I find myself often recording a macro, marking a region, and then realising I didn't want to mark a region. I then hit C-g, my way to stop it, but then as a result it stops the macro.
While executing the macro, I wouldn't care if there is an unnecessary marking and demarking, as long as I can just quickly do the macro.
Is there a way to silently stop marking a region?
If you didn't mean to set the mark, just use a prefix argument to the set-mark-command binding to pop that mark (jumping to it, and deactivating the region):
C-uC-SPC
If you don't want to jump to that position, then you'll be stuck with having the extra mark(s) in the mark ring, but you can deactivate the region by using the command (with no prefix) twice:
C-SPCC-SPC
That sets and then deactivates the mark.
For clarity, note that buffers you are editing will tend to have a "marked region" most of the time -- there is always a point value, and there is generally a current mark value if you have been editing. I am assuming you are actually referring to the "active region" (i.e. a highlighted region, assuming that transient mark mode is enabled).
Related
I'm wondering if there is a way in Emacs, that allows the user to call set mark(C-SPC) and then continue typing(and have everything typed included in the region) and then copy(M-w) the typed text?
I guess I'm looking for a way to type text and copy the text in one step.
I hope this makes sense.
C-SPC, type some text, M-w will copy the text you just typed. In Emacs, the region is the area between the mark and the point, it doesn't need to be visible.
The answer by #xuchunyang is almost correct. And by default it is correct.
But there is actually a user option that controls the behavior, mark-even-if-inactive. By default it is t, but if it's value is nil then you will need to use C-x C-x (twice, if you want to put point back where it was), in order to activate the region, before you can use M-w to copy its text to the kill-ring. C-h v mark-even-if-inactive tells you:
mark-even-if-inactive is a variable defined in C source code.
Its value is t
Documentation:
Non-nil means you can use the mark even when inactive.
This option makes a difference in Transient Mark mode.
When the option is non-nil, deactivation of the mark
turns off region highlighting, but commands that use the mark
behave as if the mark were still active.
You can customize this variable.
I know how to enter recursive edit mode when query-replace (M-%), but sometimes I really don't want to modify the code instead I'm just in searching. Such as when I was reading code, and from one point I saw a function call, then I want to jump to the declaration of the fucntion (C-r Enter PageList::Init), when I have read the declaration I want to jump back to the calling of the function.
How to enter recursive edit mode when searching (not only when query-replace)?
You can open a recursive edit while you are searching, if you use Isearch+. Then, C-x o is bound during Isearch to command isearchp-open-recursive-edit:
Invoke the editor command loop recursively, during Isearch.
Use C-M-c to end the recursive edit and resume searching from there.
Or use abort-recursive-edit to exit the recursive edit and cancel the previous search.
If you do not want to use Isearch+ then this is all you need:
(defun isearchp-open-recursive-edit ()
"Invoke the editor command loop recursively, during Isearch.
Use `\\[exit-recursive-edit]' to end the recursive edit and resume searching from there.
Or use `abort-recursive-edit' to exit the recursive edit and cancel the previous search."
(interactive)
(with-isearch-suspended (recursive-edit))))
(define-key isearch-mode-map "\C-xo" 'isearchp-open-recursive-edit)
If you are asking about recursive editing generally, and not just during search, then the answer is command recursive-edit. Just use M-x recursive-edit to open a recursive edit. You can also bind this command to a key, of course.
(If the minibuffer is active, then you normally cannot use M-x recursive-edit. In that case, bind a key in the minibuffer keymaps to recursive-edit. Or you can set option enable-recursive-minibuffers to non-nil, to be able to invoke M-x recursive-edit from a minibuffer.)
You enter a recursive edit by calling recursive-edit, but there is no default binding which invokes this anywhere (and doing so arbitrarily might be hazardous).
In the case of query-replace there is some special-case handling which goes on when you type C-r which saves the current match data/point/mark/buffer/window configuration before entering the recursive edit, to ensure that it can restore things when you exit from it.
