: [[image:iciclesimage]] || *Previous:* [[Icicles - Object-Action Interaction]] || '''[[Icicles]]''' || IciclesIndex || *Next:* [[Icicles - Completion Methods and Styles]] || ---- == Icicles with Anything == Library [[Anything]] ([[anything.el]]) lets you define object types and associate actions with them. It provides [[command]] `anything', which you can use to apply an action to an object, choosing the object first by name. All objects (of all types) that have a name that matches your input are candidates. You can use command `anything' while in ''Icicle'' mode; it has the same behavior with '''Icicles''' as without it. '''Icicles''' also integrates some Anything features within its own [[completion]] environment, so that you can use '''Icicles''' features such as [[progressive completion]] at the same time. In particular, you can act on multiple Anything objects in the same command invocation, and you can act on them using multiple Anything actions. Command '''`icicle-anything'''' (alias '''`any'''') is just command `icicle-object-action' (alias '''`a'''') restricted to Anything types -- see [[Icicles - Object-Action Interaction]]. It is more convenient than `a' if you know that you want to use an Anything type, because the set of type candidates to choose from is more limited. When you act on an object of an Anything type, you are not prompted for the action ("''how''"). The default Anything action is applied, or you can choose a different Anything action. Command `any' (or command `a' when applied to an Anything type) is a [[multi-command]]: * `C-RET', `C-mouse-2', and so on perform the default Anything action on each chosen object. * `C-S-RET', `C-S-mouse-2', and so on, prompt you, for each chosen object, to choose one or more Anything actions (with completion). You can thus act on any number of Anything objects in any number of Anything ways, all in the same `any' command invocation. And you can of course use '''Icicles''' completion and [[Icicles - Cycling Completions|cycling]] to choose. User [[option]] '''`[[Icicles - Customization and General Tips#icicle-anything-transform-candidates-flag|icicle-anything-transform-candidates-flag]]'''' determines whether Anything function `anything-transform-candidates' is applied to displayed Anything candidates in '''Icicles'''. Here's an example of using command `any'. Let's assume that you have an `action' entry such as this in `anything-type-attributes' for the Anything type `command' (this is taken from library [[anything-config.el]]): 
(action ("Call interactively"
         . (lambda (command-name)
             (call-interactively (intern command-name))))
        ("Describe command"
         . (lambda (command-name)
             (describe-function (intern command-name))))
        ("Add command to kill ring" . kill-new)
        ("Go to command's definition"
         . (lambda (command-name)
             (find-function (intern command-name)))))
This defines four actions for objects of type `command', the default action being the first listed ("##Call interactively##"). You enter command `any', choose the Anything type `command', and then choose the command `icicle-face-list' to act on: M-x any RET What (type): command RET Which (command): icicle-face-list RET This invokes command `icicle-face-list', because the default Anything action for an object of type `command' is to call it. If you use `C-RET' instead of `RET' when choosing command `icicle-face-list', then you remain within the `any' invocation, and you can do something with another command after `icicle-face-list'. If you use `C-S-RET' when choosing a command, then you are prompted for the action to invoke for that command: Which (command): icicle-face-list C-S-RET How (action): Go to command's definition RET If you choose the Anything action "##Go to command's definition##", then, well, that's what happens: here, you go to the definition of `icicle-face-list'. Again, you could use `C-RET' instead of `RET', to perform this action on the command and then choose and apply (via `RET' or `C-RET') another action to the same command. After you've stopped (via `RET' or `C-g') acting on command `icicle-face-list', you can clear the [[minibuffer]] (using `M-k') and type another command to act on, and so on. Or, you can stop (via `RET' or `C-g') and end the invocation of command `any'. At each prompt, you can use ([[apropos completion|apropos]] or [[prefix completion|prefix]]) completion or cycling to pick a candidate. So, for instance, using completion, you could simply do this to choose `command', `icicle-face-list', and "##Go to command definition##": M-x any RET c RET face-l S-TAB C-S-RET g TAB RET '''Icicles''' enhances Anything by providing multi-command features, as well as by providing all of the other standard '''Icicles''' features: apropos and prefix completion, cycling, progressive completion, help on individual candidates, and so on. On the other hand, Anything by itself provides some features that '''Icicles''' does not exploit. The aim of command `any' is to give you the basic Anything features in an '''Icicles''' completion context. A significant behavior difference between Anything (that is, command `anything') and '''Icicles''' command `any' is that with `anything' only the object ''name'' is used for filtering, whereas with '''Icicles''' command `any' you first narrow down the potential candidates by ''type'', before the object name is matched (against objects of only that type). That is, with Anything, your input pattern is matched against every possible object of ''every possible type''. You then choose among the matches. If you want, after that wide-net matching you can cycle among only the matches of a given type (e.g. file), but matching against all other types has already taken place. This behavior of starting with typeless matching can be convenient sometimes (you need not specify the object type), but it can also be inconvenient (and unnecessarily slow) to match objects of types totally unrelated to what you're after. In such cases, it can require either a long input pattern or cycling among more candidates, to disambiguate among the hits. With '''Icicles''' command `any', you have the inconvenience of needing to specify first the type of object you want, but this has the advantage of eliminating searching among irrelevant types. Finally, remember that you can use both `anything' and `any' -- choose whichever is most convenient for the current task. ---- || *Previous:* [[Icicles - Object-Action Interaction]] || '''[[Icicles]]''' || IciclesIndex || *Next:* [[Icicles - Completion Methods and Styles]] || DrewsElispLibraries referenced here: Lisp:icicles.el CategoryCommands CategoryCompletion CategoryRegexp CategoryModes CategoryProgrammerUtils CategoryCode CategorySearchAndReplace