Update STDLIB documentation

Language cleaned up by the technical writers xsipewe and tmanevik
from Combitech. Proofreading and corrections by Björn Gustavsson
and Hans Bolinder.

1 files changed, 174 insertions, 163 deletions

diff --git a/lib/stdlib/doc/src/erl_scan.xml b/lib/stdlib/doc/src/erl_scan.xml
index ee0d6b6033..137ccd3416 100644
--- a/lib/stdlib/doc/src/erl_scan.xml
+++ b/lib/stdlib/doc/src/erl_scan.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 <erlref>
   <header>
     <copyright>
-      <year>1996</year><year>2015</year>
+      <year>1996</year><year>2016</year>
       <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
     </copyright>
     <legalnotice>
@@ -28,16 +28,17 @@
     <docno>1</docno>
     <approved>Bjarne D&auml;cker</approved>
     <checked></checked>
-    <date>97-01-24</date>
+    <date>1997-01-24</date>
     <rev>B</rev>
-    <file>erl_scan.sgml</file>
+    <file>erl_scan.xml</file>
   </header>
   <module>erl_scan</module>
-  <modulesummary>The Erlang Token Scanner</modulesummary>
+  <modulesummary>The Erlang token scanner.</modulesummary>
   <description>
-    <p>This module contains functions for tokenizing characters into
+    <p>This module contains functions for tokenizing (scanning) characters into
       Erlang tokens.</p>
   </description>
+
   <datatypes>
     <datatype>
       <name name="category"></name>
@@ -70,23 +71,96 @@
       <name name="tokens_result"></name>
     </datatype>
   </datatypes>
+ 
   <funcs>
     <func>
+      <name name="category" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the category.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the category of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="column" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the column.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the column of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s
+          collection of annotations.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="end_location" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the end location of the text.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the end location of the text of
+          <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s collection of annotations. If
+            there is no text, <c>undefined</c> is returned.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="format_error" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Format an error descriptor.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Uses an <c><anno>ErrorDescriptor</anno></c> and returns a string 
+          that describes the error or warning. This function is usually
+          called implicitly when an <c>ErrorInfo</c> structure is
+          processed (see section
+          <seealso marker="#errorinfo">Error Information</seealso>).</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="line" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the line.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the line of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s collection
+          of annotations.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="location" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the location.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the location of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s
+          collection of annotations.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="reserved_word" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Test for a reserved word.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Atom</anno></c> is an
+         Erlang reserved word, otherwise <c>false</c>.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
       <name name="string" arity="1"/>
       <name name="string" arity="2"/>
       <name name="string" arity="3"/>
-      <fsummary>Scan a string and return the Erlang tokens</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Scan a string and return the Erlang tokens.</fsummary>
       <desc>
         <p>Takes the list of characters <c><anno>String</anno></c> and tries to
-          scan (tokenize) them. Returns <c>{ok, <anno>Tokens</anno>,
-           <anno>EndLocation</anno>}</c>,
-          where <c><anno>Tokens</anno></c> are the Erlang tokens from
-          <c><anno>String</anno></c>. <c><anno>EndLocation</anno></c>
-          is the first location after the last token.</p>
-        <p><c>{error, <anno>ErrorInfo</anno>, <anno>ErrorLocation</anno>}</c>
-          is returned if an error occurs.
-          <c><anno>ErrorLocation</anno></c> is the first location after
-          the erroneous token.</p>
+          scan (tokenize) them. Returns one of the following:</p>
+        <taglist>
+          <tag><c>{ok, <anno>Tokens</anno>, <anno>EndLocation</anno>}</c></tag>
+          <item>
+            <p><c><anno>Tokens</anno></c> are the Erlang tokens from
+            <c><anno>String</anno></c>. <c><anno>EndLocation</anno></c>
+            is the first location after the last token.</p>
+          </item>
+          <tag><c>{error, <anno>ErrorInfo</anno>,
+            <anno>ErrorLocation</anno>}</c></tag>
+          <item>
+            <p>An error occurred. <c><anno>ErrorLocation</anno></c> is the
+              first location after the erroneous token.</p>
+          </item>
+        </taglist>
         <p><c>string(<anno>String</anno>)</c> is equivalent to
           <c>string(<anno>String</anno>, 1)</c>, and
           <c>string(<anno>String</anno>,
@@ -95,80 +169,102 @@
           <anno>StartLocation</anno>, [])</c>.</p>
         <p><c><anno>StartLocation</anno></c> indicates the initial location
           when scanning starts. If <c><anno>StartLocation</anno></c> is a line,
-          <c>Anno</c> as well as <c><anno>EndLocation</anno></c> and
-          <c><anno>ErrorLocation</anno></c> will be lines. If
-          <c><anno>StartLocation</anno></c> is a pair of a line and a column
+          <c>Anno</c>, <c><anno>EndLocation</anno></c>, and
+          <c><anno>ErrorLocation</anno></c> are lines. If
+          <c><anno>StartLocation</anno></c> is a pair of a line and a column,
           <c>Anno</c> takes the form of an opaque compound
           data type, and <c><anno>EndLocation</anno></c> and
           <c><anno>ErrorLocation</anno></c>
-          will be pairs of a line and a column. The <em>token
+          are pairs of a line and a column. The <em>token
           annotations</em> contain information about the column and the
           line where the token begins, as well as the text of the
-          token (if the <c>text</c> option is given), all of which can
+          token (if option <c>text</c> is specified), all of which can
           be accessed by calling
-          <seealso marker="#column/1">column/1</seealso>,
-          <seealso marker="#line/1">line/1</seealso>,
-          <seealso marker="#location/1">location/1</seealso>, and
-          <seealso marker="#text/1">text/1</seealso>.</p>
+          <seealso marker="#column/1"><c>column/1</c></seealso>,
+          <seealso marker="#line/1"><c>line/1</c></seealso>,
+          <seealso marker="#location/1"><c>location/1</c></seealso>, and
+          <seealso marker="#text/1"><c>text/1</c></seealso>.</p>
         <p>A <em>token</em> is a tuple containing information about
-          syntactic category, the token annotations, and the actual
-          terminal symbol. For punctuation characters (e.g. <c>;</c>,
+          syntactic category, the token annotations, and the
+          terminal symbol. For punctuation characters (such as <c>;</c> and 
           <c>|</c>) and reserved words, the category and the symbol
           coincide, and the token is represented by a two-tuple.
-          Three-tuples have one of the following forms: <c>{atom,
-          Info, atom()}</c>,
-          <c>{char, Info, integer()}</c>, <c>{comment, Info,
-          string()}</c>, <c>{float, Info, float()}</c>, <c>{integer,
-          Info, integer()}</c>, <c>{var, Info, atom()}</c>,
-          and <c>{white_space, Info, string()}</c>.</p>
-        <p>The valid options are:</p>
+          Three-tuples have one of the following forms:</p>
+        <list type="bulleted">
+          <item><c>{atom, Anno, atom()}</c></item>
+          <item><c>{char, Anno, char()}</c></item>
+          <item><c>{comment, Anno, string()}</c></item>
+          <item><c>{float, Anno, float()}</c></item>
+          <item><c>{integer, Anno, integer()}</c></item>
+          <item><c>{var, Anno, atom()}</c></item>
