# percol

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percol adds flavor of interactive selection to the traditional pipe concept on UNIX.

- [What's this](#whats-this)
  - [Features](#features)
  - [Related projects](#related-projects)
- [Installation](#installation)
  - [PyPI](#pypi)
  - [Manual](#manual)
- [Usage](#usage)
- [Example](#example)
    - [Interactive pgrep / pkill](#interactive-pgrep--pkill)
    - [zsh history search](#zsh-history-search)
    - [tmux](#tmux)
- [Configuration](#configuration)
    - [Customizing prompt](#customizing-prompt)
        - [Dynamic prompt](#dynamic-prompt)
        - [Custom format specifiers](#custom-format-specifiers)
    - [Customizing styles](#customizing-styles)
        - [Foreground Colors](#foreground-colors)
        - [Background Color](#background-color)
        - [Attributes](#attributes)
- [Matching Method](#matching-method)
    - [Migemo support](#migemo-support)
        - [Dictionary settings](#dictionary-settings)
        - [Minimum query length](#minimum-query-length)
    - [Pinyin support](#pinyin-support)
    - [Switching matching method dynamically](#switching-matching-method-dynamically)
- [Tips](#tips)
    - [Selecting multiple candidates](#selecting-multiple-candidates)
    - [Z Shell support](#z-shell-support)

## What's this

![optimized](http://mooz.github.io/percol/percol_overview.gif)

percol is an **interactive grep tool** in your terminal. percol

1. receives input lines from `stdin` or a file,
2. lists up the input lines,
3. waits for your input that filter/select the line(s),
4. and finally outputs the selected line(s) to `stdout`.

Since percol just filters the input and output the result to stdout,
it can be used in command-chains with `|` in your shell (**UNIX philosophy!**).

### Features

- **Efficient**: With **lazy loads** of input lines and **query caching**, percol handles huge inputs efficiently.
- **Customizable**: Through configuration file (`rc.py`), percol's behavior including prompts, keymaps, and color schemes can be **heavily customizable**.
  - See [configuration](https://github.com/mooz/percol#configuration) for details.
- **Migemo support**: By supporting [C/Migemo](http://code.google.com/p/cmigemo/), **percol filters Japanese inputs blazingly fast**.
  - See [matching method](https://github.com/mooz/percol#matching-method) for details.

### Related projects

- [canything by @keiji0](https://github.com/keiji0/canything)
  - A seminal work in interactive grep tools.
- [zaw by @nakamuray](https://github.com/zsh-users/zaw)
  - A zsh-friendly interactive grep tool.
- [peco by @lestrrat](https://github.com/lestrrat/peco)
  - An interactive grep tool written in Go language.
- [fzf by @junegunn](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf)
  - An interactive grep tool written in Go language.

## Installation

percol currently supports only Python 2.x.

### PyPI

    $ sudo pip install percol

### Manual

First, clone percol repository and go into the directory.

    $ git clone git://github.com/mooz/percol.git
    $ cd percol

Then, run a command below.

    $ sudo python setup.py install

If you don't have a root permission (or don't wanna install percol with sudo), try next one.

    $ python setup.py install --prefix=~/.local
    $ export PATH=~/.local/bin:$PATH

## Usage

Specifying a filename.

    $ percol /var/log/syslog

Specifying a redirection.

    $ ps aux | percol

## Example

### Interactive pgrep / pkill

Here is an interactive version of pgrep,

    $ ps aux | percol | awk '{ print $2 }'

and here is an interactive version of pkill.

    $ ps aux | percol | awk '{ print $2 }' | xargs kill

For zsh users, command versions are here (`ppkill` accepts options like `-9`).

```sh
function ppgrep() {
    if [[ $1 == "" ]]; then
        PERCOL=percol
    else
        PERCOL="percol --query $1"
    fi
    ps aux | eval $PERCOL | awk '{ print $2 }'
}

function ppkill() {
    if [[ $1 =~ "^-" ]]; then
        QUERY=""            # options only
    else
        QUERY=$1            # with a query
        [[ $# > 0 ]] && shift
    fi
    ppgrep $QUERY | xargs kill $*
}
```

### zsh history search

In your `.zshrc`, put the lines below.

```sh
function exists { which $1 &> /dev/null }

if exists percol; then
    function percol_select_history() {
        local tac
        exists gtac && tac="gtac" || { exists tac && tac="tac" || { tac="tail -r" } }
        BUFFER=$(fc -l -n 1 | eval $tac | percol --query "$LBUFFER")
        CURSOR=$#BUFFER         # move cursor
        zle -R -c               # refresh
    }

    zle -N percol_select_history
    bindkey '^R' percol_select_history
fi
```

Then, you can display and search your zsh histories incrementally by pressing `Ctrl + r` key.

