How to run indent command in arbitrary buffer while respecting user settings?

How to run indent command in arbitrary buffer while respecting user settings?

[Ihor Radchenko]

Hello,

In Org mode, we sometimes have a need to use third-party major mode to
do indentation:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(when t
'indent-me)
#+end_src

To do this, we currently create a major mode buffer containing the code
and run whatever is bound to <TAB> there.

This, however, is broken when user re-binds <TAB> to something else.
Or when something like evil-mode re-binds <TAB>
(https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil/issues/1806)

I am now considering running
(funcall-interactively #'indent-for-tab-command)

However, looking at 25 Indentation section of Elisp manual:

       The simplest way to perform indentation is the <TAB> key.  In most
    major modes, this runs the command ‘indent-for-tab-command’.  (In C and
    related modes, <TAB> runs the command ‘c-indent-line-or-region’, which
    behaves similarly, *note C Indent::).

I noticed that C and related modes have some alternative setting for
indentation. So, using `indent-for-tab-command' appear to be not as
reliable, after all.

Is there any reliable way to perform indentation in an arbitrary major
mode programmatically?

I notice that cc-mode.el has a comment that the current <TAB> re-binding
is at least debatable:

  (substitute-key-definition 'indent-for-tab-command
			     ;; XXX Is this the right thing to do
			     ;; here?
			     'c-indent-line-or-region
			     c-mode-base-map global-map)

So, should I simply ignore what cc-mode does and go ahead relying upon
`indent-for-tab-command' doing the right thing?

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: How to run indent command in arbitrary buffer while respecting user settings?

[Tassilo Horn]

Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net> writes:

> Is there any reliable way to perform indentation in an arbitrary major
> mode programmatically?

Does `indent-region' do the right thing?  That honors
`indent-region-function' if set (which it is also in cc-modes) or use
`indent-according-to-mode' (which uses `indent-line-function')?

Bye,
Tassilo

Re: How to run indent command in arbitrary buffer while respecting user settings?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net>
> Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2023 19:44:44 +0000
> 
> In Org mode, we sometimes have a need to use third-party major mode to
> do indentation:
> 
> #+begin_src emacs-lisp
> (when t
> 'indent-me)
> #+end_src
> 
> To do this, we currently create a major mode buffer containing the code
> and run whatever is bound to <TAB> there.
> 
> This, however, is broken when user re-binds <TAB> to something else.
> Or when something like evil-mode re-binds <TAB>
> (https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil/issues/1806)
> 
> I am now considering running
> (funcall-interactively #'indent-for-tab-command)
> 
> However, looking at 25 Indentation section of Elisp manual:
> 
>        The simplest way to perform indentation is the <TAB> key.  In most
>     major modes, this runs the command ‘indent-for-tab-command’.  (In C and
>     related modes, <TAB> runs the command ‘c-indent-line-or-region’, which
>     behaves similarly, *note C Indent::).
> 
> I noticed that C and related modes have some alternative setting for
> indentation. So, using `indent-for-tab-command' appear to be not as
> reliable, after all.
> 
> Is there any reliable way to perform indentation in an arbitrary major
> mode programmatically?
> 
> I notice that cc-mode.el has a comment that the current <TAB> re-binding
> is at least debatable:
> 
>   (substitute-key-definition 'indent-for-tab-command
> 			     ;; XXX Is this the right thing to do
> 			     ;; here?
> 			     'c-indent-line-or-region
> 			     c-mode-base-map global-map)
> 
> So, should I simply ignore what cc-mode does and go ahead relying upon
> `indent-for-tab-command' doing the right thing?

There are other, better alternatives: you could either call
indent-according-to-mode or (funcall indent-line-function) instead.
Yet another alternative is to use indent-region-function.

Re: How to run indent command in arbitrary buffer while respecting user settings?

[Ihor Radchenko]

Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org> writes:

> Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net> writes:
>
>> Is there any reliable way to perform indentation in an arbitrary major
>> mode programmatically?
>
> Does `indent-region' do the right thing?  That honors
> `indent-region-function' if set (which it is also in cc-modes) or use
> `indent-according-to-mode' (which uses `indent-line-function')?

Thanks!
I completely forgot about `indent-according-to-mode'.

Although note that `c-indent-line-or-region' will behave differently
from `indent-according-to-mode'.

And what is the purpose of `indent-line-ignored-functions'? It is not
very well documented.  The only explanation is in the docstring of
`indent-according-to-mode', which is not very enlightening:

    However, if the value of that
    variable is present in the `indent-line-ignored-functions' variable,
    handle it specially (since those functions are used for tabbing);
    in that case, indent by aligning to the previous non-blank line.

what is "tabbing" in the above?

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>