Elisp: font-lock in temp buffer? - emacs

I like to font-lock lambda into λ in my lisp buffers.
I do this with:
(defvar keyword-lambda
'(("(\\(lambda\\)\\>"
(0 (prog1 () (compose-region
(match-beginning 1)
(match-end 1) ?λ))))))
(font-lock-add-keywords 'emacs-lisp-mode keyword-lambda)
The character width of the symbol lambda becomes 1, and indent-sexp respects it,
however not in temp buffers it seems. Verify with C-u C-x C-e in an elisp buffer:
(insert
"\n"
(with-temp-buffer
(emacs-lisp-mode)
(insert "(lambda () (interactive)\n (foo))")
(goto-char (point-min))
(indent-sexp)
(buffer-substring-no-properties
(point-min)
(point-max))))
The code indentation is:
(λ () (interactive)
(foo))
which is the indentation as if λ was 5 chars wide.
Is there a way around this?

The font-lock-add-keywords serves to adorns the lambda with a little note saying "display it as just λ".
But the way font-lock is not applied "as the text gets inserted in the buffer". Instead it's applied "some time after the text is inserted in the buffer and before it's displayed", where the exact time when it happens depends on various factors and configurations. Also, font-lock is disabled in temp buffers.
All this means is that you need to force font-lock to do its thing before you call indent-sexp, e.g. by calling font-lock-ensure.

Related

Difference between a normal buffer and a space prefix buffer in Emacs?

By a space prefix buffer, I mean buffers with names that start with a space. Not sure what's the official jargon for such buffers.
I thought the only difference of space prefix buffers were that undo was disabled on them, but there seem to be other differences which are causing the package htmlize to react differently to space prefix buffers.
(require 'htmlize)
;; function to write stuff on current buffer and call htmlize-region
(defun my-test-htmlize ()
(insert "1234567")
(emacs-lisp-mode)
;; (put-text-property 1 2 'font-lock-face "bold")
(put-text-property 3 4 'font-lock-face 'bold)
(with-current-buffer (htmlize-region (point-min)
(point-max))
(buffer-string)))
;; function that makes a (failed) attempt to make current buffer behave like a normal buffer
(defun my-make-buffer-normal ()
(buffer-enable-undo))
;; like with-temp-buffer, except it uses a buffer that is not a space prefix buffer.
(defmacro my-with-temp-buffer-with-no-space-prefix (&rest body)
(declare (indent 0) (debug t))
(let ((temp-buffer (make-symbol "temp-buffer")))
`(let ((,temp-buffer (generate-new-buffer "*tempwd2kemgv*")))
(with-current-buffer ,temp-buffer
(unwind-protect
(progn ,#body)
(and (buffer-name ,temp-buffer)
(kill-buffer ,temp-buffer)))))))
;; In a normal buffer, bold face is htmlized.
(my-with-temp-buffer-with-no-space-prefix
(my-test-htmlize))
;; In a space prefix buffer, bold face is not htmlized.
(with-temp-buffer
(my-test-htmlize))
;; Bold face is still not htmlized.
(with-temp-buffer
(my-make-buffer-normal)
(my-test-htmlize))
Leading spaces indicate ephemeral or uninteresting buffers. These have no undo history, and many commands place these buffers less prominently, or even ignore them completely. See Emacs Lisp Reference, Buffer Names:
Buffers that are ephemeral and generally uninteresting to the user have names starting with a space, so that the list-buffers and buffer-menu commands don't mention them (but if such a buffer visits a file, it is mentioned). A name starting with space also initially disables recording undo information; see Undo.
There are no further differences on built-in commands, but any command is free to handle these buffers in a special way. You probably need to consult the htmlize sources to determine the cause of the different behavior.
Found another difference of buffers with names starting with a space. Additional manual font lock will not work with such buffers.
(defmacro my-with-temp-buffer-with-name (buffername &rest body)
(declare (indent 1) (debug t))
(let ((temp-buffer (make-symbol "temp-buffer")))
`(let ((,temp-buffer (generate-new-buffer ,buffername)))
(with-current-buffer ,temp-buffer
(unwind-protect
(progn ,#body)
(and (buffer-name ,temp-buffer)
(kill-buffer ,temp-buffer)))))))
(my-with-temp-buffer-with-name "*temp*"
(insert "1234567")
(emacs-lisp-mode)
(put-text-property 3 4 'font-lock-face 'bold)
(print (next-single-property-change 1 'face)))
;; => 3
(my-with-temp-buffer-with-name " *temp*" ; with a space prefix
(insert "1234567")
(emacs-lisp-mode)
(put-text-property 3 4 'font-lock-face 'bold)
(print (next-single-property-change 1 'face)))
;; => nil
Update: The reason the additional font lock does not work is because font-lock-mode actively avoids working with such buffers (see definition of font-lock-mode) One way to make it work is to call font-lock-default-function directly.
(my-with-temp-buffer-with-name " *temp*" ; with a space prefix
(insert "1234567")
(emacs-lisp-mode)
(put-text-property 3 4 'font-lock-face 'bold)
(font-lock-default-function t) ; <==
(print (next-single-property-change 1 'face)))
;; => 3

