On Mon, 09 Jun 2025, Iago Jacob wrote:
> [Proposal] New motion command: `binsearch` for binary-search-style line
> navigation
>
> Hi fellow Vim enthusiasts,
>
> I'd like to propose a new motion command for Vim: `binsearch`, which
> facilitates precise cursor movement in **normal** and **visual** modes using
> a binary search approach.
>
> ---
>
> ### Problem
>
> Currently, if a user wants to jump to a specific line **visibly** on screen,
> they must resort to one of the following:
>
> 1. Use `H`, `M`, `L`, and then mash `j`/`k`.
> 2. Use `<n>G`, which requires knowing the exact line number (often a large
> number).
> 3. Use `/pattern`, which may jump thousands of lines off-target.
>
> All of these are either cumbersome, error-prone, or break concentration.
>
> ---
>
> ### Proposal: `binsearch` Motion
>
> * **Trigger keys**:
>
> * `Ctrl-Q`: Begin or reset binary search session.
> * `Ctrl-J`: Move downward (toward lower bound).
> * `Ctrl-K`: Move upward (toward upper bound).
>
> * **How it works**:
>
> * Pressing `Ctrl-Q` starts a binary search session. It sets the upper and
> lower bounds to the **top-most** and **bottom-most** visible lines.
> * Pressing `Ctrl-K` or `Ctrl-J` then performs binary search: the cursor
> jumps to the midpoint between the current position and the respective bound.
> * Each jump updates the appropriate bound.
> * Pressing `Ctrl-Q` again resets the session.
Thanks, this is an interesting feature. I seem to remember a previous
discussion about this, but couldn't find it.
Regarding the keys, we need to think about others however, CTRL-Q is
used on Windows to start a visual selection, Ctrl-J might be okay (not
sure, it may break Enter or Carriage Return key) and Ctrl-K seem unused.
Perhaps we can use CTRL-\ CTRL-R (to reset), CTRL-\ CTRL-H to move to
upper bound and CTRL-\ CTRL-L to lower bound (similar to H and L).
Although those are key combinations but users could easily map it if
they need an easier way for it.
Once we have this, people may also want to have this for horizontal
scrolling, so we may want to thing about keys for horizontal movements.
How does this work in operator pending mode (e.g. after a d command)? It
doesn't seem to be very useful in that mode, since one may not know
exactly where it jumps and you probably cannot chain those keys until
the final position. So not sure if this makes sense.
Does it support counts?
I haven't looked yet at the implementation, but I'd encourage you to
create a PR at the vim github repository so we can see the results of
the test suite directly and review it easier.
Also, please add tests to it, check e.g. testdir/test_normal.vim and
please also include tests for visual and operating pending mode.
What do other people think?
Thanks,
Christian
--
I was in Vegas last week. I was at the roulette table, having a lengthy
argument about what I considered an Odd number.
-- Steven Wright
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