Re: [PATCH] [gdb/cli] Improve the pagination prompt

[Tom de Vries <tdevries@suse.de>]

On 7/16/25 13:30, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> From: Tom de Vries <tdevries@suse.de>
>> Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2025 21:37:47 +0200
>>
>> Currently the pagination prompt is:
>> ...
>> --Type <RET> for more, q to quit, c to continue without paging--
>> ...
>>
>> PR cli/33149 points out an inconsistency.
>>
>> While typing <RET> works as advertised, pressing q or c doesn't have any
>> other effect than echoing the character to screen.  An additional <RET> is
>> needed.
>>
>> This is a regression since commit eb6af80922a ("Add "continue" response to
>> pager"), which changed:
>> ...
>> ---Type <return> to continue, or q <return> to quit---
>> ...
>> into:
>> ...
>> --Type <RET> for more, q to quit, c to continue without paging--
>> ...
>>
>> Fix this by using the slightly longer (69 instead of 64 chars):
>> ...
>> --Type <RET> (more), q<RET> (quit), or c<RET> (continue, no paging)--
>> ...
> 
> Thanks, but why <RET> is described as "more" whereas c<RET> as
> "continue, no paging" instead of "more, no paging"?
> 

Hi Eli,

thanks for the review.

So you're proposing the following:
...
--Type <RET> (more), q<RET> (quit), or c<RET> (more, no paging)--
...

I think q<RET> is described as "quit" and c<RET> as "continue, no 
paging" because of the first letter matching, and that matching is not 
there for "c<RET> (more, no paging)".

I also considered:
...
--Type <RET> (continue), q<RET> (quit), or c<RET> (continue, no paging)--
...
but it's longer and no so clear either.

Personally I like:
...
--Type <RET> (more), q<RET> (quit), or c<RET> (cat)--
...
which is short but requires knowledge of what's the difference of using 
more vs cat.

Anyway, I've submitted a v2 but left this unchanged ( 
https://sourceware.org/pipermail/gdb-patches/2025-July/219287.html ).

>>
>> Also update the documentation to clarify the same issue.
>>
>> In the testsuite, update the pagination_prompt variable and use it in more
>> test-cases.
>>
>> In some test-cases, matching the pagination prompt was split up to address a
>> matching race but that's no longer necessary, thanks to commit c3f814a1433
>> ("Fix paginate-*.exp races").
>>
>> Tested on aarch64-linux.
>>
>> Bug: https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33149
>> --- a/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
>> +++ b/gdb/doc/gdb.texinfo
>> @@ -27921,9 +27921,9 @@ Certain commands to @value{GDBN} may produce large amounts of
>>   information output to the screen.  To help you read all of it,
>>   @value{GDBN} pauses and asks you for input at the end of each page of
>>   output.  Type @key{RET} when you want to see one more page of output,
>> -@kbd{q} to discard the remaining output, or @kbd{c} to continue
>> -without paging for the rest of the current command.  Also, the screen
>> -width setting determines when to wrap lines of output.  Depending on
>> +@kbd{q} @key{RET} to discard the remaining output, or @kbd{c} @key{RET} to
> 
> The markup here is incorrect, it should be @kbd{q @key{RET}}, i.e. the
> entire user input should be inside @kbd.
> 
> Please also correct "Type @key{RET}" to say "Type @kbd{@key{RET}}"
> instead, for the same reason.
> 
> The principles are: @key{FOO} just describes the key labeled "FOO";
> anything the user should type should be in @kbd.
> 

Fixed in the v2.

> Also, no NEWS entry for this?
> 

Also added in the v2.

Thanks,
- Tom

> Reviewed-By: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>