How to delete(or kill) the current word in emacs? - emacs

For example, my cursor (point) is at an arbitrary letter in the word "cursor". I want to delete (kill) that word such that it is copied to kill-ring.

The Emacs way to remove the word one is inside of to press M-backspace followed by M-d. That will kill the word at point and save it to kill ring (as one unit).
If the cursor is at the beginning or after the end of the word, only one of the two is sufficient. An Emacs user will typically move between words using commands such as forward-word (M-f) and backward-word (M-b), so they will be at the word boundary to begin with and thus rarely need to kill the word from the inside.

You could use this as a framework for killing various kinds of things at point:
(defun my-kill-thing-at-point (thing)
"Kill the `thing-at-point' for the specified kind of THING."
(let ((bounds (bounds-of-thing-at-point thing)))
(if bounds
(kill-region (car bounds) (cdr bounds))
(error "No %s at point" thing))))
(defun my-kill-word-at-point ()
"Kill the word at point."
(interactive)
(my-kill-thing-at-point 'word))
(global-set-key (kbd "s-k w") 'my-kill-word-at-point)

You can do that by moving to the beginning of the word (if not standing there already) by M-b, then deleting it with M-d. You can then press C-y to put it back. If you want to automate it, you can create a short elisp function and assign it to a key:
(global-set-key [24 C-backspace] ; C-x C-backspace
(lambda () (interactive)
(save-excursion
(backward-word)
(kill-word 1)
(yank))))

Related

delete (NOT kill) a line in emacs. External clipboard is not appended to the kill ring

Many times I find myself in need of pasting a path from wherever to emacs' minibuffer. To clear the minibuffer fast I navigate to the beginning and do C-k (kill line).
This effectively overrides whatever path I had in the system clipboard with the temporary path I just killed in the minibuffer. Navigating the kill ring with M-y won't bring the path I had in the system clipboard.
Is there a way to delete the current line without killing it( i.e. removing it and adding it to the kill ring)?
So far I'm marking the line and pressing delete having delete-selection-mote active. I would like a one key solution similar to C-k.
As of Emacs 23.2, you can set save-interprogram-paste-before-kill to a non-nil value (hat tip Tyler) to copy the clipboard selection onto the kill ring, so that it is available via C-y M-y:
(setq save-interprogram-paste-before-kill t)
If you're on an older Emacs, the following advice has the same functionality:
(defadvice kill-new (before kill-new-push-xselection-on-kill-ring activate)
"Before putting new kill onto the kill-ring, add the clipboard/external selection to the kill ring"
(let ((have-paste (and interprogram-paste-function
(funcall interprogram-paste-function))))
(when have-paste (push have-paste kill-ring))))
And, you could do something like this (horrible keybinding, customize to suit) to delete the line from the point forward:
(define-key minibuffer-local-map (kbd "C-S-d") 'delete-line)
(defun delete-line (&optional arg)
(interactive "P")
;; taken from kill-line
(delete-region (point)
;; It is better to move point to the other end of the kill
;; before killing. That way, in a read-only buffer, point
;; moves across the text that is copied to the kill ring.
;; The choice has no effect on undo now that undo records
;; the value of point from before the command was run.
(progn
(if arg
(forward-visible-line (prefix-numeric-value arg))
(if (eobp)
(signal 'end-of-buffer nil))
(let ((end
(save-excursion
(end-of-visible-line) (point))))
(if (or (save-excursion
;; If trailing whitespace is visible,
;; don't treat it as nothing.
(unless show-trailing-whitespace
(skip-chars-forward " \t" end))
(= (point) end))
(and kill-whole-line (bolp)))
(forward-visible-line 1)
(goto-char end))))
(point))))
As of Emacs 23.2, this problem can be addressed with save-interprogram-paste-before-kill. If you set this variable to t then stuff in the clipboard gets added to the kill-ring, and isn't discarded by your next kill.
The documentation:
Save clipboard strings into kill ring before replacing them.
When one selects something in another program to paste it into Emacs,
but kills something in Emacs before actually pasting it,
this selection is gone unless this variable is non-nil,
in which case the other program's selection is saved in the `kill-ring'
before the Emacs kill and one can still paste it using C-y M-y.
From Xahlee's page, it shows several commands that are annoying.
(defun my-delete-word (arg)
"Delete characters forward until encountering the end of a word.
With argument, do this that many times.
This command does not push erased text to kill-ring."
(interactive "p")
(delete-region (point) (progn (forward-word arg) (point))))
(defun my-backward-delete-word (arg)
"Delete characters backward until encountering the beginning of a word.
With argument, do this that many times.
This command does not push erased text to kill-ring."
(interactive "p")
(my-delete-word (- arg)))
(defun my-delete-line ()
"Delete text from current position to end of line char."
(interactive)
(delete-region
(point)
(save-excursion (move-end-of-line 1) (point)))
(delete-char 1)
)
(defun my-delete-line-backward ()
"Delete text between the beginning of the line to the cursor position."
(interactive)
(let (x1 x2)
(setq x1 (point))
(move-beginning-of-line 1)
(setq x2 (point))
(delete-region x1 x2)))
; Here's the code to bind them with emacs's default shortcut keys:
(global-set-key (kbd "M-d") 'my-delete-word)
(global-set-key (kbd "<M-backspace>") 'my-backward-delete-word)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-k") 'my-delete-line)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-k") 'my-delete-line-backward)
There isn't.
from the GNU Emacs Manual:
We have already described the basic deletion commands C-d
(delete-char) and (delete-backward-char). See Erasing.
The other delete commands are those that delete only whitespace
characters: spaces, tabs and newlines. M-\ (delete-horizontal-space)
deletes all the spaces and tab characters before and after point. With
a prefix argument, this only deletes spaces and tab characters before
point. M- (just-one-space) does likewise but leaves a single
space after point, regardless of the number of spaces that existed
previously (even if there were none before). With a numeric argument
n, it leaves n spaces after point.
What about something like:
(defun del-line (p1)
(interactive "d")
(move-end-of-line 1)
(when (eq p1 (point)) ; special case when p1 is already at the end of the line
(forward-line))
(delete-region p1 (point)))
The behavior should be similar to C-k but without affecting the system clipboard or the kill-ring.
ETA: I read Trey's solution more carefully, and it looks like this is just a simple case of his solution. It worked in my (very!) limited tests, but probably fails for some special cases where the more complicated kill-line code works correctly.
Found an answer to this.
Posted it first here: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26360/emacs-deleting-a-line-without-sending-it-to-the-kill-ring/136581#136581
;; Ctrl-K with no kill
(defun delete-line-no-kill ()
(interactive)
(delete-region
(point)
(save-excursion (move-end-of-line 1) (point)))
(delete-char 1)
)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-k") 'delete-line-no-kill)

