How to search for whole words (or case-insensitive) in current buffer?

[HAOCHENYE]

The grep finder supports regex for full-word and case-insensitive searches, since ripgrep has built-in support for this syntax. However, for the lines finder (search in the current buffer), how can I achieve the same functionality?

It's difficult to remember different syntax across different finders. It would be much more user-friendly if I could use the same regex syntax (such as (?i) for case-insensitive or \b for word boundaries) consistently across all finders for more specific searches.
Is there a way to enable uniform regex support across different Telescope finders?

[drowning-cat]

You need to understand the difference between live and non-live mode (see the link below). Each picker has its own set of tools best suited for the job. The "syntax" of live mode is literally the input sent to the tool underneath it, while the syntax of non-live mode is the same old fzf. You can’t just expect LSP pickers to work with rg or fd (alternatives to grep and find). Note that non-live mode is the same for all pickers (alternative to fzf).

Related:

• What is a live mode?
• What are finder, format, transform?
• Simplified grep example

Internals:

snacks.nvim/lua/snacks/picker/config/sources.lua

Lines 616 to 637 in fe7cfe9

	-- Search lines in the current buffer
	---@class snacks.picker.lines.Config: snacks.picker.Config
	---@field buf? number
	M.lines = {
	finder = "lines",
	format = "lines",
	layout = {
	preview = "main",
	preset = "ivy",
	},
	jump = { match = true },
	-- allow any window to be used as the main window
	main = { current = true },
	---@param picker snacks.Picker
	on_show = function(picker)
	local cursor = vim.api.nvim_win_get_cursor(picker.main)
	local info = vim.api.nvim_win_call(picker.main, vim.fn.winsaveview)
	picker.list:view(cursor[1], info.topline)
	picker:show_preview()
	end,
	sort = { fields = { "score:desc", "idx" } },
	}

snacks.nvim/lua/snacks/picker/source/lines.lua

Lines 3 to 22 in fe7cfe9

	---@param opts snacks.picker.lines.Config
	---@type snacks.picker.finder
	function M.lines(opts, ctx)
	local buf = opts.buf or ctx.filter.current_buf
	buf = buf == 0 and vim.api.nvim_get_current_buf() or buf
	local extmarks = require("snacks.picker.util.highlight").get_highlights({ buf = buf, extmarks = true })
	local lines = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(buf, 0, -1, false)
	local items = {} ---@type snacks.picker.finder.Item[]
	for l, line in ipairs(lines) do
	---@type snacks.picker.finder.Item
	local item = {
	buf = buf,
	text = line,
	pos = { l, (line:find("%S") or 1) - 1 },
	highlights = extmarks[l],
	}
	items[#items + 1] = item
	end
	return items
	end

snacks.nvim/lua/snacks/picker/format.lua

Lines 370 to 392 in fe7cfe9

	function M.lines(item)
	local ret = {} ---@type snacks.picker.Highlight[]
	local line_count = vim.api.nvim_buf_line_count(item.buf)
	local idx = Snacks.picker.util.align(tostring(item.idx), #tostring(line_count), { align = "right" })
	ret[#ret + 1] = { idx, "LineNr", virtual = true }
	ret[#ret + 1] = { " ", virtual = true }
	ret[#ret + 1] = { item.text }
	local offset = #idx + 2
	for _, extmark in ipairs(item.highlights or {}) do
	extmark = vim.deepcopy(extmark)
	if type(extmark[1]) ~= "string" then
	---@cast extmark snacks.picker.Extmark
	extmark.col = extmark.col + offset
	if extmark.end_col then
	extmark.end_col = extmark.end_col + offset
	end
	end
	ret[#ret + 1] = extmark
	end
	return ret
	end

[HAOCHENYE]

Thank you for getting back to me. Actually, before asking the question, I already had some preliminary understanding of components like finder, but your further mention of live and non-live modes has indeed helped me better understand picker.

My question is actually this: it appears that lines is the recommended finder for the current buffer in picker, but when I want to do fullword matching or case matching, the user experience is inconsistent with the grep finder. This makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable (I understand that customizing my own picker is one solution), but what I want to know is: am I misunderstanding something?

[HAOCHENYE]

For example, if I want to search full word function in the current buffer (ignore _function and function_), what should I do?

[dpetka2001]

You can create a custom keymap with the following lua Snacks.picker.grep({dirs = { vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0) }}). This will launch the grep picker for the current buffer. You can then do in live mode \bfunction\b like you would do with ripgrep directly.

[drowning-cat]

By default, sorting for the lines picker is done by line numbers to preserve the order. You can bypass this by using 'function.

[drowning-cat]

A slightly modified version of @dpetka2001 solution:

Snacks.picker.grep({
  need_search = false,
  args = { "--max-columns=10000" },
  dirs = { vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0) },
  layout = {
    preset = "ivy",
    auto_hide = { "preview" },
  },
  format = function(item)
    local ret = { { string.format("%s: ", item.pos[1]), "Conceal" } }
    Snacks.picker.highlight.format(item, item.line, ret)
    return ret
  end,
})