wish for a colored completion system

wish for a colored completion system

[Matthias Kopfermann]

Hi all,

generally i am quite exited about the zsh.
there is one feature that i really would like to have:
colored completion.
(I love colored completion when i hit ls<tab>.
 i want it with other completions , too , not only
 when i try to complete filenames .
thats why i would
love to have colored completion programmable.)
any thoughts about that?


otherwise i hope the near future can provide that :)
(whoever the future might be ... :) )

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Bart Schaefer]

On Jun 7,  5:20pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote:
} Subject: wish for a colored completion system
}
} (I love colored completion when i hit ls<tab>.
}  i want it with other completions , too , not only
}  when i try to complete filenames .

Check out the `list-colors' style, which can be used to override the
ZLS_COLORS parameter on a per-completion basis.

The doc for ZLS_COLORS (actually, for the complist module, there is no
independent entry for the parameter) in 3.1.9 says:

    Apart from these strings, the NAME may also be an asterisk (`*')
    followed by any string. The VALUE given for such a string will be
    used for all files whose name ends with the string. The NAME may
    also be a equal sign (`=') followed by a pattern. The VALUE given
    for this pattern will be used for all matches (not just filenames)
    whose display string are matched by the pattern. Definitions for
    both of these take precedence over the values defined for file types
    and the form with the leading asterisk takes precedence over the
    form with the leading equal sign.

So for example one can do

zstyle ':completion:*:zsh-options' \
	list-colors '=csh*=31:=*hist*=32:=list*=34:=*glob*=35'

to have csh options in red, history options in green, completion listing
options in blue, and globbing options in magenta.  The patterns are tried
left to right, so "cshnullglob" is in red, not magenta.  Unfortunately,
you can't specify that csh gets a red foreground and globs get a yellow
background and have them overlap; oh, well.

The tricky bit is figuring out what string goes at the tail of the style
pattern, e.g. `zsh-options' in this case.  The place to look is the
"Standard Tags" subsection in the "Completion System Configuration"
chapter.

-- 
Bart Schaefer                                 Brass Lantern Enterprises
http://www.well.com/user/barts              http://www.brasslantern.com

Zsh: http://www.zsh.org | PHPerl Project: http://phperl.sourceforge.net   

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Matthias Kopfermann]

> On Jun 8,  2:44pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote:
> }
> }  the only problem with it, it is not simple nor is it obvious :(
> 
> You want simple, or you want programmable?
hmm, that is one of the more difficult questions to ask.
I guess, I would like medium programmability. :)
Reminds me on something:
i love vim but i had to get used to the color-programming, in
elvis (another vi-clone) it was much, much simpler but not at all
powerful.
I guess: I would very much like the shell to train me in doing it
manually so when i know i can do the programming much quicker.
Something like a interactive tutorial.
You know , like for vi or emacs.
(" Now try to get the colors right.
First: What command do you want to be completed? ...")
Or: What about a nice Gui-Interface (tcsh has it for
completion) or a dialog-script that helps me do a whole set of
completion-algorithms? I would be very satisfied, because it
would reduce my steep learning curve.
reading -> translating ( in my case ) -> understanding ->
programming.
Sometimes i think the
getting-used-to-it takes longer than the whole effect of
usibility  (but that may be my problem only because i -hate to
say it - i am slooow!.)
> 
> That approach was designed to make it easy to use your existing GNU "ls"
> color options for coloring files in zsh.  Easy for one thing,
and that IS easy, right!
> hard for
> some others.
At first I thought, the approach was not general enough. but then again:
The more general the more complicated , it seems.
Handcoding is great if knowledge is there. But in my case it
would dramatically increase my knowledge if there was a tool to
help me get it right and be trained and then i could study the whole output and
do the whole thing manually much quicker.
I love to be able to do it manually. And i really love to be able
to work with unix ( linux in my happy case ) 
_without_ using graphical interfaces, really. 
But normally all these powerful tools don't come with easy to
follow instructions how to make it work.
Peter Stephenson has done many very good attempts to change that
with his userguide and I said before that i consider this to be
very, very important and applauded him.

To make a long explanation of my state short:
I would love to have a training tool (software) for many of the wonderful
free software-products and almost nothing is available.
So it takes time. In my case much time that i love to spent but
sometimes i just get frustrated because it takes soo long.

okay, I revealed myself. Many things are personal but i know many
people that feel the same. 
And , because Bart asked , i took the chance to explain it.
Of course this is not at all ZSH-specifig. 
Is it off-topic?

Matthias

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Sven Wischnowsky]

Bart Schaefer wrote:

> On Jun 8,  3:39pm, Fletch wrote:
> > 
> >         If I add '=lemur*=01;32' to ':completion:*' list-colors it
> > works fine (ssh l<C-d> produces three highighted lemur* and plain
> > localhost and lp).  
> 
> Aha!  You have host names and user names listed simultaneously.
> 
> Add this:
> 
> zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''
> 
> That will make two sub-lists, one of host names and one of user names,
> and then you'll get the colors in the host names.
> 
> I'm not sure why ':completion:*:ssh:*' doesn't work for the combined
> listing; perhaps it's a bug.  Sven?

Hm, yes, the description in the docs make it sound as if it should
work. The problem is that without separate groups there is no way for
the completion code to find out that with

  zstyle ':completion:*:ssh:*:hosts' list-colors '=a*=31'
  zstyle ':completion:*:ssh:*:users' list-colors '=b*=32'

hosts starting with `b' should be coloured with `32'. We would need a
per-match colouring for that and that's too expensive.

And to come back to the question, the completion code only looks up
the style with the tag in the context and it can't find out that the
pattern used in the definition doesn't contain the tag. If we wanted
to solve that, we would have to make _setup get the name of the group
(which may be -default-) as an argument (when called from
_description) and use that name in ZLS_COLORS. But then we would be
back to what I said above.

So, we could (quite easily) change it, but that set-for-one-tag-and-
used-for-others-too made me do it in the way we have it now, I would
be willing to write the change if people say that they prefer it,
though (I have group-name == '', so I don't care much about this).

Bye
 Sven


--
Sven Wischnowsky                         wischnow@informatik.hu-berlin.de

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Peter Stephenson]

Fletch wrote:
>     Bart> zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''
> 
>         That indeed fixes it.  Perhaps there should be a compinstall
> option under `display and insertion options' to toggle this behavior
> (or maybe make it set by default)?

There is, pick the first item,

1.  Change appearance of completion lists:  allows descriptions of
    completions to appear, sorting of different types of completions,
    and scrolling of completion lists.

and the second option the next menu,

2.  Make different types of completion appear in separate lists.

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@pwstephenson.fsnet.co.uk>
Work: pws@CambridgeSiliconRadio.com
Web: http://www.pwstephenson.fsnet.co.uk

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Fletch]

>>>>> "Bart" == Bart Schaefer <schaefer@candle.brasslantern.com> writes:

    Bart> On Jun 8, 3:39pm, Fletch wrote:
    >>  If I add '=lemur*=01;32' to ':completion:*' list-colors it
    >> works fine (ssh l<C-d> produces three highighted lemur* and
    >> plain localhost and lp).

    Bart> Aha!  You have host names and user names listed
    Bart> simultaneously.

    Bart> Add this:

    Bart> zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''

    Bart> That will make two sub-lists, one of host names and one of
    Bart> user names, and then you'll get the colors in the host
    Bart> names.

        That indeed fixes it.  Perhaps there should be a compinstall
option under `display and insertion options' to toggle this behavior
(or maybe make it set by default)?

-- 
Fletch                | "If you find my answers frightening,       __`'/|
fletch@phydeaux.org   |  Vincent, you should cease askin'          \ o.O'
678 443-6239(w)       |  scary questions." -- Jules                =(___)=
                      |                                               U

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Bart Schaefer]

On Jun 8,  3:39pm, Fletch wrote:
> 
>         If I add '=lemur*=01;32' to ':completion:*' list-colors it
> works fine (ssh l<C-d> produces three highighted lemur* and plain
> localhost and lp).  

Aha!  You have host names and user names listed simultaneously.

Add this:

zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''

That will make two sub-lists, one of host names and one of user names,
and then you'll get the colors in the host names.

I'm not sure why ':completion:*:ssh:*' doesn't work for the combined
listing; perhaps it's a bug.  Sven?

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Fletch]

>>>>> "Bart" == Bart Schaefer <schaefer@candle.brasslantern.com> writes:

[...]

    Bart> Specifically, type the thing you want to complete after,
    Bart> then hit <C-x h>.

    Bart> For some reason I was thinking the tags only showed up in
    Bart> the verbose output, but it's the _styles_ that you can get
    Bart> with <ESC 2 C-x h>.

        OK, I'm trying to colourize hostnames for ssh.  So I type:

ssh l<Cx-h>

        And I get:

tags in context :completion::complete:ssh::
    argument-1 options  (_arguments _ssh _ssh)
tags in context :completion::complete:ssh:argument-1:
    hosts users  (_alternative _ssh _ssh) 
    hosts        (_hosts _combination _ssh_hosts _alternative _ssh _ssh) 
    users        (_users _combination _ssh_users _alternative _ssh _ssh)


        What tag should I use?  I've tried the following with no
success: 

zstyle ':completion:*:*:ssh:*:hosts' list-colors '=lemur*=01;32'
zstyle ':completion::complete:ssh:*:hosts' list-colors '=lemur*=01;32'
zstyle '*:hosts' list-colors '=lemur*=01;32'


        If I set something in ':completion:*' list-colors it works,
but I'm betting I'm just not understanding how styles are being
matched.

