feat: add mergeindicators option (gokcehan#2330)

* feat: add `mergeindicators` option

* docs: update `CHANGELOG.md`

* docs: add documentation

* style: fix typo

Co-authored-by: Joe Lim <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: Joe Lim <[email protected]>

Author: CatsDeservePets

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 
 - A new server command `list` is added to print the IDs of all currently connected clients (#2314).
 - The `previewer` and `cleaner` scripts now have their `stderr` output logged (#2316).
+- A new option `mergeindicators` is added to reduce the gap before filenames, by merging tag and selection indicators into a single column (#2330).
 
 ### Fixed
 

doc.md

@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ The following options can be used to customize the behavior of lf:
 	menufmt           string    (default "\033[0m")
 	menuheaderfmt     string    (default "\033[1m")
 	menuselectfmt     string    (default "\033[7m")
+	mergeindicators   bool      (default false)
 	mouse             bool      (default false)
 	number            bool      (default false)
 	numberfmt         string    (default "\033[33m")
@@ -1018,6 +1019,11 @@ Format string of the header row in the menu.
 
 Format string of the currently selected item in the menu.
 
+## mergeindicators (bool) (default false)
+
+When `mergeindicators` is enabled, tag and selection indicators are drawn in a single column to reduce the gap before filenames.
+If a file is both tagged and selected, the tag uses the selection format (e.g. `copyfmt`) instead of `tagfmt`.
+
 ## mouse (bool) (default false)
 
 Send mouse events as input.

doc.txt

@@ -299,6 +299,7 @@ The following options can be used to customize the behavior of lf:
     menufmt           string    (default "\033[0m")
     menuheaderfmt     string    (default "\033[1m")
     menuselectfmt     string    (default "\033[7m")
+    mergeindicators   bool      (default false)
     mouse             bool      (default false)
     number            bool      (default false)
     numberfmt         string    (default "\033[33m")
@@ -1098,6 +1099,13 @@ menuselectfmt (string) (default \033[7m)
 
 Format string of the currently selected item in the menu.
 
+mergeindicators (bool) (default false)
+
+When mergeindicators is enabled, tag and selection indicators are drawn
+in a single column to reduce the gap before filenames. If a file is both
+tagged and selected, the tag uses the selection format (e.g. copyfmt)
+instead of tagfmt.
+
 mouse (bool) (default false)
 
 Send mouse events as input.

eval.go

@@ -120,6 +120,8 @@ func (e *setExpr) eval(app *app, _ []string) {
 		err = applyBoolOpt(&gOpts.incfilter, e)
 	case "incsearch", "noincsearch", "incsearch!":
 		err = applyBoolOpt(&gOpts.incsearch, e)
+	case "mergeindicators", "nomergeindicators", "mergeindicators!":
+		err = applyBoolOpt(&gOpts.mergeindicators, e)
 	case "mouse", "nomouse", "mouse!":
 		err = applyBoolOpt(&gOpts.mouse, e)
 		if err == nil {

lf.1

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .\" Automatically generated by Pandoc 3.7.0.2
 .\"
-.TH "LF" "1" "2025\-12\-21" "r41" "DOCUMENTATION"
+.TH "LF" "1" "2025\-12\-31" "r41" "DOCUMENTATION"
 .SH NAME
 lf \- terminal file manager
 .SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@ infotimefmtold    string    (default \(aqJan _2  2006\(aq)
 menufmt           string    (default \(dq\(rs033[0m\(dq)
 menuheaderfmt     string    (default \(dq\(rs033[1m\(dq)
 menuselectfmt     string    (default \(dq\(rs033[7m\(dq)
+mergeindicators   bool      (default false)
 mouse             bool      (default false)
 number            bool      (default false)
 numberfmt         string    (default \(dq\(rs033[33m\(dq)
@@ -972,6 +973,12 @@ Format string of the menu.
 Format string of the header row in the menu.
 .SS menuselectfmt (string) (default \f[CR]\(rs033[7m\f[R])
 Format string of the currently selected item in the menu.
+.SS mergeindicators (bool) (default false)
+When \f[CR]mergeindicators\f[R] is enabled, tag and selection indicators
+are drawn in a single column to reduce the gap before filenames.
+If a file is both tagged and selected, the tag uses the selection format
+(e.g.
+\f[CR]copyfmt\f[R]) instead of \f[CR]tagfmt\f[R].
 .SS mouse (bool) (default false)
 Send mouse events as input.
 .SS number (bool) (default false)

opts.go

@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ var gOpts struct {
 	menufmt          string
 	menuheaderfmt    string
 	menuselectfmt    string
+	mergeindicators  bool
 	mouse            bool
 	number           bool
 	numberfmt        string
@@ -240,6 +241,7 @@ func init() {
 	gOpts.menufmt = "\033[0m"
 	gOpts.menuheaderfmt = "\033[1m"
 	gOpts.menuselectfmt = "\033[7m"
+	gOpts.mergeindicators = false
 	gOpts.mouse = false
 	gOpts.number = false
 	gOpts.numberfmt = "\033[33m"

ui.go

@@ -419,6 +419,12 @@ func (win *win) printDir(ui *ui, dir *dir, context *dirContext, dirStyle *dirSty
 		}
 	}
 
