase"'
updated_at = <Date 2021-05-28.20:54:32.055>
user = 'https://github.com/jugmac00'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-05-28.20:54:32.055>
actor = 'nanjekyejoannah'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = []
creation = <Date 2021-05-05.06:55:02.631>
creator = 'jugmac00'
dependencies = []
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issue_num = 44045
keywords = ['patch']
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nosy_names = ['eric.smith', 'eric.araujo', 'jugmac00', 'nanjekyejoannah', 'andrei.avk']
pr_nums = ['25985']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue44045'
versions = []

Linked PRs

gh-88211: Change lower-case and upper-case to match recommendations #99625

jugmac00 · 2021-05-05T06:55:02Z

Yesterday, I was bitten by ConfigParser' default behavior to lowercase keys on reading.

When I looked in the documentation and the source code, I found that lowercase was sometimes written as "lower-case", e.g. here
https://docs.python.org/3/library/configparser.html#configparser.ConfigParser.optionxform

The webster dictionary only accepts "lowercase" as a valid English word:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lowercase

Before I wanted to create a pull request for this one, I also grepped the complete source code with the following result:

lower-case 24
lowercase 207
upper-case 9
uppercase 201

I'd like to create a pull request which canonicalizes the writing to a consistent "lowercase" resp. "uppercase".

Is there any core dev out there willing to review / merge this kind of PR?

ericvsmith · 2021-05-06T07:07:09Z

I think we'd want to look at the 33 uses with hyphens to make sure removing the hyphen is correct (as opposed to just blindly make a change). But I'm generally supportive.

merwok · 2021-05-07T20:17:55Z

I don’t think that there is a problem to be fixed.
Separated «lower case» could be unfriendly, but the hyphen is there in the adjective forms so it seems that changing these instances would add churn for no benefit.

jugmac00 · 2021-05-07T22:06:07Z

I did some more research.

It looks like US English tends to use lowercase, while British English tends to lower case, and as an alternative to lowercase you can also use lower-case when using it as an adjective.

See also https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lowercase

So, to wrap up:

you could use lowercase and uppercase as a noun, as an adjective and as a verb
you can use lower case and upper case only as a noun
you can use lower-case and upper-case only as an adjective

If that is true - I am no native English speaker, and Éric does not like to convert them all to single words, it gets a bit tougher.

Some - to me - obvious wrong usages would be:

"All IMAP4rev1 commands are supported by methods of the same name (in lower-case)."
=> in lower case or in lowercase

"All POP3 commands are represented by methods of the same name, in lower-case; most return the response text sent by the server."
=> in lower case or in lowercase

"Wrapper around a file that converts output to upper-case."
=> to upper case or to uppercase

"Return a new UUID, in the format that MSI typically requires (i.e. in curly braces, and with all hexdigits in upper-case)."
=> in upper case or in uppercase

"Hostnames are compared lower case."
=> lower-case or lowercase

Éric, are you ok with my suggested changes or do you want me to close the issue?

ericvsmith · 2021-05-07T22:18:33Z

That's exactly the kind of manual check I had in mind. After all "anal retentive doesn't have a hyphen unless it's used as a compound adjective".

I think we should go with "lowercase" when a noun, and "lower-case" as an adjective.

jugmac00 · 2021-05-08T09:31:19Z

Thank you for the feedback. I created a PR.

akulakov · 2021-05-08T20:49:13Z

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/lower-case lists lower-case as a valid variant for nouns as well as adjectives.

ericvsmith · 2021-05-09T02:38:03Z

The stdlib seems to have settled on lowercase for the noun version, though. My two cents: no sense not being consist just because lower-case might also work.

akulakov · 2021-05-09T02:40:34Z

On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 10:38 PM Eric V. Smith <report@bugs.python.org>
wrote:

Eric V. Smith <eric@trueblade.com> added the comment:

The stdlib seems to have settled on lowercase for the noun version,
though. My two cents: no sense not being consist just because lower-case
might also work.

Sounds good to me, I'm not opposed to consistency!

nanjekyejoannah · 2021-05-28T20:54:32Z

New changeset 2138b2e by Jürgen Gmach in branch 'main':
bpo-44045: fix spelling of uppercase vs upper-case (GH-25985)
2138b2e

slateny · 2022-08-02T05:53:22Z

In imaplib, the first sentence in that section there is this:

All IMAP4rev1 commands are represented by methods of the same name, either upper-case or lower-case.

Should that be changed over too, or is this issue good to close?

nanjekyejoannah · 2022-08-03T08:00:12Z

In imaplib, the first sentence in that section there is this:
All IMAP4rev1 commands are represented by methods of the same name, either upper-case or lower-case.
Should that be changed over too, or is this issue good to close?

Yes, makes sense, you can open a PR if can.

…8211 Issue python#88211 recommends canonicalizing instances of upper-case to uppercase and lower-case to lowercase. This commit addresses outstanding instances present in Doc/library/impamlib.rst.

tbwolfe · 2022-11-20T19:25:47Z

PR Submitted. Please let me know if there are any issues.

…n imaplib docs (#99625)

…ions in imaplib docs (python#99625)

ezio-melotti transferred this issue from another repository Apr 10, 2022

AlexWaygood added docs Documentation in the Doc dir type-bug An unexpected behavior, bug, or error labels Apr 10, 2022

slateny added the easy label Aug 6, 2022

tbwolfe mentioned this issue Nov 20, 2022

gh-88211: Change lower-case and upper-case to match recommendations #99625

Merged

kumaraditya303 pushed a commit that referenced this issue Dec 20, 2022

gh-88211: Change lower-case and upper-case to match recommendations i…

39dfbb2

…n imaplib docs (#99625)

jonburdo pushed a commit to jonburdo/cpython that referenced this issue Dec 20, 2022

pythongh-88211: Change lower-case and upper-case to match recommendat…

f9b6796

…ions in imaplib docs (python#99625)

slateny closed this as completed Dec 21, 2022

canonicalize "upper-case" -> "uppercase"; "lower-case" -> "lowercase" #88211

canonicalize "upper-case" -> "uppercase"; "lower-case" -> "lowercase" #88211

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 5, 2021 •

edited by bedevere-bot

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 5, 2021

ericvsmith commented May 6, 2021

merwok commented May 7, 2021

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 7, 2021

ericvsmith commented May 7, 2021

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 8, 2021

akulakov commented May 8, 2021

ericvsmith commented May 9, 2021

akulakov commented May 9, 2021

nanjekyejoannah commented May 28, 2021

slateny commented Aug 2, 2022

nanjekyejoannah commented Aug 3, 2022

tbwolfe commented Nov 20, 2022

canonicalize "upper-case" -> "uppercase"; "lower-case" -> "lowercase" #88211

canonicalize "upper-case" -> "uppercase"; "lower-case" -> "lowercase" #88211

Comments

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 5, 2021 • edited by bedevere-bot

Linked PRs

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 5, 2021

ericvsmith commented May 6, 2021

merwok commented May 7, 2021

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 7, 2021

ericvsmith commented May 7, 2021

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 8, 2021

akulakov commented May 8, 2021

ericvsmith commented May 9, 2021

akulakov commented May 9, 2021

nanjekyejoannah commented May 28, 2021

slateny commented Aug 2, 2022

nanjekyejoannah commented Aug 3, 2022

tbwolfe commented Nov 20, 2022

jugmac00 mannequin commented May 5, 2021 •

edited by bedevere-bot