-print-selection and -selection-path not work

[superiums]

i'm wondering to use lf as a filepicker in qute.

but found in terminal:
lf -print-selection print nothiing while selected and quit.
also lf -selection-path /tmp/s writes no file.

• os : voidlinux
• version: lf r32

[DusanLesan]

@superiums I think selection works only for files and that it works when you select and open (instead of select and quit)

[joelim-work]

I had a look through past issues, it looks like you're not the first person to be confused about how -selection-path/-print-selection works:

• -selection-path switch not functional #82
• Support for using lf as a multi file & folder selection dialog #89
• could you use lf as a filechooser, like ranger with the --choosefile argument? #1080
• lf -selection-path does not update the file on Windows #1342
• Is there a way to select a directory for --print-selection and --selection-path? #1791

---

IMO the current workflow (toggle some files with space and then open using l) is not intuitive because:

• lf is supposed to quit after the files have been selected, and open generally does not imply quitting.
• The purpose of using lf in this way is to select some files and do something with them, but that action is not necessarily opening them.

If I could change the way this feature works I would make it so that:

• The user should toggle the desired files and then quit. open will no longer have any relation to this feature in any way.
• Files must explicitly be selected - if no files are selected then the current file under the cursor should not be selected instead.
• In the case of selection-path, if no files are selected then the output file will still be created but be blank (as opposed to not creating the output file at all). Although this point is debatable.

The only concern is that this feature has existed for a very long time and that changing the way it works would constitute a breaking change. I am also not particularly interested in maintaining an additional option to allow users to choose between the old and new behaviors (if implemented).

---

As a side note I managed to implement this kind of functionality based entirely on configuration, without having to use -selection-path/-print-selection at all:

map Q :{{
    $echo "$fs" > "/proc/$id/fd/1"
    quit
}}

Though at this point I think it's probably too late to remove these options, and that it's better to just keep them as builtins.

[joelim-work]

I think the following patch should work, leaving it here for reference.

Click to expand

diff --git a/app.go b/app.go
index 45e0dbd..2dc7575 100644
--- a/app.go
+++ b/app.go
@@ -31,11 +31,10 @@ type app struct {
 	cmdHistoryBeg  int
 	cmdHistoryInd  int
 	menuCompActive bool
 	menuComps      []string
 	menuCompInd    int
-	selectionOut   []string
 	watch          *watch
 }
 
 func newApp(ui *ui, nav *nav) *app {
 	quitChan := make(chan struct{}, 1)
diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index 00fa1f5..d358aa2 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -68,20 +68,20 @@ func run() {
 
 	if gLastDirPath != "" {
 		writeLastDir(gLastDirPath, app.nav.currDir().path)
 	}
 
-	if gSelectionPath != "" && len(app.selectionOut) > 0 {
-		writeSelection(gSelectionPath, app.selectionOut)
+	if gSelectionPath != "" {
+		writeSelection(gSelectionPath, app.nav.currSelections())
 	}
 
 	if gPrintLastDir {
 		fmt.Println(app.nav.currDir().path)
 	}
 
-	if gPrintSelection && len(app.selectionOut) > 0 {
-		for _, file := range app.selectionOut {
+	if gPrintSelection {
+		for _, file := range app.nav.currSelections() {
 			fmt.Println(file)
 		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/eval.go b/eval.go
index 445d081..16f7d63 100644
--- a/eval.go
+++ b/eval.go
@@ -1074,16 +1074,10 @@ func (e *callExpr) eval(app *app, args []string) {
 			restartIncCmd(app)
 			onChdir(app)
 			return
 		}
 
-		if gSelectionPath != "" || gPrintSelection {
-			app.selectionOut, _ = app.nav.currFileOrSelections()
-			app.quitChan <- struct{}{}
-			return
-		}
-
 		app.ui.loadFileInfo(app.nav)
 
 		if cmd, ok := gOpts.cmds["open"]; ok {
 			cmd.eval(app, e.args)
 		}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 985d842..efaf8c2 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -248,11 +248,11 @@ func main() {
 		"print the last dir to stdout on exit (to use for cd)")
 
 	printSelection := flag.Bool(
 		"print-selection",
 		false,
-		"print the selected files to stdout on open (to use as open file dialog)")
+		"print the selected files to stdout on exit")
 
 	remoteCmd := flag.String(
 		"remote",
 		"",
 		"send remote command to server")
@@ -273,11 +273,11 @@ func main() {
 		"path to the file to write the last dir on exit (to use for cd)")
 
 	flag.StringVar(&gSelectionPath,
 		"selection-path",
 		"",
-		"path to the file to write selected files on open (to use as open file dialog)")
+		"path to the file to write selected files on exit")
 
 	flag.StringVar(&gConfigPath,
 		"config",
 		"",
 		"path to the config file (instead of the usual paths)")

[superiums]

got it, thanks very much !