+	indOff, tagOff, nameOff := lnwidth, lnwidth, lnwidth+1
+	if !gOpts.mergeindicators {
+		tagOff++
+		nameOff++
+	}
+
 	visualSelections := dir.visualSelections()
 	for i, f := range dir.files[beg:end] {
 		st := dirStyle.colors.get(f)
@@ -458,8 +464,18 @@ func (win *win) printDir(ui *ui, dir *dir, context *dirContext, dirStyle *dirSty
 				fmtStr = gOpts.cutfmt
 			}
 		}
+
+		tag := " "
+		if val, ok := context.tags[path]; ok && len(val) > 0 {
+			tag = val
+		}
+
 		if fmtStr != "" {
-			win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth, i, parseEscapeSequence(fmtStr), " ")
+			ind := " "
+			if gOpts.mergeindicators {
+				ind = tag
+			}
+			win.print(ui.screen, indOff, i, parseEscapeSequence(fmtStr), ind)
 		}
 
 		// make space for select marker, and leave another space at the end
@@ -469,22 +485,21 @@ func (win *win) printDir(ui *ui, dir *dir, context *dirContext, dirStyle *dirSty
 			maxWidth--
 		}
 
-		tag := " "
-		if val, ok := context.tags[path]; ok && len(val) > 0 {
-			tag = val
-		}
-
 		var icon []rune
 		var iconDef iconDef
 		if gOpts.icons {
 			iconDef = dirStyle.icons.get(f)
 			icon = slices.Concat([]rune(iconDef.icon), []rune{' '})
 		}
 
-		// subtract space for tag and icon
-		maxFilenameWidth := maxWidth - 1 - runeSliceWidth(icon)
+		// subtract space for icon
+		maxFilenameWidth := maxWidth - runeSliceWidth(icon)
+		// subtract space for tag if not merged with selection marker
+		if !gOpts.mergeindicators {
+			maxFilenameWidth--
+		}
 
-		info, custom, off := fileInfo(f, dir, userWidth, groupWidth, customWidth)
+		info, custom, customOff := fileInfo(f, dir, userWidth, groupWidth, customWidth)
 		infolen := len(info)
 		showInfo := infolen > 0 && 2*infolen < maxWidth
 		if showInfo {
@@ -498,7 +513,7 @@ func (win *win) printDir(ui *ui, dir *dir, context *dirContext, dirStyle *dirSty
 
 		if showInfo {
 			filename = append(filename, []rune(info)...)
-			off += lnwidth + 2 + runeSliceWidth(icon) + maxFilenameWidth
+			customOff += nameOff + runeSliceWidth(icon) + maxFilenameWidth
 		}
 
 		if i == dir.pos {
@@ -513,37 +528,41 @@ func (win *win) printDir(ui *ui, dir *dir, context *dirContext, dirStyle *dirSty
 			}
 
 			// print tag separately as it can contain color escape sequences
-			win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth+1, i, st, fmt.Sprintf(cursorFmt, tag))
+			if !gOpts.mergeindicators || fmtStr == "" {
+				win.print(ui.screen, tagOff, i, st, fmt.Sprintf(cursorFmt, tag))
+			}
 
 			line := slices.Concat(icon, filename, []rune{' '})
-			win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth+2, i, st, fmt.Sprintf(cursorFmt, string(line)))
+			win.print(ui.screen, nameOff, i, st, fmt.Sprintf(cursorFmt, string(line)))
 
 			// print over the empty space we reserved for the custom info
 			if showInfo && custom != "" {
-				win.print(ui.screen, off, i, st, fmt.Sprintf(cursorFmt, stripTermSequence(custom)))
+				win.print(ui.screen, customOff, i, st, fmt.Sprintf(cursorFmt, stripTermSequence(custom)))
 			}
 		} else {
-			if tag == " " {
-				win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth+1, i, st, " ")
-			} else {
-				tagStr := fmt.Sprintf(optionToFmtstr(gOpts.tagfmt), tag)
-				win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth+1, i, tcell.StyleDefault, tagStr)
+			if !gOpts.mergeindicators || fmtStr == "" {
+				if tag == " " {
+					win.print(ui.screen, tagOff, i, st, " ")
+				} else {
+					tagStr := fmt.Sprintf(optionToFmtstr(gOpts.tagfmt), tag)
+					win.print(ui.screen, tagOff, i, tcell.StyleDefault, tagStr)
+				}
 			}
 
 			if len(icon) > 0 {
 				iconStyle := st
 				if iconDef.hasStyle {
 					iconStyle = iconDef.style
 				}
-				win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth+2, i, iconStyle, string(icon))
+				win.print(ui.screen, nameOff, i, iconStyle, string(icon))
 			}
 
 			line := slices.Concat(filename, []rune{' '})
-			win.print(ui.screen, lnwidth+2+runeSliceWidth(icon), i, st, string(line))
+			win.print(ui.screen, nameOff+runeSliceWidth(icon), i, st, string(line))
 
 			// print over the empty space we reserved for the custom info
 			if showInfo && custom != "" {
-				win.print(ui.screen, off, i, st, custom)
+				win.print(ui.screen, customOff, i, st, custom)
 			}
 		}
 	}