### tmux

Here are some examples of tmux and percol integration.

    bind b split-window "tmux lsw | percol --initial-index $(tmux lsw | awk '/active.$/ {print NR-1}') | cut -d':' -f 1 | tr -d '\n' | xargs -0 tmux select-window -t"
    bind B split-window "tmux ls | percol --initial-index $(tmux ls | awk \"/^$(tmux display-message -p '#{session_name}'):/ {print NR-1}\") | cut -d':' -f 1 | tr -d '\n' | xargs -0 tmux switch-client -t"

By putting above 2 settings into `tmux.conf`, you can select a tmux window with `${TMUX_PREFIX} b` keys and session with `${TMUX_PREFIX} B` keys.

Attaching to running tmux sessions can also be made easier with percol with this function(tested to work in bash and zsh)

```sh
function pattach() {
    if [[ $1 == "" ]]; then
        PERCOL=percol
    else
        PERCOL="percol --query $1"
    fi

    sessions=$(tmux ls)
    [ $? -ne 0 ] && return

    session=$(echo $sessions | eval $PERCOL | cut -d : -f 1)
    if [[ -n "$session" ]]; then
        tmux att -t $session
    fi
}
```

## Configuration

Configuration file for percol should be placed under `${HOME}/.percol.d/` and named `rc.py`.

Here is an example `~/.percol.d/rc.py`.

```python
# X / _ / X
percol.view.PROMPT  = ur"<bold><yellow>X / _ / X</yellow></bold> %q"

# Emacs like
percol.import_keymap({
    "C-h" : lambda percol: percol.command.delete_backward_char(),
    "C-d" : lambda percol: percol.command.delete_forward_char(),
    "C-k" : lambda percol: percol.command.kill_end_of_line(),
    "C-y" : lambda percol: percol.command.yank(),
    "C-t" : lambda percol: percol.command.transpose_chars(),
    "C-a" : lambda percol: percol.command.beginning_of_line(),
    "C-e" : lambda percol: percol.command.end_of_line(),
    "C-b" : lambda percol: percol.command.backward_char(),
    "C-f" : lambda percol: percol.command.forward_char(),
    "M-f" : lambda percol: percol.command.forward_word(),
    "M-b" : lambda percol: percol.command.backward_word(),
    "M-d" : lambda percol: percol.command.delete_forward_word(),
    "M-h" : lambda percol: percol.command.delete_backward_word(),
    "C-n" : lambda percol: percol.command.select_next(),
    "C-p" : lambda percol: percol.command.select_previous(),
    "C-v" : lambda percol: percol.command.select_next_page(),
    "M-v" : lambda percol: percol.command.select_previous_page(),
    "M-<" : lambda percol: percol.command.select_top(),
    "M->" : lambda percol: percol.command.select_bottom(),
    "C-m" : lambda percol: percol.finish(),
    "C-j" : lambda percol: percol.finish(),
    "C-g" : lambda percol: percol.cancel(),
})
```

### Customizing prompt

In percol, a prompt consists of two part: _PROMPT_ and _RPROMPT_, like zsh. As the following example shows, each part appearance can be customized by specifying a prompt format into `percol.view.PROMPT` and `percol.view.RPROMPT` respectively.

```python
percol.view.PROMPT = ur"<blue>Input:</blue> %q"
percol.view.RPROMPT = ur"(%F) [%i/%I]"
```

In prompt formats, a character preceded by `%` indicates a _prompt format specifier_ and is expanded into a corresponding system value.

- `%%`
    - Display `%` itself
- `%q`
    - Display query and caret
- `%Q`
    - Display query without caret
- `%n`
    - Page number
- `%N`
    - Total page number
- `%i`
    - Current line number
- `%I`
    - Total line number
- `%c`
    - Caret position
- `%k`
    - Last input key

#### Dynamic prompt

By changing percol.view.PROMPT into a getter, percol prompts becomes more fancy.

```python
# Change prompt in response to the status of case sensitivity
percol.view.__class__.PROMPT = property(
    lambda self:
    ur"<bold><blue>QUERY </blue>[a]:</bold> %q" if percol.model.finder.case_insensitive
    else ur"<bold><green>QUERY </green>[A]:</bold> %q"
)
```

#### Custom format specifiers

```python
# Display finder name in RPROMPT
percol.view.prompt_replacees["F"] = lambda self, **args: self.model.finder.get_name()
percol.view.RPROMPT = ur"(%F) [%i/%I]"
```

### Customizing styles

For now, styles of following 4 items can be customized in `rc.py`.

```python
percol.view.CANDIDATES_LINE_BASIC    = ("on_default", "default")
percol.view.CANDIDATES_LINE_SELECTED = ("underline", "on_yellow", "white")
percol.view.CANDIDATES_LINE_MARKED   = ("bold", "on_cyan", "black")
percol.view.CANDIDATES_LINE_QUERY    = ("yellow", "bold")
```

Each RHS is a tuple of style specifiers listed below.

