Why does re-search-backward give different result in python-mode? - emacs

I have been using python-mode for a long time. And I always use subword-mode. But subword-mode behave strangely in python-mode. For example, the M-b movement. If there is a variable named test_varialbe and I put the cursor at the end of this variable, in python-mode M-b will make the cursor point to t while in other modes it will go to v.
So I looked into the source of subword-mode and found the following function:
(defun subword-backward-internal ()
(if (save-excursion
(let ((case-fold-search nil))
(re-search-backward
(concat
"\\(\\(\\W\\|[[:lower:][:digit:]]\\)\\([[:upper:]]+\\W*\\)"
"\\|\\W\\w+\\)")
nil t)))
(goto-char
(cond
((and (match-end 3)
(< 1 (- (match-end 3) (match-beginning 3)))
(not (eq (point) (match-end 3))))
(1- (match-end 3)))
(t
(1+ (match-beginning 0)))))
(backward-word 1)))
After making some tests, I found re-search-backward is giving different result in different modes. If I eval-expression the (let ...) expression in python-mode, the cursor will jump to the space before test_varialbe, and in other modes it will jump to -.
Why is this? What has caused re-search-backward to behave differently?

The reason is that there are differences in the Syntax table definition of '_'.
In Python mode '_' has a syntax definition of "word" whereas in other cases it is defined as "symbol". Look at Elisp manual: Syntax tables

in addition:
Grasping identifiers, basic commands like `forward-word' make more sense with "_" on word syntax. AFAIK Emacs doesn't provide the respective commands WRT with symbols.

Related

Function to Explode paragraph into org-bullets by sentences

I am trying to write a simple Elisp Emacs function that takes a paragraph (point indicated by [X]) and expands it into a series of bullet points with each bullet containing a sentence.
much more useful, especially with huge windows. In my experience, it slows down redraw a little bit, but it’s worth it.There are two ways to enable it: the first is with M-x visual-line-mode[X] (for those with real menus, apparently Options->Line Wrapping in this Buffer->Word Wrap), which will give you a minor mode “wrap” in the mode line.
and returns
+ much more useful, especially with huge windows.
+ In my experience, it slows down redraw a little bit, but it’s worth it.
+ There are two ways to enable it: the first is with M-x visual-line-mode[X] (for those with real menus, apparently Options->Line Wrapping in this Buffer->Word Wrap), which will give you a minor mode “wrap” in the mode line.
Here is what I have so far:
(defun jds/explode ()
"explode paragraph, more documentation needed"
(interactive)
(save-excursion
(let ((bop (copy-marker (progn (backward-paragraph) (point))))
(eop (copy-marker (progn (forward-paragraph) (point)))))
(goto-char bop)
(back-to-indentation) ;; goto first non-whitespace character
(if (re-search-forward "^[:blank:]*[+-x] " nil t) nil (insert "+ "))
(while (< (point) eop)
(forward-sentence)
(forward-whitespace 1)
(unless (>= (point) eop)
(org-meta-return)))))))))
But this just seems to run but not do anything. I think the problem may be that the backward-paragraph function may not be putting the point on the first non-black character (the m in much). But that said, my Elisp is very weak and I am struggling to figure out the problem.
Turns out this works - just needed to add +/-1 to point
(defun jds/explode ()
"explode paragraph, more documentation needed"
(interactive)
(save-excursion
(let ((bop (copy-marker (progn (backward-paragraph) (+ (point) 1))))
(eop (copy-marker (progn (forward-paragraph) (- (point) 1)))))
(goto-char bop)
(if (looking-at-p "^[:blank:]*[+-x] ") nil (insert "+ "))
(while (< (point) eop)
(forward-sentence)
(forward-whitespace 1)
(unless (>= (point) eop)
(org-meta-return))))))
(defun explode-paragraph ()
"Explode paragraph. If run twice it changes list marker."
(interactive)
(save-mark-and-excursion
(let ((bop (copy-marker (progn (backward-paragraph) (1+ (point)))))
(eop (copy-marker (progn (forward-paragraph) (point)))))
(goto-char bop)
(if (looking-at-p "^\s*[\-\+x] ") nil (insert "+ "))
(while (< (point) eop)
(forward-sentence)
(forward-whitespace 1)
(unless (>= (point) eop)
(org-meta-return))))))
I extended your implementation to work for my use-case. I changed a couple of things:
I changed [:blank:] to \s because it was matching on lines under a header (if anyone knows why this is I'd be happy to be educated).
I used the (+1 (point) notation and removed the -1 from the eop, as I didn't find it necessary.
I escaped the special symbols inside [...] because -x was matching lines starting with 'A'.
In my own version of this function I have the first line (summary sentence) a level up from the other sentences, but I think this should cover most cases for its original intended purpose.

