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Using the ↑ and ↓ directional arrow keys to to scroll up and down the page in the GNU info pages causes the info page viewer to unexpectedly jump to another node, this is really disorienting.
How can I scroll down through the page and just have the info viewer/pager stop when it gets to the top or the bottom, and then require a separate command to jump to a different node?

the_velour_fog
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    Use [pinfo](http://pinfo.sourceforge.net/) to browse `info` files. If you're comfortable with Vim and Vim plugins you can also install [ref](https://github.com/thinca/vim-ref) and [ref-info](https://github.com/eiiches/vim-ref-info) and actually have a sane `info` browser. – Satō Katsura Jun 29 '16 at 08:46
  • @SatoKatsura thanks, yes I installed and tried `pinfo` I like it but it doesn't work for `pinfo info` which is one of the main index pages which I would use to drill down into more specific pages. `pinfo info` just loads loads `man info`. Also I couldn't work out how to jump to the next search match in `pinfo` – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 08:49
  • From a quick look, I believe you want `pinfo info-stnd` rather than `pinfo info`. Other than that however, well, I'm just a fellow `info` hater, so don't expect me to try too hard to defend `pinfo`. :) The `ref-info` thing is pretty decent though. – Satō Katsura Jun 29 '16 at 08:53
  • @SatoKatsura yes I think `info` pages are really made by and intended for emacs users. it looks like the [ref-info](https://github.com/eiiches/vim-ref-info) is vim syntax definitions for `info` pages. So is the idea you open info pages in vim - and `ref-info` plugin gives you ability to navigate? – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 09:01
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    No. You first install `ref`, which is a hypertext browser framework. `ref` comes with browsers for various sources (`man` pages, `perldoc`, `pydoc`, etc.), but not for `info`. `ref-info` is a plugin for `ref` that adds support for `info`. Then you add `let g:ref_info_cmd='info --subnodes -o -'` to your vimrc, and browse `info` pages with `:Ref info `. You'll probably need to spend some time configuring it. It's a very useful plugin. – Satō Katsura Jun 29 '16 at 09:09
  • @SatoKatsura thanks! , I just now installed and tested - it can't jump to nodes. so I installed the `ref` and `ref-info` plugins for vim and it can jump to nodes nicely!. Still has the same problem as pinfo, I can't load the main `info info` page, but I will keep playing and see if I can get it working. – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 09:21
  • @SatoKatsura ah, its `:Ref info info-stnd` thanks – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 09:24
  • In my experience `vinfo` is not than great. At some point I patched a number of problems with it, and it was still less than great. No such problems with `ref-info`. – Satō Katsura Jun 29 '16 at 09:44
  • @SatoKatsura yes installing `vim-ref-info` immediately has solved every problem I had trying to use `info` pages. Ironically it converts each node to one massive man page format - which is kind of against the whole point of the info pages, but it works , it can be navigated up and down the nodes, everything,. If you want to copy paste your install instructions (from your previous comment) as an answer, I will accept it - its a bit vim centric but it will probably help other people – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 09:48
  • The one huge page (well a few large ones actually) is the effect of `let g:ref_info_cmd='info --subnodes -o -'`. Remove it if you prefer many small pages instead. The larger pages are a lot easier to search though. This is the main problem with `ref-info`: search is not as useful as with the original `info`. – Satō Katsura Jun 29 '16 at 09:52
  • I presume that this question is intended to specify ↑ and ↓? All I currently see are boxes saying 01F 851 and 01F 853. I suggest this question is using newer Unicode, unnecessarily reducing compatibility, when more compatible options exist. (For ease, try copying the characters from this comment, and pasting.) – TOOGAM Jun 29 '16 at 14:39
  • Info was a pre-html, great idea that never really took off, much easier to traverse html docs, even in emacs – bsd Jul 06 '16 at 10:21

2 Answers2

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Posting as an answer, as requested.

Just don't use info to browse info pages. There is a standalone info browser named pinfo, and Emacs has, of course, its own Info Mode.

If you're using Vim you can also install the ref and ref-info plugins. ref is essentially a generic hypertext browser. It comes with plugins for a number of sources, such as man pages, perldoc, pydoc, etc., but not for info. ref-info is a plugin for ref that adds capability to browse info pages.

The combination ref+ref-info makes a decent info browser, with the only drawback that it can only search through the page it currently displays. A partial workaround for this problem is to tell the info backend to produce larger chunks before feeding them to ref-info, by adding this line to your vimrc:

let g:ref_info_cmd = 'info --subnodes -o -'

You'd then browse info pages like this:

:Ref info <page>

Of course, you can also use ref with the other sources (:Ref man <page> etc.). Read the manual for more information.

Satō Katsura
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  • thanks for the great explanation. I agree with the `let g:ref_info_cmd = 'info --subnodes -o -'` idea of bunching everything into a single page. I always use the `zsh` man pages this way too, i.e. the `zsh` man pages are broken into about 12 separate man pages, but I always load `man zshall` for doing regex searches, then once I know where the thing I want is, then load the specific man page e.g. `man zshbuiltins` – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 10:21
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You can use Control-V to scroll-forward-page-only, and the reverse Meta-V or Escape-V for scroll-backward-page-only. These are listed in the h help page, but they are hard to spot.

meuh
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  • thanks, I could use a half page scroll, like `C-d` in `less`, but scrolling an entire page at a time is a bit disorienting. – the_velour_fog Jun 29 '16 at 08:59