From 144415f6fa369a593ca8b1a3151e539d845dfe43 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2020 12:22:11 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] ;cli: improve --color help

---
 doc/common.m4                     | 6 ++++++
 hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs | 9 ++++-----
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/common.m4 b/doc/common.m4
index 2d55e6442..916adbc81 100644
--- a/doc/common.m4
+++ b/doc/common.m4
@@ -161,6 +161,12 @@ m4_define({{_reportingoptions_}}, {{
 : generate future transactions from [periodic transaction](journal.html#periodic-transactions) rules, for the next 6 months or till report end date.
 In hledger-ui, also make ordinary future transactions visible.
 
+`--color=always|yes|never|no|auto (or --colour=...)`
+: 'auto' is the default, it tries to use ANSI color codes in terminal output when supported.
+: 'always' or 'yes' forces color on, useful when piping output, eg into 'less -R'.
+: 'never' or 'no' forces color off.
+: A NO_COLOR environment variable also disables color, overriding this option.
+
 When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the last one takes precedence.
 
 Some reporting options can also be written as [query arguments](#queries).
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs
index 550770bbb..c1c7a1f25 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs
@@ -191,13 +191,12 @@ reportflags = [
 
   -- general output-related
 
- ,flagReq  ["color","colour"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "color" s opts) "always|never|auto"
+ ,flagReq  ["color","colour"] (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "color" s opts) "always|yes|never|no|auto"
    (unwords
-     ["When to use color (or colour) in terminal output."
-     ,"'auto' is the default; it tries to enable color when the terminal is color-supporting and interactive."
-     ,"'always' or 'yes' forces color on, useful eg when piping output into 'less -R'."
+     ["'auto' is the default, it tries to use ANSI color codes in terminal output when supported."
+     ,"'always' or 'yes' forces color on, useful when piping output, eg into 'less -R'."
      ,"'never' or 'no' forces color off."
-     ,"A NO_COLOR environment variable will also force color off, overriding this option."
+     ,"A NO_COLOR environment variable also disables color, overriding this option."
      ])
  ]