Implement the "disable column formatting" feature via a new command-line option, "--disable-columns". (Closes: #141929)

This should make 'aptitude search' more useful in scripting contexts or
other situations where its output is being used noninteractively.

5 files changed, 125 insertions, 15 deletions

diff --git a/doc/en/aptitude.xml b/doc/en/aptitude.xml
index e0cfb200..f383fef6 100644
--- a/doc/en/aptitude.xml
+++ b/doc/en/aptitude.xml
@@ -9439,6 +9439,20 @@ iuAU wesnoth-data                                  +930kB  0.8.7-1    0.8.8-1.0w
 	      </seg>
 	    </seglistitem>
 
+	    <seglistitem id='configCmdLine-Disable-Columns'>
+	      <seg><literal>Aptitude::CmdLine::Disable-Columns</literal></seg>
+	      <seg><literal>false</literal></seg>
+	      <seg>
+		If this option is enabled, the results of command-line
+		searches (performed via <literal>aptitude
+		search</literal>) will not be formatted into
+		fixed-width columns or truncated to the screen width.
+		This is equivalent to the <link
+		linkend='cmdlineOptionDisableColumns'><literal>--disable-columns</literal></link>
+		command-line option.
+	      </seg>
+	    </seglistitem>
+
 	    <seglistitem id='configCmdLine-Download-Only'>
 	      <seg><literal>Aptitude::CmdLine::Download-Only</literal></seg>
 	      <seg><literal>false</literal></seg>
@@ -9629,8 +9643,8 @@ iuAU wesnoth-data                                  +930kB  0.8.7-1    0.8.8-1.0w
 	      <seg><literal>Aptitude::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Installs</literal></seg>
 	      <seg><literal>false</literal></seg>
 	      <seg>
-		If this option is enabled, then when the
-		<quote>safe</quote> dependency resolver has been
+		If this option is <literal>true</literal>, then when
+		the <quote>safe</quote> dependency resolver has been
 		activated via <link
 		linkend='cmdlineSafeResolver'><literal>--safe-resolver</literal></link>,
 		the resolver will not be allowed to install packages
diff --git a/doc/en/manpage.xml b/doc/en/manpage.xml
index 3f939ee7..e3ae7046 100644
--- a/doc/en/manpage.xml
+++ b/doc/en/manpage.xml
@@ -1006,6 +1006,48 @@ i A texlive-latex-extra Conflicts textopo</screen>
 	</listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
+      <varlistentry id='cmdlineOptionDisableColumns'>
+	<term><literal>--disable-columns</literal></term>
+
+	<listitem>
+	  <para>
+	    This option causes <literal>aptitude search</literal> to
+	    output its results without any special formatting.  In
+	    particular: normally &aptitude; will add whitespace or
+	    truncate search results in an attempt to fit its results
+	    into vertical <quote>columns</quote>.  With this flag,
+	    each line will be formed by replacing any format escapes
+	    in the format string with the correponding text; column
+	    widths will be ignored.
+	  </para>
+
+	  <para>
+	    For instance, the first few lines of output from <quote><literal>aptitude search -F '%p %V' --disable-columns libedataserver</literal></quote> might be:
+	  </para>
+
+	  <screen>disksearch 1.2.1-3
+hp-search-mac 0.1.3
+libbsearch-ruby 1.5-5
+libbsearch-ruby1.8 1.5-5
+libclass-dbi-abstractsearch-perl 0.07-2
+libdbix-fulltextsearch-perl 0.73-10</screen>
+
+          <para>
+            As in the above example,
+            <literal>--disable-columns</literal> is often useful in
+            combination with a custom display format set using the
+            command-line option <link
+            linkend='cmdlineOptionFormat'><literal>-F</literal></link>.
+	  </para>
+
+	  <para>
+	    This corresponds to the configuration option
+	    <literal><link
+	    linkend='configCmdLine-Disable-Columns'>Aptitude::CmdLine::Disable-Columns</link></literal>.
+	  </para>
+	</listitem>
+      </varlistentry>
+
       <varlistentry>
 	<term><literal>-D</literal>, <literal>--show-deps</literal></term>
 
@@ -1058,6 +1100,12 @@ i A texlive-latex-extra Conflicts textopo</screen>
 	  </para>
 
 	  <para>
+	    The command-line option <link
+	    linkend='cmdlineOptionDisableColumns'><literal>--disable-columns</literal></link>
+	    is often useful in combination with <literal>-F</literal>.
+	  </para>
+
+	  <para>
 	    This corresponds to the configuration option <literal><link linkend='configCmdLine-Package-Display-Format'>Aptitude::CmdLine::Package-Display-Format</link></literal>.
 	  </para>
 	</listitem>
diff --git a/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.cc b/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.cc
index 45bf3f5f..e76376c9 100644
--- a/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.cc
+++ b/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.cc
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ using namespace std;
 namespace cw = cwidget;
 using cwidget::util::transcode;
 using namespace aptitude::matching;
+using namespace cwidget::config;
 
-class search_result_parameters : public cwidget::config::column_parameters
+class search_result_parameters : public column_parameters
 {
   pkg_match_result *r;
 public:
@@ -91,7 +92,8 @@ public:
 
 // FIXME: apt-cache does lots of tricks to make this fast.  Should I?
 int cmdline_search(int argc, char *argv[], const char *status_fname,
-		   string display_format, string width, string sort)
+		   string display_format, string width, string sort,
+		   bool disable_columns)
 {
   int real_width=-1;
 
