Allow `ˆ` modifier work on line content in `buf_lines` picker

[orporick]

Contributing guidelines

• I have read CONTRIBUTING.md
• I have read CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• I have updated 'mini.nvim' to latest version of the main branch

Module(s)

mini.pick

Neovim version

0.11.x

Description

Hello, I have a small issue with the Pick module, and I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong. Basically, I want to use Pick buf_lines scope="current" to search for specific lines in the current buffer. Specifically, I want to find all lines that start with 'j' followed by a space. Trying with "^j " doesn't work because the line is interpreted as starting with the line number, so the ^ modifier seems less useful in this case. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to remove line numbers from the picker's selection window? I know I can use a search or vimgrep to get the same result, but using buf_lines mode is simpler and faster. Thank you very much for your help.

Reproduction

1. Create separate 'nvim-repro' config directory:

   • '~/.config/nvim-repro/' on Unix
   • '~/AppData/Local/nvim-repro/' on Windows

2. Inside 'nvim-repro' directory create a file named 'init.lua'.
   Populate it with the following content:

   -- Clone latest 'mini.nvim' (requires Git CLI installed)
   vim.cmd('echo "Installing `mini.nvim`" | redraw')
   local mini_path = vim.fn.stdpath('data') .. '/site/pack/deps/start/mini.nvim'
   local clone_cmd = { 'git', 'clone', '--depth=1', 'https://github.com/echasnovski/mini.nvim', mini_path }
   vim.fn.system(clone_cmd)
   vim.cmd('echo "`mini.nvim` is installed" | redraw')
   
   -- Make sure 'mini.nvim' is available
   vim.cmd('packadd mini.nvim')
   require('mini.deps').setup()
   
   -- Add extra setup steps needed to reproduce the behavior
   -- Use `MiniDeps.add('user/repo')` to install another plugin from GitHub

3. Run NVIM_APPNAME=nvim-repro nvim (i.e. execute nvim with NVIM_APPNAME environment variable set to "nvim-repro").
   Wait for all dependencies to install.

4. Replace this with description of interactive reproduction steps along with the behavior you observe.
   Feel free to include images/videos/etc, this helps a lot.

What to do after reporting an issue

After reporting the issue, it is safe (and even recommended for cleaner possible future bug reports) to remove 'nvim-repro' config from the system:

• Delete config directory ('~/.config/nvim-repro' on Unix).
• Delete data directory ('~/.local/share/nvim-repro' on Unix).
• Delete state directory ('~/.local/state/nvim-repro' on Unix).

[echasnovski]

Thanks for the issue!

There is no issue on the usage side. The buf_lines picker does compute its items as buffer lines but prepended with line number. This was a compromise between showing line numbers of matched lines and complexity of implementation. One of the downsides (if not the only) is that ^ indeed does not match based on actual buffer content.

I'll think about the best approach to resolve this. There are at least the following possibilities (each with its pros and cons):

• Add local option to buf_lines to skip prepending with line numbers. The simplest to add, but I think it is a worse user experience to not see line numbers. Not sure by how much, though.
• Implement custom show to show line numbers. Either as actual text in stritem or via inline extmarks (requires Neovim>=0.10). Somewhat complex solution.
• Add custom mapping to toggle showing line numbers.