Characterset for Abbrevation names limited

Characterset for Abbrevation names limited

[Wilmar Igl]

Hi,

sofar it is not possible to use characters other the [a-Z][0-9] as names 
of abbreviations when using <add-global-abbreviation>.
To avoid conflicts with emacs abbreviations and other acronyms used in 
the text I would suggest to allow non-alphabetical/non-number characters 
like, [!"#%&/].
Example: M-x add-global-abbrev RET !myabbr RET

Best,

Will


* E-mail: wilmar.igl[AT]gmx.de

Re: Characterset for Abbrevation names limited

[Glenn Morris]

Wilmar Igl wrote:

> sofar it is not possible to use characters other the [a-Z][0-9] as names 
> of abbreviations when using <add-global-abbreviation>.
> To avoid conflicts with emacs abbreviations and other acronyms used in 
> the text I would suggest to allow non-alphabetical/non-number characters 
> like, [!"#%&/].

It's not that simple. Because of the way abbrevs are expanded, the
characters in an abbrev must all be recognized as part of a word.
So in general it's not possible to allow arbitrary characters (eg `!')
in abbrevs. In specific modes that change the syntax of some
characters to be word constituents, these characters can be used in
abbrevs.

Re: Characterset for Abbrevation names limited

[Wilmar Igl]

Dear Glenn,

thanks for the info. In this case I'd suggest to change the prompt
of global-add-abbrev from e.g.:

M-x Global abbrev for "Desoxyribonucleicacid":

to:

M-x Global abbrev for "Desoxyribonucleicacid" (only letters [a-Z][0-9]):

and/or include a similar comment into the function description.
Otherwise an uninformed user might use the unsupported characters like 
[!"#%&/] and register the failure of the function and interpret it as a bug.

Best,

Wilmar

Glenn Morris skrev:
> Wilmar Igl wrote:
> 
>> sofar it is not possible to use characters other the [a-Z][0-9] as names 
>> of abbreviations when using <add-global-abbreviation>.
>> To avoid conflicts with emacs abbreviations and other acronyms used in 
>> the text I would suggest to allow non-alphabetical/non-number characters 
>> like, [!"#%&/].
> 
> It's not that simple. Because of the way abbrevs are expanded, the
> characters in an abbrev must all be recognized as part of a word.
> So in general it's not possible to allow arbitrary characters (eg `!')
> in abbrevs. In specific modes that change the syntax of some
> characters to be word constituents, these characters can be used in
> abbrevs.


-- 
Wilmar IGL (Mr.)
PhD, Psychologist

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Re: Characterset for Abbrevation names limited

[Glenn Morris]

Reply received off-list (it seems to be the season):

Wilmar Igl wrote (on Sun, 24 Jun 2007 at 17:08 +0200):

> thanks for the info. In this case I'd suggest to change the prompt
> of global-add-abbrev from e.g.:
> 
> M-x Global abbrev for "Desoxyribonucleicacid":
> 
> to:
> 
> M-x Global abbrev for "Desoxyribonucleicacid" (only letters [a-Z][0-9]):
> 
> and/or include a similar comment into the function description.
> Otherwise an uninformed user might use the unsupported characters like 
> [!"#%&/] and register the failure of the function and interpret it as a bug.