Re: C-o

[Visuwesh <visuweshm@gmail.com>]

[திங்கள் ஜூலை 01, 2024] Stefan Monnier wrote:

>>> I still think we need to find a better binding for C-o, FWIW.
> [...]
>>> What do you use it for?
>
> I'm also curious to know how people use `C-o`, which I never ever use.

I primarily use it when I'm rewriting a sentence.  I like to keep the
old sentence around to compare it with the rewritten one but it is
distracting to have them in the same paragraph so I move to beginning of
the sentence if required and type C-o.  I could type RET but that does
not preserve the point.  Finally, I join the lines together and kill the
old sentence (I have M-j behave like M-- M-^).  Note how I never have to
move the point except initially.
[ I should say that I find it more natural to think and manipulate text
  vertically downwards rather than vertically upwards like Emacs
  commands do.  Which is why I find it hard to wrap my brain around
  transpose-lines and delete-indentation.  It may be due to my using vi
  before Emacs.  ]

Like Po Lu says, it also comes in handy when you're typing in function
parameters too.

I started using C-o after enabling hard newlines though.  Although RET
still inserts hard newlines, my brain still thinks of RET as inserting
soft newlines so I started to use C-o.  Then I found cases for it
outside of the hard-soft newline thingy.

>> What do you expect?  Opening a new line?
>
> Not sure what answer Daniel was looking for, but for me at least the
> question is about the "context" where you use `C-o`.

I hope I provided some context.  Preservation of the point is very
handy.  I think I would enjoy C-M-o more in prog-mode but it is a lot
more cumbersome to type.  Perhaps, I should try rebinding C-o to C-M-o.