This need to wrap some situation-specific custom handling around calls to recursive-edit is very common to the existing use-cases, so there might not be a safe way to invoke it generally.
My guess is that custom handling would certainly also be needed to support it during an isearch, and I see no such facility.
Do note that Emacs pushes point to the mark ring when you begin an isearch; so for your specific use-case you would simply jump to & pop the mark with C-uC-SPC
From your workflow description, I'm not sure you really need recursive edit mode.
When you do a search in emacs, the current point is saved. On my system C-r is reverse isearch. When I hit it, I'm prompted for the search string and hit enter. This takes me to the first 'hit'. Hitting C-r againi takes me the next hit etc. Once you find the text you want, provided you don't hit enter, you can read the code and then hit C-g to cancel the search. This will jump your cursor back to the point where you started the search. This is fine provided you can see all the code you want to read on screen.
When you can't read all the code on screen and you need to move around in the buffer, you have to hit enter. Once you do this, you have lost the saved point and I suspect this is where you thought of using a recursive edit mode so that you can jump back once you finish. However, this won't work quite as you want because as soon as you hit enter to select the searched for string, you will come out of recursive mode and lose the saved point.
There are a couple of ways to fix this workflow to achieve what you want. In fact, your workflow is quite a common requirement. Because of this, many programming modes already have this functionality built in. Therefore, the first thing to do would be to ensure your mode doesn't already have this - it is probably called something like jump to definition or similar.
If your mode doesn't have this support, then you can get what you want by saving the point and then jumping back to it later. This is a really handy technique. All you need to do is C-SPACE twice. Then later, after moving the point to a new locaiton, you can just do a C-u C-SPACE to jump back to that point. From the emacs manual
Instead of setting the mark in order to operate on a region, you
can also use it to “remember” a position in the buffer (by typing
‘C-SPC C-SPC’), and later jump back there (by typing ‘C-u
C-SPC’). *Note Mark Ring::, for details.
I used to be confident of returning to buffer from mini-buffer by just pressing C-g once, until I learned there is a "recursive-edit-mode" inside Emacs Here, which seems to make cancellation action inconsistent. Therefore, I am reading the entire section in hope of finding a more consistent / stateless command to return to mini-buffer.
However, I encountered below problems when following and trying to replicate what the manual says:
Entering Recursive-edit-mode: After "M-x query-replace RET C-r" (in Fundamental-mode), I could not replicate "a pair of square brackets" in mode-line. However, now I DO have to press C-g TWICE to return back to buffer.
Question: Does recursive-edit-mode still have square brackets now? (I am using ver 24.3)
Quitting: The manual directs me to the Quitting section for quitting command. It says Aborting with C-] (abort-recursive-edit) is used to get out of a recursive editing level and cancel the command which invoked it. So I tried it out within "M-x query-replace RET C-r", hoping one C-] will get me out from minibuffer to buffer, but it still takes 2 shots to do that.
Question: Is this normal? If yes, any other command to guarantee command abortion and return to buffer with 1 execution?
Just want to brush frequently used command such as C-g. If made consistent, it may help avoid inputs being eaten (sometimes unnoticed) by the minibuffer due to trapped inside recursive-edit-mode.
Visually confirming point each time inside the buffer makes keyboard input an closed-loop feedback process and thus consumes more attention, though.
You definitely will see square brackets in the mode line for a recursive edit -- but not for a recursive minibuffer.
C-g does act consistently, but it does different things in different contexts (always the same thing for a given context, however). That can be confusing. It can take some getting used to - a bit like it takes getting used to the various behaviors of C-g during Isearch, depending on the current search state.
If you use recursive edits or recursive minibuffers then you need to pay attention to clues wrt the current state/context. Again, this is like learning Isearch. minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode is a must, to provide feedback about what state you are in.
