The first number in a range must be posi- tive. The last number in a range specified with a hyphen must be larger than or equal to the first one. An asterisk in the first position is equivalent to the number 1. An asterisk after a hyphen specifies infinity, the end of the record, or all records in a file.
Some syntax diagrams show range as an alter- native to number.
Though redundant, this alerts you to a difference in semantics when a number is processed differently than a range consisting of a single column.