From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Eli Zaretskii Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: abbrev definition (manual) Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 17:29:11 +0300 Message-ID: <83r2x35l1k.fsf@gnu.org> References: Reply-To: Eli Zaretskii NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1501079443 10732 195.159.176.226 (26 Jul 2017 14:30:43 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 14:30:43 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Jean-Christophe Helary Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jul 26 16:30:39 2017 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1daNKf-0002Kb-JT for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Jul 2017 16:30:37 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:38503 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1daNKi-0008JP-73 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:30:40 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:59457) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1daNJb-0007c6-Ud for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:29:32 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1daNJY-0004WS-1G for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:29:31 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::e]:38141) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1daNJX-0004WM-U9; Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:29:27 -0400 Original-Received: from 84.94.185.246.cable.012.net.il ([84.94.185.246]:1412 helo=home-c4e4a596f7) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1daNJW-0006Kq-Vt; Wed, 26 Jul 2017 10:29:27 -0400 In-reply-to: (message from Jean-Christophe Helary on Wed, 26 Jul 2017 08:18:46 +0900) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 2001:4830:134:3::e X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-devel" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:217038 Archived-At: > From: Jean-Christophe Helary > Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 08:18:46 +0900 > > I find the manual explanation for the definition of an abbrev confusing: > > The usual way to define an abbrev is to enter the text you want the abbrev to expand to, position point after it, and type C-x a g (add-global-abbrev). This reads the abbrev itself using the minibuffer, and then defines it as an abbrev for one or more words before point. Use a numeric argument to say how many words before point should be taken as the expansion. For example, to define the abbrev ‘foo’ as mentioned above, insert the text ‘find outer otter’ and then type C-u 3 C-x a g f o o RET. > > What about that: > > The usual way to define an abbrev is to enter the text you want the abbrev to expand to, position point after it, and type C-x a g (add-global-abbrev). Use a numeric argument to say how many words before point should be taken as the expansion. This prompts for the abbrev itself in the minibuffer, and then defines it as an abbrev for the words specified before point. For example, to define the abbrev 'foo' as mentioned above, insert the text 'find outer otter' and then type C-u 3 C-x a g f o o RET. I find them both equivalent, so I'm not sure what part of the original confused you. Was that the "reads ... using the minibuffer" part?