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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
Cc: larsi@gnus.org, rms@gnu.org, 46627@debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command'
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 17:27:17 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <83k0r1xwyy.fsf@gnu.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CADwFkmkNvH4Cd1VSf8Q_yjwHrzwV=sbPud+GOJZw4iPKC84n9g@mail.gmail.com> (message from Stefan Kangas on Sun, 21 Feb 2021 01:18:02 -0600)

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>
> Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 01:18:02 -0600
> Cc: eliz@gnu.org, larsi@gnus.org, 46627@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> I can't claim that it is the most effective technique in general.
> I would use it when I am certain that I almost know the name of a
> command -- I would know it if I see it.  In such situations, firing up
> apropos is an extra step and not what I want.

Can you explain how apropos is an extra step, compared to TAB
completion followed by browsing through the candidates?  I see no
extra step here.

> But I think the use of `describe-command' goes beyond this one use-case.
> In particular, I don't think end-users should need to filter through a
> massive, intimidating list of functions when they are just looking for a
> command.

"C-h a" accomplishes that.  It is no accident that it's the very first
Help command mentioned in the user manual.  In addition, "C-h a" is
more powerful, as it accepts regular expressions and lists of
keywords, whereas completion has only crude and less powerful
approximations of those.

> (BTW, in the completion framework I often use, `ivy', there is a command
> to run the action associated with the minibuffer without leaving the
> minibuffer.  That is, I run `C-h f', type in some text to complete on,
> and then hit `C-M-n' to repeatedly see the full documentation for a
> number of commands.

You can likewise type "C-h a", then, with point on the command you
were after, type "M-x <DOWN> RET" or "M-x M-n RET" to invoke that
command.  So the task of finding a command and then quickly invoking
it already has a well-developed solution in Emacs, one that is more
powerful than completion.






  reply	other threads:[~2021-02-21 15:27 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 86+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2021-02-19  1:06 bug#46627: [PATCH] Add new help command 'describe-command' Stefan Kangas
2021-02-19  8:42 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-19 17:42   ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-19 18:38     ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20  3:25       ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20  4:25         ` Drew Adams
2021-02-20  8:20           ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20  7:44         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-19 20:05     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20  4:10       ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20  8:18         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 17:10           ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 13:08             ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-22 15:58             ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-04-28 13:58               ` Stefan Kangas
2021-04-28 14:17                 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-05-02 13:14                 ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 12:56     ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-20 12:59       ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 16:16         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 14:04       ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 16:06     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20 16:09       ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:06         ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 20:17           ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:54             ` Drew Adams
2021-02-20 16:39       ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-20 16:49         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 20:35           ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-20 20:46             ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-20 21:16               ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 15:07                 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 17:55                   ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 18:11                     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 18:30                       ` Drew Adams
2021-02-26 21:34             ` Drew Adams
2021-02-27  8:04               ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-27 17:46                 ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21  6:19         ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21  7:18           ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 15:27             ` Eli Zaretskii [this message]
2021-02-21 16:39               ` Howard Melman
2021-02-21 18:01                 ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-21 17:01               ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 17:36                 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 18:02                   ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21 18:21                     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 19:57                       ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-21 20:13                         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 23:46                           ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-22 15:18                             ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-27 20:38                               ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-02-28 17:27                                 ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-28 21:40                                   ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-01  6:05                                     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02  1:40                                       ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-02  5:31                                         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 12:55                                           ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-02 13:47                                             ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21 17:57               ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-21 17:33             ` Drew Adams
2021-02-21 13:06           ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-21  6:27         ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21  6:10     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21  6:27     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-19 13:12 ` Lars Ingebrigtsen
2021-02-19 18:27   ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-02-19 18:43     ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-02-21  6:18     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21  6:27     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20  6:56 ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-20  7:14   ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-21  6:19     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21  6:27     ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-21  7:17       ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-22  6:23         ` Richard Stallman
2021-02-24  3:28           ` Stefan Kangas
2021-02-27 18:58           ` Dmitry Gutov
2021-03-01  5:18             ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-01 16:13               ` bug#46627: [External] : " Drew Adams
2021-03-02  6:29                 ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-02  6:50                   ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-03  5:55                     ` Richard Stallman
2021-03-03 15:26                       ` Drew Adams
2021-03-03 16:14                         ` Eli Zaretskii
2021-03-02 16:52                   ` Drew Adams

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