1 files changed, 10 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/dired.el b/lisp/dired.el
index e523b941295..02946e0f3bc 100644
--- a/lisp/dired.el
+++ b/lisp/dired.el
@@ -749,10 +749,16 @@ as an argument to `dired-goto-file'."
   "\"Edit\" directory DIRNAME--delete, rename, print, etc. some files in it.
 Optional second argument SWITCHES specifies the `ls' options used.
 \(Interactively, use a prefix argument to be able to specify SWITCHES.)
-Dired displays a list of files in DIRNAME (which may also have
-shell wildcards appended to select certain files).  If DIRNAME is a cons,
-its first element is taken as the directory name and the rest as an explicit
-list of files to make directory entries for.
+
+If DIRNAME is a string, Dired displays a list of files in DIRNAME (which
+may also have shell wildcards appended to select certain files).
+
+If DIRNAME is a cons, its first element is taken as the directory name
+and the rest as an explicit list of files to make directory entries for.
+In this case, SWITCHES are applied to each of the files separately, and
+therefore switches that control the order of the files in the produced
+listing have no effect.
+
 \\<dired-mode-map>\
 You can flag files for deletion with \\[dired-flag-file-deletion] and then
 delete them by typing \\[dired-do-flagged-delete].