EmacsWiki: Icicles - S-RET (original) (raw)
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Exiting the Minibuffer Without Confirmation
Normally, if you exit the minibuffer with input that only partially matches a completion candidate, the value you input is exactly what you typed. That is, exiting does not automatically complete your input – what you type is what you get. This is lax (or permissive) completion, and it is desirable most of the time, because it lets you input a value that does not correspond to any of the completion candidates. This is how, for instance, you can use ‘C-x C-f’ to open a new file or ‘C-x b’ to create a new buffer.
However, some people prefer strict completion: limiting input to the available completion candidates. This can be handy in the case of switching to a buffer, for instance. If you have a buffer named ` new-ideas.txt’, you might like to be able to type only ‘new’ followed by ‘RET’, and not have to first complete the input text. This is the behavior of libraries ` ido.el’ and ` iswitchb.el’.
It is the command you use that decides whether ‘RET’ first completes your input before exiting the minibuffer (strict completion) or not (lax completion). This is done in the command definition by providing a non-‘nil’ or ‘nil’ ‘REQUIRE-MATCH’ argument to function ‘completing-read’, which prompts you and reads your input, possibly completing it.
If you use standard Emacs command ‘switch-to-buffer’ then completion is lax: ‘RET’ does not complete your input ‘new’ to ` new-ideas.txt’; it simply accepts your input as is, and creates a new buffer with that name, ‘new’.
Using `S-RET' to Accept a Partial Match
By default, Icicles command ‘icicle-buffer’, not vanilla command ‘switch-to-buffer’, is bound to ‘C-x b’ in Icicle mode. (You can customize option **`icicle-top-level-key-bindings**’ to prevent this rebinding of ‘C-x b’ in Icicle mode.)
The default behavior of ‘icicle-buffer’ is the same as the behavior of ‘switch-to-buffer’ with respect to ‘RET’. However, you can obtain the complete-and-exit ‘RET’ behavior with ‘icicle-buffer’ by setting option **`icicle-buffer-require-match-flag**’ to ‘partial-match-ok’. This value overrides the ‘REQUIRE-MATCH’ argument to ‘completing-read’, in effect forcing it to ‘t’.
Whenever completion is strict, requiring a match against one of the completion candidates (typically, an existing file or buffer name), you can complete and exit the minibuffer all at once, with only partial input in the minibuffer, by using ‘RET’.
But what about apropos completion? And what about _non_-strict (lax) completion, whether prefix or apropos? You can use ‘S-RET’ (‘S-return’), bound to command ‘icicle-apropos-complete-and-exit’, to force completion and acceptance of the completed input. It acts similarly to what ‘RET’ does for strict prefix completion. It works for both strict and lax completion.
‘S-RET’ first completes your input according to the current completion mode (‘icicle-default-cycling-mode’ or the last completion command used – prefix or apropos). If there is only one completion then it completes your input to that match and then exits.
For example, if you use ‘C-x C-f’ with input ‘abc’ and you hit ‘S-RET’, then it is either prefix-completed or apropos-completed, depending on the current completion mode. If the only match is, say, abcdefg.el, for prefix completion or, say, 123abcde456.txt for apropos completion, then that complete file name is entered.
Accepting Partial Matches by Default
For those people who prefer that a partial match always be accepted immediately, regardless of the context (whether a match is required or not) and without having to use ‘RET’ or ‘S-RET’, there is Icicles user option **`icicle-top-level-when-sole-completion-flag**’. If you set this to non-‘nil’, then, whenever your input matches only one candidate completion, that candidate is used immediately. I do not recommend this practice generally, but some people might prefer it.
Option **`icicle-top-level-when-sole-completion-delay**’ is the number of seconds **Icicles** waits, before returning to top level with the sole completion. It has no effect if ‘icicle-top-level-when-sole-completion-flag’ is ‘nil’. The delay gives you a chance to forestall acceptance of the sole completion: editing the completion (typing or deleting a character) before the delay expires prevents its automatic acceptance.
See Also: Icicles - Ido and IswitchB
DrewsElispLibraries referenced here: Lisp:icicles.el
CategoryCommands CategoryBufferSwitching CategoryCompletion CategoryRegexp CategoryDirectories CategoryFiles CategoryProgrammerUtils CategoryCode