Package: emacs;
Reported by: Spencer Baugh <sbaugh <at> janestreet.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:12:02 UTC
Severity: normal
Found in version 30.1.50
Message #29 received at 77253 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
From: Spencer Baugh <sbaugh <at> janestreet.com> To: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net> Cc: 77253 <at> debbugs.gnu.org Subject: Re: bug#77253: 30.1.50; Support RET choosing the selected completion without rebinding arrow keys Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:52:44 -0400
Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net> writes:
>> - It's not necessarily obvious that closing the completions window will
>> make the arrow keys operate in the minibuffer. Actually, maybe we
>> should update the completion help text to say that? That might help a
>> lot.
>
> Maybe it's possible to squeeze this help text just into one additional line?
> Something like:
>
> Type 'C-g' to close this window and restore arrows to move point.
Maybe we don't even need an additional line? How about:
Click or type RET on a completion to select it, or C-g to close this window.
Type <right>, <left>, <down>, <up> to move point between completions.
>> - The new completion-eager-display makes *Completions* pop up
>> immediately; when this happens, it can be surprising that the arrow
>> keys don't work in the minibuffer from the very start of the
>> minibuffer session.
>
> Then another possible value for 'minibuffer-visible-completions'
> would be to not rebind left/right arrows when the completions window
> contains only one column (like on the browser's address bar).
True. Though I guess that could maybe be the default behavior when
completions-format=one-column.
>>> Not sure if it's possible for RET to accept the selected candidate
>>> by default since users might prefer to accept text in the minibuffer.
>>
>> If there's a selected candidate, though, then users have already decided
>> to use M-<up>/M-<down> to interact with completions. (Or they've
>> switched to the completions buffer and selected one)
>>
>> If they decide they don't want the candidate they selected, and want to
>> continue with text in the minibuffer, completion-auto-deselect will
>> automatically deselect the candidate if they type anything.
>>
>> I think these two facts combined make it possible for RET to accept the
>> selected candidate by default.
>
> Makes sense. So we need to try how well it performs.
How about this?
(BTW, after writing minibuffer--completions-visible, I'm wondering if
most of the code which calls (get-buffer-window "*Completions*" 0) is
actually buggy, because it's not checking completion-reference-buffer.
Should we replace ~all the calls to (get-buffer-window "*Completions*"
0) with (minibuffer--completions-visible) which does check that?)
diff --git a/lisp/minibuffer.el b/lisp/minibuffer.el
index 404fa143194..c026e41a818 100644
--- a/lisp/minibuffer.el
+++ b/lisp/minibuffer.el
@@ -3209,6 +3209,12 @@ completion-help-at-point
(define-key map "\n" 'exit-minibuffer)
(define-key map "\r" 'exit-minibuffer))
+(defun minibuffer-choose-completion-just-exit (&optional no-exit)
+ "Choose the selected completion from the minibuffer or call `exit-minibuffer'."
+ (interactive "P")
+ (or (minibuffer-choose-completion-if-selected no-exit)
+ (minibuffer-exit)))
+
(defvar-keymap minibuffer-local-completion-map
:doc "Local keymap for minibuffer input with completion."
:parent minibuffer-local-map
@@ -3218,6 +3224,7 @@ minibuffer-local-completion-map
;; another binding for it.
;; "M-TAB" #'minibuffer-force-complete
"SPC" #'minibuffer-complete-word
+ "RET" #'minibuffer-choose-completion-just-exit
"?" #'minibuffer-completion-help
"<prior>" #'switch-to-completions
"M-v" #'switch-to-completions
@@ -3229,7 +3236,7 @@ minibuffer-local-completion-map
(defvar-keymap minibuffer-local-must-match-map
:doc "Local keymap for minibuffer input with completion, for exact match."
:parent minibuffer-local-completion-map
- "RET" #'minibuffer-complete-and-exit
+ "RET" #'minibuffer-choose-completion-or-exit
"C-j" #'minibuffer-complete-and-exit)
(defvar-keymap minibuffer-local-filename-completion-map
@@ -3326,18 +3333,34 @@ minibuffer-visible-completions
(defvar minibuffer-visible-completions--always-bind nil
"If non-nil, force the `minibuffer-visible-completions' bindings on.")
+(defun minibuffer--completions-visible ()
+ "Return the window where the *Completions* buffer for this minibuffer is visible."
+ (when-let ((window (get-buffer-window "*Completions*" 0)))
+ (when (eq (buffer-local-value 'completion-reference-buffer
+ (window-buffer window))
+ (window-buffer (active-minibuffer-window)))
+ window)))
+
+(defun minibuffer-choose-completion-if-selected (&optional no-exit no-quit)
+ "Like `minibuffer-choose-completion', but do nothing if no candidate is selected.
+
+Return non-nil if a completion was chosen."
+ (when-let* ((window (minibuffer--completions-visible)))
+ (with-selected-window window
+ ;; Detect selection as if `choose-completion-deselect-if-after' is nil.
+ (when (get-text-property (point) 'completion--string)
+ (choose-completion nil no-exit no-quit)
+ t))))
+
(defun minibuffer-visible-completions--filter (cmd)
"Return CMD if `minibuffer-visible-completions' bindings should be active."
(if minibuffer-visible-completions--always-bind
cmd
- (when-let ((window (get-buffer-window "*Completions*" 0)))
- (when (and (eq (buffer-local-value 'completion-reference-buffer
- (window-buffer window))
- (window-buffer (active-minibuffer-window)))
- (if (eq cmd #'minibuffer-choose-completion-or-exit)
- (with-current-buffer (window-buffer window)
- (get-text-property (point) 'completion--string))
- t))
+ (when-let ((window (minibuffer--completions-visible)))
+ (when (if (eq cmd #'minibuffer-choose-completion-or-exit)
+ (with-current-buffer (window-buffer window)
+ (get-text-property (point) 'completion--string))
+ t)
cmd))))
(defun minibuffer-visible-completions--bind (binding)
@@ -5109,10 +5132,8 @@ minibuffer-choose-completion-or-exit
in the completions window, then exit the minibuffer using its present
contents."
(interactive "P")
- (condition-case nil
- (let ((choose-completion-deselect-if-after t))
- (minibuffer-choose-completion no-exit no-quit))
- (error (minibuffer-complete-and-exit))))
+ (or (minibuffer-choose-completion-if-selected no-exit no-quit)
+ (minibuffer-complete-and-exit)))
(defun minibuffer-complete-history ()
"Complete as far as possible using the minibuffer history.
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