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c/linux · by witchergeraltofrivia@lemm.ee · 2y

Is there a way to autocomplete user defined search terms in firefox search

eg: typing "linux @l" should search "linux lemmy" and "beatles @mb" should search "beatles musicbrainz",
where I define these shortcuts

24 points · 10 comments · view on lemmy.world

10 Comments

kevincox@lemmy.ml · 20 pts · 2y (2 replies)

You can do almost exactly this with keyword bookmarks. The only change is that you need to put the "keyword" at the start of the URL. So @l linux rather than linux @l.

Create a new bookmark with these settings:

  • Name: Whatever you want.
  • URL: The search query you want with the text replaced by %s. For example https://kagi.com/search?q=%s+site:https://lemm.ee.
  • Keyword: The tag you want. Such as @l.

Now you can type @l foobar in the URL bar and it will go to https://kagi.com/search?q=foobar+site:https://lemm.ee. (Or whatever search engine you have configured.

Keywords can also be used for non-search bookmarks and javascript bookmarklets which are very convenient.

somethingsomethingidk@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Cool! I had no idea that was a feature, thanks for sharing

kevincox@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 2y

Yeah, it is sadly not advertised. Even the "Keyword" box helper text isn't very obvious how it works. They should link to a help page.

Not to mention that they also have search engines which work in a very similar way, but have a different UI, are harder for users to manually define and don't sync across devices via Firefox Sync.

It's a big mess. But it works! So that is enough for me.

Ozy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

YES THERE IS, THERE IS A TOOL FOR LINUX THAT TURNS KEYWORDS INTO WHATEVER YOU WANT THEM TO BE, I just need to find it again so hold on FOUND IT, IT'S https://espanso.org/

bionicjoey@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 2y

This is one of the features in chrome that I wish Firefox would implement.

noodlejetski@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y (3 replies)

you're looking for text expander software.

or you could use DuckDuckGo, its !bang feature lets you directly search on a website you want. searching "Beatles !mb" will redirect you to MusicBrainz' search results, for example.

kevincox@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Firefox has keyword bookmarks which is basically identical to bangs but you can customize them to your preference and they don't require sending your query to a third-party remote service.

Just set the "Keyword" option in a bookmark and type mykeyword foo in the URL bar to search using your bookmark mykeyword. I use a lot of one-character keywords such as m for https://www.google.ca/maps?q=%s, g for https://www.google.com/search?q=%s, d for https://www.dndbeyond.com/search?q=%s and similar. I also have a keyword e which runs a bookmarklet that fills in a one-time email into the currently focused input field.

noodlejetski@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

sure, it's just a pain in the ass to set up for more than a few search options.

kevincox@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y

IDK, maybe I have a particularly bad memory but it is basically as easy for me to bookmark a URL as it is to lookup and remember a bang that they defined. Plus local will always be faster, more private and more secure.

majestic@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 2y

You could try system wide macros. If you type @l, macro deletes last 2 chars and types lemmy