-- 
Fletch                | "If you find my answers frightening,       __`'/|
fletch@phydeaux.org   |  Vincent, you should cease askin'          \ o.O'
678 443-6239(w)       |  scary questions." -- Jules                =(___)=
                      |                                               U

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Bart Schaefer]

Gee, it's hard to have these discussions when the rest of you are all
seven to nine hours ahead of me.

On Jun 8, 12:41pm, Sven Wischnowsky wrote:
} Subject: Re: wish for a colored completion system
}
} Bart Schaefer wrote:
} 
} > The tricky bit is figuring out what string goes at the tail of the style
} > pattern, e.g. `zsh-options' in this case.  The place to look is the
} > "Standard Tags" subsection in the "Completion System Configuration"
} > chapter.
} 
} Or hit ^Xh (control-x h) and it will tell you (the `tags').

Specifically, type the thing you want to complete after, then hit <C-x h>.

For some reason I was thinking the tags only showed up in the verbose
output, but it's the _styles_ that you can get with <ESC 2 C-x h>.

On Jun 8,  2:44pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote:
}
}  the only problem with it, it is not simple nor is it obvious :(

You want simple, or you want programmable?

On Jun 8,  4:31pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote:
}
} Okay, I try to be not so polite: :)
} Should'nt there be an easier way than that approach?

That approach was designed to make it easy to use your existing GNU "ls"
color options for coloring files in zsh.  Easy for one thing, hard for
some others.

On Jun 8,  4:49pm, Sven Wischnowsky wrote:
} 
} It's the normal way of configuring things for the new completion
} system and I definitely think colouring should be done like all other
} setup for it.

I think Matthias was referring to the colon-separated-list of attr=val
pairs where the val is a series of semicolon-seprated numbers, rather
than to the entire zstyle mechanism.  Though I admit contexts can look
a little daunting as well.

On Jun 8,  4:50pm, Thomas Köhler wrote:
}
} Well - at first, it seems not too obvious that there are predefined
} names for "normal file", "directory", "symbolic link" etc, but none for
} things like "hostnames", "usernames" etc...

That's just because GNU "ls" predefined the tokens for file types ahead
of us, and we borrowed them.  We wanted to use something less cryptic
(i.e., the group names in parens) for zsh competion "types."

On Jun 8,  5:11pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote:
}
} i guess, my problem is that `ZLS_COLORS' reminds me too much on
} `ls'. It's perhaps only a matter of getting used to it.

I think you can see why it reminds you of "ls".

On Jun 8,  5:32pm, Matthias Kopfermann wrote:
}
} So it is no design-error. It's just my difficulty to learn 
} more in less time :)

Dogbert once said:
 Information is gushing toward your brain like a firehose aimed at a
 teacup.  Even the smartest among you has become "functionally stupid."

-- 
Bart Schaefer                                 Brass Lantern Enterprises
http://www.well.com/user/barts              http://www.brasslantern.com

Zsh: http://www.zsh.org | PHPerl Project: http://phperl.sourceforge.net   

RE: wish for a colored completion system

[Matthias Kopfermann]

i guess, my problem is that `ZLS_COLORS' reminds me too much on
`ls'. It's perhaps only a matter of getting used to it.

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Thomas Köhler]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2625 bytes --]

On Thu, Jun 08, 2000 at 04:34:37PM +0200,
Matthias Kopfermann <kopfermann@trio-hittfeld.de> wrote:
> 
> Okay, after having heard the answer that there is the possibility
> to have colored completion, has anybody used it to create useful
> completions with colors in them to share with us all?
> There is not one example but the very easy to handle 
> ZLS_COLOURS case for completing different kinds of files.
> To me it still seems to be quite complex to say the least.

Well... I have a bit of stuff for ssh, but not too much else:

setopt autolist
ZLS_COLOURS="no=36;40:fi=36;40:di=32;40:ln=36;40:pi=31;40:so=22;40:bd=44;37:cd=44;37:ex=35;40:mi=36;40:lc=\e[:rc=m:ec=:mi=37;41"
export ZLS_COLOURS
LS_COLORS=$ZLS_COLOURS
export LS_COLORS
ZLS_COLOURS="$ZLS_COLOURS:(hosts)=(#b)(*).(mayn.de)=36;40=31;40" # real fun
ZLS_COLOURS="$ZLS_COLOURS:(hosts)=*=33;40" # hostnames in yellow
ZLS_COLOURS="$ZLS_COLOURS:(users)=*=32;40" # users in green
export ZLS_COLOURS

