On Sat, Jan 21, 2023, at 10:29 AM, Rodrigo Martins wrote: > This has great potential. It can simplify the terminal program while > being very unixy. > > Here are some ideas for filters/transformers: > > - Unicode input: like composition key in the linux terminal or Xorg. > - Lock: asks for password when locked, behaves like cat otherwise. > - Macro: allows recording and replaying key sequences. > - Keybinding: allows configuring key sequences to launch programs. > - Color remover: doesn't forward escape sequences that change color. > - Clipboard: allows copying and pasting. > - Status bar: takes over a line of the terminal, showing system status.
Yes, exactly, if it can work. I ask myself: if it were possible to compose (pipeline), wouldn't someone have thought of it already, and done it already? For the Unicode input example, I know there are other, probably easier and better ways to include exotic characters, but it is a good example to think of as a terminal transformer. I could write a very simple and small filter (stdin to stdout) that replaces 0x???? (where each question mark is a hex digit) with its utf-8-encoded code-point. It could be attached to the input stream and/or the output stream. Such a filter would be very easy to write, but quite useful, if it could be hooked up to a terminal emulator. Of course I would have to think of some way to escape the 0x????, i.e. send it through literally. And it would work on top of *any* terminal emulator. What is holding me back right now is just getting the skeleton of a terminal transformer written. It would provide a pty/tty and communicate with another pty/tty (e.g. st or xterm). The skeleton program would just pass every byte through in both directions. Can anyone think of how to write this? Give some advice?
