gmrun/README.md

GMRUN

A run utiliy featuring a slim design and bash style auto-completion.

see AUTHORS file

Features

* Tilda completion (~/ <==> $HOME/)

* Completion works for separate words (e.g. you can type em<TAB> which
  turns to emacs, type a SPACE, and write the file you want to open using
  completion).

* Configuration file: ~/.gmrunrc or /etc/gmrunrc.
  Check one of them, configuration is very simple.  From that file you
  can change window position and width, history size, terminal, URL
  handlers, etc.

* Config file parameter: History.  History is maintained in the file "
  ~/.gmrun_history ".

* CTRL-Enter runs the command in a terminal.  CTRL-Enter without any
  command starts a new terminal.

* You can use CTRL-R / CTRL-S to search through history.

* URL handlers allowing you to enter lines like "http://www.google.com"
  to start your favorite browser on www.google.com.
  The URL-s are configurable from the configuration
  file, in a simple manner (I hope..).

* Extension handlers (added in 0.8.0).  Basically you can run, for
  instance, a ".txt" file, assuming that you have configured a handler for
  it in the configuration file.  The default handler for ".txt" files is,
  of course, Emacs.  But you can easily change that, you... you VIM user!

Requirements

* A C++ compiler
* GTK-2 / 3

Compilation, installation

Use the configure script (run ./autogen.sh if ./configure is missing):

    $ ./configure --prefix=/usr
    $ make
    $ make install

Pass --enable-gtk3 to ./configure to build the gtk3 ui

Optionally you can configure your window manager to call gmrun
with WinKey + R or something.

Tips and tricks

1. Everything that doesn't start with "/" or "~" gets completed from $PATH environment var. More exactly, all files from $PATH directories are subjects to completion (even if they are NOT executables; this is a bug, but I'm afraid I'm not willing to fix it).

   Pressing TAB once when no text is entered opens the completion window, which will contain ALL files under $PATH.

2. For instance you use TAB to complete from "nets" to "netscape-navigator". A small window appears, allowing you to select from:

   - netscape
   - netscape-communicator
   - netscape-navigator
   - netstat
   

   That is because all these executables have the same prefix, "nets". You type TAB twice to get to the third element ("netscape-navigator"). Now, if you want to add a parameter such as "-url http://blah.blah.org" you can press SPACE (the list disappears, and a SPACE is inserted after the netscape-navigator).

3. If you accidentally pressed TAB more than you wanted (in that small window, described above) you can use UP / DOWN arrows to select the right completion.

4. • ESC closes the completion window, leaving the selected text in the entry.
   • HOME / END - the same, but clears the selection.
   • SPACE - the same, but clears the selection and appends one space.
   • Pressing ENTER (anytime) runs the command that is written in the entry.
   • Pressing CTRL+Enter (anytime) runs the command in a terminal (check your configuration file). But if the entry is empty (no text is present, or only whitespaces) then a fresh terminal will be started.

5. Suppose you use CTRL-R to search backwards through history. If, accidentally, you skipped the line that you're interested in, you can use CTRL-S to search forward. This is more awesome than in bash :) It basically acts like a filter on history, for which you use CTRL-R instead of UP arrow, and CTRL-S instead of DOWN arrow.

   The same if you search something with "!": only lines that BEGIN with the entered text are matching, but you can reverse the search order using CTRL-R / CTRL-S. Very flexible approach.