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diff --git a/runtime/doc/job_control.txt b/runtime/doc/job_control.txt
index 1aa7ce06d6..e57015db22 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/job_control.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/job_control.txt
@@ -1,46 +1,36 @@
-*job_control.txt* For Nvim. {Nvim}
+*job_control.txt* Nvim
NVIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Thiago de Arruda
-Nvim's facilities for job control *job-control*
+Nvim job control *job-control*
-1. Introduction |job-control-intro|
-2. Usage |job-control-usage|
+Job control is a way to perform multitasking in Nvim, so scripts can spawn and
+control multiple processes without blocking the current Nvim instance.
-==============================================================================
-1. Introduction *job-control-intro*
+ Type |gO| to see the table of contents.
-Job control is a simple way to perform multitasking in vimscript. Wikipedia
-contains a more generic/detailed description:
+==============================================================================
+Concepts
-"Job control in computing refers to the control of multiple tasks or Jobs on a
-computer system, ensuring that they each have access to adequate resources to
-perform correctly, that competition for limited resources does not cause a
-deadlock where two or more jobs are unable to complete, resolving such
-situations where they do occur, and terminating jobs that, for any reason, are
-not performing as expected."
+Job Id *job-id*
-In a few words: It allows a vimscript programmer to concurrently spawn and
-control multiple processes without blocking the current Nvim instance.
+When a job starts it is assigned a number, unique for the life of the current
+Nvim session. Functions like |jobstart()| return job ids. Functions like
+|jobsend()|, |jobstop()|, |rpcnotify()|, and |rpcrequest()| take job ids.
-Nvim's job control was designed to be simple and familiar to vimscript
-programmers, instead of being very powerful but complex. Unlike Vim's
-facilities for calling with external commands, job control does not depend on
-available shells, instead relying on OS functionality for process management.
+The job's stdio streams are represented as a |channel|. It is possible to send
+and recieve raw bytes, or use |msgpack-rpc|.
+==============================================================================
+Usage *job-control-usage*
-Internally, Nvim job control is powered by libuv, which has a nice
-cross-platform API for managing processes. See https://github.com/libuv/libuv
-for details.
+To control jobs, use the "job…" family of functions: |jobstart()|,
+|jobsend()|, |jobstop()|.
-==============================================================================
-2. Usage *job-control-usage*
+Example: >
-Job control is achieved by calling a combination of the |jobstart()|,
-|jobsend()| and |jobstop()| functions. Here's an example:
->
- function! s:JobHandler(job_id, data, event) dict
+ function! s:OnEvent(job_id, data, event) dict
if a:event == 'stdout'
let str = self.shell.' stdout: '.join(a:data)
elseif a:event == 'stderr'
@@ -52,41 +42,36 @@ Job control is achieved by calling a combination of the |jobstart()|,
call append(line('$'), str)
endfunction
let s:callbacks = {
- \ 'on_stdout': function('s:JobHandler'),
- \ 'on_stderr': function('s:JobHandler'),
- \ 'on_exit': function('s:JobHandler')
+ \ 'on_stdout': function('s:OnEvent'),
+ \ 'on_stderr': function('s:OnEvent'),
+ \ 'on_exit': function('s:OnEvent')
\ }
let job1 = jobstart(['bash'], extend({'shell': 'shell 1'}, s:callbacks))
let job2 = jobstart(['bash', '-c', 'for i in {1..10}; do echo hello $i!; sleep 1; done'], extend({'shell': 'shell 2'}, s:callbacks))
+To test the above script, copy it to a file ~/foo.vim and run it: >
+ nvim -u ~/foo.vim
<
-To test the above, copy it to the file ~/jobcontrol.vim and start with a clean
-nvim instance:
->
- nvim -u NONE -S ~/jobcontrol.vim
-<
-Here's what is happening:
-
-- Two bash instances are spawned by |jobstart()| with their stdin/stdout/stderr
- connected to nvim.
-- The first shell is idle, waiting to read commands from its stdin.
-- The second shell is started with the -c argument, causing it to execute a
- command then exit. In this case, the command is a for loop that will print 0
- through 9 then exit.
-- The `JobHandler()` function is a callback passed to |jobstart()| to handle
- various job events. It takes care of displaying stdout/stderr received from
- the shells.
-- The arguments passed to `JobHandler()` are:
-
- 0: The job id
- 1: If the event is "stdout" or "stderr", a list with lines read from the
- corresponding stream. For "exit", it is the status returned by the
- program.
- 2: The event type, which is "stdout", "stderr" or "exit".
+Description of what happens:
+ - Two bash shells are spawned by |jobstart()| with their stdin/stdout/stderr
+ streams connected to nvim.
+ - The first shell is idle, waiting to read commands from its stdin.
