Added support for multi-cursor comments to the comment plugin by MiguelRoldao · Pull Request #3543 · micro-editor/micro

MiguelRoldao · 2024-11-21T06:04:53Z

To add multi-cursor support I had to re-engineer the algorithm of the plug-in quite a bit. I tried to reuse as much code that was already implemented as possible to avoid introducing new bugs. I've tested some use cases and I haven't detected any problems so far.

The new algorithm has the following workings:

All the selected lines are taken from all the cursors and compiled into a table.
The lines table will be fed to toggleCommentSelection() which will (un)comment all of the lines, keeping indentation formatting.
The cursors will be restored to their correct position.

Note: All cursor logic is now contained in comment().

I also sneakily added a comment type for the language I'm developing in my master's thesis :P (https://freest-lang.github.io/)

Andriamanitra

I played around with this a bit and everything seems to work alright even in weird edge cases like multiple cursors on the same line, selections with comments inside them etc. It's really nice that the cursor position is now updated accordingly when a line gets commented.

The only slight annoyance I found is that if the selection ends in a newline, the line immediately after the selection gets commented too. This is not how it used to work, and not how I would like it to work. To reproduce:

Open a file like the one below

# some comment
print("hello")

print("world")

Select the first two lines by holding shift and pressing arrow down twice.
Comment selection. Before this PR you would get comments only on the first two lines, but now you get a # on the empty line too.

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

Andriamanitra

The latest changes introduced some bugs. I opened a PR in your fork with suggested fixes that you may use if you wish.

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

Andriamanitra · 2024-11-24T06:05:11Z

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

+            if cursor.CurSelection[endSel].X == 0 then
+                lines[cursor.CurSelection[endSel].Y] = nil
+                staticEnd = true
+            end


This can end up overwriting lines that were already set to true by another cursor.

Demo: https://asciinema.org/a/VB99WIg0Oo6HJAkqc4KVeHEPP

Well caught! I have merged your suggestions. It solves the bug, and didn't seem to change any other behavior.

Gavin-Holt · 2024-11-28T21:22:54Z

Hi,

Sorry to be late to this contribution.

But can I re-state a strong preference for comment characters at the start of the line. #2282. This is especially useful for commenting out sections that already contain comments:

void somefunc(int a)
{
//  if (a) {
//    a += 2;
// // After adding two we can print
//    printf("a = %d\n", a);
//  } else {
// // Print "none" if not a
//    printf("none");
//  }
}

I know others feel differently, so an optional setting seems the sensible solution.

Would it be possible to use the commenttype setting to indicate that comments reside at the start of the line?
e.g.

      "*.lua": {
        "commenttype": "^-- %s"
    },

Or would another setting item be required to indicate comment location?

      "*.lua": {
        "commenttype": "-- %s",
        "commentloc": "^"
    },

Sorry I can't offer a solution, I don't think I have the knowledge to get it close to right.

Kind Regards Gavin Holt

MiguelRoldao · 2024-11-28T22:49:16Z

I honestly prefer the way it is implemented as of now. Having the least amount of white space between the comment characters and the text (while keeping all the comment chars of a multiline comment in the same column).

However, it should be pretty straightforward to implement a "commentindent" option:

true (default): implemented behaviour.
false: ignores indentation and places the comment characters in the beginning or the line.

I'd have no problem dedicating an hour to this. However, I don't know if this feature is inside the scope of this PR. Maybe @Andriamanitra has something to say about it.

Andriamanitra · 2024-11-28T23:56:13Z

The indentation issue (#2282) is mostly unrelated so I would fix it in a separate PR, but I don't know the preferences of the maintainers (@dmaluka and @JoeKar).

Personally I think indented comments are way more readable, but I guess there's no harm in adding an option as long as the default behavior stays the same.

JoeKar · 2024-11-29T19:20:59Z

The indentation issue (#2282) is mostly unrelated so I would fix it in a separate PR, but I don't know the preferences of the maintainers (@dmaluka and @JoeKar).

I like as it is by default right now including the alignment. Furthermore I support this comment.
When I remember right, then there are languages and/or parsers getting into trouble in the moment the syntactic indentation is interrupted by a comment started at the beginning of the line, but I could remember wrong.

I guess there's no harm in adding an option as long as the default behavior stays the same.

