Use crosshair pointer for column selection

[zx8]

When holding option on macOS to enable column selection, iTerm changes the pointer to a crosshair (+), which I think is more intuitive than the regular cursor that Ghostty currently uses for column selection:

[00-kat]

N.B.: somebody found this on the Ghostty Discord before: https://discord.com/channels/1005603569187160125/1329504343178612776.

[00-kat]

Cross-referencing #3565, not the same issue but very similar.

[pluiedev]

We already do this on Linux. I can't say for myself that this works on macOS, but judging by #3307 it should work fine. If it doesn't display correctly for you then it might be a bug somewhere.

[00-kat]

I had an issue with the cursor shape changing incorrectly on Linux about three weeks ago, but it seems to be fixed now, so I guess it's only macOS.

[taylrfnt]

I can confirm that this is reproducible on tip (commit a3e462b) on MacOS. Here's a quick recording.

Based on #3307, it seems like the behavior may have regressed. I can only trigger the block selection using cmd+alt (not ctrl), but as you can see it is just a mouse pointer, not a crosshair.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/34c4515c-4303-49f1-97f7-cffaa08c315e

(Ignore the fact that the i-bar cursor turns back into a mouse pointer in the video when not holding cmd+alt, that's a quirk resulting from a screen recording in QuickTime Player, for some reason. It's normally an i-bar/text format cursor when not screen recording.)

[monsterkodi]

i think there is something more fundamental not working on mac right now.
if i send \x1b]22;{pointerStyle}\x1b\\ to ghostty, it ony works for the 'default' 'pointer' and 'text' pointer styles.
other styles like 'grab' 'grabbing' 'cross' or 'crosshair' don't work.
i might open a separate bug discussion for this, but i thought i mention this here, maybe it helps someone.

[taylrfnt]

I'm able to get a different pointer with everything except 'cross' and 'crosshair'. Quick and dirty script if you're in zsh:

#!/bin/zsh
POINTER_STYLES=('default' 'pointer' 'text' 'grab' 'grabbing' 'cross' 'crosshair')

for style in ${POINTER_STYLES}; do
  echo "Style: "${style}""
  echo -e "\x1b]22;${style}\x1b\\"
  sleep 1
done

curosr-test.mov

EDIT: This can easily be expanded to the full list of shapes (like what Kitty documents here). I'm not familiar enough with OSC 22 to know what (if any) is custom versus "standard" pointer shapes or styles. I can include what works & what doesn't work for me from Kitty's list (kitten mouse demo) in Ghostty, if that is helpful.

[monsterkodi]

thanks for your test script, taylrfnt.
it works on my mac as well, so ghostty isn't as broken as i initially thought :)
in the node application i am writing, the same osc sequences only work for some of the shapes though.
i converted your script to javascript and it's working fine there as well.
i must be doing something in my main project that breaks it under ghostty (it works fine in kitty),
but i couldn't figure out what yet.

[taylrfnt]

Alright, I went and added all the cursor styles the kitten demo has:

#!/bin/zsh
POINTER_STYLES=('alias' 'cell' 'copy' 'crosshair' 'default' 'e-resize' 'ew-resize' 'grab' 'grabbing' 'help' 'move' 'n-resize' 'ne-resize' 'nesw-resize' 'no-drop' 'not-allowed' 'ns-resize' 'nw-resize' 'nwse-resize' 'pointer' 'progress' 's-resize' 'se-resize' 'sw-resize' 'text' 'vertical-text' 'w-resize' 'wait' 'zoom-in' 'zoom-out')

for style in ${POINTER_STYLES}; do
  echo "Style: "${style}""
  printf "\x1b]22;${style}\x1b\\"
  sleep 1
done

The following pointer styles do not work with this script on macOS:

• alias
• cell
• copy
• crosshair
• help
• move
• ne-resize
• nesw-resize
• no-drop
• not-allowed (changes to default style, so... half-working?)
• nw-resize
• nwse-resize
• progress
• se-resize
• sw-resize
• vertical-text
• wait
• zoom-in
• zoom-out

EDIT: I tested all of these on kitty using kitten mouse demo and they worked. The same test in Ghostty also matches the results from my script.

[monsterkodi]

and i figured out why it isn't working as expected in my application:
when requesting a new mouse pointer shape after a mouse button press, ghostty shows it only after the next mouse move event with the mouse button released.
it is not possible to give visual feedback via the pointer shape for mouse dragging operations right now.

[taylrfnt]

That sounds like a fix/limitation for your node app, right?

I'd still expect that the cursor shapes change within the terminal itself like they do in kitty since this test script uses OSC 22, unless Ghostty is not intending to support all of the styles (and even if that is the case, the crosshair style is what's being requested by OP, which already is supported on Linux).

[monsterkodi]

i think i fixed this (and two other) pointer style issues and created a pull request for it:

#5933

let me know if i did something wrong, i am not used to creating pull requests.