In persistent selection mode, when pressing Shift+arrow while we are in a selection, the selection is truncated in the direction (forward or backward) of selection. This is counter-intuitive because (before we press Shift+arrow) there are no clues on screen whether the selection was forward or backward. Kate 15.08.2. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 0. Enable persistent selections. 1. Load a document. 2. Select a part of the document with Shift+Right. 3. Put the cursor in the middle of a selection. 4. Press Shift+Right or Shift+Left. After this the selection truncated (to the position of cursor) in the forward direction. 5. Select a part of the document with Shift+Left. 6. Put the cursor in the middle of a selection. 7. Press Shift+Right or Shift+Left. After this the selection truncated (to the position of cursor) in the backward direction. Actual Results: The selection is truncated either forward or backward, and it is impossible to tell whether it will truncate forward or backward seeing to the Kate window right before pressing Shift+Right or Shift+Left. Expected Results: As a least evil, I propose, that if we press Shift+arrow in the middle of a selection, the selection should be reset (as if the persistent selection would be off). Suggestions of other possible behaviors are welcome.
Note that my proposal to reset the selection on Shift+arrow is valid ONLY when the cursor is in the middle of the selection, not at its left or right edge.
Confirmed. Arch Linux 64-bit Kate 16.04.2 KDE Frameworks 5.23.0 Qt 5.7 xcb wm
The current behavior is not optimal, thought it actually makes sense, if you know, how you selected the stuff. I am not sure that changing this is a good idea after > 10 years of behaving that way. Others will complain about that, too, as if you remember how you just selected the stuff, it makes some things easier, therefore I won't alter this.