live grep with exclusions

[kapral18]

I am using a lot of live_grep with a lot of exclusions like this

I want to be able to have sets of those exclusions and switch between them while using live_grep

Ideally I'd have a keymap that pops open the picker with prefilled exclusions and puts the cursor right between \b<cursor>\b, so I don't have to go back from end of line to type the live_query

I tried passing search opt to live_grep, but it puts the cursor at the end. Can anybody hint at a right direction here?

Thanks

[ibhagwan]

There are many ways to go about this problem, one way I can think of is crafting your own rg_glob_fn which swaps the args args and query (globs first, query being last) so now you’ll be able to use <globs> … -- <query>.
https://github.com/ibhagwan/fzf-lua/wiki#how-can-i-send-custom-flags-to-ripgrep-with-live_grep

I tried passing search opt to live_grep, but it puts the cursor at the end.

You can send <C-a>(using feedkeys) in your mapping to send the cursor to the start of line.

Another option is to open grep instead (not live_grep) with an empty search and the glob prefilled and then performing fuzzy search inside the globs only (as if you already pressed ctrl-g):

:lua require'fzf-lua'.grep({ no_esc=true, rg_glob=true, search=' -- *.lua' })

[kapral18]

thanks

[ibhagwan]

Ideally I'd have a keymap that pops open the picker with prefilled exclusions and puts the cursor right between \b\b

Found your ideal solution using fzf's start event:

:lua require'fzf-lua'.live_grep({
  no_esc=true,
  rg_glob=true, search=[[\b\b -- *.lua]],
  keymap = { fzf = { start = "beginning-of-line+forward-char+forward-char" }}
})

We can also use the "dotted" format for a slightly shorter command:

:lua require'fzf-lua'.live_grep({
  no_esc=true,
  rg_glob=true, search=[[\b\b -- *.lua]],
  ["keymap.fzf.start"] = "beginning-of-line+forward-char+forward-char"
})

For more options to send to fzf, man fzf and search for AVAILABLE ACTIONS:
https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/blob/4e9e842aa4df67051ce88963b0745679dbaeadb5/man/man1/fzf.1#L1296

[kapral18]

@ibhagwan well I am trying to achieve what I have in other IDEs already like jetbrains, where you can search multiline by having a selection of lines and searching them across codebase for a match, for example if you want to see if there is an exact duplication of the lines out there.

[ibhagwan]

I don’t understand what is --multiple, there is no such flag, there is rg --multiline and there is fzf’s --multi, there is no connection between these, one tells rg to use multiple lines in the regex and the other dictates fzf to be able to select multiple lines with tab there is no connection between the two.

If there’s a bug open an issue and I’ll fix it otherwise you’re missing something else.

[kapral18]

@ibhagwan oh sorry I misworded I meant --multiline, apologies

But as I showed above in the screenshot the multiline works and it lists items matched 1 per line and it works as expected for selection but it fails when action is applied against the selection, so this looks indeed like a bug, I just wanted to double check before opening an issue

One more do I understand it correctly that fzf-lua doesn't support native --multi mode?

[ibhagwan]

One more do I understand it correctly that fzf-lua doesn't support native --multi mode?

@kapral18 i absolutely lost you, I have no idea what you’re asking anymore, please post a single focused snippet of code where you believe there’s a bug and I’ll fix it, make the reproduction complete but minimal and tell me why you think something is a bug and how you believe it should behave.

[kapral18]

@ibhagwan Nevermind about the --multi then.

I am creating an issue right now. Thank you.

[dotfrag]

Hi @ibhagwan, I have a similar question and didn't wanna open a new discussion.

I would like to open live_grep, in a specific directory (cwd), with a predefined glob pattern, and if possible without showing the glob pattern.

I got this far:

require("fzf-lua").live_grep({
  cwd = <path>,
  rg_glob = true,
  no_esc = true,
  search = " -- *.lua",
  keymap = { fzf = { start = "beginning-of-line" } },
})

Which works great, but I'd like for the pattern to not show in the search, is this possible? I feel that this is answered already but I'm not understanding it.

EDIT: Is this what I want?

require("fzf-lua").live_grep({
  rg_opts = "-g '*.lua' -e",
})

If yes, can I access/use the default rg_opts and extend it with -g ..?

I think I got it, it works, but is it the right way?

EDIT:

local rg_opts = require("fzf-lua").defaults.grep.rg_opts
require("fzf-lua").live_grep({
  rg_opts = "-g *.lua " .. rg_opts,
})

[dotfrag]

Something's off, can you help me troubleshoot?

When specifying rg_opts it doesn't return all results. In the same search directory, Searching for . (any char), returns 902 results, while without my rg_opts, I get 14642.

For example, in my dotfiles, I get 9 results with rg_opts enabled (as posted above), and 12052 without:

[ibhagwan]

Add debug = true to your options and then look at the underlying command and see if some option isn’t right, if everything is fine copy the command to the shell and troubleshoot why it doesn’t return all the results you need.

[dotfrag]

Okay, I should have quoted the glob:

rg_opts = "-g '*.lua' " .. rg_opts,

Last question, when using debug=true, it's difficult to read long lines from the results pane (left), is there any way to scroll? My workaround was to zoom my terminal out to tiny text so I could copy-paste the result (debug line).

[ibhagwan]

No way to scroll in fzf, best I know is --keep-right but then you’re missing the left side, there might be a solution if I split to multiple lines (based on screen width).

[dotfrag]

Okay no problem, thanks for your help!