Ripgrep: trim whitespace from lines

[julenpardo]

What version of ripgrep are you using?

ripgrep 0.8.1 (rev c8e9f25b85)
-SIMD -AVX 

How did you install ripgrep?

From .deb binary.

What operating system are you using ripgrep on?

Linux Mint 18.1 Serena.

Describe your question, feature request, or bug.

First of all, thanks and congratulations for this tool.

I've searched in the help and in the issues, and as I didn't find anything related, I'm opening this suggestion.

I think that would be nice to add an option for trimming the output of the coincident lines. In other words, not to print the indentation of the lines. I think that this could improve the readability of the output.

Currently, for this search:

rg POST views/

I would get the following output:

views/modals/contact.twig
13:               <form action="/contact/send" method="POST" id="form-contact">

(Note the code indentation).

With an option for trimming (e.g. --trim), we would get the following:

views/modals/contact.twig
13:<form action="/contact/send" method="POST" id="form-contact">

(The indentation is now removed from the output).

I really think that this could be a very useful option, since almost every part of the code is indented, except class or function definitions.

PD: this could also work in combination with --max-columns option, so the trimming would be done before the output is filtered with this options. But as I know nothing about ripgrep internals and the feasibility and difficulty of this, I just leave it as a little extra suggestion. Actually this wouldn't be very relevant, since the --max-columns is thought for the output we actually don't want to see. So, if you find appropriate the original suggestion, just implement it as you think it's better for ripgrep. :)

Thanks again and keep up the great work!

[BurntSushi]

This is an interesting request. I'm not sure if it's a fit. What would you use it for? I see your example, but indentation is often a useful artifact to see in the output. Is it just an aesthetic thing?

[julenpardo]

@BurntSushi Thanks for such a quick response.

Actually, yes, just an aesthetic thing. Personally, when grepping code, I don't find the indentation interesting: if I later need to edit the file, I already know the line to go to; and if I just need to read the output, because of the lacking context, as we just get the single line, the indentation doesn't actually help in many cases, IMHO.

[BurntSushi]

@julenpardo Interesting. So if this flag were added, would you just have it always enabled? How would you use it?

[okdana]

For whatever it's worth, this is a feature that interests me too, and if you decide that it's a good idea i'd be willing to work on it. I mentioned in #544 that i used to have a wrapper script for ag that achieved this effect, but it was ugly and didn't always work well. Like @julenpardo says, the purpose is just readability; i find that indentation in the search output, disconnected as it is from the surrounding context, is very rarely useful — it just adds visual noise that makes it harder to understand the results.

If the feature were added, i would put --trim (or w/e) in my default options and then just add --no-trim (or w/e) in the rare cases where i needed it turned off.

[julenpardo]

@BurntSushi I was thinking about adding it as a non-default option and then adding it to my ripgrep config file. I mean, I wouldn't make as default such a significant visual change in the output just because it came to my mind :)

[BurntSushi]

@julenpardo Oh, no, yeah, this definitely can't be enabled by default. What I meant is whether _you_ would enable it by default. :-) In any case, I think you and @okdana sold me.

I see two ways this can get added:

• Someone wants to brave the current printer and do it.
• I'll add it as part of work on libripgrep. (I have actually started this, and even written down some code. But realistically is probably still a ways away from completion.)

[BurntSushi]

I am working on the new printer right now, and I should be able to add this in with very little fuss.