Re: [Patch] Add project.el command to replace symbol at point throughout project

[Dmitry Gutov]

On 12.01.2022 10:03, Jon Eskin wrote:

> > If we're trying to improve project-query-replace-regexp, why not make 
> > it use the symbol at point by default?
>
> I thought about the option of using symbol at point by default, but I 
> noticed that the command currently uses the history variable. I wondered 
> if some people were relying on its current behavior in a way that I 
> didn’t anticipate (especially since I’m pretty new to all this). If so, 
> it would be an annoying change to have to worry about whether the cursor 
> is on a symbol when using a command you previously relied on. I wanted 
> to try to put forth something possibly useful without breaking stuff.
>
> > You would use the same command, but would be able to press RET to have 
> > the default regexp (symbol at point) used as FROM. I don't have a 
> > patch yet, but it might be something that all callers of 
> > query-replace-read-args might benefit from.
>
> Since I think I can understand what you’re suggesting, I would be happy 
> to make an attempt at a patch to modify the callers of 
> query-replace-read-args to default to a regexp quoted symbol-at-point. 
> But no worries if you would rather have experienced eyes on it.

I'm actually not sure about the best way to implement this: whether we 
definitely want query-replace-read-args to use symbol-at-point as the 
default FROM. But it does sounds handy to me. Let's ask the developer 
who touched it last.

Juri, what do you think?

> > And you can actually do this right now:
> >
> > - Enter command 'project-query-replace-regexp'
> > - Press M-n, having the symbol at point picked up as FROM, hit return
> > - Enter the replacement string and hit return
>
> This is awesome! Did not know about that behavior, thank you for sharing!

That capability actually comes with the "forward history" thing. Not 
very obvious, but when you learn about it, it's pretty nice.