Re: [vile] mini-buffer question

[Wayne Cuddy]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 06:50:06AM -0400, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 11:14:29PM -0400, Paul Fox wrote:
> > thomas wrote:
> >  > On Wed, Mar 04, 2015 at 08:44:58PM -0500, Thomas Dickey wrote:
> >  > > On Wed, Mar 04, 2015 at 04:30:29PM -0500, Wayne Cuddy wrote:
> >  > > > According the help doc ^G toggles the mini-buffer insert mode. If I
> >  > > > use ^G then 'h' to move back a few characters followed by (^G or i) 
> > to
> >  > > > insert a few characters, if the last character that I insert is '\'
> >  > > > when I hit ^G to exit insert mode an actual control-G character is
> >  > > > inserted into the mini-buffer. As if I'd entered it similar to ^V^G. 
> >  > > 
> >  > > I see (had not noticed).  I'll take a look for the cause.
> >  > 
> >  > hmm - it's inserting ^G because in general vile is using '\' to escape
> >  > things such as double-quote (though I see the point that ^V is treated
> >  > specially in this regard).
> >  > 
> >  > so... should '\' not escape control-characters, or should there be some
> >  > other special rule?
> > 
> > well, it traditionally (in vi) didn't -- you have to use ^V to insert
> > ^M, or ESC, for instance.  '\' was normally just for quoting, or other
> > higher level parsing issues.  at least that was my mental model.  i
> > don't think we've ever been good at enforcing that distinction in
> > vile, since the actions of ^V and '\' take place in so many places. 
> > with something like ^G in the minibuffer, it's not like there's
> > great precedent to look at, but i think wayne was right to be surprised.
> 
> I agree that it's surprising.  But then once I realized what the cause
> was, I saw that I should get some input from others before stirring the
> muck around a little. I _think_ that by special-casing control characters
> for this bit of logic, I can make the behavior less surprising, but was
> unsure if there are other aspects to consider.
> 

I would certainly prefer having to hit ^V prior to inserting "special"
characters, but I'm the only one who uses vile. Not only is that the
traditional vi behavior but most shells default to that as well. Of
course it can be worked around but in my old age my muscle memory takes
precedence over my mental memory :)