Add option to customize the separator character betwen paths, lines, columns and matches

[noib3]

As of version 12.1.1, if the --no-heading option is used then a : will be used to separate paths, lines, columns (if the --column option is used) and matches. Is it possible to customize those characters individually?

For example I'd like to use a @ between paths and lines, the default : between lines and columns and a space between columns and matches.

I'm new to ripgrep, I've read the manual but I haven't found anything about it so I assume this behaviour is not currently supported?

[BurntSushi]

There is no way to customize it. But the underlying library does support customizing it:

ripgrep/crates/core/args.rs

Lines 789 to 790 in 7923d25

	.separator_field_match(b":".to_vec())
	.separator_field_context(b"-".to_vec())

I think I would be OK with a PR that adds two flags, one each for customizing the match and context separators for fields emitted in each case.

As a hint, you'll want to use cli::unescape_os to extract out the separator from the CLI argument.

[samwho]

I'm also keen to have this feature, and my use-case is to make sure that the file path and line number are presented in the terminal in a way that can be ctrl+left clicked such that they will open to that line in VSCode.

I use the following settings:

--max-columns=150
--max-columns-preview
--smart-case
--search-zip
--color=auto
--no-heading
--no-messages
--trim

And the output looks like this:

$ rg use
src/entries.rs:186:use super::*;
src/entries.rs:187:use std::io::Cursor;
src/entries.rs:188:use test_case::test_case;

Sometimes, the fact that there is no space after the 2nd colon on each line makes it such that VSCode won't open the file at that line, instead it will initiate a search that yields nothing. Having a space there makes this work 100% of the time.

Removing --trim isn't a solution.

[samwho]

I've forked the repo and started taking a preliminary look. If I manually change line 789 of ripgrep/crates/core/args.rs to be a space instead of a colon, it doesn't quite do what I'd like. I'd like to be able to keep the colon between the path and the line number, but have a space between the line number and the match.

Would you be open to accepting a PR that changes the printer crate to allow this?

[BurntSushi]

@samwho Possibly. It depends on if there are any performance problems created by accepting multiple bytes vs one byte. It's been a while since I've touched that code, but my instinct is that there shouldn't be.

[fallaciousreasoning]

@samwho did you come up with a solution? I have the same problem with VSCode link detection, and --field-match-separator " " doesn't quite do what I want, as I lose the line number when clicking a link.

[samwho]

I'm afraid I didn't.