Question about "print-query+abort"

[Toliak]

Hello.

I am trying to achieve the situation where my query is printed and fzf exits with non-0 status code. Is there a way to do it?
I have tried fzf --bind 'esc:print-query+abort', but the exit code is 0 if I press escape.

Reproducing example:

fzf --bind 'esc:print-query+abort' # print something and hit Esc
echo $? # will be 0 instead of 130 

I have also tried fzf --bind 'esc:transform:echo "print({q})+abort" but it looks like there is no output when abort happens

The usecase where I would like to use this situation is optionally command accepting in history widget.
So, when I press Enter, the command I wish will be auto-accept. When I press Esc, the command will be placed into the zsh buffer.

Something like:

 fzf-patch-history-widget() {
     fzf-history-widget
     # if the exit code 0 -- zle accept-line
     # else -- do nothing, let me edit the command
 }

I have seen issue #2075 and tried fzf --print-query --bind esc:print-query+abort

As long as you can still get the final query string, you can use the exit status of fzf to decide how the output (selection or query string) is handled.

That is the problem I am stuck in, the exit code is 0 even if I press escape.

Version: 0.56.3 (add1aec6)

[Toliak]

Well, I think I have come with an idea for my "usecase". Instead of exit-code I can use a temporary file. So, if the command should be processed with zle accept-line, I will print something into file and then check it.

So, my resulting zshrc is:

export ZSH_SESSION_ID="$RANDOM"

 fzf-patch-history-widget() {
     SESFILE="/tmp/zsh-hist-$ZSH_SESSION_ID"
     rm -f "$SESFILE"
     FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS="$FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS --bind 'enter:transform:echo FIRE > \"$SESFILE\"; echo accept' --bind 'right:      accept' --bind 'esc:print-query'"
     fzf-history-widget
     if [ -f "$SESFILE" ] && [ "$(cat "$SESFILE")" = "FIRE" ]; then
         zle accept-line
     fi
 }
 zle -N fzf-patch-history-widget
 bindkey -M emacs '^R' fzf-patch-history-widget
 bindkey -M vicmd '^R' fzf-patch-history-widget
 bindkey -M viins '^R' fzf-patch-history-widget

Thus, I am able to use

• Enter => execute the selected history line
• Right arrow => Put the selected history line into the zsh buffer (and I am able to edit it)
• Escape => Put the query into the zsh buffer

---

However, it will be still wonderful, if there will be a way to print-query and exit with non-0 exit code :)

[LangLangBart]

The usecase where I would like to use this situation is optionally command accepting in history widget.
So, when I press Enter, the command I wish will be auto-accept.

See #477 for an auto-accept workaround in zsh

When I press Esc, the command will be placed into the zsh buffer.

Try this

source <(fzf --zsh)
FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS='--bind "esc:transform:[[ -n $FZF_QUERY ]] && echo print-query || echo abort"'

See #3612 for an explanation on the syntax and the man page:

man fzf | less --pattern='TRANSFORM ACTIONS' --ignore-case

[Toliak]

Thank you for the answer

The usecase where I would like to use this situation is optionally command accepting in history widget.
So, when I press Enter, the command I wish will be auto-accept.

See #477 for an auto-accept workaround in zsh

I have already seen that issue. None of the answers help me, because I would like to minimize string parse and check operations. Also, sed works differently on OS X and Linux and it is not an option for me

When I press Esc, the command will be placed into the zsh buffer.

Try this

source <(fzf --zsh)
FZF_CTRL_R_OPTS='--bind "esc:transform:[[ -n $FZF_QUERY ]] && echo print-query || echo abort"'

This bind will cause Esc to return exit-code 0 when there is a query.

As I wrote above,

I am trying to achieve the situation where my query is printed and fzf exits with non-0 status code.

[junegunn]

The classic approach using --expect and --print-query

fzf --expect esc,alt-enter --print-query

And you press esc, alt-enter, or enter as usual.

• Then the first line of the output is the name of the key, esc, alt-enter, or an empty string (enter)
• The second line of the output is the current query
• The third line is the selected item

So you look at the first line and determine what to do with the output.

Using --become

fzf --bind 'esc:become:echo {q}; exit 1'

fzf becomes echo {q}; exit 1 process and it will do what you want in a simpler way.

Why print(xxx)+abort doesn't work

print(...) action queues the string to the output buffer, and it is printed only on accept, so on abort, you don't see it.

Why print-query+abort doesn't work

print-query prints the query and immediately exits with 0. abort is never run. I thought the action was confusing and not very useful, so I undocumented it, and it is being phased out.

[Toliak]

--become is the solution for me, thank you!