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bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'
From: |
Stefan Kangas |
Subject: |
bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command' |
Date: |
Sun, 21 Feb 2021 11:01:11 -0600 |
Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>> I can't claim that it is the most effective technique in general.
>> I would use it when I am certain that I almost know the name of a
>> command -- I would know it if I see it. In such situations, firing up
>> apropos is an extra step and not what I want.
>
> Can you explain how apropos is an extra step, compared to TAB
> completion followed by browsing through the candidates? I see no
> extra step here.
So I type `C-h a foobar RET'.
Now I realize I want to look for "foobaz", so `C-h a foobaz RET'.
Now I realize that oops, I meant "barsnaz", etc.
Typing this at a prompt is often faster for me. In particular, I don't
need to rewrite everything for minor changes.
Yes, I can be smarter and say `C-h a M-p DEL z RET', but I think we can
agree that `DEL z TAB' is less typing. (BTW, with many completion
frameworks you don't even need the TAB.)
Plus I often look only for names, and don't need to waste screen real
estate on documentation (which I would using apropos).
> "C-h a" accomplishes that. It is no accident that it's the very first
> Help command mentioned in the user manual. In addition, "C-h a" is
> more powerful, as it accepts regular expressions and lists of
> keywords, whereas completion has only crude and less powerful
> approximations of those.
Many popular completion frameworks have regexps, lists, fuzzy search,
etc. But yes, our default one does not.
>> (BTW, in the completion framework I often use, `ivy', there is a command
>> to run the action associated with the minibuffer without leaving the
>> minibuffer. That is, I run `C-h f', type in some text to complete on,
>> and then hit `C-M-n' to repeatedly see the full documentation for a
>> number of commands.
>
> You can likewise type "C-h a", then, with point on the command you
> were after, type "M-x <DOWN> RET" or "M-x M-n RET" to invoke that
> command. So the task of finding a command and then quickly invoking
> it already has a well-developed solution in Emacs, one that is more
> powerful than completion.
Sure, you can do that. It is in my view often slower (and more typing)
than the workflow I described, but of course that also depends on the
circumstances.
I don't see that we need to agree about the relative efficiency of these
workflows. We can and do support both workflows well.
- bug#46627: [External] : bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', (continued)
- bug#46627: [External] : bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Drew Adams, 2021/02/26
- bug#46627: [External] : bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/27
- bug#46627: [External] : bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Drew Adams, 2021/02/27
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Richard Stallman, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Stefan Kangas, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Howard Melman, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [External] : bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Drew Adams, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command',
Stefan Kangas <=
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Stefan Kangas, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Dmitry Gutov, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Dmitry Gutov, 2021/02/21
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/22
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Dmitry Gutov, 2021/02/27
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Eli Zaretskii, 2021/02/28
- bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command', Dmitry Gutov, 2021/02/28