Custom typable commands

[the-mikedavis]

Regular commands can be rebound but typable commands (anything entered in command mode, :) can't be modified in any way.

You might use custom typable commands to implement file operations in conjunction with #3134 for example. You might define :mv as :sh mv $file $1 or :rm as :sh rm $1. (The syntax to use for variables, or whether to use variables at all should be discussed.)

Custom typable commands could also be used to create custom abbreviations for commands.

[rkshthrmsh]

Hi @the-mikedavis, would this also cover command descriptions? For example, I have remapped gs to extend selection till the first non-blank character in line. This is in line with the discussion in #1215.

[keys.normal]
g = { s = ["select_mode", "goto_first_nonwhitespace", "exit_select_mode"] }

However, since there is no custom description for commands (that I'm aware of), the goto menu displays a rather unhelpful prompt [Multiple commands]:

[the-mikedavis]

No that's #1752

[kendfss]

Does the editor already support custom commands and just not typables?

I was thinking it would be nice to have something like:

[custom.commands]
bring_line_up = {
  cmds = [ 'push_register', 'extend_line', 'delete_selection', 'move_line_up', 'paste_before', 'pop_register' ] # semicolon separates operations' names from parameters' arguments. 
  desc = "swap line with above"
  mode = editor || prompt || both
}

[kendfss]

or set the mode via - vs _. I think that would be a more cumbersome implementation to maintain though.

[the-mikedavis]

You can already map keys to lists of commands (https://docs.helix-editor.com/master/remapping.html) to create custom non-typable commands. You can also rebind the normal_mode, insert_mode and select_mode commands to - (minus when configuring this in config.toml) and/or _. This issue is only about creating typable commands: ones entered in command mode with : that optionally take arguments.

[kendfss]

Could separate func name from params with ;
Though, I was/am assuming what you wanted could be reproduced by sequence(s) of the builtin ones. Sorry if not.

[the-mikedavis]

Combining sequences of typable commands is covered by this. For example #6857 might be written as:

# Note: this is not implemented.
[commands]
":wcb" = [":write", ":buffer-close"]

Handling the arguments of the commands is also important for the design of this feature though. If you wanted :wcb to take the filename to write, you would need a syntax for where to place the argument (in :write's arguments rather than :buffer-close). Maybe this could be expressed as [":write %arg{1}", ":buffer-close"] (using syntax like in #3393).

There are nuances to this though (optional arguments, aliases, command names / docs) so maybe this issue is better handled by plugins once the plugin system exists instead. We don't want to create new programming languages in the config TOML.