#### Foreground Colors

- `"black"`   for `curses.COLOR_BLACK`
- `"red"`     for `curses.COLOR_RED`
- `"green"`   for `curses.COLOR_GREEN`
- `"yellow"`  for `curses.COLOR_YELLOW`
- `"blue"`    for `curses.COLOR_BLUE`
- `"magenta"` for `curses.COLOR_MAGENTA`
- `"cyan"`    for `curses.COLOR_CYAN`
- `"white"`   for `curses.COLOR_WHITE`

#### Background Color

- `"on_black"`   for `curses.COLOR_BLACK`
- `"on_red"`     for `curses.COLOR_RED`
- `"on_green"`   for `curses.COLOR_GREEN`
- `"on_yellow"`  for `curses.COLOR_YELLOW`
- `"on_blue"`    for `curses.COLOR_BLUE`
- `"on_magenta"` for `curses.COLOR_MAGENTA`
- `"on_cyan"`    for `curses.COLOR_CYAN`
- `"on_white"`   for `curses.COLOR_WHITE`

#### Attributes

- `"altcharset"` for `curses.A_ALTCHARSET`
- `"blink"`      for `curses.A_BLINK`
- `"bold"`       for `curses.A_BOLD`
- `"dim"`        for `curses.A_DIM`
- `"normal"`     for `curses.A_NORMAL`
- `"standout"`   for `curses.A_STANDOUT`
- `"underline"`  for `curses.A_UNDERLINE`
- `"reverse"`    for `curses.A_REVERSE`

## Matching Method

By default, percol interprets input queries by users as **string**. If you prefer **regular expression**, try `--match-method` command line option.

    $ percol --match-method regex

### Migemo support

percol supports **migemo** (http://0xcc.net/migemo/) matching, which allows us to search Japanese documents with ASCII characters.

    $ percol --match-method migemo

To use this feature, you need to install C/Migemo (https://github.com/koron/cmigemo). In Ubuntu, it's simple:

    $ sudo apt-get install cmigemo

After that, by specifying a command line argument `--match-method migemo`, you can use migemo in percol.

NOTE: This feature uses `python-cmigemo` package (https://github.com/mooz/python-cmigemo). Doing `pip install percol` also installs this package too.

#### Dictionary settings

By default, percol assumes the path of a dictionary for migemo is `/usr/local/share/migemo/utf-8/migemo-dict`. If the dictionary is located in a different place, you should tell the location via `rc.py`.

For example, if the path of the dictionary is `/path/to/a/migemo-dict`, put lines below into your `rc.py`.

```python
from percol.finder import FinderMultiQueryMigemo
FinderMultiQueryMigemo.dictionary_path = "/path/to/a/migemo-dict"
```

#### Minimum query length

If the query length is **too short**, migemo generates **very long** regular expression. To deal with this problem, percol does not pass a query if the length of the query is shorter than **2** and treat the query as raw regular expression.

To change this behavior, change the value of `FinderMultiQueryMigemo.minimum_query_length` like following settings.

```python
from percol.finder import FinderMultiQueryMigemo
FinderMultiQueryMigemo.minimum_query_length = 1
```

### Pinyin support

Now percol supports **pinyin** (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin) for matching Chinese characters.

    $ percol --match-method pinyin

In this matching method, first char of each Chinese character's pinyin sequence is used for matching.
For example, 'zw' matches '中文' (ZhongWen), '中午'(ZhongWu), '作为' (ZuoWei) etc.

Extra package pinin(https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pinyin/0.2.5) needed.

### Switching matching method dynamically

Matching method can be switched dynamically (at run time) by executing `percol.command.specify_finder(FinderClass)` or `percol.command.toggle_finder(FinderClass)`. In addition, `percol.command.specify_case_sensitive(case_sensitive)` and `percol.command.toggle_case_sensitive()` change the matching status of case sensitivity.

```python
from percol.finder import FinderMultiQueryMigemo, FinderMultiQueryRegex
percol.import_keymap({
    "M-c" : lambda percol: percol.command.toggle_case_sensitive(),
    "M-m" : lambda percol: percol.command.toggle_finder(FinderMultiQueryMigemo),
    "M-r" : lambda percol: percol.command.toggle_finder(FinderMultiQueryRegex)
})
```

## Tips

### Selecting multiple candidates

You can select and let percol to output multiple candidates by `percol.command.toggle_mark_and_next()` (which is bound to `C-SPC` by default).

`percol.command.mark_all()`, `percol.command.unmark_all()` and `percol.command.toggle_mark_all()` are useful to mark / unmark all candidates at once.

## Z Shell support

A zsh completing-function for percol is available in https://github.com/mooz/percol/blob/master/tools/zsh/_percol .