#       no 0   for normal text  (i.e.  when  displaying  something
#              other than a matched file)
#       fi 0   for regular files
#       di 32  for directories
#       ln 36  for symbolic links
#       pi 31  for named pipes (FIFOs)
#       so 33  for sockets
#       bd 44;37
#              for block devices
#       cd 44;37
#              for character devices
#       ex 35  for executable files
#       mi none
#              for non-existent file (default is the value defined
#              for fi)
#       lc \e[ for the left code (see below)
#       rc m   for the right code
#       ec none
#              for the end code
autoload -U compinit
compinit
zstyle ':completion:*' completer '_complete' '_correct' '_approximate'

zmodload complist
# ( in my .zshrc, there are more hosts ;-)
zstyle '*'  hosts 'imbus.mayn.de' 'datenbus.mayn.de' 'willkuere.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de' 'picard.franken.de'
zstyle '*'  users thomas tkoehler koehlert jean-luc root captain
zstyle ':completion:*' group-name ''


> Okay, I try to be not so polite: :)
> Should'nt there be an easier way than that approach?

Well - at first, it seems not too obvious that there are predefined
names for "normal file", "directory", "symbolic link" etc, but none for
things like "hostnames", "usernames" etc...

CU,
Thomas

-- 
 Thomas Köhler Email:   jean-luc@picard.franken.de     | LCARS - Linux
     <><        WWW:     http://jeanluc-picard.de      | for Computers
                IRC:             jeanluc               | on All Real
               PGP public key available from Homepage! | Starships

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 232 bytes --]

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Sven Wischnowsky]

Matthias Kopfermann wrote:

> Okay, after having heard the answer that there is the possibility
> to have colored completion, has anybody used it to create useful
> completions with colors in them to share with us all?
> There is not one example but the very easy to handle 
> ZLS_COLOURS case for completing different kinds of files.
> To me it still seems to be quite complex to say the least.
> 
> Okay, I try to be not so polite: :)
> Should'nt there be an easier way than that approach?

It's the normal way of configuring things for the new completion
system and I definitely think colouring should be done like all other
setup for it. The `=pat=col' syntax was partly chosen because we
(well, some people here) wanted the possibility to use their $LS_COLOR
for zsh, too. That left us not too many syntax extensions to use.

Hm, how should we supply good examples for something depending so much 
on personal preference. One thing you can try is using similarities in 
the completion lists, like the ` -- ' thing used for descriptions:

  zstyle ':completion:*:(jobs|directory-stack|indexes|option|values)' list-colors \
      '=(#b)(*) -- (*)=35;1=31=33'

More examples? These show another problem: the patterns often depend
on the output format of certain system commands like ps(1) and lpq(1):

  zstyle ':completion:*:processes' list-colors \
      '=(#b)( #[0-9]#) ??????[^0-9]##([0-9]##:[0-9][0-9][.:][0-9][0-9])(*)=35=31;1=32=33'
  zstyle ':completion:*::lp*:jobs' list-colors \
      '=(#b)* [0-9] ##([^ 	]##) ##([^ 	]##) ##([^ 	]##) ##(*)=35=32=31;1=33=32'

And we can't do anything about that...

Other things one might want to highlight are the descriptions (see the 
`format' style) and probably `special' types of matches, like
`warnings', `all-expansions', `original' etc. Oh, and, of course, the
`ma' capability when using menu-selection.

Bye
 Sven

P.S.: You'll certainly get other colours because I don't use a
      colour-xterm.

--
Sven Wischnowsky                         wischnow@informatik.hu-berlin.de

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Matthias Kopfermann]

Okay, after having heard the answer that there is the possibility
to have colored completion, has anybody used it to create useful
completions with colors in them to share with us all?
There is not one example but the very easy to handle 
ZLS_COLOURS case for completing different kinds of files.
To me it still seems to be quite complex to say the least.

Okay, I try to be not so polite: :)
Should'nt there be an easier way than that approach?

Re: wish for a colored completion system

[Sven Wischnowsky]

Bart Schaefer wrote:

> ...
> 
> So for example one can do
> 
> zstyle ':completion:*:zsh-options' \
> 	list-colors '=csh*=31:=*hist*=32:=list*=34:=*glob*=35'
> 
> ...
> 
> The tricky bit is figuring out what string goes at the tail of the style
> pattern, e.g. `zsh-options' in this case.  The place to look is the
> "Standard Tags" subsection in the "Completion System Configuration"
> chapter.

Or hit ^Xh (control-x h) and it will tell you (the `tags').


Bye
 Sven


--
Sven Wischnowsky                         wischnow@informatik.hu-berlin.de