Dropping the dashes when displying command names

Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[reader]

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M-x presents you a list of interactive commands. They are lisp commands, but the user is concerned with their name when looking for a command, so displaying command names with spaces instead of dashes can make a more readable, cleaner presentation.

So instead of this:

delete-active-region
delete-char (<delete>)
delete-directory
delete-file-local-variable
delete-frame (C-x 5 0)
delete-matching-lines (flush-lines)
delete-other-frames (C-x 5 1)
delete-other-windows-vertically
delete-region
delete-trailing-whitespace

it would look like this:

delete active region
delete char (<delete>)
delete directory
delete file local variable
delete frame (C- x 5 0)
delete matching lines (flush lines)
delete other frames (C-x 5 1)
delete other windows vertically
delete region
delete trailing whitespace

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Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[Bob Rogers]

   From: reader <gertopc@proton.me>
   Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2023 17:48:30 +0000

   M-x presents you a list of interactive commands. They are lisp
   commands, but the user is concerned with their name when looking for
   a command, so displaying command names with spaces instead of dashes
   can make a more readable, cleaner presentation . . .

That is the way that Zmacs invokes M-x commands (with spaces, but using
initial caps).  But Zmacs makes a distinction between the command name
and the name of the Lisp function that implements it; in Emacs, they are
inseparable.

					-- Bob Rogers
					   http://www.rgrjr.com/

Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[reader]

> That is the way that Zmacs invokes M-x commands (with spaces, but using
> initial caps). 

Capitalizing the commands could make the presentation even nicer. 
The commands in menubar menus are shown this way, so M-x should
follow suit, since M-x is also a menu which offers commands:

Delete active region 
Delete char (<delete>) 
Delete directory 
Delete file local variable 
Delete frame (C- x 5 0) 
Delete matching lines (flush lines) 
Delete other frames (C-x 5 1) 
Delete other windows vertically 
Delete region 
Delete trailing whitespace 
Delete windows on

Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2023 17:48:30 +0000
> From: reader <gertopc@proton.me>
> 
> M-x presents you a list of interactive commands. They are lisp commands, but the user is concerned
> with their name when looking for a command, so displaying command names with spaces instead of
> dashes can make a more readable, cleaner presentation.
> 
> So instead of this:
> 
> delete-active-region 
> delete-char (<delete>) 
> delete-directory 
> delete-file-local-variable 
> delete-frame (C-x 5 0) 
> delete-matching-lines (flush-lines) 
> delete-other-frames (C-x 5 1) 
> delete-other-windows-vertically 
> delete-region 
> delete-trailing-whitespace 
> 
> it would look like this:
> 
> delete active region 
> delete char (<delete>) 
> delete directory 
> delete file local variable 
> delete frame (C- x 5 0) 
> delete matching lines (flush lines) 
> delete other frames (C-x 5 1) 
> delete other windows vertically 
> delete region 
> delete trailing whitespace 

IMO, this is only feasible if we also accept command invocation via
"M-x" with spaces instead of dashes (and even then as an opt-in
behavior).  The current behavior has the huge advantage of showing
what exactly you should type to invoke each command, whereas replacing
dashes with spaces loses that important feature.

Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2023 06:40:58 +0000
> From: reader <gertopc@proton.me>
> Cc: "emacs-devel@gnu.org" <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
> 
> > That is the way that Zmacs invokes M-x commands (with spaces, but using
> > initial caps). 
> 
> Capitalizing the commands could make the presentation even nicer. 
> The commands in menubar menus are shown this way, so M-x should
> follow suit, since M-x is also a menu which offers commands:

"M-x" requires you to _type_ the command's name, unlike the menu-bar
menus.  So showing command names spelled differently than they are
expected to be typed would be a disservice to our users.  Even
changing the letter-case is already a problem, since command names in
Emacs are case-sensitive (and some packages actually use that to
provide more convenient UX for typing command names -- see info.el,
for example).

RE: [External] : Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[Drew Adams]

In addition to what others have said...


So you want to see `Delete region' instead of
`delete-region', for `M-x'.

`Delete region' is already possible as a command
name.  Displaying `delete-region' as if its name
were `Delete region' would make it impossible to
distinguish two commands that have different names,
both of which you want displayed the same way.

(defun Delete\ region ()
  (interactive)
  (message "Delete\\ region"))

Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[reader]

 
> IMO, this is only feasible if we also accept command invocation via
> "M-x" with spaces instead of dashes (and even then as an opt-in
> behavior). The current behavior has the huge advantage of showing
> what exactly you should type to invoke each command, whereas replacing
> dashes with spaces loses that important feature.

Yes, I can see how it can be a problem. It didn't occur to me, because I 
never type the slashes, since I use a completion which accepts non-contiguous
substrings, but a new user may type the slashes with the default completion.

As an alternative idea how about dimming the dashes a bit, so the letters
stand out more? Like if the text is black by default then make the dashes 
some light gray color.

This would keep the current display and mechanics while making the list a
bit easier to read.

Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:12:14 +0000
> From: reader <gertopc@proton.me>
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> As an alternative idea how about dimming the dashes a bit, so the letters
> stand out more? Like if the text is black by default then make the dashes 
> some light gray color.

As an optional behavior, why not?

Re: [External] : Re: Dropping the dashes when displying command names

[Richard Stallman]

[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]

  > So you want to see `Delete region' instead of
  > `delete-region', for `M-x'.

I don't think dropping the dashes is wise.  It is better to present
the command names accurately for M-x.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)