`ShowCommandHelp` (F1), with fuzzy input, doesn't consistently find all relevant topics, sometimes display single match in a list instead of opening the topic

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
csharp, powershell
Domain
cli

Research direction

Start by reproducing the F1 ShowCommandHelp cases described in the issue: content, item, and variables in PowerShell 7.4. Check how fuzzy command and about_* topic matches are collected and presented. Done means all relevant matches are found consistently, a single match opens directly, and multiple matches are presented so the user can select a topic.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Area-CommandHelp Issue-Enhancement
Prerequisites
  • Write a descriptive title.
  • Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
  • Search the existing issues, especially the pinned issues.
Exception report
N/A
Screenshot

N/A

Environment data
PS Version: 7.4.0-preview.1
PS HostName: ConsoleHost
PSReadLine Version: 2.2.6
PSReadLine EditMode: Emacs
OS: Darwin JDoes-MacBook-Pro.local 22.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 22.2.0: Fri Nov 11 02:03:51 PST 2022; root:xnu-8792.61.2~4/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000 arm64
BufferWidth: 180
BufferHeight: 60
Steps to reproduce

Even though it isn't currently documented, ShowCommandHelp also recognizes parts of conceptual about_* topic titles and partial command names.

However,

  • this recognition is inconsistent
  • sometimes, instead of displaying what is seemingly a single matching topic directly, it is presented in a list as if multiple topics had matched.
# OK: Shows list of matching command help topics: Add-Content, Clear-Content, ...
PS> content # <- press F1 here

# !! about_* topic seemingly SHADOWS command lookup: only about_PSItem is shown, not also Get-Item, ...
PS> item # <- press F1 here

# !! Even though *two* matching about_* topics exist - about_Automatic_Variables and about_Variables - 
# !! only *one* is shown (about_Automatic_Variables), and unexpectedly in a *list* instead of directly.
PS> variables # <- press F1 here

Related issue, specific to language keywords:

  • #3570

Also, with respect to the inability to select a topic of interest when multiple ones match:

  • #3572
Expected behavior

See above.

Actual behavior

See above.

Dominant language
C#
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