Error on :change-current-directory to subdirectory of hidden directory

[heliostatic]

Trying to change directory to ~/.config/helix when I found this error. Semi-related question: is it possible via config to automatically change the working directory to the directory opened with helix, instead of the current shell path when opening (e.g. hx ~/code/some-directory sets that to the cwd even when executed in `~/some/other/directory)?

CleanShot.2021-08-19.at.22.26.53.mp4

[archseer]

This looks like a missing tilde expansion, you likely need to provide the full directory path? ~ is a shell abstraction and the OS doesn't expand it for you.

[heliostatic]

This looks like a missing tilde expansion, you likely need to provide the full directory path? ~ is a shell abstraction and the OS doesn't expand it for you.

I wondered if this was the case, but the subdirectory listing is working fine inside helix. You're right that providing the full path works, but now I'm curious why the behavior is different between the listing and changing.

[archseer]

That's because we expand the tilde there, as well as hide it on document names:

helix/helix-view/src/document.rs

Lines 320 to 348 in 16bf8e1

	/// Expands tilde `~` into users home directory if avilable, otherwise returns the path
	/// unchanged. The tilde will only be expanded when present as the first component of the path
	/// and only slash follows it.
	pub fn expand_tilde(path: &Path) -> PathBuf {
	let mut components = path.components().peekable();
	if let Some(Component::Normal(c)) = components.peek() {
	if c == &"~" {
	if let Ok(home) = helix_core::home_dir() {
	// it's ok to unwrap, the path starts with `~`
	return home.join(path.strip_prefix("~").unwrap());
	}
	}
	}
	path.to_path_buf()
	}
	/// Replaces users home directory from `path` with tilde `~` if the directory
	/// is available, otherwise returns the path unchanged.
	pub fn fold_home_dir(path: &Path) -> PathBuf {
	if let Ok(home) = helix_core::home_dir() {
	if path.starts_with(&home) {
	// it's ok to unwrap, the path starts with home dir
	return PathBuf::from("~").join(path.strip_prefix(&home).unwrap());
	}
	}
	path.to_path_buf()
	}

You should be able to call expand_tilde on the argument inside the command:

helix/helix-term/src/commands.rs

Lines 1830 to 1847 in 16bf8e1

	fn change_current_directory(
	cx: &mut compositor::Context,
	args: &[&str],
	_event: PromptEvent,
	) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
	let dir = args.first().context("target directory not provided")?;
	if let Err(e) = std::env::set_current_dir(dir) {
	bail!("Couldn't change the current working directory: {:?}", e);
	}
	let cwd = std::env::current_dir().context("Couldn't get the new working directory")?;
	cx.editor.set_status(format!(
	"Current working directory is now {}",
	cwd.display()
	));
	Ok(())
	}