RET adds a line below but doesn't jump to it in Matlab mode on Emacs

When I am on matlab mode on Emacs (I use Aquamacs), RET adds a line below but doesn't jump to that line (i.e., it acts as C-o is supposed to). This behaviour doesn't happen in other modes were RET behaves as expected, i.e. adds a line below and moves the cursor to it.
When I press RET in matlab mode I get this message
wrong type argument "wholenump -1"
I have no idea where this is coming from. I have reinstalled all my matlab related files to .emacs, I have looked through .emacs, Preferences.el, customizations.el, and did and looked through all the options of the customise-apropos 'matlab'. I haven't found anything that would give me a clue. I don't know any lisp and can be considered a noob even though I have been using emacs for a few years. Can someone help me trace the problem?
I am using Aquatics 3.2 GNU Emacs 24.4.51.2. I was originally running a matlab-mode of unknown provenance from several years back, but while attempting to troubleshoot this problem, I upgraded to the latest version from https://github.com/pronobis/matlab-mode by running the update script. This did not solve the problem for me.
As discovered in this SO chat, something is setting fill-column to the value -1:
fill-column is a variable defined in `C source code'.
Its value is -1
Original value was 70
Local in buffer funfzero.m; global value is the same.
Manually setting it back to 70 temporarily fixes the problem for me. But what is causing it to be set to a bogus value like that? How can I find out where this is being set?
Here is the debug output
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument wholenump -1)
move-to-column(-1)
(save-excursion (move-to-column fill-column) (if (not (bobp)) (forward-char -1)) (if (matlab-cursor-in-string (quote incomplete)) 4 3))
(if matlab-fill-count-ellipsis-flag (save-excursion (move-to-column fill-column) (if (not (bobp)) (forward-char -1)) (if (matlab-cursor-in-string (quote incomplete)) 4 3)) 0)
(- fill-column (if matlab-fill-count-ellipsis-flag (save-excursion (move-to-column fill-column) (if (not (bobp)) (forward-char -1)) (if (matlab-cursor-in-string (quote incomplete)) 4 3)) 0))
(let ((fill-prefix fill-prefix) (fill-column (- fill-column (if matlab-fill-count-ellipsis-flag (save-excursion (move-to-column fill-column) (if (not ...) (forward-char -1)) (if (matlab-cursor-in-string ...) 4 3)) 0)))) (if (> (current-column) fill-column) (cond ((matlab-ltype-comm-ignore) nil) ((or (matlab-ltype-comm) (and (save-excursion (move-to-column fill-column) (matlab-cursor-in-comment)) (matlab-lattr-comm))) (matlab-set-comm-fill-prefix) (do-auto-fill) (matlab-reset-fill-prefix)) ((and (matlab-ltype-code) (not (matlab-lattr-cont)) matlab-fill-code) (let ((m (make-marker))) (move-marker m (point)) (set-marker-insertion-type m t) (if (not (matlab-find-convenient-line-break)) nil (if (not ...) (progn ... ... ...) (if matlab-fill-strings-flag ...))) (goto-char m))))))
matlab-auto-fill()
self-insert-command(1)
newline()
matlab-plain-ret()
funcall(matlab-plain-ret)
matlab-return()
call-interactively(matlab-return nil nil)
command-execute(matlab-return)
While this may not get to the root of whatever is causing fill-column getting set to -1, a simple workaround would be to add a call to set-fill-column to the matlab-mode-hook:
(add-hook 'matlab-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(set-fill-column 70)))
By adding this to init.el, fill-column will be automatically set to 70 upon entering matlab-mode.
has this always been this way?
From your debugger log, it looks like matlab-mode binds RET to its own matlab-return, for purposes that looks like auto-pretty-indent.
fill-column is set in that code. In the (let ...) line.
So, it looks like, it's a logical error of the code.
One easy fix is simply bind newline to RET, as in
(defun my-matlab-mode-stuff ()
(local-set-key (kbd "RET") 'newline))
(add-hook 'matlab-mode-hook 'my-matlab-mode-stuff)
you might change the 'newline to 'matlab-plain-ret, as that seems to be its means to just insert return.