'Semantic' movement across a line

Consider the following line of Lisp code:
(some-function 7 8 | 9) ;; some comment. note the extra indentation
The point is placed between '8' and '9'. If I perform (move-beginning-of-line), the point will be placed at the absolute beginning of the line, rather than at '('.
Same for move-end-of-line: I'd find it more desirable for it to place the point at ')' if I perform it once, and at the absolute end of the line if I perform it a second time. Some IDEs behave like that.
I tried to implement this but got stuck, my solution behaves particularly bad near the end of a buffer, and on the minibuffer as well. Is there a library that provides this functionality?
I don't know of any library, but it can be done in a few lines of Elisp.
For the beginning of line part, the bundled functions beginning-of-line-text and back-to-indentation (M-m) move to the beginning of the “interesting” part of the line. back-to-indentation ignores only whitespace whereas beginning-of-line-text skips over the fill prefix (in a programming language, this is typically the comment marker, if in a comment). See Smart home in Emacs for how to flip between the beginning of the actual and logical line.
For the end of line part, the following function implements what you're describing. The function end-of-line-code moves to the end of the line, except for trailing whitespace and an optional trailing comment. The function end-of-line-or-code does this, except that if the point was already at the target position, or if the line only contains whitespace and a comment, the point moves to the end of the actual line.
(defun end-of-line-code ()
(interactive "^")
(save-match-data
(let* ((bolpos (progn (beginning-of-line) (point)))
(eolpos (progn (end-of-line) (point))))
(if (comment-search-backward bolpos t)
(search-backward-regexp comment-start-skip bolpos 'noerror))
(skip-syntax-backward " " bolpos))))
(defun end-of-line-or-code ()
(interactive "^")
(let ((here (point)))
(end-of-line-code)
(if (or (= here (point))
(bolp))
(end-of-line))))
Some suggestions that almost do what you ask:
In lisp code, you can sort-of do what you want, with the sexp movement commands. To get to the beginning of the expression from somewhere in the middle, use backward-up-list, which is bound to M-C-u. In your example, that would bring you to the open parenthesis. To move backwards over individual elements in the list, use backward-sexp, bound to M-C-b; forward-sexp moves the other way, and is bound to M-C-f. From the beginning of an sexp, you can skip to the next with M-C-n; reverse with M-C-p.
None of these commands are actually looking at the physical line you are on, so they'll go back or forward over multiple lines.
Other options include Ace Jump mode, which is a very slick way to quickly navigate to the beginning of any word visible on the screen. That might eliminate your need to use line-specific commands. For quick movement within a line, I usually use M-f and M-b to jump over words. Holding the M key down while tapping on b or f is quick enough that I end up using that by default most of the time.
Edit:
Forgot one other nice command - back-to-indentation, bound to M-m. This will back you up to the first non-whitespace character in a line. You could advice this to behave normally on the first call, and then to back up to the beginning of the line on the second call:
(defadvice back-to-indentation (around back-to-back)
(if (eq last-command this-command)
(beginning-of-line)
ad-do-it))
(ad-activate 'back-to-indentation)
I just wrote these two functions that have the behavior you are looking for.
(defun move-beginning-indent ()
(interactive)
(if (eq last-command this-command)
(beginning-of-line)
(back-to-indentation))
)
(defun move-end-indent ()
(interactive)
(if (eq last-command this-command)
(end-of-line)
(end-of-line)
(search-backward-regexp "\\s)" nil t) ; searches backwards for a
(forward-char 1)) ; closed delimiter such as ) or ]
)
(global-set-key [f7] 'move-beginning-indent)
(global-set-key [f8] 'move-end-indent)
Just try them out, they should behave exactly the way you'd want them to.
I use this:
(defun beginning-of-line-or-text (arg)
"Move to BOL, or if already there, to the first non-whitespace character."
(interactive "p")
(if (bolp)
(beginning-of-line-text arg)
(move-beginning-of-line arg)))
(put 'beginning-of-line-or-text 'CUA 'move)
;; <home> is still bound to move-beginning-of-line
(global-set-key (kbd "C-a") 'beginning-of-line-or-text)
(defun end-of-code-or-line ()
"Move to EOL. If already there, to EOL sans comments.
That is, the end of the code, ignoring any trailing comment
or whitespace. Note this does not handle 2 character
comment starters like // or /*. Such will not be skipped."
(interactive)
(if (not (eolp))
(end-of-line)
(skip-chars-backward " \t")
(let ((pt (point))
(lbp (line-beginning-position))
(comment-start-re (concat (if comment-start
(regexp-quote
(replace-regexp-in-string
"[[:space:]]*" "" comment-start))
"[^[:space:]][[:space:]]*$")
"\\|\\s<"))
(comment-stop-re "\\s>")
(lim))
(when (re-search-backward comment-start-re lbp t)
(setq lim (point))
(if (re-search-forward comment-stop-re (1- pt) t)
(goto-char pt)
(goto-char lim) ; test here ->
(while (looking-back comment-start-re (1- (point)))
(backward-char))
(skip-chars-backward " \t"))))))
(put 'end-of-code-or-line 'CUA 'move)
;; <end> is still bound to end-of-visual-line
(global-set-key (kbd "C-e") 'end-of-code-or-line)