@@ -123,7 +125,7 @@ int cmdline_search(int argc, char *argv[], const char *status_fname,
       return -1;
     }
 
-  cwidget::config::column_definition_list *columns =
+  column_definition_list *columns =
     parse_columns(wdisplay_format,
 		  pkg_item::pkg_columnizer::parse_column_type,
 		  pkg_item::pkg_columnizer::defaults);
@@ -201,15 +203,53 @@ int cmdline_search(int argc, char *argv[], const char *status_fname,
   for(vector<pair<pkgCache::PkgIterator, pkg_match_result *> >::iterator i=output.begin();
       i!=output.end(); ++i)
     {
-      cwidget::config::column_parameters *p =
+      column_parameters *p =
 	new search_result_parameters(i->second);
+      pkg_item::pkg_columnizer columnizer(i->first,
+					  i->first.VersionList(),
+					  *columns,
+					  0);
+      if(disable_columns)
+	{
+	  // Instantiate the format string without clipping or
+	  // expanding columns.
+	  //
+	  // TODO: this should move into cwidget in the future, as a new
+	  // mode of operation for layout_columns().
+	  std::wstring output;
+
+	  for(column_definition_list::iterator it = columns->begin();
+	      it != columns->end();
+	      ++it)
+	    {
+	      if(it->type == column_definition::COLUMN_LITERAL)
+		output += it->arg;
+	      else
+		{
+		  eassert(it->type == column_definition::COLUMN_GENERATED ||
+			  it->type == column_definition::COLUMN_PARAM);
+
+		  if(it->type == column_definition::COLUMN_GENERATED)
+		    {
+		      cwidget::column_disposition disp = columnizer.setup_column(it->ival);
+		      output += disp.text;
+		    }
+		  else
+		    {
+		      if(p->param_count() <= it->ival)
+			output += L"###";
+		      else
+			output += p->get_param(it->ival);
+		    }
+		}
+	    }
 
-      printf("%ls\n",
-	     pkg_item::pkg_columnizer(i->first,
-				      i->first.VersionList(),
-				      *columns,
-				      0).layout_columns(real_width==-1?screen_width:real_width,
-							*p).c_str());
+	  printf("%ls\n", output.c_str());
+	}
+      else
+	printf("%ls\n",
+	       columnizer.layout_columns(real_width==-1?screen_width:real_width,
+					 *p).c_str());
 
       // Note that this deletes the whole result, so we can't re-use
       // the list.
diff --git a/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.h b/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.h
index ead96a70..284f2601 100644
--- a/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.h
+++ b/src/cmdline/cmdline_search.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  */
 
 int cmdline_search(int argc, char *argv[], const char *status_fname,
-		   std::string display_format, std::string width, std::string sort);
+		   std::string display_format, std::string width, std::string sort,
+		   bool disable_columns);
 
 #endif // CMDLINE_SEARCH_H
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index f105d0eb..d4bd2107 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -207,7 +207,8 @@ enum {
   OPTION_SAFE_RESOLVER,
   OPTION_FULL_RESOLVER,
   OPTION_ARCH_ONLY,
-  OPTION_NOT_ARCH_ONLY
+  OPTION_NOT_ARCH_ONLY,
+  OPTION_DISABLE_COLUMNS
 };
 int getopt_result;
 
@@ -230,6 +231,7 @@ option opts[]={
   {"prompt", 0, NULL, 'P'},
   {"sort", 1, NULL, 'O'},
   {"target-release", 1, NULL, 't'},
+  {"disable-columns", 0, &getopt_result, OPTION_DISABLE_COLUMNS},
   {"no-new-installs", 0, &getopt_result, OPTION_NO_NEW_INSTALLS},
   {"no-new-upgrades", 0, &getopt_result, OPTION_NO_NEW_UPGRADES},
   {"allow-new-installs", 0, &getopt_result, OPTION_ALLOW_NEW_INSTALLS},
@@ -282,6 +284,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   bool safe_resolver_no_new_installs = aptcfg->FindB(PACKAGE "::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Installs", false);
   bool safe_resolver_no_new_upgrades = aptcfg->FindB(PACKAGE "::Safe-Resolver::No-New-Upgrades", false);
   bool always_use_safe_resolver = aptcfg->FindB(PACKAGE "::Always-Use-Safe-Resolver", false);
+  bool disable_columns = aptcfg->FindB(PACKAGE "::CmdLine::Disable-Columns", false);
   bool safe_resolver_option = false;
   bool full_resolver_option = false;
 
@@ -520,6 +523,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	    case OPTION_ARCH_ONLY:
 	      arch_only = true;
 	      break;
+	    case OPTION_DISABLE_COLUMNS:
+	      disable_columns = true;
+	      break;
 	    default:
 	      fprintf(stderr, "%s",
 		      _("WEIRDNESS: unknown option code received\n"));
@@ -599,7 +605,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	    return cmdline_search(argc-optind, argv+optind,
 				  status_fname,
 				  display_format, width,
-				  sort_policy);
+				  sort_policy,
+				  disable_columns);
 	  else if(!strcasecmp(argv[optind], "why"))
 	    return cmdline_why(argc - optind, argv + optind,
 			       status_fname, verbose, false);