C-a and C-x aren't as ergonomic to use as could be, when only one digit is selected

[vp2177]

Summary

C-a and C-x work in an unexpected way (for ex-Vim users), when only one character is selected.

It's almost never the case that the user wants to only increment/decrement one digit in a number, instead of the whole number:

Reproduction Steps

1. On a line containing, for example, 209km
2. With the cursor on 9, press ^a (C-a)
3. The number now reads 2010km (expected 210km)
4. Move the cursor to the 1 in 2010, press ^x
5. The number now reads 2000km (expected 2009km)
6. Select the entire word 2000km, and press ^a
7. Nothing happens. (expected 2001km)

Helix log

~/.cache/helix/helix.log

Nothing relevant in helix.log

Platform

Linux

Terminal Emulator

any

Helix Version

23.03

[the-mikedavis]

This behavior is intentional: increment/decrement act on the selection so you should select the number you want to increment/decrement before using C-a/C-x

[vp2177]

@the-mikedavis
Ok, cheers! Selecting the number (just the number without the km suffix) works.
Still somewhat unexpected but I guess this is the Helix way

[vp2177]

Actually I think this makes the C-a/C-x feature less useful than it could be, reopening. I've reworded the description a bit

[CptPotato]

If the number you want to increment/decrement is a separate word (i.e. "1234 km"), you can do this with a key bind:

C-a = [ "move_prev_word_start", "collapse_selection", "move_next_word_end", "increment" ]
C-x = [ "move_prev_word_start", "collapse_selection", "move_next_word_end", "decrement" ]

[vp2177]

@CptPotato Sure, I could, I opened this issue more so that the default behaviour of these keys in Helix is made "less surprising".

FWIW C-a/C-x work in NeoVim even if the number is not a separate word:

[chtenb]

Now you have to exactly select the number you want to modify, which is often tedious when e.g. changing an ordered list.
Can we try to improve on this? Possibilities I currently see:

1. Behave like Vim, which would jump to the next cursor. This was consciously changed in Separate jump behavior from increment/decrement #4123, so probably won't make it in.
   • I don't fully understand the problem, but I can imagine the complexity of this and the desire to keep things simple modular.
2. Inc/dec all numbers within the selected range, so selecting the full line and pressing would increase the current item number in your ordered list.
3. Add a separate command which jumps to the next or previous number/datetime.
   • Users could optionally remap their keys to always do the jump first, and then the inc/dec.

[ruuda]

I was trying to build option 3 with just a keymap, is it possible? With a macro you can search for \d+, but I haven’t found a way to accept the search prompt, and also, macros can’t be combined with keybinding sequences. Maybe we could add a goto_next_number command?