How can I configure {d,v,c}af to target preceding comments and whitespace?

[ColinKennedy]

I use nvim-treesitter-context for Python and C++ development. While it is useful, one property of other plug-ins which aim to do the same thing that I miss very much is for motions such as daf to effectively mean "Once executed, your cursor is just one o away from making a new function as if the previous function never existed". It's easier to explain visually.

|X| is the current cursor position

class Foo2():
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()


    # some comment related to ``another``
    def another(self):
        |X|print("more")



    def last(self):
        print("more")

When I press daf, I want this output

class Foo2():
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()


|X|


    def last(self):
        print("more")

Now if I press o, the cursor is exactly where it should be define a new function.

class Foo2():
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()


    |X|



    def last(self):
        print("more")

And the pre / post whitespace around the methods have been preserved (2 lines above, 3 lines below)

Instead though, I get this

class Foo2():
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()


    # some comment related to ``another``   <-- I wanted `daf` to remove this comment as well
    |X|



    def last(self):
        print("more")

I tried modifying queries/python/textobjects.scm to capture preceding comments as well like this

(
  (comment)*
  (function_definition
    body: (block)?) @function.inner
) @function.outer

And a few similar variations but none of them work. Any advice on what query to use would be appreciated. Thank you!

[theHamsta]

White spaces can be handled by this option.

nvim-treesitter-textobjects/README.md

Line 79 in 35a60f0

include_surrounding_whitespace = true,

This currently only includes white spaces and not comments, but a similar option could be added (would require a PR).

A problem with tree-sitter queries is that they always just can select single nodes. We found a work-around with @function.outer.start. This would only work for a single comment. See how C++ optionally includes template <typename T> to a function

nvim-treesitter-textobjects/queries/cpp/textobjects.scm

Lines 12 to 13 in 35a60f0

	(template_declaration
	(function_definition) @function.outer) @function.outer.start

. There is also the more flexible #make-range! predicate that will likely be removed in the refactoring nvim-treesitter and maybe replaced by something else.

To select all nodes of (comment)* Neovim would need that PR: neovim/neovim#17099

[ColinKennedy]

Just so I understand, are you saying that even if neovim/neovim#17099 is merged, what I was describing still would not work due to a tree-sitter query limitation or that it should be possible after that PR is merged? It sounded like you were suggesting the latter but I wasn't quite sure from your response. include_surrounding_whitespace isn't really the right effect but I appreciate that you're trying to provide options, thank you :)

Thinking aloud for a moment - it sounded like if neovim/neovim#17099 is merged is merged then we could add optional "delete comments" support via a new capture group like (comment)* @comment, explicitly or by reading the @comment that tends to come from parsers already installed via nvim-treesitter. And then, with a new PR to nvim-treesitter-textobjects, one could have a configuration option like trim_preceding_comments = true or something to that effect which would look for @comment info and delete the nodes associated with it. Is that on the right track?