A Simple 'copy-form Command

I want a command that copies a form to the kill ring. In emacs-live, the closest thing I could find was this command / key-binding
(global-set-key (kbd "M-]") 'kill-ring-save)
However kill-ring-save has some wonky behaviour. Ii copies more than 1 form, past the cursor. Ultimately, I want a simple function along the lines of what's below (this doesn't quite work).
(defun copy-form ()
(kill-ring-save (line-beginning-position) (live-paredit-forward)))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-]") 'copy-form)
I've searched high and low ( SO question and Google search), but can't seem to find a simple, working command to copy a balanced expression. Has someone already done this?
Thanks
Tim
Function sexp-at-point gives you the sexp ("form") at the cursor. Just copy that to the kill-ring, using kill-ring-save. E.g.:
(defun copy-sexp-at-point ()
(interactive)
(let ((bnds (bounds-of-thing-at-point 'sexp)))
(kill-ring-save (car bnds) (cdr bnds))))
Alternatively, just use kill-new:
(defun copy-sexp-at-point ()
(interactive)
(kill-new (thing-at-point 'sexp)))
The reason your copy-form cannot be bound to a key is that it is a function, not a command - it is missing an interactive form.
However, in your case you don't even need to write a new function.
Try a combination of
mark-sexp is an interactive compiled Lisp function in `lisp.el'.
It is bound to C-M-#, C-M-SPC.
and
M-w runs the command kill-ring-save, which is an interactive compiled
Lisp function in `simple.el'.
It is bound to <C-insertchar>, M-w, <menu-bar> <edit> <copy>.
I'm not sure I understand the question, but when I need to do what I consider as "copy a balanced form", I do: M-C-SPC M-w. If I want to cut it instead, I do M-C-SPC C-w.
Here's what I generally use. Somehow it's more useful for me
to kill the balanced expression instead of copying. If I want a
copy instead, I first kill, then undo.
This function kills a string, if the point is inside string,
otherwise the balanced expression, i.e. (),[],{},<>
or whatever is defined by the syntax.
(defun kill-at-point ()
"Kill the quoted string or the list that includes the point"
(interactive)
(let ((p (nth 8 (syntax-ppss))))
(cond
;; string
((eq (char-after p) ?\")
(goto-char p)
(kill-sexp))
;; list
((ignore-errors (when (eq (char-after) ?\()
(forward-char))
(up-list)
t)
(let ((beg (point)))
(backward-list)
(kill-region beg (point)))))))
I've also tried to add a special case for when the point is
inside the comment, but I couldn't find a generic
way to determine bounds of comment at point. If anyone knows,
please tell me.
This other function can be relevant as well. It marks instead
of killing, like the previous one. The nice thing that it
extends the region each time it's called.
I bind the first one to C-, and the second to
C-M-,.
(defun mark-at-point ()
"Mark the quoted string or the list that includes the point"
(interactive)
(let ((p (nth 8 (syntax-ppss))))
(if (eq (char-after p) ?\")
(progn
(goto-char p)
(set-mark (point))
(forward-sexp))
(progn
(when (eq (char-after) 40)
(forward-char))
(condition-case nil
(progn
(up-list)
(set-mark (point))
(let ((beg (point)))
(backward-list)
(exchange-point-and-mark)))
(error
(when (looking-back "}")
(exchange-point-and-mark)
;; assumes functions are separated by one empty line
(re-search-backward "^[^A-Z-a-z]" nil t)
(forward-char))))))))

Could Emacs fontify elisp string constants?

