Counsel M-x always shows "^"

Question

I installed Counsel/Ivy/Swiper and so far everything works fine. But when I call counsel-M-x via key bind M-x an "^" char is always added. I have no clue why this is happening and how to get rid of it (it does not interfere with the counsel-M-x command, it is just annoying). I'm using emacs on OS X and remapped the Meta key to the Command key (setq mac-command-modifier 'meta), but even with Alt as standard Meta key "^" is automatically inserted when calling counsel-M-x.

I use the basic settings provided here

(ivy-mode 1)
(setq ivy-use-virtual-buffers t)
(setq enable-recursive-minibuffers t)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'counsel-M-x)

mkcms · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-17T21:50:36.017

31

ivy-initial-inputs-alist is a variable that controls the default minibuffer contents when using ivy (which is used by counsel).

The default "^" string means that if you type something immediately after this string only completion candidates that begin with what you typed are shown.

You can remove this default string in counsel-M-x command with:

(setcdr (assoc 'counsel-M-x ivy-initial-inputs-alist) "")

Or to remove this initial input in all commands:

(setq ivy-initial-inputs-alist nil)

edited Feb 17 '18 at 21:50

answered Feb 15 '18 at 11:45

mkcms

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Just to be clear: if you do remove this, it will change the search behavior to match substrings. I think the default of matching only the beginning is useful, and you can just hit space if you do want to search for a `^ substring`. – glucas Feb 15 '18 at 13:09
3

@glucas I think your wording is a bit exaggerated - the search behaviour doesn't change (search behaviour is controlled by `ivy--regex-function`), it's the default initial input that changes. Everyone is free to their preferences there. I, for example, only keep the initial `^` for `man`/`woman`. – Basil Feb 15 '18 at 15:16
3

@Basil Fair point, thanks. I mostly wanted to make clear that this is not just a cosmetic change as the OP implies in the question. – glucas Feb 15 '18 at 17:49

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 02 '20 at 20:55

Setting ivy-initial-inputs-alist to an empty string for counsel-M-x specifically can be done via the M-x customize-option RET ivy-initial-inputs-alist RET interface.

Shown here as a lisp-expression

'((counsel-minor . "^+")
  (counsel-package . "^+")
  (counsel-org-capture . "^")
  (counsel-M-x . "")
  (counsel-describe-symbol . "^")
  (org-refile . "^")
  (org-agenda-refile . "^")
  (org-capture-refile . "^")
  (Man-completion-table . "^")
  (woman . "^"))

Counsel M-x always shows "^"

2 Answers2