Feature request: configuration files

[tbodt]

Having to configure exa using a shell alias is less than convenient. ripgrep allows you to set a RIPGREP_CONFIG_PATH environment variable to point to a file that contains a list of default options, one per line (https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/blob/master/GUIDE.md#configuration-file). I think exa should do this too.

[bkuhlmann]

I would like this too. One suggestion would be to adhere to the XDG specification so our Dotfiles don't get so cluttered. With XDG, we could have this instead: ~/.config/exa/configuration.yml. 🎉

NOTE: Doesn't have to be a YAML configuration but can be any configuration format that makes sense.

[ariasuni]

Here’s a suggested, hypothetical config file, inspired by ui_styles.rs/default_theme.rs:

~/.config/exa/exa.toml

# The [colors] table has all that’s possible to configure with EXA_COLORS
# and filekinds too, in a much more readable way!!

[colors.ui]
punctuation = "black bold"
# date = ""
# inode = ""
# blocks = ""
# header = ""
# link_path = ""
# control_char = ""
# broken_path = ""

[colors.filetypes]
# file = ""
# directory = ""
# executable = ""
# pipe = ""
# socket = ""
# block_device = ""
# char_device = ""
# symlink = ""
# broken_symlink = ""

[colors.filekinds]
temp = "white"
# build = "yellow bold"
image = "purple"
video = "purple bold"
music = "cyan"
lossless = "cyan bold"
crypto = "green bold"
document = "green"
# compressed = "red"
compiled = "yellow"

[colors.perms]
# ur = ""
# uw = ""
# ux_file = ""
# ux_other = ""
# gr = ""
# gw = ""
# gx = ""
# or = ""
# ow = ""
# ox = ""
# special_user_file = ""
# special_other = ""
# extended_attribute = ""

[colors.sizes]
# the two first are default, and overridden by the more specific variants.
# nums = ""
# units = ""
num-byte = "green"
num-kilo = "green bold"
num-mega = "yellow"
num-giga = "red"
num-huge = "purple"
unit-byte = "green"
unit-kilo = "green bold"
unit-mega = "yellow"
unit-giga = "red"
unit-huge = "purple"
# major = ""
# minor = ""

[colors.users]
# user-you = ""
# user-other = ""
# group-yours = ""
# group-other = ""

[colors.links]
# normal = ""
# multi = ""

[colors.git]
# new = ""
# modified = ""
# deleted = ""
# renamed = ""
# changed = ""

## The [[ and ]] signals that colors.custom is an array of table.
[[colors.custom]]
patterns = ["*.md", "*.rst"]
style = "yellow bold"

[[colors.custom]]
patterns = [".py"]
style = "red underline"


## Everything else that was controlled by environment variables.
[options]
# columns =
strict = true
# grid_rows
# icon_spacing

I’m not sure about some names (I’m totally not sure what’s special_user_file and special_other, and if the same distinction between ux_file and ux_other).

But mostly I think it’s an interesting draft. Any thoughts?

[fredericrous]

nice draft ariasuni. where would the file extension icon fit into this config? maybe colors.custom could be replaced by something like [[file_extension]]? Also, how would you define filekinds like the group of extensions behind image? in a separate config file? I would suggest not to put too much effort into color definitions per file extension. These can already be defined by LS_COLORS and there already is an excellent tool that handles configuring these with config files: Vivid. See config file examples for vivid here: https://github.com/sharkdp/vivid/blob/master/themes/jellybeans.yml and there https://github.com/sharkdp/vivid/blob/master/config/filetypes.yml

[ariasuni]

Well a great first step would be to be able to have a configuration file at all.

More advanced features, like colors based on file glob/pattern and custom file icons mapping, should probably be handled separately afterwards — e.g. to discuss if things like vivid are the way we want to handle colors.

[edent]

Is there currently any way to do this? I always run

exa -l -s modified --no-permissions --icons --no-user

Is there a way to set those defaults so I just need to type exa?

[zhengpd]

It could be a config file supporting simple options at first step, and after that extend to complex options/features.

[zhengpd]

My workaround before official conf file (with zsh & exa installed by homebrew on macos):

1. create ~/.bin/exa (~/.bin/ should be placed before /opt/homebrew/bin in PATH)

#!/usr/bin/env zsh

args=($@)

opts_file=$HOME/.exarc
[[ -f $opts_file ]] || touch $opts_file

opts=(${(@f)$(<$opts_file)})

/opt/homebrew/bin/exa $opts $args

2. create ~/.exarc with desired exa options

--sort=Name
--git
--time-style=long-iso