Re: shell command completion gone

[prad]

rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Prad.
> Do you think you could spell out some (say 5-10) typical use-cases of
> icicles?
> Reason I ask: Ive tried a couple of times to use icicles but could not
> get into it
>
certainly rusi and i appreciate your asking this since i tend to just
use it very passively being effectively a newbie. exploring the package
further gets you to really appreciate the wonderful work it really is!

* ideas on icicles 
these are just some basic explorations of what you
can do with drew adam's enormously helpful icicles package.


** cycling completions
ref: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Cycling_Completions
use <home>,<end> keys to cycle through all possibilities in minibuffer
use <tab> to cycle as well and see possibilities in a separate buffer too

ex: C-x C-f and use those keys to cycle through available files
ex: C-h C-i m and cycles through topics in info
ex: C-x b and cycle through your buffer choices
ex: C-h v, type gnu and cycle through all variable which begin with
"gnu"



** apropos completion via regexp
ref: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Apropos_Completions
use <page up>,<page down> for matching regexp anywhere (instead of just
prefix as with gnu ex above)
use S-<tab> to see all items which have regexp in them in separate buffer

ex: M-x line and use those keys to cycle through all commands which has
"line"
ex: M-x tran.*line and use those keys to find "transpose-lines" right
away
ex: M-x line S-<tab> to see all commands which have "line" in them
ex: C-x b at and use those keys to cycle through all buffers with "at"
in them



** input history completion
if you want to see what you have actually done yourself instead of what
is available, just use M-n, M-p which let you traverse your own input
history

ex: visit some buffers then C-x b and M-n, M-p will show you where you
have been


** progressive completion ref:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Progressive_Completion
analogous to sequential piping, this let's you narrow a search through
repeated internal matching using S-<spc> (or S-<tab> and repeated M-*)

ex: say you can't quite remember that the gnus-save-article-folder
command or may be it's gnus-save-folder-article or something with "save"
and "folder" anyway. so type C-h f gnus S-<spc> then S-<spc> save then
S-<spc> folder and this way you'll keep narrowing your search without
having to worry about the order of the components.


how's that for starters?

my uses are presently limited to command, help, buffer and file issues
but i'm wondering if i can make better use of it for ordinary text
completions too - sort of as a non-verbal speech recognition
mechanism. i think company.el may facilitate this idea, but i haven't
explored it yet.

-- 
in friendship,
prad