bug#45273: 27.1: Cannot display options help text for query-replace

bug#45273: 27.1: Cannot display options help text for query-replace

[Mark Harig via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

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Emacs Maintainers,

  The following two issues concerning Query Replace were
found in GNU Emacs version 27.1, started with 'emacs -Q':

1. It appears that it is not possible to display the options
available when using `query-replace' (M-%).

According to the Emacs manual at (emacs)Query Replace:

----
‘C-h’
‘?’
‘<F1>’
    to display a message summarizing these options.  Then you must type
    another character to specify what to do with this occurrence.
----

  Yet when any of these three keys are pressed after the
"Query replace: " prompt is displayed in the minibuffer,
there is no *Help* buffer displayed.  Based on the text in
the manual, above, shouldn't we expect to see a help buffer
displayed with a summary of the keybindings for
`query-replace'?

  A cursory look inside replace.el shows that it has the
DEFCONST `query-replace-help' defined to provide the
information that is described in the Emacs manual, but this
function is not being called when one of the keys C-h, [F1],
or ? is pressed.


2. The DEFCONST `query-replace-help' describes 'E' (upper-case
e) as:

----
E to edit the replacement string.
----

But the Emacs manual at (emacs)Query Replace describes 'e'
(lower-case e) as:

----
`e'
    to edit the replacement string in the minibuffer.  When you exit
    the minibuffer by typing <RET>, the minibuffer contents replace the
    current occurrence of the pattern.  They also become the new
    replacement string for any further occurrences.
----

In replace.el, the DEFVAR `query-replace-map' has both e and
E mapped to `edit-replacement'.  So both keys should work,
but neither the help text nor the info manual document thatboth keys can be used.


Note: The following search did not find the above issues inthe GNU Bug Tracker:
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?include=subject%3Aquery-replace;package=emacs

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bug#45273: 27.1: Cannot display options help text for query-replace

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2020 17:43:07 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Mark Harig via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> 
> According to the Emacs manual at (emacs)Query Replace:
> 
> ----
> ‘C-h’
> ‘?’
> ‘<F1>’
>     to display a message summarizing these options.  Then you must type
>     another character to specify what to do with this occurrence.

This citation is incomplete: you've taken one item from a long list of
characters one can type, and that list begins with this text:

     The characters you can type when you are shown a match for the string
  or regexp are:

So the Help character will work if you type it after you already
provided the string to replace and its replacement, and Emacs shows
you the first match -- which is when this help is relevant.  You don't
need this help earlier because none of those characters can be used
before the first match is found.

> 2. The DEFCONST `query-replace-help' describes 'E' (upper-case
> e) as:
> 
> ----
> E to edit the replacement string.
> ----
> 
> But the Emacs manual at (emacs)Query Replace describes 'e'
> (lower-case e) as:
> 
> ----
> `e'
>     to edit the replacement string in the minibuffer.  When you exit
>     the minibuffer by typing <RET>, the minibuffer contents replace the
>     current occurrence of the pattern.  They also become the new
>     replacement string for any further occurrences.

I added 'E' to the text in the manual on the emacs-27 branch.

With that, I'm closing this bug report.  Thanks.

bug#45273: 27.1: Cannot display options help text for query-replace

[Mark Harig via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
To: Mark Harig <idirectscm@aim.com>
Cc: 45273-done@debbugs.gnu.org
Sent: Wed, Dec 16, 2020 2:15 pm
Subject: Re: bug#45273: 27.1: Cannot display options help text for query-replace

> This citation is incomplete: you've taken one item from a long list of
> characters one can type, and that list begins with this text:

 >    The characters you can type when you are shown a match for the string
 >  or regexp are:

> So the Help character will work if you type it after you already
> provided the string to replace and its replacement, and Emacs shows
> you the first match -- which is when this help is relevant.  You don't
> need this help earlier because none of those characters can be used
> before the first match is found.
Agreed.  I had mistakenly and too quickly assumed that the behavior would be the same as it is for C-s (isearch-forward).
> I added 'E' to the text in the manual on the emacs-27 branch.
>
> With that, I'm closing this bug report.  Thanks.
Thank you.
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