+ - The second shell is started with -c which executes the command (a for-loop
+ printing 0 through 9) and then exits.
+ - `JobHandler()` callback is passed to |jobstart()| to handle various job
+ events. It displays stdout/stderr data received from the shells.
+
+For |on_stdout| and |on_stderr| see |channel-callback|.
+ *on_exit*
+Arguments passed to on_exit callback:
+ 0: |job-id|
+ 1: Exit-code of the process.
+ 2: Event type: "exit"
+
Note: Buffered stdout/stderr data which has not been flushed by the sender
- will not trigger the "stdout" callback (but if the process ends, the
- "exit" callback will be triggered).
+ will not trigger the on_stdout/on_stderr callback (but if the process
+ ends, the on_exit callback will be invoked).
For example, "ruby -e" buffers output, so small strings will be
buffered unless "auto-flushing" ($stdout.sync=true) is enabled. >
function! Receive(job_id, data, event)
@@ -97,54 +82,64 @@ Here's what is happening:
\ {'on_stdout': 'Receive'})
< https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/1592
-The options dictionary is passed as the "self" variable to the callback
-function. Here's a more object-oriented version of the above:
->
- let Shell = {}
+ Note 2:
+ Job event handlers may receive partial (incomplete) lines. For a given
+ invocation of on_stdout/on_stderr, `a:data` is not guaranteed to end
+ with a newline.
+ - `abcdefg` may arrive as `['abc']`, `['defg']`.
+ - `abc\nefg` may arrive as `['abc', '']`, `['efg']` or `['abc']`,
+ `['','efg']`, or even `['ab']`, `['c','efg']`.
+ Easy way to deal with this: initialize a list as `['']`, then append
+ to it as follows: >
+ let s:chunks = ['']
+ func! s:on_stdout(job_id, data, event) dict
+ let s:chunks[-1] .= a:data[0]
+ call extend(s:chunks, a:data[1:])
+ endf
+<
- function Shell.on_stdout(job_id, data) dict
- call append(line('$'), self.get_name().' stdout: '.join(a:data))
- endfunction
+The |jobstart-options| dictionary is passed as |self| to the callback.
+The above example could be written in this "object-oriented" style: >
- function Shell.on_stderr(job_id, data) dict
- call append(line('$'), self.get_name().' stderr: '.join(a:data))
- endfunction
+ let Shell = {}
- function Shell.on_exit(job_id, data) dict
- call append(line('$'), self.get_name().' exited')
+ function Shell.on_stdout(_job_id, data, event)
+ call append(line('$'),
+ \ printf('[%s] %s: %s', a:event, self.name, join(a:data[:-2])))
endfunction
- function Shell.get_name() dict
- return 'shell '.self.name
- endfunction
+ let Shell.on_stderr = function(Shell.on_stdout)
- function Shell.new(name, ...) dict
- let instance = extend(copy(g:Shell), {'name': a:name})
- let argv = ['bash']
- if a:0 > 0
- let argv += ['-c', a:1]
- endif
- let instance.id = jobstart(argv, instance)
- return instance
+ function Shell.on_exit(job_id, _data, event)
+ let msg = printf('job %d ("%s") finished', a:job_id, self.name)
+ call append(line('$'), printf('[%s] BOOM!', a:event))
+ call append(line('$'), printf('[%s] %s!', a:event, msg))
endfunction
- let s1 = Shell.new('1')
- let s2 = Shell.new('2', 'for i in {1..10}; do echo hello $i!; sleep 1; done')
-
+ function Shell.new(name, cmd)
+ let object = extend(copy(g:Shell), {'name': a:name})
+ let object.cmd = ['sh', '-c', a:cmd]
+ let object.id = jobstart(object.cmd, object)
+ $
+ return object
+ endfunction
-To send data to the job's stdin, one can use the |jobsend()| function, like
-this:
->
- :call jobsend(job1, "ls\n")
- :call jobsend(job1, "invalid-command\n")
- :call jobsend(job1, "exit\n")
+ let instance = Shell.new('bomb',
+ \ 'for i in $(seq 9 -1 1); do echo $i 1>&$((i % 2 + 1)); sleep 1; done')
+<
+To send data to the job's stdin, use |chansend()|: >
+ :call chansend(job1, "ls\n")
+ :call chansend(job1, "invalid-command\n")
+ :call chansend(job1, "exit\n")
+<
+A job may be killed with |jobstop()|: >
+ :call jobstop(job1)
<
A job may be killed at any time with the |jobstop()| function:
>
:call jobstop(job1)
<
-When |jobstop()| is called, `SIGTERM` will be sent to the job. If a job does
-not exit after 2 seconds, `SIGKILL` will be sent.
+Individual streams can be closed without killing the job, see |chanclose()|.
==============================================================================
vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: