Re: select yank via completion

[Jean Louis]

* Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> [2020-11-22 01:22]:
> > >> So now a new patch let-binds (minibuffer-completing-file-name t)
> > >> around completing-read to allow inserting SPC, problem solved:
> > >
> > > Please don't, since we're not actually completing file names.
> > >
> > > I agree with Drew that we should probably just get rid of the SPC
> > > binding in minibuffer completions,
> > 
> > SPC can be an obstacle even in some completion styles
> > where words are separated by SPC.
> 
> Please provide an example/recipe.
> 
> Completion candidates can contain SPC chars.

Hundreds of thousands of my completion candidates in the database have
spaces and I use standard completion about just as fast. People's
names and organization names have spaces. So I complete all time
candidates with spaces. But SPACE is compatible with that type of
completion with `minibuffer-complete-word' as it will automatically
give me the right choice!

Yet I find the standard completion with SPC how it is now just fine to
complete those candidates with spaces that I usually have.

It is bound to (minibuffer-complete-word) and if there is any change
then is better that such change becomes optional as defcustom, so that
default is not changed. Otherwise it would be a game changer to me.

If you decide to change it to SPC as self-insert-command then it
breaks habits of many other users as well and it could be better to
just introduce customization for that new feature, and not change. I
say "new" because it is new to users who have different habit of
completing with space.

I have changed key bindings temporarily to self-insert and it becomes
weird and confusing as I am not familiar with it as my expectation was
to complete words with space.

Example for this candidate:

10010 Maro's Country Home [PDF by Page Nr.]

I have expected that this below would complete but then where do I go
back? (as thoughts) Which space or how many to delete here (as
thoughts). So confusion is taking place.

10010 Mar    Cou

Then I was at this point:

10010 Maro's Country Home         <--- spaces end here and I could not complete

So there would be various programming demands for changes when space
becomes suddenly out of blue self-insert instead
minibuffer-complete-word as usual.

Major problem would be changing what is default.