# Zsh Navigation Tools

  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/psprint/zsh-navigation-tools/master/doc/img/n-history2.png

  
  Set of tools like n-history – multi-word history searcher, n-cd – directory
  bookmark manager, n-kill – htop like kill utility, and more. Based on
  n-list, a tool generating selectable curses-based list of elements that has
  access to current Zsh session, i.e. has broad capabilities to work together
  with it. Feature highlights include incremental multi-word searching, ANSI
  coloring, unique mode, horizontal scroll, non-selectable elements, grepping and
  various integrations with Zsh.
  
  ## History Widget
  
  To have n-history as multi-word incremental searcher bound to Ctrl-R copy znt-*
  files into the */site-functions dir (unless you use Oh My Zsh) and
  add:
  
      autoload znt-history-widget
      zle -N znt-history-widget
      bindkey "^R" znt-history-widget
  
  to .zshrc. This is done automatically when using Oh My Zsh. Two other
  widgets exist, znt-cd-widget and znt-kill-widget, they can be too assigned
  to key combinations (no need for autoload when using Oh My Zsh):
  
      zle -N znt-cd-widget

      bindkey "^A" znt-cd-widget

      zle -N znt-kill-widget
      bindkey "^Y" znt-kill-widget
  
  Oh My Zsh stores history into ~/.zsh_history. When you switch to OMZ you could
  want to copy your previous data (from e.g. ~/.zhistory) into the new location.

  ## News
  
  * 30-04-2016
    - New feature: color themes. Use Ctrl-T and Ctrl-G to browse predefined
      themes. They are listed in ~/.config/znt/n-list.conf. Use the file to
      permanently set a color scheme. Also, I sent a patch to Zsh developers
      and starting from Zsh > 5.2 (not yet released) supported will be 256 colors.
      The file ~/.config/znt/n-list.conf already has set of 256-color themes prepared :)
  
  * 29-04-2016
    - New feature: private history – n-history tracks selected history entries,
      exposes them via new view (activated with F1)
  
  * 28-04-2016
    - New features:
      1. New n-history view (activated with F1): Most Frequent History Words
      2. Predefined search keywords – use F2 to quickly search for chosen
         keywords (video: [https://youtu.be/DN9QqssAYB8](https://youtu.be/DN9QqssAYB8))
      3. Configuration option for doing instant selection in search mode

  ## Introduction
  
  The tools are:
  
  - n-aliases - browses aliases, relegates editing to vared
  - n-cd - browses dirstack and bookmarked directories, allows to enter selected directory
  - n-functions - browses functions, relegates editing to zed or vared
  - n-history - browses history, allows to edit and run commands from it
  - n-kill - browses processes list, allows to send signal to selected process
  - n-env - browses environment, relegates editing to vared
  - n-options - browses options, allows to toggle their state
  - n-panelize - loads output of given command into the list for browsing
  
  All tools support horizontal scroll with <,>, {,}, h,l or left and right
  cursors. Other keys are:
  
  - [,] - jump directory bookmarks in n-cd and typical signals in n-kill
  - Ctrl-d, Ctrl-u - half page up or down
  - Ctrl-p, Ctrl-n - previous and next (also done with vim's j,k)
  - Ctrl-l - redraw of whole display
  - g, G - beginning and end of the list
  - Ctrl-o, o - enter uniq mode (no duplicate lines)
  - / - start incremental search
  - Enter - finish incremental search, retaining filter
  - Esc - exit incremental search, clearing filter
  - Ctrl-w (in incremental search) - delete whole word
  - Ctrl-k (in incremental search) - delete whole line

  ## Configuration
  
  `ZNT` has configuration files located in `~/.config/znt`. The files are:
  
  ```
  n-aliases.conf
  n-cd.conf
  n-env.conf
  n-functions.conf
  n-history.conf
  n-kill.conf
  n-list.conf
  n-options.conf
  n-panelize.conf
  ```
  
