Re: [Nano-devel] [RFC] add toggle to writeout selection instead of entire buffer

[Brand Huntsman]

On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 12:06:44 -0600
David Ramsey <address@hidden> wrote:

> Mike Scalora:
> > I fear not noticing and loosing the rest of the file.  

You have to enter a new filename if a selection is active, its not possible to 
overwrite the file with the selection, unless you type in the same filename. 
The only problem is not having it save the file when you performed the 
keystrokes that would normally save the file.


> When the mark is on, why not have a similar
> warning prompt for that, something like "Save selection instead of
> file?"?  The muscle memory of Ctrl-O/Enter wouldn't bypass the prompt
> so easily, since the prompt would only respond to Y or N.

What happens if you answer N? Would it save the buffer or are you then forced 
to unselect, save again and then reselect. But even if N did save the buffer, 
it adds an extra step to perform the most important feature in nano. You have 
to type a filename to save selection, an additional toggle is nothing.


> Or, failing that, possibly have another visual indicator when the mark
> is on to make it more obvious?  If you hit Ctrl-^ and don't move the
> cursor, the mark is on, but the marked selection is empty, so you
> can't easily tell that the mark is on in that case.

Visual indicators are useless unless you _want_ to see the status of something. 
When you tell it to save, it should either save, or beep and give an error as 
to why it couldn't save.