Any interest in sxhkd-like syntax for multiple similar bindings?

[Amar1729]

On linux I use sxhkd, where you can write keybinds like this:

# focus the node in the given direction
super + {h,j,k,l}
	bspc node -f {west,south,north,east}

Multiple {} groups are supported too, as long as the keybind and the command have the same number of groups.

In skhd of course the binding would be 8 lines long:

cmd + h
    chunkc tiling::window -f west
cmd + j
    chunkc tiling::window -f south
# same with k and l

I don't know if you're interested in functionality like this? (or if you don't care much about writing it, but would be fine with a PR?)

[koekeishiya]

The idea is interesting, but how would it interact with commands that include { as a part of the command, or commands that are chained through &&, || or ;

[Amar1729]

Good point. For chained commands, I think it's fairly simple:

mod + {k1,k2} : cmd1 {arg1,arg2}; cmd2

parses to:

mod + k1: cmd1 arg1; cmd2
mod + k2: cmd1 arg2; cmd2

If the ; had been inside the braces:

mod + {k1,k2} : cmd1 {arg1;,arg2} cmd2

parses to:

mod + k1 : cmd1 arg1; cmd2
mod + k2 : cmd1 arg2 cmd2   # might silently fail or do something odd? so it's on the user to write a proper command

Would be similar with &&, || i think

For commands that include {}, I'm not sure of the best way to handle it.

• disallow {} in the command if the keybind has them (would force user to write each individual keybind/command, which is the case now but might seem inconsistent)
• Allow {} with something similar to the following rules I came up with:

1. groups must not be inside quotes
2. groups are only expanded if they contain the correct number of commas (based on the keybind definition)

# avoids incorrectly expanding the wrong group '{tmpfile}' since it doesn't contain commas
mod + {k1,k2} : 
    {touch,rm} ${tmpfile}

# avoids incorrectly expanding the {94..894} group since it is inside quotes
# correctly expands {iTerm2...Firefox} since it is non-quoted
mod + {q,w,e,r} : 
        osascript -e 'tell app "'{iTerm2,Kitty,qutebrowser,Firefox}'" to set bounds of front window to {94, 84, 699, 894}'

Are there other edge cases I'm missing where a command could include {}? Most cases I can think of with variables could just be contained in double quotes, while other cases I've seen with commands containing {} could be rewritten without them.

[koekeishiya]

I suppose that seems reasonable. Not sure when I would feel like working on something like this, so I suppose a PR would be the most appropriate if you would like this functionality in the near future.

[kcrwfrd]

Would this allow users to cleanup something like

ctrl - 1 : yabai -m space --focus 1
ctrl - 2 : yabai -m space --focus 2
ctrl - 3 : yabai -m space --focus 3
ctrl - 4 : yabai -m space --focus 4
ctrl - 5 : yabai -m space --focus 5
ctrl - 6 : yabai -m space --focus 6

to

ctrl - { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 } : yabai -m space --focus { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 }