diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/rte_flow.rst b/doc/guides/prog_guide/rte_flow.rst
index 961943dda..a11ebd617 100644
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/rte_flow.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/rte_flow.rst
@@ -186,12 +186,13 @@ Pattern item
 
 Pattern items fall in two categories:
 
-- Matching protocol headers and packet data (ANY, RAW, ETH, VLAN, IPV4,
-  IPV6, ICMP, UDP, TCP, SCTP, VXLAN, MPLS, GRE, ESP and so on), usually
-  associated with a specification structure.
+- Matching protocol headers and packet data, usually associated with a
+  specification structure. These must be stacked in the same order as the
+  protocol layers to match inside packets, starting from the lowest.
 
-- Matching meta-data or affecting pattern processing (END, VOID, INVERT, PF,
-  VF, PORT and so on), often without a specification structure.
+- Matching meta-data or affecting pattern processing, often without a
+  specification structure. Since they do not match packet contents, their
+  position in the list is usually not relevant.
 
 Item specification structures are used to match specific values among
 protocol fields (or item properties). Documentation describes for each item
@@ -1001,15 +1002,13 @@ to a flow rule. That list is not ordered.
 
 They fall in three categories:
 
-- Terminating actions (such as QUEUE, DROP, RSS, PF, VF) that prevent
-  processing matched packets by subsequent flow rules, unless overridden
-  with PASSTHRU.
+- Terminating actions that prevent processing matched packets by subsequent
+  flow rules, unless overridden with PASSTHRU.
 
-- Non-terminating actions (PASSTHRU, DUP) that leave matched packets up for
-  additional processing by subsequent flow rules.
+- Non-terminating actions that leave matched packets up for additional
+  processing by subsequent flow rules.
 
-- Other non-terminating meta actions that do not affect the fate of packets
-  (END, VOID, MARK, FLAG, COUNT, SECURITY).
+- Other non-terminating meta actions that do not affect the fate of packets.
 
 When several actions are combined in a flow rule, they should all have
 different types (e.g. dropping a packet twice is not possible).
diff --git a/lib/librte_ether/rte_flow.h b/lib/librte_ether/rte_flow.h
index 95799fd9c..36fd38ffa 100644
--- a/lib/librte_ether/rte_flow.h
+++ b/lib/librte_ether/rte_flow.h
@@ -78,15 +78,13 @@ struct rte_flow_attr {
  *
  * Pattern items fall in two categories:
  *
- * - Matching protocol headers and packet data (ANY, RAW, ETH, VLAN, IPV4,
- *   IPV6, ICMP, UDP, TCP, SCTP, VXLAN and so on), usually associated with a
+ * - Matching protocol headers and packet data, usually associated with a
  *   specification structure. These must be stacked in the same order as the
- *   protocol layers to match, starting from the lowest.
+ *   protocol layers to match inside packets, starting from the lowest.
  *
- * - Matching meta-data or affecting pattern processing (END, VOID, INVERT,
- *   PF, VF, PORT and so on), often without a specification structure. Since
- *   they do not match packet contents, these can be specified anywhere
- *   within item lists without affecting others.
+ * - Matching meta-data or affecting pattern processing, often without a
+ *   specification structure. Since they do not match packet contents, their
+ *   position in the list is usually not relevant.
  *
  * See the description of individual types for more information. Those
  * marked with [META] fall into the second category.
@@ -865,15 +863,14 @@ struct rte_flow_item {
  *
  * They fall in three categories:
  *
- * - Terminating actions (such as QUEUE, DROP, RSS, PF, VF) that prevent
- *   processing matched packets by subsequent flow rules, unless overridden
- *   with PASSTHRU.
+ * - Terminating actions that prevent processing matched packets by
+ *   subsequent flow rules, unless overridden with PASSTHRU.
  *
- * - Non terminating actions (PASSTHRU, DUP) that leave matched packets up
- *   for additional processing by subsequent flow rules.
+ * - Non terminating actions that leave matched packets up for additional
+ *   processing by subsequent flow rules.
  *
  * - Other non terminating meta actions that do not affect the fate of
- *   packets (END, VOID, MARK, FLAG, COUNT).
+ *   packets.
  *
  * When several actions are combined in a flow rule, they should all have
  * different types (e.g. dropping a packet twice is not possible).
