GNU bug report logs - #22483
25.1.50; Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does not show toggle key

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 25.1.50; Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does not show toggle
 key
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 07:55:45 -0800 (PST)

The doc string says you can toggle using command
`isearch-togggle-lax-whitespace'.  That's pretty useless, as it makes
sense only during Isearch.  It should say that you can use key `M-s SPC'
to do this.  IOW, there is a missing \\[...] envelope.

Not only that, but if you actually try `M-x
isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace' you may be in for a bit of a surprise.

The same doc-string problem holds for other Isearch doc strings that
mention this command - they should all use \\[...] and say that you can
use this _during Isearch_ to toggle the variable value.


In GNU Emacs 25.1.50.1 (i686-pc-mingw32)
 of 2015-12-10
Repository revision: 6148555ee5a3d0139ae517803718b3e0357933c7
Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 6.1.7601
Configured using:
 'configure --prefix=/c/Devel/emacs/snapshot/trunk --enable-checking=yes
 --enable-check-lisp-object-type --without-compress-install 'CFLAGS=-Og
 -ggdb3' LDFLAGS=-Lc:/Devel/emacs/lib 'CPPFLAGS=-DGC_MCHECK=1
 -Ic:/Devel/emacs/include''

Message #8 received at 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: RE: bug#22483: 25.1.50; Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does
 not show toggle key
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 08:00:38 -0800 (PST)

> Not only that, but if you actually try `M-x
> isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace' you may be in for a bit of a surprise.

Especially in Emacs 24.5 (i.e., before Emacs 25 builds), where the
resulting behavior includes highlighting the entire buffer with the
lazy-highlight face.

Message #11 received at 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: RE: bug#22483: 25.1.50; Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does
 not show toggle key
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 08:08:25 -0800 (PST)

> > Not only that, but if you actually try `M-x
> > isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace' you may be in for a bit of a surprise.
> 
> Especially in Emacs 24.5 (i.e., before Emacs 25 builds), where the
> resulting behavior includes highlighting the entire buffer with the
> lazy-highlight face.

IOW, use \\<isearch-mode-map>`\\[isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace]' in the
doc strings of variables `isearch-lax-whitespace' and
`isearch-regexp-lax-whitespace', and function `isearch-forward-regexp'.

Message #14 received at 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#22483: 25.1.50;
 Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does not show toggle key
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 18:45:36 +0200

> Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 07:55:45 -0800 (PST)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
> 
> The doc string says you can toggle using command
> `isearch-togggle-lax-whitespace'.  That's pretty useless, as it makes
> sense only during Isearch.

Not true, it makes sense outside of Isearch as well (toggles the
default).

Message #17 received at 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#22483: 25.1.50;
 Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does not show toggle key
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 18:46:35 +0200

> Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 08:00:38 -0800 (PST)
> From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
> 
> > Not only that, but if you actually try `M-x
> > isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace' you may be in for a bit of a surprise.
> 
> Especially in Emacs 24.5 (i.e., before Emacs 25 builds), where the
> resulting behavior includes highlighting the entire buffer with the
> lazy-highlight face.

We cannot (yet) correct the past.

Message #20 received at 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>, Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: RE: bug#22483: 25.1.50;	Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does
 not show toggle key
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2016 09:00:24 -0800 (PST)

> > The doc string says you can toggle using command
> > `isearch-togggle-lax-whitespace'.  That's pretty useless, as it makes
> > sense only during Isearch.
> 
> Not true, it makes sense outside of Isearch as well (toggles the
> default).

Interesting.  I thought this was a user option, but I see now that
it is not.  (I know that vanilla Emacs refuses to let users toggle
an option during Isearch, even though that lets them perform
subsequent searches also using the new value.)

So why does the toggle command initiate search as well?  And if
that is by design and not a bug, perhaps it should be documented
as part of the command behavior (it does not just toggle the
variable value).

`M-x isearch-lax-whitespace' starts searching backward, with this
message:

  Pending literal I-search backward:

Oh, and that happens each time I "toggle" the value.  The value
changes (correctly), but the search initiated always shows that
backward-literal-search message.

Message #23 received at 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: 22483 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#22483: 25.1.50; Doc string of `isearch-lax-whitespace' does
 not show toggle key
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2021 09:12:25 -0700

tags 22483 fixed
close 22483 28.1
thanks

Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com> writes:

> The doc string says you can toggle using command
> `isearch-togggle-lax-whitespace'.  That's pretty useless, as it makes
> sense only during Isearch.  It should say that you can use key `M-s SPC'
> to do this.  IOW, there is a missing \\[...] envelope.
>
> Not only that, but if you actually try `M-x
> isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace' you may be in for a bit of a surprise.
>
> The same doc-string problem holds for other Isearch doc strings that
> mention this command - they should all use \\[...] and say that you can
> use this _during Isearch_ to toggle the variable value.

All docstrings have been updated to mention the keybinding already,
except for one that I updated in commit 285f59cbe2.

I'm therefore closing this bug report.

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