Emacs: Insert word at point into replace string query

Is there an analogue to inserting the word after point into the isearch query by hitting C-w after C-s but for the replace string (and replace regexp) queries?
I also enjoy Sacha Chua's modification of C-x inserting whole word around point into isearch:
http://sachachua.com/blog/2008/07/emacs-keyboard-shortcuts-for-navigating-code/
This too would be really useful in some cases if it could be used in replace string.
I'd be very thankful for any tips!
Thank you!
This will do it, although it isn't as fancy as C-w in isearch because you can't keep hitting that key to extend the selection:
(defun my-minibuffer-insert-word-at-point ()
"Get word at point in original buffer and insert it to minibuffer."
(interactive)
(let (word beg)
(with-current-buffer (window-buffer (minibuffer-selected-window))
(save-excursion
(skip-syntax-backward "w_")
(setq beg (point))
(skip-syntax-forward "w_")
(setq word (buffer-substring-no-properties beg (point)))))
(when word
(insert word))))
(defun my-minibuffer-setup-hook ()
(local-set-key (kbd "C-w") 'my-minibuffer-insert-word-at-point))
(add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook 'my-minibuffer-setup-hook)
EDIT:
Note that this is in the standard minibuffer, so you can use it use it anywhere you have a minibuffer prompt, for example in grep, occur, etc.
Two answers:
Replace+ automatically picks up text at point as the default value when you invoke replace commands.
More generally, Icicles does something similar to what scottfrazer's code (above) does, but it is more general. At any time, in any minibuffer, you can hit M-. (by default) to pick up text ("things") at point and insert it in the minibuffer. You can repeat this, to either (a) pick up successive things (e.g. words) of the same kind, accumulating them like C-w does for Isearch, or (b) pick up alternative, different things at point. More explanation here.
I think this exists in Emacs already - you just start replace with M-S-% and then press M-n (while the minibuffer is empty), this fills in the word under cursor, there are more useful things you can do with this, check http://endlessparentheses.com/predicting-the-future-with-the-m-n-key.html?source=rss#disqus_thread.

