RE: Hyphen in command-line utility?

["Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>]

Sonja, I think it's more preference than reference at this juncture,
unless you have a house style or default stylebook that says otherwise.
When uncertain, erring on the side of clarity is the best practice, in
my book.

I do prefer to hyphenate compound modifiers, generally, but even my
increasingly venerable Chicago Manual of Style (13th ed., 6.24 to 6.32)
offers general principles and suggests the trend at that time (1982) was
to "spell compounds solid as soon as acceptance warrants their being
considered permanent compounds." In the latest CMOS, the use of the
hyphen in compound words and names and in word division is discussed in
5.92-93 and in chapter 7, especially 7.33-45 and 7.82-90.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Sonja McShane
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8:03 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Hyphen in command-line utility?

Hello,

 

I've just resubscribed after many years away from this list and very
much look forward to being part of it again.

 

For now, after much searching in archives and the Internet, I need to
know definitively if I should hyphenate "command-line utility". I know
the compound modifier 'command line' can't be misinterpreted if it's not
hyphenated, but I really, really feel the need to hyphenate it anyway.

 

I very much look forward to some authorative answers, and any references
as well.

 

Thanks very much,

Sonja

 

Sonja McShane

Senior Technical Writer

Space-Time Research Pty Ltd

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