nvim-tree / nvim-tree/nvim-tree.lua

Provide interface to customize the comparing function between two nodes

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API PR please
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Description

Discussed in https://github.com/nvim-tree/nvim-tree.lua/discussions/2727

Originally posted by rennsax March 27, 2024
We can use the option sort.sorter to customize how the files are sorted. If a function is provided, the argument is a table of all nodes. After sorted by the user's function, nvim-tree still needs to perform merge sort on the result.

I just found the interface is too complex to customize (not to mention the performance issue) when I was trying to tweak nvim-tree to put some special files (like CMakeLists.txt) at the end.

Firstly, the interface can be more elegant if it just requires a function that compare two nodes with necessary information and return a boolean value indicating which one should precede. And the implementation of this function will be much more clear.

Secondly, I suggest that nvim-tree/explorer/sorts.lua could export some function utility for file sorting to ease the complexity of writing the comparing logic from scratch.

Is this a better design?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with lua/nvim-tree/explorer/sorters.lua, especially the current comparison logic around lines 100 and 133-143, and review the linked discussion for the unresolved design. Determine how a two-node comparator and reusable sorting utilities should fit the existing sort.sorter option; completion depends on agreeing on that interface and updating its behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
lua
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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