Re: [PATCH] Allow 'set whitespacedisplay' in .nanorc

On Thu, Apr 24, 2025 at 10:20:05AM +0200, Benno Schulenberg wrote:
> 
> Op 23-04-2025 om 20:47 schreef Peter Michaux:
> > This patch allows users to enable the display of visible whitespace
> > characters via their .nanorc configuration file by using 'set
> > whitespacedisplay'.
> 
> But why?  Who wants to see dots all the time for every file they open?
> I don't see the point.  So, 'set whitespacedisplay' is not accepted,
> similar to why 'set view' is not accepted.
> 
> > Previously, this option could only be activated while editing with M-P.
> > Making it accessible from the config file improves usability and
> > consistency with other display-related settings.
> 
> As said above, I don't see any gain in usability.  And there is no
> increase in consistency either, because consistent would be that
> there is also a command-line option to enable whitespace display.
> 
> What _might_ be somewhat useful is to accept --whitespacedisplay
> on the command line (just like --view is accepted there), for the
> two or three people who always want to see dots.  For consistency
> this would require also a short option.  But I don't want to go
> there: we're running out of usable characters, and I would rather
> keep '#' and '=' in reserve.
> 
> So... a possible compromise is attached.  With that patch, one
> could alias nano to 'nano --white' and always see dots.
> 
> 
> Benno

> diff --git a/src/nano.c b/src/nano.c
> index 39b93523..f61db14e 100644
> --- a/src/nano.c
> +++ b/src/nano.c
> @@ -1832,6 +1832,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
>  		{"indicator", 0, NULL, 'q'},
>  		{"unix", 0, NULL, 'u'},
>  		{"afterends", 0, NULL, 'y'},
> +		{"whitespacedisplay", 0, NULL, 0xCC},
>  		{"colonparsing", 0, NULL, '@'},
>  		{"stateflags", 0, NULL, '%'},
>  		{"minibar", 0, NULL, '_'},
> @@ -2128,6 +2129,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
>  				break;
>  #endif
>  #ifndef NANO_TINY
> +			case 0xCC:
> +				SET(WHITESPACE_DISPLAY);
> +				break;
>  			case '@':
>  				SET(COLON_PARSING);
>  				break;

I would like to have an option and a command-line flag. All other feature
toggles have them (Syntax Coloring by defining syntaxes). It's convenient
to me for editing source files, because after exiting I have to toggle
Whitespace Display every time.

I defined syntax for coloring dots by vague color (white is not white,
lightwhite is white :)), so they are visible but not stand out too much.