rephrazing

Author: danmar

cli/cmdlineparser.cpp

@@ -1837,8 +1837,11 @@ void CmdLineParser::printHelp(bool premium) const
         "                         this is not needed.\n"
         "    --include=<file>\n"
         "                         Force inclusion of a file before the checked file.\n"
-        "    -i <str>             Skip translation units whose *source filename* matches\n"
-        "                         <str>. <str> can be a filename or directory.\n"
+        "    -i <str>             Ignore files that match <str>. <str> can be a filename\n"
+        "                         or directory and can contain *,**,?. A file that is\n"
+        "                         ignored will not be checked directly (the whole\n"
+        "                         translation unit is skipped completely). Header files\n"
+        "                         are checked indirectly when they are #include'd.\n"
         "                         Note: If you want to prevent warnings in some headers,\n"
         "                         use suppressions instead.\n"
         "    --inconclusive       Allow that Cppcheck reports even though the analysis is\n"

man/manual.md

@@ -126,13 +126,13 @@ Typically a `compile_commands.json` contains absolute paths. However no matter i
  * a file with relative path `src/test2.c` can be checked.
  * a file with relative path `src/test3.cpp` is not checked.
 
-### Ignore/skip files matching a given pattern
+### Ignore files matching a given pattern
 
-With `-i <str>` you can configure filename/directory patterns that should be ignored/skipped.
+With `-i <str>` you can configure filename/directory patterns that should be ignored.
 
-> *Note*: If you want to filter out warnings for a header file then `-i` will not work. The option `--suppress` should be used instead. Any header included in a source file which is not ignored would be processed regardless the `-i` option applied to that header.
+A file that is ignored will not be checked directly (the complete translation unit is skipped). Any header #include'd from a source file which is not ignored is checked indirectly, regardless if the header is ignored.
 
-Translation units are skipped if their *source filename* matches the exclusion pattern. This filtering happens *before* preprocessing, and the exclusion patterns are not applied during preprocessing or analysis.
+> *Note*: If you want to filter out warnings for a header file then `-i` will not work. Use suppressions instead.
 
 You can use `**`, `*` and `?` in the pattern to specify excluded folders/files.  
 `**`: matches zero or more characters, including path separators