The Dilemma: readability or maintainability?
Let's look at the following function.
It doesn't really matter what it does, the important part is that
it's using twice the string "(let\\*?[ \t]*":
(defun setq-expression-or-sexp ()
"Return the smallest list that contains point.
If inside VARLIST part of `let' form,
return the corresponding `setq' expression."
(interactive)
(ignore-errors
(save-excursion
(up-list)
(let ((sexp (preceding-sexp)))
(backward-list 1)
(cond
((looking-back "(let\\*?[ \t]*")
(cons 'setq
(if (= (length sexp) 1)
(car sexp)
(cl-mapcan
(lambda (x) (unless (listp x) (list x nil)))
sexp))))
((progn
(up-list)
(backward-list 1)
(looking-back "(let\\*?[ \t]*"))
(cons 'setq sexp))
(t
sexp))))))
Since it's a headache having to update the string in two (or more) locations,
I'd have to defconst it like so:
(defconst regex-let-form "(let\\*?[ \t]*")
Although the code became more maintainable, it became less readable as well,
because it's hard to see at a glance what regex-let-form really is:
(defun setq-expression-or-sexp ()
"Return the smallest list that contains point.
If inside VARLIST part of `let' form,
return the corresponding `setq' expression."
(interactive)
(ignore-errors
(save-excursion
(up-list)
(let ((sexp (preceding-sexp)))
(backward-list 1)
(cond
((looking-back regex-let-form)
(cons 'setq
(if (= (length sexp) 1)
(car sexp)
(cl-mapcan
(lambda (x) (unless (listp x) (list x nil)))
sexp))))
((progn
(up-list)
(backward-list 1)
(looking-back regex-let-form))
(cons 'setq sexp))
(t
sexp))))))
The idea: why not both?
Since it's a constant anyway, why not font-lock it
and make regex-let-form appear as if it's "(let\\*?[ \t]*"?
It's a feasable job, since:
It's possible to font-lock identifiers like so: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PrettyLambda,
or even so: rainbow-mode.
And it's possible to font-lock constants. It's already done for c++-mode,
but not yet for emacs-lisp-mode, as far as I know.
Then it remains only to connect the two. Unfortunately, I don't know
enough of font-lock innards to do it, but maybe someone else does?
Or is there already a package that does this?
Tweaking the code from this answer,
I've solved the problem:
(font-lock-add-keywords
'emacs-lisp-mode
'((fl-string-constant . 'font-lock-constant-face)) 'append)
(defun fl-string-constant (_limit)
(while (not
(ignore-errors
(save-excursion
(skip-chars-forward "'")
(let ((opoint (point))
(obj (read (current-buffer)))
obj-val)
(and (symbolp obj)
(risky-local-variable-p obj)
(special-variable-p obj)
(stringp (setq obj-val (eval obj)))
(progn
(put-text-property
(1- (point)) (point) 'display
(format "%c\"%s\"" (char-before) obj-val))
(set-match-data (list opoint (point)))
t))))))
(if (looking-at "\\(\\sw\\|\\s_\\)")
(forward-sexp 1)
(forward-char 1)))
t)
This displays the value of a string constant right after the constant name.
It works quite nicely with fontified string constants as well.
Speed is a bit of an issue - suggestions to improve are welcome.
Also, I couldn't find anything better than risky-local-variable-p to determine
that it's a constant. The doc says that defconst marks the variable
as special and risky, but nothing else.
hl-defined.el (updated today, 2013-10-20) can highlight constant Emacs-Lisp symbols as such, that is, variables whose current value is the symbol itself. If your defconst has been evaluated then this will do what you are requesting.
This seems to work (source: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PrettyLambda):
(font-lock-add-keywords 'emacs-lisp-mode
`(("\\<\\(regex-let-form\\)\\>" (0 (prog1 nil
(compose-region (match-beginning 1)
(match-end 1)
"\"(let\\\\*?[ \\t]*\""))))))
Although I think adding regex-let-form into the existing let block would be a cleaner solution:
(let ((sexp (preceding-sexp))
(regex-let-form "(let\\*?[ \t]*"))
...
Perhaps your example is not indicative of the real problem, and you really do want to do some display replacement or font-locking, as you say.
But I will answer wrt your example and the problem as posed, regarding maintainability vs readability: Just let-bind your regexp. The binding, unlike a defconst will be nearby and clearly related to the occurrences of the bound variable.
This is typically what people do. Again, you might have had another use case in mind --- I am responding only to the problem as posed narrowly.

