Bash-like history search in REPL view

[laurentpetit]

Original issue 332 created by laurentpetit on 2012-03-08T15:57:39.000Z:

CCW's REPL view is currently able to step back through command history via CTRL+UP/DOWN.
It would be very useful if we can search back through the history like in Bash via CTRL+PAGE_UP/PAGE_DOWN.

For completeness: The bash search searches for entries in the history that start with the already typed letters, e.g. "ssh m" + CTRL+PAGE_UP will find "ssh myremotemachine".

[laurentpetit]

Comment #1 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-03-22T14:44:37.000Z:

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[laurentpetit]

Comment #2 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-04-12T06:27:31.000Z:

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[laurentpetit]

Comment #3 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-04-12T08:47:33.000Z:

I wasn't aware of this feature in bash. Actually, I can't seem to get it to work in bash anyway…?

I'm not sure this is workable outside of a simple shell though. Especially if you have paredit on, what is the search prefix, since there's always content to the right of your cursor?

What are the sorts of expressions that you are wishing you could find in this way?

Something like # 170 would be our next most likely stop re: REPL history, but this would be in interesting addition if we can figure out the use cases and then the mechanical bits around i.e. paredit as noted above.

[laurentpetit]

Comment #4 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-04-12T08:58:40.000Z:

I see this additional behaviour as quite simple: just select in the history the next/previous entry whose textual content starts with the current content of the input area.

Don't know if this should be bound on the same commands/shortcuts as currently, or another set of commands+shortcuts

[laurentpetit]

Comment #5 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-08-25T21:36:11.000Z:

FWIW -> I was about to enter a new issue requesting bash-like history function in the REPL. Specifically pressing the "up arrow" to cycle through previous commands. I did a search here & found that I could indeed press CTRL+UP/DOWN ... Is it possible to bind to UP/DOWN without CTRL?

Many thanks!

[laurentpetit]

Comment #6 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-08-26T13:21:43.000Z:

@briceburg: sure, just go into Eclipse's keybinding preferences (Preferences > General > Keys). Filter the bindings with the string "load", and you'll see the next/previous actions for the REPL. Select one, copy it (see the button below the list), and set the binding for it to UP or DOWN as you like.

[laurentpetit]

Comment #7 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-10-04T13:05:29.000Z:

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[laurentpetit]

Comment #8 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-10-11T16:36:39.000Z:

Notes from live #irc session:

• rebind default keybindings to Ctrl+Alt+Up and Ctrl+Alt+Down
• reset the history search once starting moving the cursor so that if I first search for ":b" and then for ":c" I find ":c" without having to go back in the search selection (assuming the history is :a :b :c :d ...)
• make it work as current history previous/next if there is no text (or blank text?) in the input area, so that we can switch totally from the default history to the enhanced history search
• consider using .contains instead of .startsWith for the default predicate

[laurentpetit]

Comment #9 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-11-04T15:32:55.000Z:

I changed the default key bindings accordingly.
For an empty prefix before the cursor it just steps through the code now (like the existing history stepping does).
When navigating forward through history (previous) the retained input is always the last entry of the history.

I do not think that matching with .contains will work in the current "environment". I think it needs highlighting of the search expression and an easy way to edit the search expression.
Both are not really possible in the current implementation where the input text is replaced with the next matching entry from the history.

There are still open questions with respect to modifications of the input:

(1) Does the retained input need to change if history entries are modified in the input control?

(2) Stepping through the history does not reset the history position when you modify the history entry in the input control. So is resetting the history position after modification desirable?

(3) Connection to (1): When resetting the history position after modification is desirable: Does the retained input need to change?

Changes can be found in https://github.com/guv/ccw/tree/repl-history-search .
I did not create a pull request due to the open questions, yet.

[laurentpetit]

Comment #10 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-11-11T20:49:24.000Z:

Github pull request: #17

[laurentpetit]

Comment #11 originally posted by laurentpetit on 2012-11-15T15:07:31.000Z:

Result of IRC discussion:
(1) Modification of a history entry resets history position to the "present" (-1).
(2) When history search is started again from the modfied entry, this modified entry is kept as "retained input".
(3) ".startsWith" for the matching predicate suffices for now due to the reasons mentioned above.