  `n-list.conf` contains main configuration variables:
  
  ```zsh
  # Should the list (text, borders) be drawn in bold
  local bold=0
  
  # Main color pair (foreground/background)
  local colorpair="white/black"
  
  # Should draw the border?
  local border=1
  
  # Combinations of colors to try out with Ctrl-T and Ctrl-G
  # The last number is the bold option, 0 or 1
  local -a themes
  themes=( "white/black/1" "green/black/0" "green/black/1" "white/blue/0" "white/blue/1"
           "magenta/black/0" "magenta/black/1" )
  ```
  
  Read remaining configuration files to see what's in them. Nevertheless, configuration
  can be also set from `zshrc`. There are `5` standard `zshrc` configuration variables:
  
  ```
  znt_history_active_text - underline or reverse - how should be active element highlighted
  znt_history_nlist_coloring_pattern - pattern that can be used to colorize elements
  znt_history_nlist_coloring_color - color with which to colorize
  znt_history_nlist_coloring_match_multiple - should multiple matches be colorized (0 or 1)
  znt_history_keywords (array) - search keywords activated with `Ctrl-X`
  ```
  
  Above variables will work for `n-history` tool. For other tools, change `_history_` to
  e.g. `_cd_`, for the `n-cd` tool. The same works for all `8` tools.
  
  Common configuration of the tools uses variables with `_list_` in them:
  
  ```
  znt_list_bold - should draw text in bold (0 or 1)
  znt_list_colorpair - main pair of colors to be used, e.g "green/black"
  znt_list_border - should draw borders around windows (0 or 1)
  znt_list_themes (array) - list of themes to try out with Ctrl-T, e.g. ( "white/black/1" "green/black/0" )
  znt_list_instant_select - should pressing enter in search mode leave tool (0 or 1)
  ```

  ## Programming
  
  The function n-list is used as follows:
  
      n-list {element1} [element2] ... [elementN]
  
  This is all that is needed to be done to have the features like ANSI coloring,
  incremental multi-word search, unique mode, horizontal scroll, non-selectable
  elements (grepping is done outside n-list, see the tools for how it can be
  done). To set up non-selectable entries add their indices into array
  NLIST_NONSELECTABLE_ELEMENTS:
  
      typeset -a NLIST_NONSELECTABLE_ELEMENTS
      NLIST_NONSELECTABLE_ELEMENTS=( 1 )
  
  Result is stored as $reply[REPLY] ($ isn't needed before REPLY because
  of arithmetic context inside []). The returned array might be different from
  input arguments as n-list can process them via incremental search or uniq
  mode. $REPLY is the index in that possibly processed array. If $REPLY
  equals -1 it means that no selection have been made (user quitted via q
  key).
  
  To set up entries that can be jumped to with [,] keys add their indices to
  NLIST_HOP_INDEXES array:
  
      typeset -a NLIST_HOP_INDEXES
      NLIST_HOP_INDEXES=( 1 10 )
  
  n-list can automatically colorize entries according to a Zsh pattern.
  Following example will colorize all numbers with blue:
  
      local NLIST_COLORING_PATTERN="[0-9]##"
      local NLIST_COLORING_COLOR=$'\x1b[00;34m'
      local NLIST_COLORING_END_COLOR=$'\x1b[0m'
      local NLIST_COLORING_MATCH_MULTIPLE=1
      n-list "This is a number 123" "This line too has a number: 456"
  
  Blue is the default color, it doesn't have to be set. See zshexpn man page
  for more information on Zsh patterns. Briefly, comparing to regular
  expressions, (#s) is ^, (#e) is $, # is *, ## is +. Alternative
  will work when in parenthesis, i.e. (a|b). BTW by using this method you can
  colorize output of the tools, via their config files (check out e.g. n-cd.conf,
  it uses this).
  
  ## Performance

  ZNT are fastest with Zsh before 5.0.6 and starting from 5.2

  
  vim:filetype=conf