Documentation/line-range-format.txt

   1 <start> and <end> can take one of these forms:
   2
   3 - number
   4 +
   5 If <start> or <end> is a number, it specifies an
   6 absolute line number (lines count from 1).
   7 +
   8
   9 - /regex/
  10 +
  11 This form will use the first line matching the given
  12 POSIX regex. If <start> is a regex, it will search from the end of
  13 the previous `-L` range, if any, otherwise from the start of file.
  14 If <start> is ``^/regex/'', it will search from the start of file.
  15 If <end> is a regex, it will search
  16 starting at the line given by <start>.
  17 +
  18
  19 - +offset or -offset
  20 +
  21 This is only valid for <end> and will specify a number
  22 of lines before or after the line given by <start>.
  23
  24 +
  25 If ``:<funcname>'' is given in place of <start> and <end>, it is a
  26 regular expression that denotes the range from the first funcname line
  27 that matches <funcname>, up to the next funcname line. ``:<funcname>''
  28 searches from the end of the previous `-L` range, if any, otherwise
  29 from the start of file. ``^:<funcname>'' searches from the start of
  30 file.