use Ctrl-n instead of Alt-n on macOS (#1106)

* use Ctrl-n instead of Alt-n on macOS

* make ctrl-n instead of alt-n configurable

atuin-client/config.toml

@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@
 ## number of context lines to show when scrolling by pages
 # scroll_context_lines = 1
 
+## use ctrl instead of alt as the shortcut modifier key for numerical UI shortcuts
+## alt-0 .. alt-9
+# ctrl_n_shortcuts = false
+
 ## prevent commands matching any of these regexes from being written to history.
 ## Note that these regular expressions are unanchored, i.e. if they don't start
 ## with ^ or end with $, they'll match anywhere in the command.

atuin-client/src/settings.rs

@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ pub struct Settings {
     #[serde(with = "serde_regex", default = "RegexSet::empty")]
     pub cwd_filter: RegexSet,
     pub workspaces: bool,
+    pub ctrl_n_shortcuts: bool,
 
     // This is automatically loaded when settings is created. Do not set in
     // config! Keep secrets and settings apart.
@@ -380,6 +381,7 @@ impl Settings {
             .set_default("shell_up_key_binding", false)?
             .set_default("session_token", "")?
             .set_default("workspaces", false)?
+            .set_default("ctrl_n_shortcuts", false)?
             .add_source(
                 Environment::with_prefix("atuin")
                     .prefix_separator("_")

atuin/src/command/client/search/interactive.rs

@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ impl State {
         let ctrl = input.modifiers.contains(KeyModifiers::CONTROL);
         let alt = input.modifiers.contains(KeyModifiers::ALT);
 
+        // Use Ctrl-n instead of Alt-n?
+        let modfr = if settings.ctrl_n_shortcuts { ctrl } else { alt };
+
         // reset the state, will be set to true later if user really did change it
         self.switched_search_mode = false;
         match input.code {
@@ -115,7 +118,7 @@ impl State {
             KeyCode::Enter => {
                 return Some(self.results_state.selected());
             }
-            KeyCode::Char(c @ '1'..='9') if alt => {
+            KeyCode::Char(c @ '1'..='9') if modfr => {
                 let c = c.to_digit(10)? as usize;
                 return Some(self.results_state.selected() + c);
             }

docs/docs/config/config.md

@@ -231,3 +231,12 @@ history_filter = [
    "^innocuous-cmd .*--secret=.+"
 ]
 ```
+
+## macOS <kbd>Ctrl-n</kbd> key shortcuts
+
+macOS does not have an <kbd>Alt</kbd> key, although terminal emulators can often be configured to map the <kbd>Option</kbd> key to be used as <kbd>Alt</kbd>. *However*, remapping <kbd>Option</kbd> this way may prevent typing some characters, such as using <kbd>Option-3</kbd> to type `#` on the British English layout. For such a scenario, set the `ctrl_n_shortcuts` option to `true` in your config file to replace <kbd>Alt-0</kbd> to <kbd>Alt-9</kbd> shortcuts with <kbd>Ctrl-0</kbd> to <kbd>Ctrl-9</kbd> instead:
+
+```
+# Use Ctrl-0 .. Ctrl-9 instead of Alt-0 .. Alt-9 UI shortcuts
+ctrl_n_shortcuts = true
+```

docs/docs/key-binding.md

@@ -46,6 +46,15 @@ eval "$(atuin init zsh)"
 
 You can then choose to bind Atuin if needed, do this after the call to init.
 
+## <kbd>Ctrl-n</kbd> key shortcuts
+
+macOS does not have an <kbd>Alt</kbd> key, although terminal emulators can often be configured to map the <kbd>Option</kbd> key to be used as <kbd>Alt</kbd>. *However*, remapping <kbd>Option</kbd> this way may prevent typing some characters, such as using <kbd>Option-3</kbd> to type `#` on the British English layout. For such a scenario, set the `ctrl_n_shortcuts` option to `true` in your config file to replace <kbd>Alt-0</kbd> to <kbd>Alt-9</kbd> shortcuts with <kbd>Ctrl-0</kbd> to <kbd>Ctrl-9</kbd> instead:
+
+```
+# Use Ctrl-0 .. Ctrl-9 instead of Alt-0 .. Alt-9 UI shortcuts
+ctrl_n_shortcuts = true
+```
+
 ## zsh
 
 If you'd like to customize your bindings further, it's possible to do so with custom shell config: