Re: [Patch] Add project.el command to replace symbol at point throughout project

[Juri Linkov]

>>> If we're trying to improve project-query-replace-regexp, why not make it
>>> use the symbol at point by default?
>>>
>> I thought about the option of using symbol at point by default, but
>> I noticed that the command currently uses the history
>> variable. I wondered if some people were relying on its current behavior
>> in a way that I didn’t anticipate (especially since I’m pretty new to all
>> this). If so, it would be an annoying change to have to worry about
>> whether the cursor is on a symbol when using a command you previously
>> relied on. I wanted to try to put forth something possibly useful without
>> breaking stuff.
>> 
>>> You would use the same command, but would be able to press RET to have
>>> the default regexp (symbol at point) used as FROM. I don't have a patch
>>> yet, but it might be something that all callers of
>>> query-replace-read-args might benefit from.
>> Since I think I can understand what you’re suggesting, I would be happy
>> to make an attempt at a patch to modify the callers of
>> query-replace-read-args to default to a regexp quoted
>> symbol-at-point. But no worries if you would rather have experienced eyes
>> on it.
>
> I'm actually not sure about the best way to implement this: whether we
> definitely want query-replace-read-args to use symbol-at-point as the
> default FROM. But it does sounds handy to me. Let's ask the developer who
> touched it last.

query-replace-read-args can't be changed because in query-replace
RET should use the previous from->to pair from the history.

So if you want, you could change project-query-replace-regexp:
let-bind read-regexp-defaults-function around the call
of query-replace-read-args, and use a symbol at point as the default.

>>> And you can actually do this right now:
>>>
>>> - Enter command 'project-query-replace-regexp'
>>> - Press M-n, having the symbol at point picked up as FROM, hit return
>>> - Enter the replacement string and hit return
>> This is awesome! Did not know about that behavior, thank you for sharing!
>
> That capability actually comes with the "forward history" thing. Not very
> obvious, but when you learn about it, it's pretty nice.

Maybe the prompt should show some indication that the default
can be fetched by M-n?