Why doesn't font-lock-fontify-buffer work from elisp when it works from the minibuffer?

So I'm hacking up some elisp to test a web service, and I'm running into trouble with syntax highlighting. I'm using url-retrieve-synchronously to get an HTTP response, then editing the text to get down to just the XML I need to see. Unfortunately, syntax highlighting doesn't work in the returned buffer, even though I've set it to nxml-mode and used "font-lock-fontify-buffer" in the script. However, if I do "M-x font-lock-fontify-buffer", the highlighting works as I would expect. Is there some difference between using it in elisp and from inside emacs?
Here are the relevant parts of the script I'm putting together. I admit up front that this is the first elisp scripting I've ever done, and I'm probably doing things in a ludicrously incorrect manner, but it's all worked thus far.
(defun modality-http-request (url args request-type)
(let ((url-request-method request-type)
(url-request-extra-headers '(("Content-Type" . "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")))
(url-request-data
(mapconcat (lambda (arg)
(concat (url-hexify-string (car arg))
"="
(url-hexify-string (cdr arg))))
args
"&")))
(url-retrieve-synchronously url)))
(defun modality-http-get (url args)
(modality-http-request url args "GET"))
(defun modality-http-post (url args)
(modality-http-request url args "POST"))
(defun test-modality (test)
(interactive "s\Test: ")
(let ((buffer (modality-http-get (concat (get-modality-path) test) nil)))
(set-buffer buffer)
(setq modality-beginning (point))
(forward-paragraph)
(next-line)
(beginning-of-line)
(setq modality-end (point))
(delete-region modality-beginning modality-end)
(bf-pretty-print-xml-region)
(switch-to-buffer buffer)
(font-lock-fontify-buffer)))
(defun bf-pretty-print-xml-region ()
"Pretty format XML markup in region. You need to have nxml-mode
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/NxmlMode installed to do
this. The function inserts linebreaks to separate tags that have
nothing but whitespace between them. It then indents the markup
by using nxml's indentation rules."
(interactive "r")
(save-excursion
(nxml-mode)
(goto-char (point-min))
(while (search-forward-regexp "\>[ \\t]*\<" nil t)
(backward-char) (insert "\n"))
(indent-region (point-min) (point-max))
))
URL uses temporary/internal buffers (recognized by the fact that their name starts with a space). They're plain normal, but some functions treat them specially: font-lock will not be activated, and the buffer will usually not be shown to the user (e.g. C-x b TAB will not show those buffers).
So either rename the buffer before enabling font-lock, or copy the text you need into another buffer whose name doesn't start with a space.