+          <item><c>{white_space, Anno, string()}</c></item>
+        </list>
+        <p>Valid options:</p>
         <taglist>
-        <tag><c>{reserved_word_fun, reserved_word_fun()}</c></tag>
-        <item><p>A callback function that is called when the scanner
-          has found an unquoted atom. If the function returns
-          <c>true</c>, the unquoted atom itself will be the category
-          of the token; if the function returns <c>false</c>,
-          <c>atom</c> will be the category of the unquoted atom.</p>
-        </item>
-        <tag><c>return_comments</c></tag>
-        <item><p>Return comment tokens.</p>
-        </item>
-        <tag><c>return_white_spaces</c></tag>
-        <item><p>Return white space tokens. By convention, if there is
-          a newline character, it is always the first character of the
-          text (there cannot be more than one newline in a white space
-          token).</p>
-        </item>
-        <tag><c>return</c></tag>
-        <item><p>Short for <c>[return_comments, return_white_spaces]</c>.</p>
-        </item>
-        <tag><c>text</c></tag>
-        <item><p>Include the token's text in the token annotation. The
-          text is the part of the input corresponding to the token.</p>
-        </item>
+          <tag><c>{reserved_word_fun, reserved_word_fun()}</c></tag>
+          <item><p>A callback function that is called when the scanner
+            has found an unquoted atom. If the function returns
+            <c>true</c>, the unquoted atom itself becomes the category
+            of the token. If the function returns <c>false</c>,
+            <c>atom</c> becomes the category of the unquoted atom.</p>
+          </item>
+          <tag><c>return_comments</c></tag>
+          <item><p>Return comment tokens.</p>
+          </item>
+          <tag><c>return_white_spaces</c></tag>
+          <item><p>Return white space tokens. By convention, a newline
+            character, if present, is always the first character of the
+            text (there cannot be more than one newline in a white space
+            token).</p>
+          </item>
+          <tag><c>return</c></tag>
+          <item><p>Short for <c>[return_comments, return_white_spaces]</c>.</p>
+          </item>
+          <tag><c>text</c></tag>
+          <item><p>Include the token text in the token annotation. The
+            text is the part of the input corresponding to the token.</p>
+          </item>
         </taglist>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="symbol" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the symbol.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the symbol of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="text" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Return the text.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p>Returns the text of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s collection
+          of annotations. If there is no text, <c>undefined</c> is
+          returned.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
     <func>
       <name name="tokens" arity="3"/>
       <name name="tokens" arity="4"/>
-      <fsummary>Re-entrant scanner</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Re-entrant scanner.</fsummary>
       <type name="char_spec"/>
       <type name="return_cont"/>
-      <type_desc name="return_cont">An opaque continuation</type_desc>
+      <type_desc name="return_cont">An opaque continuation.</type_desc>
       <desc>
-        <p>This is the re-entrant scanner which scans characters until
-          a <em>dot</em> ('.' followed by a white space) or
-          <c>eof</c> has been reached. It returns:</p>
+        <p>This is the re-entrant scanner, which scans characters until
+          either a <em>dot</em> ('.' followed by a white space) or
+          <c>eof</c> is reached. It returns:</p>
         <taglist>
           <tag><c>{done, <anno>Result</anno>, <anno>LeftOverChars</anno>}</c>
           </tag>
           <item>
-            <p>This return indicates that there is sufficient input
+            <p>Indicates that there is sufficient input
               data to get a result. <c><anno>Result</anno></c> is:</p>
             <taglist>
-              <tag><c>{ok, Tokens, EndLocation}</c>
-              </tag>
+              <tag><c>{ok, Tokens, EndLocation}</c></tag>
               <item>
                 <p>The scanning was successful. <c>Tokens</c>
                   is the list of tokens including <em>dot</em>.</p>
@@ -177,8 +273,7 @@
               <item>
                 <p>End of file was encountered before any more tokens.</p>
               </item>
-              <tag><c>{error, ErrorInfo, EndLocation}</c>
-              </tag>
+              <tag><c>{error, ErrorInfo, EndLocation}</c></tag>
               <item>
                 <p>An error occurred. <c><anno>LeftOverChars</anno></c>
                   is the remaining characters of the input data,
@@ -194,110 +289,26 @@
           </item>
         </taglist>
         <p>The <c><anno>CharSpec</anno></c> <c>eof</c> signals end of file.
-        <c><anno>LeftOverChars</anno></c> will then take the value <c>eof</c>
+        <c><anno>LeftOverChars</anno></c> then takes the value <c>eof</c>
           as well.</p>
         <p><c>tokens(<anno>Continuation</anno>, <anno>CharSpec</anno>,
           <anno>StartLocation</anno>)</c> is equivalent to
           <c>tokens(<anno>Continuation</anno>, <anno>CharSpec</anno>,
           <anno>StartLocation</anno>, [])</c>.</p>
-        <p>See <seealso marker="#string/3">string/3</seealso> for a
-          description of the various options.</p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="reserved_word" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Test for a reserved word</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Atom</anno></c> is an Erlang
-         reserved word, otherwise <c>false</c>.</p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="category" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the category</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the category of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="symbol" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the symbol</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the symbol of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="column" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the column</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the column of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s
-          collection of annotations.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="end_location" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the end location of the text</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the end location of the text of
-          <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s collection of annotations. If
-            there is no text,
-          <c>undefined</c> is returned.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="line" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the line</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the line of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s collection
-          of annotations.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="location" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the location</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the location of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s
-          collection of annotations.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="text" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return the text</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Returns the text of <c><anno>Token</anno></c>'s collection
-        of annotations. If there is no text, <c>undefined</c> is
-        returned.
-        </p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="format_error" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Format an error descriptor</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>Takes an <c><anno>ErrorDescriptor</anno></c> and returns
-          a string which
-          describes the error or warning. This function is usually
-          called implicitly when processing an <c>ErrorInfo</c>
-          structure (see below).</p>
+        <p>For a description of the options, see
+          <seealso marker="#string/3"><c>string/3</c></seealso>.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
   </funcs>
 
   <section>
+    <marker id="errorinfo"/>
     <title>Error Information</title>
-    <p>The <c>ErrorInfo</c> mentioned above is the standard
-      <c>ErrorInfo</c> structure which is returned from all IO
-      modules. It has the following format:</p>
+    <p><c>ErrorInfo</c> is the standard <c>ErrorInfo</c> structure that is
+      returned from all I/O modules. The format is as follows:</p>
     <code type="none">
 {ErrorLocation, Module, ErrorDescriptor}</code>
-    <p>A string which describes the error is obtained with the
-      following call:</p>
+    <p>A string describing the error is obtained with the following call:</p>
     <code type="none">
 Module:format_error(ErrorDescriptor)</code>
   </section>
@@ -305,15 +316,15 @@ Module:format_error(ErrorDescriptor)</code>
   <section>
     <title>Notes</title>
     <p>The continuation of the first call to the re-entrant input
-      functions must be <c>[]</c>. Refer to Armstrong, Virding and
-      Williams, 'Concurrent Programming in Erlang', Chapter 13, for a
-      complete description of how the re-entrant input scheme works.</p>
+      functions must be <c>[]</c>. For a complete description of how the
+      re-entrant input scheme works, see Armstrong, Virding and
+      Williams: 'Concurrent Programming in Erlang', Chapter 13.</p>
   </section>
 
   <section>
     <title>See Also</title>
-    <p><seealso marker="io">io(3)</seealso>,
-       <seealso marker="erl_anno">erl_anno(3)</seealso>,
-       <seealso marker="erl_parse">erl_parse(3)</seealso></p>
+    <p><seealso marker="erl_anno"><c>erl_anno(3)</c></seealso>,
+      <seealso marker="erl_parse"><c>erl_parse(3)</c></seealso>,
+      <seealso marker="io"><c>io(3)</c></seealso></p>
   </section>
 </erlref>