Suggestion: use left and right for jumping into / out of directories as default

[joepio]

First of al, thanks for sharing this tool! I like it a lot.

Currently, both the bottom key, the left key and the right key move "down", to the next item. I'd suggest to use the left/right arrow keys for jumping out/into directories. This makes sense both visually (since children are on the right, parents on the left) and functionally (moving vertically is very common). I also think it's more intuitive than using the p key, and it matches with UX patterns in most other existing filesystem navigation apps.

Someone has suggested allowing this before, but it's not a default setting. I suggest using it as a default.

[Canop]

I'll add those bindings, commented, to the config, but I won't activate them by default.

The rationale is:

• key power users won't find it hard to uncomment this part in the config
• normal human beings would be disturbed by not being able to move the cursor with arrow keys in the input

[joepio]

Fair point!

How about this: if there is no user input, use the left / right arrow keys for directory jumping. Currently, left and right both navigate down.

I often use broot not just for searching, but for folder navigation, too.

[Canop]

Currently, left and right both navigate down.

What do you mean ? This looks like a bug but I don't reproduce it.

[joepio]

It's a bit different, it does not go down per say, but it seems to replicate the last movement:

1. Open broot
2. Press down
3. Press left / right => it moves down

And the other direction:

1. Open broot
2. Press down x 3
3. Press up
4. Press left / right => it moves up

[Canop]

This is a bug. It looks like #168
Can you follow the mentioned procedure to see what event is received by broot (and tell what's your OS and console application) ?

[joepio]

Sure, but where can I find dev.log?

[Canop]

Assuming you started broot with BROOT_LOG=debug broot the log file should be in your work dir.

Maybe come to the chat ? https://miaou.dystroy.org/3

[joepio]

The left / right behavior disappeared when I updated broot!

[Canop]

@joepio I'd like your validation on this one

[joepio]

Thanks for the addition, @Canop !

It's working pretty well, except for when the top item is selected. As a user, I expect the left arrow to navigate to parent, but if I press left on the top item, I close the app. That means that I can't open br and quickly navigate to some parent folder.

When I press right when standing on the top item, I navigate to the parent. When I press left after that, I move to the child again. This is exactly the opposite of what I expected: right = go to child, left = go to parent.

I think this is the issue: left seems to map to back, but I think it should map to parent.

[Canop]

I tried mapping it to parent, the behavior is too inconsistent with what you'd expect, especially as right-left isn't a nil operation (in broot there's both a current selection and a current root).

What could be done is to prevent the left (or maybe the back, this is often discussed) to close the app.

[joepio]

But that would still result in the confusing right = go to parent behavior when the top item is selected, right?

[Canop]

Right. This could be prevented too but that would make the right arrow a nil operation when the input is empty and the root is selected. That doesn't really feel better.

[runiq]

How about adding a child item, just like there is a parent item? That way we could add bindings for that by ourselves.

My usecase is that, once I've selected a file with broot, a lot of the time I want to move to an intermediate directory somewhere between my starting directory and the exact directory the file is in.

For example:

1. Imagine I am in ~, and I want to edit ~/dotfiles/neovim/lua/my/configs/lsp.lua.
2. I type dot neo lsp and broot selects the correct file for me.
3. Now, before I edit the file, I'd still like to switch my working directory to ~/dotfiles/neovim/lua, because that's where all the other relevant files will be.
4. I use the focus {child} command a few times to move through dotfiles, neovim, lua.
5. I :edit the file.

That would be awesome. :)

[Canop]

@runiq I'm sorry I'm lost here. Could you come to the chat to help me understand your need ?