FWIW, beyond minibuffer-depth-indicate-mode, I use a standalone minibuffer frame, and with each recursive edit or recursive minibuffer the background hue is changed slightly, to better indicate the level etc. (The background color changes slightly also for (a) active minibuffer and (b) Isearch. I use library oneonone.el for these things.)
If you don't use a standalone minibuffer frame then you might consider highlighting the square brackets or something else in the mode line, to help you tell where you are at.
C-r during query-replace is a good example of when a recursive edit can be useful. There are a few others. But generally I do not make much use of recursive edits, FWIW. (I do, however, use recursive minibuffers a lot, because I use keys bound in minibuffer maps that do invoke commands that themselves might prompt for input etc.)
Wrt your question about query-replace with C-r: There is no minibuffer involved at all, here. And C-] after C-r does end not only the recursive edit but also the query-replace (whereas C-M-c ends the recursive edit and returns to the query-replace.
FWIW - In Icicles interactions, you might find yourself within any number of recursive minibuffers. (For example, you might use progressive completion to successively narrow the set of completion candidates, and each narrowing opens a recursive minibuffer.)
C-g always aborts the current command, or if there is none then the current minibuffer, and C-] always aborts the current minibuffer. Repeating C-g (or C-]) pops back up the minibuffer chain, a level at a time. But (in Icicles) you can use C-M-S-t (aka C-M-T) to pop directly back to the top level (exit all minibuffers).
Similarly, answering a minibuffer prompt (e.g. hitting RET or using mouse-2 on a candidate in *Completions*) exits the current minibuffer, popping up a level (to the parent minibuffer or to the top level if there is none). (In Icicles RET can optionally put you back at top level.)
I do this a lot: [M-%] to query-replace, then hit [y] a few times, then I'm past the area where I'm changing things so I hit [q] to be done.
Then I'd like to get the cursor back to where I was, so here's where it gets awkward. I [C-_] to undo the last replace, then move the cursor on character, then undo again to redo the last replace. Now the cursor's up where I've been editing, but there has to be a better way.
(I'm happy to get back to either where I started the replace, or where the last replace happened.)
C-uC-SPC jumps to the mark (which was automatically set as Blrfl pointed out), and then pops the previous mark off the local mark ring (so you can repeat the process to move to previous marks).
I think this is preferable to exchange-point-and-mark, as the latter reactivates the mark, highlighting the region in transient-mark-mode, which you wouldn't want in this case. (Unless you wanted to jump back and forth between the point you started at and the location of the final replacement, in which case exchange-point-and-mark would be exactly what you wanted.)
After you quit, the mark will be where you started and the point will be where you stopped. C-x C-x will swap the two, putting the point where you started.
In Aquamacs 2.2 I could do the following:
1) Set the mark with C-SPACE
2) Click somewhere to set the point
Consequently this would define the region. Since Aquamacs-2.3 this behaviour is gone: A click sets both the mark and the point. Is there a way to customize aquamacs to have the old behaviour?
For Emacs 24, here's what worked for me (and may also apply to Aquamacs): Unset the binding for the <down-mouse-1> event, which is what is setting the mark (but not the point; the point is set by a different binding, for the up-event <mouse-1>).
That seems to provide the behavior you are asking for: clicking the mouse after setting the mark via C-space sets the point, and one can see the corresponding region highlighted.
I determined this by reading the help for the bindings above, by doing:
M-x helpkclick, and reading the *Help* text, which explains that <down-mouse-1> is bound to command mouse-drag-region (which sets the mark).
I then tested the resulting behavior by interactively disabling the binding, by doing:
M-x global-unset-key and then clicking; but it is probably much safer to do it programmatically, e.g. in the scratch buffer, by evaluating:
(global-unset-key [down-mouse-1])
If you like the behavior that results, then just copy the above line into your .emacs
Employing the solution described above does seem to cause mouse-dragging to be a little funky, in that it does not highlight the selected region during the drag (but you still get to see what the region is once you let go, and you can now fine tune its end point via single clicks, which may be useful in some circumstances.)