Delete a word without adding it to the kill-ring in Emacs

When switching files using the minibuffer (C-x C-f), I often use M-Backspace to delete words in the path. Emacs automatically places what I delete into the kill ring. This can be annoying, as sometime I am moving to another file to paste something, and I end up pasting part of the file path. I know there are workarounds, and the other code is still in the kill ring, etc, but I would just like to disable this functionality.
Emacs doesn't have a backward-delete-word function, but it's easy enough to define one:
(defun backward-delete-word (arg)
"Delete characters backward until encountering the beginning of a word.
With argument ARG, do this that many times."
(interactive "p")
(delete-region (point) (progn (backward-word arg) (point))))
Then you can bind M-Backspace to backward-delete-word in minibuffer-local-map:
(define-key minibuffer-local-map [M-backspace] 'backward-delete-word)
See a discussion of this topic at help-gnu-emacs#gnu.org:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs/2011-10/msg00277.html
The discussion boils down to this short solution:
(add-hook 'minibuffer-setup-hook'
(lambda ()
(make-local-variable 'kill-ring)))
You just have to replace the function called by M-<backspace>, namely backward-kill-word, with backward-delete-word, which you can easily define using the source definition of backward-kill-word found in lisp source for emacs. You do this by substituting kill-region for delete-regionas in the following code, which also defines delete-word (delete word after the cursor). You can just paste this code in your .emacs file.
(defun delete-word (arg)
"Delete characters forward until encountering the end of a word.
With argument ARG, do this that many times."
(interactive "p")
(delete-region (point) (progn (forward-word arg) (point))))
(defun backward-delete-word (arg)
"Delete characters backward until encountering the beginning of a word.
With argument ARG, do this that many times."
(interactive "p")
(delete-word (- arg)))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-<backspace>") 'backward-delete-word)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-<delete>") 'delete-word)

Get Emacs to join lines when killing lines

When I hit C-k, Emacs kills to end-of-line. When I hit C-k again, it "kills the newline" and brings the next line up. However, the next line's indentation remains intact, and you can end up with a line that has lots of spaces in the middle.
So, from this:
previous line material
next line material
to this:
previous line material next line material
I understand I can use M-^ to join lines properly, but that requires the cursor to be on the next line. How do I modify C-k so that when it kills the newline, also kills the next line's indentation?
For C-k I don't know, but you could use the just-one-space function to transform any number of space into juste one space (it's bound on M-space)
If you give M-^ an argument (for example C-u M-^), it will join the next line to the current line.
Here's a way to plug in the behavior (I think) you want into kill-line: when killing a newline, also kill the indentation that follows. Note that this may result in no space being present after the cursor, which is why I think I'd go with M-1 M-^ or C-k M-SPC instead.
(defadvice kill-line (around kill-indentation
activate compile)
"When killing a line break, also kill any subsequent indentation."
(let ((f-v-l (symbol-function 'forward-visible-line)))
(flet ((forward-visible-line (arg)
(funcall f-v-l arg)
(skip-chars-forward " \t")))
ad-do-it)))
I have this in my .emacs:
(defun pull-line ()
"Pull the next line that contains anything up to the end of this one"
(interactive)
(save-excursion
(end-of-line)
(while (looking-at "[ \n\r\t]")
(delete-char 1))
(if (looking-back "^[[:blank:]]*[[:punct:][:alnum:]].*")
(fixup-whitespace)
(indent-according-to-mode))))
(global-set-key "\C-cp" 'pull-line)
It pulls the next non-blank line up to the this one, and if there is anything on this line it makes calls (fixup-whitespace) which does the right thing about 95% of the time, otherwise it indents it to what emacs thinks is the right level. I think I copied the concept from vim?
I use it all the time, anyway.
I just realized I also have this in my .emacs, it is more exactly what you want, although I forget that I have it since I use pull-line much more often. I think I stole this from emacswiki:
(defun kill-and-join-forward (&optional arg)
"If at end of line, join with following; otherwise kill line.
Deletes whitespace at join."
(interactive "P")
(if (and (eolp) (not (bolp)))
(progn
(delete-indentation t)
(if (looking-at " $")
(delete-char 1)))
(kill-line arg)))
(global-set-key "\C-k" 'kill-and-join-forward)
This will do it:
(defun my-kill-line (&optional arg)
(interactive "P")
(if arg
(kill-line arg)
(when (prog1 (eolp) (kill-line))
(just-one-space 1))))

