Re: Why does _main_complete not try the next completer when $_comp_mesg is non-zero?

[Marlon Richert <marlon.richert@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2021 at 12:42 AM Oliver Kiddle <opk@zsh.org> wrote:
> Marlon Richert wrote:
> > And is there a convenient way to work around this behavior? I want
> > _history to be tried when _complete fails, but this behavior often
> > prevents it. For example, if I try `grep \t`, then I get only the
> > message `pattern`, whereas I would like to get history words.
>
> You could create a wrapper for _complete that unsets it, something like:
>   _complete_nomesg() {
>     _complete
>     local ret=$?
>     _comp_mesg=
>     return ret
>   }
>
> It might be better to experiment with something like that first. You'll
> find that _message changing compstate[insert] is also affecting it.

I've been using some variation of the code below in my
[zsh-autocomplete plugin]
(https://github.com/marlonrichert/zsh-autocomplete) since last July
(so, for about 9 months now) and I have yet to experience any issues
from it, nor have any of my end users reported any issues from it.
That’s why I’m asking whether the behavior upstream is actually
necessary.

   autoload +X -Uz _complete
   functions[_autocomplete._complete]=$functions[_complete]
   _complete() {
     _autocomplete._complete "$@"
     local -i ret=$?
     (( ret )) && _comp_mesg=''
     return ret
   }