On Mon, Dec 11, 2023 at 1:09 AM Dan Jacobson <jida...@jidanni.org> wrote:
> Type ^R and some string, > At the point while we are typing that the search fails, all that > happens is the word "failed" gets added at front, > > (reverse-i-search)`nni': set > jida^Ci.org/geo/house_numbering/grids/us/il/lake/lake_county/ > (failed reverse-i-search)`nnii': set > jida^Ci.org/geo/house_numbering/grids/us/il/lake/lake_county/ > > (The ^Cs are where I quit in order to make this "screenshot".) > > The average Joe, if looking up at his screen, will mostly just notice > the line getting longer and longer for each character he types, no > matter if it started failing many characters ago. > > Hmmm, how does emacs handle such situations? Well when the first > failed character is entered there is a flash. Then every additional > useless character entered gets a red background. > > Anyway Bash could be more aggressive to wake the user up to the fact > that "He is hiking up the wrong trail. Sending money to candidates who > already quit the race and shut their accounts." -- typing for no > reason. > > Let's see, it could flash/beep on each useless character. And or > refuse to echo them etc. > > Anyway, after such improvements the average user, instead of typing > five or six useless characters before realizing failure has already > occurred, would type just one or two! > > One might say that negative doggy training (beeps, red characters (if > color turned on), frozen line), wouldn't be needed if the user would > just please be aware of the word "failed" at the start of the line. > > Well that word isn't even in uppercase. > > Bash beeps on each failed character for me. And I can set my terminal to flash (visual bell) instead of or perhaps in addition to beeping when a bell character (^G) is transmitted. -- Visit serverfault.com to get your system administration questions answered.
