What is the best way to copy errors onto the clipboard?

[David-Else]

I often want to copy a Rust error into the clipboard to paste into ChatGPT to help with debugging. At the moment I need to manually highlight it using Kitty and copy. The main problem is the the error appears right on top of the code, so I am forced to copy useless blocks of code I need to edit out. Total waste of time. Is there some way to copy the error, or would this be a quick/easy PR to create? I remember it being discussed before but can't seem to find the discussion.

[kirawi]

You might be thinking of #3786

[MAST1999]

Nice, but looking at the PR, it's been there for a good 6 months.

Any idea when it'll land?

[kirawi]

I don't have an ETA. I've been very busy IRL and with persistent undo. If anyone's interest in taking over, I'd be happy to assist.

[MAST1999]

One way I do this is by using Alacrity's Vim mode.

I go into the Vim mode and then copy the errors that way.

Not ideal but it works.

[cowboyliao]

I try to use alacritty's vi mode, but it will also copy some line number and code unintentionally, the benefit is no need for mouse :)

[quantonganh]

Here's the way I did it:

• Just cargo run as normally
• If I encountered an error:

error[E0004]: non-exhaustive patterns: `None` not covered
 --> src/main.rs:2:11
  |
2 |     match x {
  |           ^ pattern `None` not covered
  |
note: `Option<i32>` defined here
 --> /private/tmp/rust-20230718-6150-1ao30c6/rustc-1.71.0-src/library/core/src/option.rs:563:1
 ::: /private/tmp/rust-20230718-6150-1ao30c6/rustc-1.71.0-src/library/core/src/option.rs:567:5
  |
  = note: not covered
  = note: the matched value is of type `Option<i32>`
help: ensure that all possible cases are being handled by adding a match arm with a wildcard pattern or an explicit pattern as shown
  |
3 ~         Some(i) => Some(i + 1),
4 ~         None => todo!(),
  |

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0004`.
error: could not compile `non-exhaustive` (bin "non-exhaustive") due to previous error

WezTerm's QuickSelectArgs feature can be used to select rustc --explain E0004 and send it to a new pane:

  {
    key = 's',
    mods = 'CMD|SHIFT',
    action = wezterm.action.QuickSelectArgs {
      label = 'open url',
      patterns = {
        'https?://\\S+',
        '^/[^/\r\n]+(?:/[^/\r\n]+)*:\\d+:\\d+',
        '[^\\s]+\\.rs:\\d+:\\d+',
        'rustc --explain E\\d+',
      },
      action = wezterm.action_callback(function(window, pane)
        local selection = window:get_selection_text_for_pane(pane)
        wezterm.log_info('opening: ' .. selection)
        if startswith(selection, "http") then
          wezterm.open_with(selection)
        elseif startswith(selection, "rustc --explain") then
          local action = wezterm.action{
            SplitPane={
              direction = 'Right',
              command = {
                args = {
                  '/bin/sh',
                  '-c',
                  'rustc --explain ' .. selection:match("(%S+)$") .. ' | mdcat -p',
                },
              },
            };
          };
          window:perform_action(action, pane);
        else
          selection = "$EDITOR:" .. selection
          return open_with_hx(window, pane, selection)
        end
      end),
    },
  },