Remote control: When matching windows allow using negative id numbers to match recently created windows

Fixes #5753

docs/changelog.rst

@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ Detailed list of changes
 
 - Wayland: Fix signal handling not working with some GPU drivers (:iss:`4636`)
 
+- Remote control: When matching windows allow using negative id numbers to match recently created windows (:iss:`5753`)
+
 0.26.5 [2022-11-07]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

kitty/boss.py

@@ -379,8 +379,16 @@ class Boss:
             tm = self.os_window_map.get(last_focused_os_window_id())
             if tm is not None:
                 tab = tm.active_tab
+        window_id_limit = max(self.window_id_map, default=-1) + 1
 
         def get_matches(location: str, query: str, candidates: Set[int]) -> Set[int]:
+            if location == 'id' and query.startswith('-'):
+                try:
+                    q = int(query)
+                except Exception:
+                    return set()
+                if q < 0:
+                    query = str(window_id_limit + q)
             return {wid for wid in candidates if self.window_id_map[wid].matches_query(location, query, tab)}
 
         for wid in search(match, (
@@ -403,8 +411,18 @@ class Boss:
         if current_focused_os_window_id() <= 0:
             tm = self.os_window_map.get(last_focused_os_window_id()) or tm
         tim = {t.id: t for t in self.all_tabs}
+        tab_id_limit = max(tim, default=-1) + 1
+        window_id_limit = max(self.window_id_map, default=-1) + 1
 
         def get_matches(location: str, query: str, candidates: Set[int]) -> Set[int]:
+            if location in ('id', 'window_id') and query.startswith('-'):
+                try:
+                    q = int(query)
+                except Exception:
+                    return set()
+                if q < 0:
+                    limit = tab_id_limit if location == 'id' else window_id_limit
+                    query = str(limit + q)
             return {wid for wid in candidates if tim[wid].matches_query(location, query, tm)}
 
         found = False

kitty/rc/base.py

@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ Where :italic:`field` can be one of: :code:`id`, :code:`title`, :code:`pid`, :co
 The special value :code:`all` matches all windows.
 
 For numeric fields: :code:`id`, :code:`pid`, :code:`num` and :code:`recent`, the expression is interpreted as
-a number, not a regular expression.
+a number, not a regular expression. Negative values for :code:`id` match from the highest id number down, in particular,
+-1 is the most recently created window.
 
 The field :code:`num` refers to the window position in the current tab, starting from zero and counting clockwise (this
 is the same as the order in which the windows are reported by the :ref:`kitty @ ls <at-ls>` command).
@@ -134,7 +135,8 @@ Where :italic:`field` can be one of: :code:`id`, :code:`index`, :code:`title`, :
 The special value :code:`all` matches all tabs.
 
 For numeric fields: :code:`id`, :code:`index`, :code:`window_id`, :code:`pid` and :code:`recent`, the
-expression is interpreted as a number, not a regular expression.
+expression is interpreted as a number, not a regular expression. Negative values for :code:`id`/:code:`window_id` match
+from the highest id number down, in particular, -1 is the most recently created tab/window.
 
 When using :code:`title` or :code:`id`, first a matching tab is looked for, and if not found a matching window is looked
 for, and the tab for that window is used.