x/tools/gopls: feature: CLI syntax for renaming by identifier, not position (like cmd/gorename)

[nabice]

Such as:

  "encoding/json".Decoder.Decode        method of package-level named type                                                                                                                                                                     
  (*"encoding/json".Decoder).Decode     ditto, alternative syntax                                                                                                                                                                              
  "encoding/json".Decoder.buf           field of package-level named struct type                                                                                                                                                               
  "encoding/json".HTMLEscape            package member (const, func, var, type)                                                                                                                                                                
  "encoding/json".Decoder.Decode::x     local object x within a method                                                                                                                                                                         
  "encoding/json".HTMLEscape::x         local object x within a function                                                                                                                                                                       
  "encoding/json"::x                    object x anywhere within a package                                                                                                                                                                     
  json.go::x                            object x within file json.go  

[findleyr]

Thanks, this would be nice, but we're not aware of a significant number of users depending on gopls' CLI, so this is unlikely to get prioritized any time soon.

[thepudds]

Hi @nabice, you might be interested in rsc.io/rf, which is a refactoring tool that supports something similar to what you are suggesting, if I understood correctly.

You can see a sample use in this commit. In that example, rf was used to rename identifiers via its mv command (and that commit also includes samples of example-based refactoring, moving packages, and so on).

The documentation has more details, but here is a snippet of the mv command documentation:

item → renamed item

Any named item can be renamed by specifying a destination that is
the same code address with the final element changed. For example:

mv E Euler             # constant
mv F Func              # function
mv F.w F.writer        # argument name
mv F.who F.greetee     # local variable name
mv T MyType            # type
mv T.M T.Method        # method
mv T.M.t T.M.rcvr      # receiver name
mv Point.x Point.X     # struct field
mv V Var               # var
mv V.Value V.IntValue  # var struct field

rf is still WIP as far as I understand, but still usable.

[findleyr]

Thanks @thepudds (and sorry for my perhaps hasty reply - I was taking notes in our triage meeting).

Yes, we'd rather invest in rf as a tool for implementing command-line refactorings.