Debt and Credit Agreements (Details) (USD $)								3 Months Ended
	Oct. 27, 2012	Jan. 28, 2012	Nov. 04, 2010	Oct. 27, 2012 Short Term Debt October 2012 Notes [Member]	Jan. 28, 2012 Short Term Debt October 2012 Notes [Member]	Sep. 30, 2002 Short Term Debt October 2012 Notes [Member]	Oct. 27, 2012 Commercial paper program	Oct. 27, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Oct. 27, 2012 Lines of Credit	Jan. 28, 2012 Lines of Credit	Oct. 27, 2012 Long Term Debt January 2014 Notes, including Unamortized Gain [Member]	Jan. 28, 2012 Long Term Debt January 2014 Notes, including Unamortized Gain [Member]	Oct. 27, 2012 Capital lease obligations and other notes payable	Jan. 28, 2012 Capital lease obligations and other notes payable
Debt and credit agreements
Maximum borrowing capacity			$ 1,000,000,000						$ 302,900,000
Maximum borrowing capacity upon agreement of participating lenders			1,500,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage						7.375%
Maximum Borrowing Capacity of Commercial Paper Program	1,000,000,000
Commercial Paper Notes Maximum Maturity Period	P397D
Short-term Debt							0
Short-term Debt, Maximum Amount Outstanding During Period								75,000,000
Outstanding debt
Short Term Debt Unhedged, Carrying Value				0	332,617,000	325,000,000
Long-term Debt Unhedged, Carrying Value											1,515,428,000	1,525,003,000
Lines of Credit									137,001,000	170,745,000
Long-term Debt and Capital Lease Obligations Current and Noncurrent	1,660,832,000	2,038,180,000											8,403,000	9,815,000
Less: Current portion	(119,046,000)	(439,143,000)
Long-term debt	$ 1,541,786,000	$ 1,599,037,000