matching keys in association lists in emacs lisp

I'm using folding-mode in emacs and was trying to make a function to insert the appropriate folding marker (start or end) depending on mode. So far I have
(defun insert-folding-mode-mark ()
(interactive)
(let ((st "##{{{")
(en "##}}}")
string-to-insert)
(save-excursion
(setq string-to-insert
(let ((here (point))
sp ep)
(setq sp (search-backward st))
(goto-char here)
(setq ep (search-backward en))
(if (< sp ep) st en))))
(insert string-to-insert)))
This inserts "##{{{" at (point) unless "##{{{" precedes it, in which case it inserts "##}}}".
I'd like to replace the first (let) assignment with something that determines the start and end markers with something like
(let* ((match (assoc (intern mode-name) folding-mode-marks-alist))
(st (nth 1 match))
(en (nth 2 match)))
[is (intern) meant to be called in this way?] A truncated version of my folding-mode-marks-alist looks something like
((ess-mode "##{{{" "##}}}")
(tex-mode "%{{{" "%}}}")
(python-mode "# {{{" "# }}}")
(emacs-lisp-mode ";;{{{" ";;}}}")
(TeX-mode "%{{{" "%}}}")
(LaTeX-mode "%{{{" "%}}}"))
while the mode-name returned from various modes are {"Emacs-Lisp", "ESS[S]", "PDFLaTeX", "Python", ...}. Seems like I might want to do some partial matching with strings using (downcase), (concat x "-mode"), and so on, but was wondering if there was an idiomatic way in emacs lisp to do this sort of matching with keys of an alist, or do I just have to have a separate block of code by which I extract the keys with (mapcar 'car folding-mode-marks-alist) and convert each symbol to string (how?) to do the matching?
Thanks much!
Emacs Lisp has a destructuring-bind facility which may be helpful here. Also taking advantage of the fact that the symbol naming the current major mode is available via the variable major-mode, you can write something like this:
(destructuring-bind (st en) (cdr (assoc major-mode folding-mode-marks-alist))
; do stuff
)
Note that this won't work if (assoc major-mode folding-mode-marks-alist) returns nil, so better replace that with a call to some custom function capable of returning a sensible default.
In addition to major-mode being more appropriate than mode-name here, the function insert-folding-mode-mark as listed above would throw an error if there were no folding marker between cursor and beginning of buffer. Here is a revision without that quirk:
(require 'cl)
(defun insert-folding-mode-mark ()
(interactive)
(flet ((fn (s) (save-excursion (or (search-backward s () t) 0))))
(destructuring-bind (mode st en)
(or (assoc major-mode folding-mode-marks-alist) '(nil "" ""))
(insert (if (<= (fn st) (fn en)) st en)))))
Edit: fix problem pointed out in comment.
You may be interested to know there are comment-start and comment-end variables which should already contain the information you need based on major-mode. Something like
(search-backward (concat comment-start "{{{"))
...
(insert comment-start "{{{" comment-end)
should be sufficient. Of course, for lisp modes comment-start is ";" so you may want to do what you are doing to get ";;" but fall back on comment-start for other modes. You can also (setq comment-start ";;") though I'm not entirely sure what difference that makes for the lisp modes.