Yep. But if so then independent of this PR.

JoeKar · 2025-03-01T20:06:19Z

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-VERSION = "1.0.0"
+VERSION = "1.1.0"


As discussed in #3673 (review) there is no need to change this version number, since the plugin is builtin.

Still changed and reverted with dba64db.

MiguelRoldao · 2025-11-11T21:27:03Z

Sorry I have been away. Sometimes life gets busy, and suddenly its been almost a year.

Anyways, the version is back to how it's supposed to be. Also merged with the master branch to resolve conflicts.

I have been using this PR since and haven't found any further issues.

Anything else that needs to be dealt with before merging @Andriamanitra @JoeKar ?

JoeKar · 2025-11-19T10:12:11Z

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

+    local curData = {}
+    -- gather cursor data and lines to (un)comment
+    for i = 0,#bp.Buf:getCursors()-1 do
+        local cursor = bp.Buf:getCursor(i)        


This line introduces trailing whitespaces, which are removed in 0165e41.
Looks like the whole history needs a cleanup.

Still introduced and removed with d867ff4.

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

yorkshirelandscape · 2026-02-26T14:57:29Z

So is the only thing remaining to separately add a PR to create an option to enable this behavior? Then the two could be merged to main together?

JoeKar · 2026-02-26T17:43:44Z

No, the PRs history requires a cleanup.
Sure, the whole PR can be squashed, since it right now only affects the comment.{md,lua}, but what about the next PR where we might have commits which need to be split logically.
This learning approach and effect helps us to review PRs.

yorkshirelandscape · 2026-02-26T17:46:01Z

No, the PRs history requires a cleanup. Sure, the whole PR can be squashed, since it right now only affects the comment.{md,lua}, but what about the next PR where we might have commits which need to be split logically. This learning approach and effect helps us to review PRs.

Ahh yes. I get what you meant now. If Miguel doesn't take care of it before long, I may take a stab at this.

JoeKar · 2026-04-04T09:01:55Z

Any news here?

…compatibility)

MiguelRoldao · 2026-04-05T21:43:16Z

Sorry for the delay. I've rebased this branch as requested as well as some history cleanup.

JoeKar

added exception for selections that end in a new line (for backwards compatibility) I'm unsure, if this should stay independent
bugfixes should be part of the first changing commit
removed unused code can stay independent, but shouldn't include this version change

JoeKar · 2026-04-12T12:45:38Z

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-VERSION = "1.0.0"
+VERSION = "1.1.0"


Still changed and reverted with dba64db.

JoeKar · 2026-04-12T12:47:10Z

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

+    local curData = {}
+    -- gather cursor data and lines to (un)comment
+    for i = 0,#bp.Buf:getCursors()-1 do
+        local cursor = bp.Buf:getCursor(i)        


Still introduced and removed with d867ff4.

JoeKar · 2026-04-12T12:47:54Z

runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua

-    bp.Cursor:StoreVisualX()
 end

+-- unused


No need to add this comment, when the whole function is removed with dba64db.

Andriamanitra reviewed Nov 21, 2024

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runtime/plugins/comment/comment.lua Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

Andriamanitra suggested changes Nov 24, 2024

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Andriamanitra approved these changes Nov 26, 2024

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MiguelRoldao force-pushed the master branch from c789c28 to 1c1a7d9 Compare December 16, 2024 19:28

JoeKar reviewed Mar 1, 2025

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Neko-Box-Coder mentioned this pull request Oct 3, 2025

fix(plugin): Fixed multi-cursor commenting #3873

Closed

MiguelRoldao changed the title ~~Added support for multi-cursor comments to the comment plugin (V1.1.0)~~ Added support for multi-cursor comments to the comment plugin Nov 11, 2025

JoeKar reviewed Nov 19, 2025

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MiguelRoldao force-pushed the master branch from fb2f136 to 5f52f1f Compare April 5, 2026 21:28

MiguelRoldao and others added 4 commits April 5, 2026 22:39

add support for multi-cursor comments

e512638

added exception for selections that end in a new line (for backwards …

d867ff4

…compatibility)

bugfixes

1419cdc

fixed versioning and removed unused code

dba64db

MiguelRoldao force-pushed the master branch from 5f52f1f to dba64db Compare April 5, 2026 21:40

JoeKar reviewed Apr 12, 2026

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