@end example
@end defun
-@cindex quoting and unquoting shell command line
- The following two functions are useful for creating shell commands
-from individual argument strings, and taking shell command lines apart
-into individual arguments.
+@cindex quoting and unquoting command-line arguments
+@cindex minibuffer input, and command-line arguments
+@cindex @code{call-process}, command-line arguments from minibuffer
+@cindex @code{start-process}, command-line arguments from minibuffer
+ The following two functions are useful for combining a list of
+individual command-line argument strings into a single string, and
+taking a string apart into a list of individual command-line
+arguments. These functions are mainly intended to be used for
+converting user input in the minibuffer, a Lisp string, into a list of
+string arguments to be passed to @code{call-process} or
+@code{start-process}, or for the converting such lists of arguments in
+a single Lisp string to be presented in the minibuffer or echo area.
@defun split-string-and-unquote string &optional separators
This function splits @var{string} into substrings at matches for the
@code{"\\s-+"}, which is a regular expression that matches one or more
characters with whitespace syntax (@pxref{Syntax Class Table}).
-This function performs two types of quoting: enclosing a whole string
+This function supports two types of quoting: enclosing a whole string
in double quotes @code{"@dots{}"}, and quoting individual characters
with a backslash escape @samp{\}. The latter is also used in Lisp
strings, so this function can handle those as well.
The strings in @var{list-of-strings} that need quoting are those that
include @var{separator} as their substring. Quoting a string encloses
it in double quotes @code{"@dots{}"}. In the simplest case, if you
-are consing a shell command from the individual command-line
-arguments, every argument that includes embedded blanks will be
-quoted.
+are consing a command from the individual command-line arguments,
+every argument that includes embedded blanks will be quoted.
@end defun
@node Synchronous Processes