Bug 416022

Summary:	Treat underscores as symbols instead of letters
Product:	[Frameworks and Libraries] frameworks-ktexteditor	Reporter:	Riccardo Robecchi <sephiroth_pk>
Component:	general	Assignee:	KWrite Developers <kwrite-bugs-null>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	wishlist	CC:	jat255, nate, sephiroth_pk, waqar.17a
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Neon
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Riccardo Robecchi 2020-01-08 20:42:49 UTC

SUMMARY
Underscores are currently treated as letters instead of symbols, making it impossible to use "ctrl+right/left" to navigate text which uses underscores as separator characters.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. write "this_is_a_text_using_underscores_as_separators" and "this-time-we-are-using-hyphens";
2. use "ctrl+right/left" to navigate through the words;
3. see how the first text is treated as a whole word, instead of multiple words using underscores as separator characters, while the second one is correctly identified as being made of multiple used with hyphens used as separators.

OBSERVED RESULT
Underscores are treated like letters, so long sequences of characters using underscores as separators are treated as if they were a single word. This is especially frustrating if one has to select a portion of text inside a string which uses underscores as separators.

EXPECTED RESULT
Underscores are treated the same as all other symbols such as hyphens, commas, dots and so on, so that one can navigate text using "ctrl+right/left". As far as I have been able to asses GNOME follows this convention, which appears more intuitive and practical.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: KDE neon
KDE Plasma Version: 5.17.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.65.0
Qt Version: 5.13.4

Comment 1 Dominik Haumann 2020-01-13 20:55:52 UTC

Implementation hint: In kateviewinternal.cpp, there is a CalculatingCursor, see:
https://github.com/KDE/ktexteditor/blob/master/src/view/kateviewinternal.cpp#L887

This CalculatingCursor supports basic text navigation. From this class, other classes are derived, e.g. the BoundedCursor, or the WrappingCursor.

To fix this, one could either derive a new Cursor with the desired behavior, or add a switch to the other existing cursor classes.

Comment 2 jat255 2021-01-28 23:02:33 UTC

It's unclear to me if that component also controls file open/save windows, but that is where this behavior tends to bother me the most. I know KDE is not at all responsible for GNOME apps, but since GTK-based dialogs treat the underscore as a separation character, different apps on one system have inconsistent behavior. It would be great if this could be configured somehow.

Comment 3 Riccardo Robecchi 2021-01-28 23:04:20 UTC

(In reply to jat255 from comment #2)
> It's unclear to me if that component also controls file open/save windows,
> but that is where this behavior tends to bother me the most. I know KDE is
> not at all responsible for GNOME apps, but since GTK-based dialogs treat the
> underscore as a separation character, different apps on one system have
> inconsistent behavior. It would be great if this could be configured somehow.

It is unclear to me as well and the use case you mention is what actually brought me to open this bug report. But I agree wholeheartedly, this is an issue that needs fixing as it is neither logical nor consistent.

Comment 4 Waqar Ahmed 2022-01-12 15:07:06 UTC

Fixed with the introduction of Camel case movement. Please enable "Editing -> Text Navigation -> Enable camel cursor movement"

Comment 5 Riccardo Robecchi 2022-01-12 15:10:34 UTC

(In reply to Waqar Ahmed from comment #4)
> Fixed with the introduction of Camel case movement. Please enable "Editing
> -> Text Navigation -> Enable camel cursor movement"

Thanks. Would this apply elsewhere in Plasma (e.g. in Dolphin)? If that's not the case, what component should this bug be reopened against?

Comment 6 Waqar Ahmed 2022-01-12 15:16:45 UTC

> Thanks. Would this apply elsewhere in Plasma (e.g. in Dolphin)? If that's not the case, what component should this bug be reopened against?

It only applies to Ktexteditor and childern (KDevelop / Kate / KWrite ... ). For any other apps, everyone will need to implement that for whatever editor they have.

Even in Kate for instance, this will only work in the text area and not for example in a search line edit.