[HN Gopher] File Explorer is merged to Helix editor
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       File Explorer is merged to Helix editor
        
       Author : manusachi
       Score  : 225 points
       Date   : 2025-01-25 00:28 UTC (22 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | manusachi wrote:
       | One of the long-awaited features was recently merged!
        
       | timeon wrote:
       | I get that Helix is really fast (I also use it sometimes) but
       | some of those screen-grabs could be made bit slower so one could
       | see what is actually happening.
       | 
       | Anyway I hope this will be soon included in release! (Even if
       | current <space>+f is also pretty good.)
        
         | abhinavk wrote:
         | These are HTML <video> controls. You can right-click and set a
         | speed.
        
         | georgeck wrote:
         | I agree. Capturing the interaction as a movie (like .mov file)
         | makes it really difficult to understand what the user is doing.
         | e.g. What keystrokes did the user press to finish this
         | interaction. I wish folks would post screen grabs with tools
         | like https://asciinema.org/ - this is what the helix-editor
         | homepage uses to show the features. This is ideal for terminal
         | apps.
         | 
         | That said, I wish asciinema can also show the key strokes a an
         | annotation with the ability for the viewer to pause on each
         | keyboard interaction.
        
       | contingencies wrote:
       | ... but can it read emails?
       | 
       | Jamie Zawinski's Law: _Every program attempts to expand until it
       | can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced
       | by ones which can._
        
         | chamomeal wrote:
         | They're working on a scheme-based plugin system, so... almost!
        
         | miki123211 wrote:
         | And a corollary to this law:
         | 
         | Except for programs embedded in applications that can already
         | read mail (notably web apps)
        
       | pkulak wrote:
       | I was waiting for this to try switching... and now I've
       | discovered oil.nvim and can never go back.
        
       | Celeo wrote:
       | Great news! When I'm familiar with the project space+F works
       | great, but isn't great for discovery.
        
       | jll29 wrote:
       | I like the idea of doing browsing in folders containing files as
       | navigating between edit buffers.
       | 
       | I've been editing like that since the 1990s because that's how
       | Emacs and XEmacs do it (M-x dired command). The ease and speed of
       | just pressing RETURN on the .. menu to go up or on the folder
       | name to open and look inside is unrivalled and much faster than
       | using my mouse (and better for health - avoids RSI).
       | 
       | Would be cool for Helix to get Emacs-like directories-as-edit-
       | buffers functionality!
        
       | phplovesong wrote:
       | Oil for nvim is THE best explorer i have used. Highly recommend
        
         | marliechiller wrote:
         | yazi for me!
        
           | atkailash wrote:
           | I recently tried yazi after trying a few other cli file
           | explorers and after I settle my current dot file redo I'm
           | gonna dig into it some more
        
         | kombine wrote:
         | It is the best explorer for me too. It blends into the rest of
         | the vim so much so that you don't feel the difference between
         | manipulating text and files.
        
           | CaptainOfCoit wrote:
           | I've been using vim/neovim for decades, and "so that you
           | don't feel the difference between manipulating text and
           | files" made no sense.
           | 
           | Then I watched a video from the README
           | (https://github.com/stevearc/oil.nvim) and yup, that looks
           | amazing and makes so much sense. Thanks GP for mentioning it!
        
         | cassepipe wrote:
         | For people to understand your enthusiasm I feel like you should
         | try to explain why :
         | 
         | It uses a buffer/pop to navigate and edit files like you're
         | inside a buffer
        
       | zamalek wrote:
       | What I really want to see merged is the tokens in shell commands.
       | dotnet is my day job, and the boilerplate (its luckily just
       | namespace nowadays) gets repetitive and typo-prone. If I could
       | just (approximately) `dotnet new class -o $cwd`...
       | 
       | Instead we have something like 3 closed PRs for this.
        
         | desdenova wrote:
         | Can't you just:                   <C-z>         dotnet new
         | class -o $PWD         fg
        
           | zamalek wrote:
           | PWD is does hot refer to the directory that file I am working
           | on is in.
        
         | archseer wrote:
         | https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/12527
        
       | heldrida wrote:
       | I used to believe that a File explorer is crucial in my text
       | editor; after using Helix for more than a year, I've discovered
       | that is not required at all; space+f much faster use flow. I work
       | with split terminal windows, where I have supporting windows to
       | navigate the file system.
       | 
       | Happy to try a file explorer once again, it'll be interesting to
       | see how I feel a year later.
        
         | TacticalCoder wrote:
         | > I've discovered that is not required at all; space+f much
         | faster use flow.
         | 
         | Some use "fuzzy find" on the filename, which is ultra fast too.
         | 
         | I use something even faster IMO: typically I know at least
         | _some_ of the text of the source  / test code file I want to go
         | to. So I either use a function of the editor that can "find
         | usage" or... I simply use _ripgrep_ , integrated in my editor,
         | and start typing text I know is in the file I want to visit.
         | 
         | I still use, sometimes, a "file explorer" to find the file to
         | open but it's not the most common.
         | 
         | In a way using a file explorer is "sort": things are arranged
         | in folders/directories. Fuzzy search or finding usages or
         | _ripgrep_ is  "search". So, basically:
         | 
         |  _" search, don't sort"_
        
           | homebrewer wrote:
           | You're shadowbanned, mate, almost all your comments from at
           | least the last couple of weeks are dead.
        
             | CaptainOfCoit wrote:
             | Probably not the best venue, but if you read through the
             | comments, kind of makes sense.
             | 
             | "Assume good faith", "Converse curiously" and "Eschew
             | flamebait" are part of the guidelines for commenting, for
             | good reasons.
        
             | bryanrasmussen wrote:
             | I don't think they're shadowbanned, just a lot of the
             | comments have been banned the old-fashioned way.
        
             | tomcam wrote:
             | I'm not seeing it? They don't appear to be shadowbanned
             | from my account.
        
               | homebrewer wrote:
               | Lots of completely harmless comments are dead, the few
               | that are not were vouched for by someone (like myself if
               | we're talking about this thread specifically). I don't
               | really care either way, but the guy should be aware that
               | he's writing into /dev/null
        
               | nrr wrote:
               | dang seems to have outright banned him just over a
               | fortnight ago.
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42653007
               | 
               | On Hacker News, banned accounts can still comment, but
               | those comments are immediately dead until vouched.
        
           | Rehanzo wrote:
           | Isn't space+f fuzzy find?
        
           | skydhash wrote:
           | A file explore is great only for browsing (to get a sense of
           | the project) and managing files (moving renaming, especially
           | in batch). Actually opening file is better with a finder
           | (either filename or content) and a fuzzy filter. I use emacs
           | and consult is a great package for that (the native features
           | mostly present a buffer with the result). A step up from VSC
           | is acting over a result buffer and have the changes reflected
           | back to the normal buffer. Like renaming functions when LSP
           | can't help you.
        
         | qudat wrote:
         | I ditched file explorer in neovim and just use fzf.
         | 
         | I also ditched tabs and rely on fzf on the buffers.
         | 
         | It's a really powerful setup and cleans up the UI significantly
        
       | gigatexal wrote:
       | Yay!!! Been waiting!!!
        
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       (page generated 2025-01-25 23:01 UTC)