Disable auto-fill-mode locally (or un fill-paragraph) with emacs

I use M-q for fill-paragraph, can I do the un-fill-paragraph in auto-fill-mode?
With org mode, I sometimes enter [[Very long HTML][Name with spaces]], and for the 'Name with spaces' the auto-fill mode break the whole line based on the inserted space, which makes it very ugly.
Is there a command something like un-fill-paragraph? Or, is there a way disable auto-fill-mode temporarily/locally?
Emacs does not record what was your line before calling fill-paragraph. So the only thing you can do is C-_ which runs the command undo. It can undo your fill-paragraph command but only if it is the preceding command call.
If you want to put a multi-line paragraph on one line you could do like this :
Select the region
C-M-% C-q C-j RET SPACE RET !
Xah Lee has updated his code since monotux's answer, and I refactored it somewhat for readability:
(defun my-toggle-fill-paragraph ()
;; Based on http://xahlee.org/emacs/modernization_fill-paragraph.html
"Fill or unfill the current paragraph, depending upon the current line length.
When there is a text selection, act on the region.
See `fill-paragraph' and `fill-region'."
(interactive)
;; We set a property 'currently-filled-p on this command's symbol
;; (i.e. on 'my-toggle-fill-paragraph), thus avoiding the need to
;; create a variable for remembering the current fill state.
(save-excursion
(let* ((deactivate-mark nil)
(line-length (- (line-end-position) (line-beginning-position)))
(currently-filled (if (eq last-command this-command)
(get this-command 'currently-filled-p)
(< line-length fill-column)))
(fill-column (if currently-filled
most-positive-fixnum
fill-column)))
(if (region-active-p)
(fill-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
(fill-paragraph))
(put this-command 'currently-filled-p (not currently-filled)))))
To remake a long line out of a paragraph in Org mode, I gave myself a new command. Here is the associated Emacs Lisp code:
(defun fp-unfill-paragraph (&optional justify region)
(interactive (progn
(barf-if-buffer-read-only)
(list (if current-prefix-arg 'full) t)))
(interactive)
(let ((fill-column 100000))
(fill-paragraph justify region)))
(global-set-key "\C-ceu" 'fp-unfill-paragraph)
Of course, you adjust the command keybinding as you see fit!
I use the following snippet to fill and un-fill paragraphs (using only M-q), it is really, really handy. I borrowed it from Xah Lee, but removed some comments and whitespace in order to make it fit in here. The link in the first comment goes to his original code.
;; http://xahlee.org/emacs/modernization_fill-paragraph.html
(defun compact-uncompact-block ()
"Remove or add line endings on the current block of text.
This is similar to a toggle for fill-paragraph and unfill-paragraph
When there is a text selection, act on the region.
When in text mode, a paragraph is considered a block. When in programing
language mode, the block defined by between empty lines.
Todo: The programing language behavior is currently not done.
Right now, the code uses fill* functions, so does not work or work well
in programing lang modes. A proper implementation to compact is replacing
newline chars by space when the newline char is not inside string.
"
(interactive)
(let (bds currentLineCharCount currentStateIsCompact
(bigFillColumnVal 4333999) (deactivate-mark nil))
(save-excursion
(setq currentLineCharCount
(progn
(setq bds (bounds-of-thing-at-point 'line))
(length (buffer-substring-no-properties (car bds) (cdr bds)))))
(setq currentStateIsCompact
(if (eq last-command this-command)
(get this-command 'stateIsCompact-p)
(if (> currentLineCharCount fill-column) t nil)))
(if (and transient-mark-mode mark-active)
(if currentStateIsCompact
(fill-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
(let ((fill-column bigFillColumnVal))
(fill-region (region-beginning) (region-end)))
)
(if currentStateIsCompact
(fill-paragraph nil)
(let ((fill-column bigFillColumnVal))
(fill-paragraph nil))))
(put this-command 'stateIsCompact-p
(if currentStateIsCompact
nil t)))))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-q") 'compact-uncompact-block)

