This may need a relnote. The typed restriction char (~) is not particularly useful due to our bogus typed definition, and we'd like to simplify restriction chars as far as possible. The url restriction char is now conflicting with the search alias feature, and as such it would be better to change it. We may reuse the ~, or another possibility could be to change it to "|" that is more widely available across layouts, and wouldn't confuse users of ~.

Maybe, considered from a while we'd like to change the search restriction char from $ to ? (for things like bug 1315509 and bug 1334019), we could use $ for url restriction. The reason I'd like to avoid ~ and | is because those are more commonly used in command lines and I'd not want to prevent searching those. There's also an advantage into doing both changes at the same time, where we can just relnote it once, and break habits in a single version, rather than doing muscle memory damage twice (once to change the url restriction and twice to change the search restriction).

Remove the "~" typed restriction character. Change the url restriction character to "$" and the search one to "?".

For the relnote: Address Bar restriction characters changed: it is no more possible to restrict results to typed urls ("~"). Matching only on url now uses the "$" character, instead of "@". Restricting results to search suggestions uses the "?" character, instead of "$".

Pushed by mak77@bonardo.net: https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/4ff8166e2669 Address Bar restriction characters: remove typed, change url and search r=adw

[Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request] Feature/Bug causing the regression: None User impact if declined: We would like to release a blog post regarding the new Search Shortcuts feature in Firefox 64, and it would also point out these additional restriction chars. Changing the chars in 65 would practically made that impossible, so we'd like to change them in 64. Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: Yes Needs manual test from QE?: Yes If yes, steps to reproduce: Use restriction characters in the Address Bar List of other uplifts needed: None Risk to taking this patch: Low Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): It's just changing the chars, it may break muscle memory but it would happen regardless at 65. Needs a rel-note String changes made/needed:

Comment on attachment 9023777 [details] [diff] [review] 1499743.diff urlbar shortcuts change to coincide with search shortcuts in 64, approved for 64.0b9

We should add this to the nightly and beta release notes. Beta 64: Address Bar restriction characters changed: you can match on urls using the "$" character, instead of "@". You can restrict resuts to search suggestions using the "?" character, instead of "$". Nightly 65: Address Bar restriction characters changed: it is no more possible to restrict results to typed urls ("~").

I have reproduced this issue using Firefox 64.0a1(2018.10.17) on Win 10 x64. I can confirm this issue is fixed, I verified using Firefox 64.0b9 and 65.a1 on Win 10 x64, Ubuntu 18.04 x64 and Mac OS X 10.13.6. This bug changed 2 of the characters, in particular "$" used to restrict to search suggestions, now we use "?". "@" used to restrict a match to only url (search urls not titles), now we use "$".

Added to the draft relnotes, will eventually end up on mozilla.org.