Persistent fish abbreviation file

[kendofriendo]

Since universal abbreviations are no longer supported, could it be feasible to use a new config file loaded under ~/.config/fish/ e.g. abbreviations.fish where abbreviations are stored? This way, users can continue to use $abbr foo , and the abbreviation would be appended to the file.

I am currently utilizing a similar solution using a function wherein I echo the abbreviations into a file and source the file in config.fish, but it requires reloading the fish shell every time an abbreviation is added and manually editing the file if I need to remove one.

[ajgringo619]

It already exists. Create an abbreviations file in $HOME/.config/fish/conf.d. This will be read at shell start, can be sourced as needed. This will also keep your $HOME/.config/fish/fish_variables file cleaner.

[kendofriendo]

Thank you I will move the file there, but the other problems remain where I have to reload the environment or source the file any time I add a new abbreviation, and I can't use the abbr function or abbr -e.

[ajgringo619]

I guess you could write your own abbr function to add, then update your current shell's abbreviations. But this won't help on other open terminals.

[faho]

We do not want an automatically reloading file, sorry.

You can build something yourself, like

set -g _abbr_time (path mtime -- ~/.config/fish/conf.d/abbr.fish)
function reload_abbr --on-event fish_prompt
    set -l time (path mtime -- ~/.config/fish/conf.d/abbr.fish)
    or return
    if test "$time" -ne "$_abbr_time" 2>/dev/null
        abbr -e (abbr --list)
        source ~/.config/fish/conf.d/abbr.fish
        set -g _abbr_time $time
    end
end

which will reload your abbr.fish any time it changes on a new prompt.

But this isn't something we want to incorporate into fish proper as it will reexecute arbitrary code.