Suppress emacs auto-fill in a selected region

I use emacs to edit everything. On some of my LateX documents I would like to automatically disable auto-fill mode when I am editing tables and code. Basically, I'd like to have two tags, like:
%%% BEGIN NO FILL
%%% END NO FILL
and nothing between them will be autofilled.
Can anybody think of a way to do this? I would need to figure out whether or not the cursor is inside the region and then have to toggle the mode, and would need to do that every time the cursor moved. Or is there a better way to do it?
If you are using AUCTeX (you should be) then you may want to check out LaTeX-indent-environment-list. Adding an environment to this variable will make it so that (among other things) M-q doesn't refill the paragraph. Unfortunately it doesn't seem work for auto-fill-mode. The following largely untested code added to LaTeX-mode-hook might do what you want.
(setq auto-fill-function
(lambda ()
(unless (> (save-excursion (or (search-backward "%%% BEGIN NO FILL" (point-min) t) 0))
(save-excursion (or (search-backward "%%% END NO FILL" (point-min) t) 0)))
(do-auto-fill))))
It's very stupid and inefficient, but seems to be fast enough on my machine. It doesn't allow nesting, and requires that you manually mark up all sections that you don't want filled. What I am thinking of adding to my .emacs (until I read your question I didn't realize how much this bugged me) is below which keys off of the current environment so there is no need for special markup (though it only looks at the innermost environment (I'm not sure how much of a problem that will cause in practice)). Combining the two is left as an exercise to the interested reader.
;; You can use the following to unset the variables and play around with them
;; (makunbound 'auto-fill-ignore-environments)
;; (makunbound 'auto-fill-ignore-environments-regexp)
(defcustom auto-fill-ignore-environments
(mapcar 'car LaTeX-indent-environment-list)
"List of environments for which `auto-fill-mode' should be
disabled. Used to generate `auto-fill-ignore-environments-regexp'."
:type '(sexp)
)
(defcustom auto-fill-ignore-environments-regexp
(regexp-opt auto-fill-ignore-environments)
"Regexp matching LaTeX environments for which `auto-fill-mode'
should be disabled. If not set, automatically generated from
`auto-fill-ignore-environments'"
:type '(string)
:set-after '(auto-fill-ignore-environments)
)
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(setq auto-fill-function
(lambda ()
(unless (string-match auto-fill-ignore-environments-regexp
(LaTeX-current-environment))
(do-auto-fill))))))
I have never used defcustom before so I'm sure that part could be improved quite a bit.
Got it. Check this out:
(defun in-no-auto-fill-region ()
(> (save-excursion (or (search-backward "%%% BEGIN NO FILL" (point-min) t) 0))
(save-excursion (or (search-backward "%%% END NO FILL" (point-min) t) 0))
))
(defun previous-line-checking-auto-fill (arg)
(interactive "P")
(previous-line arg)
(if (in-no-auto-fill-region)
(turn-off-auto-fill)
(turn-on-auto-fill)))
(defun next-line-checking-auto-fill (arg)
(interactive "P")
(next-line arg)
(if (in-no-auto-fill-region)
(turn-off-auto-fill)
(turn-on-auto-fill)))
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook
'(lambda nil
(local-set-key "C-p" 'previous-line-checking-auto-fill)
(local-set-key "C-n" 'next-line-checking-auto-fill)
(auto-fill-mode 1)
))
Alternately, you can turn off auto-fill-mode and use M-q to format paragraphs. I don't love auto-fill's jumpiness so I use this in every mode.
If you want to go the route of advising/redefining all the movement functions, this should help:
(defmacro movement-advice (func)
`(defadvice ,func (after ; run this after the original function is done (and point has moved)
;; Give it a unique name
,(intern (concat (symbol-name func) "-auto-fill-auto-off"))
;; Hopefully this satisfies the arguments of any function we can throw at it
(&rest args)
;; turn it on
activate
)
"Turn auto-fill-mode on or off automatically."
(auto-fill-mode (not (in-no-auto-fill-region)))))
(dolist (func '(next-line
previous-line
forward-paragraph
backward-paragraph
mouse-drag-region
;; Whatever you use
))
(eval `(movement-advice ,func)))