About the forward and backward a word behaviour in Emacs

I don't know if there's something wrong with my settings but when I press M-f (forward a word)
it doesn't matter where I am, it never place the cursor in the next word (just between words). This doesn't happen with M-b which place my cursor in the beginning of the previous word.
Is this a normal behavior? How do I place my cursor at the beginning of the following word?
The macro solution described is a great way to get this behavior in a session, but it's a little inconvenient if that's the default behavior you want, since you have to define it every time you start emacs. If you want M-f to work like this all the time, you can define an elisp function and bind it to the key. Put this in your .emacs file:
(defun next-word (p)
"Move point to the beginning of the next word, past any spaces"
(interactive "d")
(forward-word)
(forward-word)
(backward-word))
(global-set-key "\M-f" 'next-word)
Ok, just so we're clear, Im going to assume you are talking about the commands forward-word and backward-word these are bound by default to Alt+f and Alt+b
eg string: "Hello dolly I am here"
If your cursor is on the "H" of "Hello", and you do forward-word the cursor will move to the space between "Hello" and "dolly", but it sounds like you want the cursor to be on the letter "d" of "dolly" instead of in-front of it.
So, do forward-word twice, then backward-word once.
That will put your cursor on the "d" of "dolly".
This can be automated with a macro.
;; = comments, do not type them
Ctrl+x ( ;;start macro
Alt+f Alt+f Alt+b
Ctrl+x ) ;;end macro
Then to run last defined macro do this:
Ctrl+x e
EDIT: as pascal mentioned in a comment, this can also just be done with
Alt+f Ctrl+f
You could put that into a macro as well, either way the result is the same.
That is correct behavior. According to the Emacs manual, "[f]orward motion stops right after the last letter of the word, while backward motion stops right before the first letter."
Why is it this way? Perhaps to be consistent with kill-word (M-d).
Moving forward twice and backwards once is fine unless you are at the beginning of a line with spaces in the front. Then going forward twice and back once will move you to the next word not the first word. The code below will mimic vi's "w" command perfectly. I've written this quite fast so this code can be cleaned up further.
(defun forward-word-to-beginning (&optional n)
"Move point forward n words and place cursor at the beginning."
(interactive "p")
(let (myword)
(setq myword
(if (and transient-mark-mode mark-active)
(buffer-substring-no-properties (region-beginning) (region-end))
(thing-at-point 'symbol)))
(if (not (eq myword nil))
(forward-word n))
(forward-word n)
(backward-word n)))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-C-f") 'forward-word-to-beginning)
Try something like following:
;; replace common word-operations on same-syntax-operations
(require 'thingatpt)
(global-set-key "\M-f" 'forward-same-syntax)
(global-set-key "\M-b" (lambda()
(interactive)
(forward-same-syntax -1)))
(defun kill-syntax (&optional arg)
"Kill ARG sets of syntax characters after point."
(interactive "p")
(let ((opoint (point)))
(forward-same-syntax arg)
(kill-region opoint (point))))
(global-set-key "\M-d" 'kill-syntax)
(global-set-key [(meta backspace)] (lambda()
(interactive)
(kill-syntax -1)))
You can achieve this behavior by using the forward-to-word and backward-to-word found in misc.el. I have these bound to Meta-F/Meta-B (i.e. with Shift pressed). These are equivalent to Meta-f/Meta-b for forward-word/backward-word
My .emacs has the following bindings
(global-set-key (kbd "M-F") #'forward-to-word)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-B") #'backward-to-word)