Honor argument order for --type-add and --type-clear to match ripgrep #201

Summary

tgrep always applies every --type-clear before every --type-add, regardless of their order on the command line. ripgrep applies these operations in argument order.

For --type-add 'rust:*.txt' --type-clear rust -t rust, ripgrep removes the type and reports it as undefined, while tgrep adds it back and searches .txt files.

The current tgrep help explicitly describes clearing before adding. This is therefore a request for ripgrep compatibility, rather than a claim that tgrep violates that help text.

Reproduce

mkdir repro-type-definitions && cd repro-type-definitions
mkdir data
printf 'needle\n' > data/a.rs
printf 'needle\n' > data/a.txt

tgrep --no-index --type-add 'rust:*.txt' --type-clear rust -t rust -l -- needle data
rg               --type-add 'rust:*.txt' --type-clear rust -t rust -l -- needle data

The content-search cases reproduce with --no-index, an on-disk index, and tgrep serve --no-watch.

To repeat the indexed cases, run tgrep index data, remove --no-index, and keep the directory path data. For the server cases, start tgrep serve --no-watch data in another terminal and repeat those directory searches. --stats was used in the Windows harness to verify the selected backend, including (via server).

Environment

• tgrep 1.2.0, official Windows x86_64 release.
• Source inspected at release commit 3ba6ee02537281b68ee1366bb40df9f8b7cc54f0.
• Windows; test harness run with PowerShell 7.
• ripgrep 15.1.0 (af60c2de9d).
• Verified on 2026-10-12. The shell examples describe the same fixture bytes and arguments tested on Windows.

Cause

tgrep-cli/src/search.rs:2233 receives separate add/clear lists, clears all requested types first, then applies all additions. The original interleaving is discarded.

Possible fix

Retain and replay the ordered type-definition operations for search and --type-list. Update the help text if this compatibility change is adopted.

A regression could cover both add-then-clear and clear-then-add sequences, with content search and type listing.