Manual: Minor tweaks to make text easier to read (danmar#7837)

Author: danmar

man/manual.md

@@ -105,15 +105,18 @@ need to use both approaches. Later chapters will describe this in more detail.
 
 With `--file-filter=<str>` you can configure file filter(s) and then only those files matching the filter will be checked.
 
-For example, this command below means that `src/test1.cpp` and `src/test/file1.cpp` could be checked, but `src/file2.cpp` will not be checked:
-
-    cppcheck src/ --file-filter=src/test*
-
 You can use `**`, `*` and `?` in the file filter pattern.  
 `**`: matches zero or more characters, including path separators  
 `*`: matches zero or more characters, excluding path separators  
 `?`: matches any single character except path separators
 
+For example, this command below means that `src/test1.cpp` could be checked, but `src/file2.cpp` and `src/test/file1.cpp` will not be checked:
+
+    cppcheck src/ --file-filter=src/test*
+
+Cppcheck first collects all files in the specified directory, then applies the filter. Therefore, the filter pattern
+must include the directory path you specified.
+
 A common use case for `--file-filter` is to check a project, but only check certain files:
 
     cppcheck --project=compile_commands.json --file-filter=src/*.c
@@ -150,8 +153,8 @@ By default Cppcheck uses an internal C/C++ parser. However there is an experimen
 
 Install `clang`. Then use Cppcheck option `--clang`.
 
-Technically, Cppcheck will execute `clang` with its `-ast-dump` option. The Clang output is then imported and converted into 
-the normal Cppcheck format. And then normal Cppcheck analysis is performed on that.
+Cppcheck executes clang with the -ast-dump option, imports the output, converts it to Cppcheck's internal format, and then
+performs standard analysis.
 
 You can also pass a custom Clang executable to the option by using for example `--clang=clang-10`. You can also pass it 
 with a path. On Windows it will append the `.exe` extension unless you use a path.
@@ -191,9 +194,8 @@ be improved.
 
 Cppcheck instantiates the templates in your code.
 
-If your templates are recursive this can lead to slow analysis that uses a lot
-of memory. Cppcheck will write information messages when there are potential
-problems.
+If your templates are recursive, this can lead to slow analysis and high memory usage. Cppcheck will write information
+messages when there are potential problems.
 
 Example code:
 
@@ -250,7 +252,7 @@ Using a Cppcheck build folder is not mandatory but it is recommended.
 
 Cppcheck save analyzer information in that folder.
 
-The advantages are;
+The advantages are:
 
 - It speeds up the analysis as it makes incremental analysis possible. Only changed files are analyzed when you recheck.
 - Whole program analysis also when multiple threads are used.
@@ -286,7 +288,7 @@ To ignore certain folders in the project you can use `-i`. This will skip the an
 
 ## CMake
 
-Generate a compile database:
+Generate a compile database (a JSON file containing compilation commands for each source file):
 
     cmake -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON .
 
@@ -369,9 +371,12 @@ Here is a file that has 3 bugs (when x,y,z are assigned).
     #error C must be defined
     #endif
 
+The flag `-D` tells Cppcheck that a name is defined. Cppcheck will only analyze configurations that
+contain this define.
+
+The flag `-U` tells Cppcheck that a name is not defined. Cppcheck will only analyze configurations
+that does not contain this define.
 
-The flag `-D` tells Cppcheck that a name is defined. There will be no Cppcheck analysis without this define.
-The flag `-U` tells Cppcheck that a name is not defined. There will be no Cppcheck analysis with this define.
 The flag `--force` and `--max-configs` is used to control how many combinations are checked. When `-D` is used,
 Cppcheck will only check 1 configuration unless these are used.
 
@@ -477,7 +482,8 @@ build dir. For instance, the unusedFunction warnings require whole program analy
 
 If you want to filter out certain errors from being generated, then it is possible to suppress these.
 
-If you encounter a false positive, then please report it to the Cppcheck team so that it can be fixed.
+If you encounter a false positive, please report it to the Cppcheck team so that the issue can be
+fixed.
 
 ## Plain text suppressions