[feature] provide an easier version of "interactive command" mode (as skim does)

[Jiehong]

• I have read through the manual page (man fzf)
• I have the latest version of fzf
• I have searched through the existing issues

Info

• OS
  • Linux
  • Mac OS X
  • Windows
  • Etc.
• Shell
  • bash
  • zsh
  • fish

Problem / Steps to reproduce

This is not a problem per say, but a feature request to make a common idea simpler.

Current state

Today, if you want to use fzf to interactively write shell commands, you can make use of the change and reload binding as explained in https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#3-interactive-ripgrep-integration:

INITIAL_QUERY=""
RG_PREFIX="rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case "
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="$RG_PREFIX '$INITIAL_QUERY'" \
  fzf --bind "change:reload:$RG_PREFIX {q} || true" \
      --ansi --disabled --query "$INITIAL_QUERY"

But that's quite a mouthful to write (and only works for bash, so it needs to be adapted by the user for another shell, such as fish or powershell for example).

However, this is something skim allows by providing a specific option for this right away:

sk --ansi --interactive --command 'rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case "{}"'

And this will essentially do exactly the same thing (here {} takes the place of {q} from the fzf example).

Feature proposal

It would be pretty awesome if fzf could support the same thing, maybe as:

fzf --ansi --disabled --command --query 'rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case "{q}"'

(and perhaps converting that case into the change:reload binding automatically for the user.

[junegunn]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think we need to provide a shortcut.

However, this is something skim allows by providing a specific option for this right away:

Well, to be fair, the equivalent version for that is (not handling $INITIAL_QUERY) this, and I don't think it's too complicated.

RG="rg --column --line-number --no-heading --color=always --smart-case"
FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="$RG ''" fzf --bind "change:reload:$RG {q}" --ansi --disabled

While skim's approach may seem easier, it's not as flexible as the fzf's way. You can bind reload action to not just change event, but also to any key, and you can dynamically unbind and rebind it.

• Add "reload" action for dynamically updating the input list #1750
• https://github.com/junegunn/fzf/blob/master/ADVANCED.md#switching-between-ripgrep-mode-and-fzf-mode

perhaps converting that case into the change:reload binding automatically for the user

You can easily do that with a shell script file; put a she-bang line and you can run it in any shell.