Select all matches not creating selections in VIM mode, not triggering Visual mode

[atahrijouti]

Check for existing issues

• [x] Completed

Describe the bug / provide steps to reproduce it

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6936595c-f12d-4a75-838f-9974dce296aa

Steps

• Have vim mode active
• Trigger the Search function
• Provide a search term that would find at least one match
• Trigger the Select all matches function

  Result

• Zed will visually show multiple cursors and a visual effect that highlights the matches
• Zed will not switch to visual mode
• Triggering the vim::Substitute function will only be applied to the character under the cursor(s)

  Expected

• Zed should switch to visual mode
• Triggering the vim::Substitute should be applied to all selections and not just the cursors cursor(s)

Observation

If visual mode is entered after selecting all matches, then vim::Right a few times, one can observe that the from the start of the VISUAL mark to the cursor exists a different selected area from the highlighted matches. One could say that search highlight isn't the same thing as VISUAL selection as VIM would consider it.

Environment

Zed: v0.143.7 (Zed) (mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-zed) OS: Windows 10.0.19045 Architecture: x86_64

If applicable, add mockups / screenshots to help explain present your vision of the feature

No response

If applicable, attach your Zed.log file to this issue.

No response

[CharlesChen0823]

IMO, select all matches should not switch_mode from normal to visual, if we want substitute, can using :%s/a/b/g to replace.

[atahrijouti]

vim::Substitute is but an example. The main issue is about the expectations of correlation between normal editor actions and vim mode. When you read Select all matches you expect it to select the matches and not just highlight them.

With Vim Mode inactive, Select all matches does select the all matches. Clicking on delete or backspace does remove all the matches and not just go backwards.

if we want substitute, can using :%s/a/b/g to replace.

The workflow you describe has these issues IMO

• it requires you to open a prompt and write in ED syntax
• Have no visual feedback as to what you're searching for or how it will be replaced
• Does not use the pre-existing capabilities of Zed