Re: [PATCH] upcoming new feature: smooth whole-window sideways scrolling

Benno Schulenberg <[email protected]> Sat, 10 Jan 2026 16:07:47 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.editors.nano.devel
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Op 09-01-2026 om 11:42 schreef Benno Schulenberg:
> Instead of horizontally scrolling just the current line by nearly
> a screen width when the cursor is about to go offscreen, now all
> screen lines are scrolled horizontally together by just the amount
> needed to keep the cursor comfortably in view.

With above patch applied, run `src/nano +89 doc/faq.html` and
press <End>.  Then hold down <Ctrl+Left> for a second until the
cursor is at "Pine", somewhere left-of-center on your terminal.
See that two lines above are the words "free software" and two
lines further the word "familiar".  Now tap <Up> twice to go to
the line with "free software".  Huh?  Where is the cursor?!  ...
It sits near the right edge of the terminal after "free" and
before "so>".  This may be logical and inherent to the patch,
but it is rather unexpected and undesirable.

As a small consolation, tilde, micro, and lpe behave the same way.
Only joe does not suffer from this disorienting behavior, because
it somehow allows the cursor to move through places where there are
no characters at all.

It would be great if nano could behave the same way as joe, but...
how to achieve that is too hard a problem for me.  What I do have
is a rough patch that returns 'brink' to what it was (when possible)
as long as any movement hasn't changed the 'placewewant' -- the
desired column.  Attached.

Opinions?


Benno

stabilize-cursor-column.patch (text/x-patch, 1.8 KB)

diff --git a/src/definitions.h b/src/definitions.h
index 91861870..ab047663 100644
--- a/src/definitions.h
+++ b/src/definitions.h
@@ -565,7 +565,11 @@ typedef struct openfilestruct {
 	size_t current_x;
 		/* The file's x-coordinate position. */
 	size_t placewewant;
-		/* The file's x position we would like. */
+		/* The column where we would like to place the cursor. */
+	size_t former_pww;
+		/* The former place we wanted (for the cursor). */
+	size_t brinkwewant;
+		/* From which column to display the file, preferably. */
 	ssize_t cursor_row;
 		/* The row in the edit window that the cursor is on. */
 	struct stat *statinfo;
diff --git a/src/files.c b/src/files.c
index d8b5f425..e60affe2 100644
--- a/src/files.c
+++ b/src/files.c
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ void make_new_buffer(void)
 	openfile->current = openfile->filetop;
 	openfile->current_x = 0;
 	openfile->placewewant = 0;
+	openfile->former_pww = 0;
+	openfile->brinkwewant = 0;
 	openfile->cursor_row = 0;
 
 	openfile->edittop = openfile->filetop;
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index ab305527..9cdd595e 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -3392,8 +3392,15 @@ void edit_refresh(void)
 		adjust_viewport((focusing || ISSET(JUMPY_SCROLLING)) ? CENTERING : FLOWING);
 
 	/* When panning, ensure the cursor will be within the viewport. */
-	if (ISSET(JOINT_PANNING) && !ISSET(SOFTWRAP))
+	if (ISSET(JOINT_PANNING) && !ISSET(SOFTWRAP)) {
+		brink = openfile->brinkwewant;
+		if (openfile->placewewant != openfile->former_pww) {
+			openfile->former_pww = openfile->placewewant;
+			brink = get_page_start(openfile->placewewant);
+			openfile->brinkwewant = brink;
+		}
 		brink = get_page_start(xplustabs());
+	}
 
 #ifdef ENABLE_COLOR
 	/* When needed and useful, initialize the colors for the current syntax. */

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