>> but actually not the one that places the cursor at the beginning of a list.

>I think we do have it: C-M-u, backward-up-list. What's more, it works

>not only in Lisp. I use it all the time.

Yes you have. It works slightly differently when you are in a string, and it

places cursor before the opening parenthesis, not after.

>So I wonder why we need another function that does basically the same.

I think it makes sense to keep backward-up-list as it is, since it handles

literal strings as it does. But the behaviour is controlled via special vars

esape-strings and no-syntax-crossing. If we want similar command as

beginning-of-string, we have to wrap it and let-bind those variables to

change how it works.

I am not sure, what is a symmetric function to move cursor to the end of list?

But as said in the previous mail: this function is *already* in Emacs, so it is

already taking the memory in the process. It is just not used more than

once, and have *potential* to be used more. In other words, I suggest these

two functions as a convenience, not because it is impossible to do something

similar via some combination of other commands and variables.

By the way, why did all occasions of the word "expression" ended up surroneded

with underscores in the online archive?

Från: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
Skickat: den 9 september 2024 21:11
Till: arthur miller <arthur.miller@live.com>
Kopia: emacs-devel@gnu.org <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
Ämne: Re: Suggestion: two new commands: beginning-of-list and end-of-list

> From: arthur miller <arthur.miller@live.com>
> Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2024 18:32:33 +0000
>
> In elisp-mode.el, there is a function, IMO somewhat unfortunately named
> "elisp--beginning-of-sexp". What this function does is to place cursor at the
> beginning of the innermost list, which we can perhaps call more conveniently,
> "current list".
>
> The function does so always, and is relatively well written, minor the case when
> the cursor is placed in a literal string or outside a symbolic expression, say
> between two top-level forms. In those cases, it jumps into the first string
> before the current string, which might be anywhere in the file prior to the
> current string, or to the beginning of the file.
>
> I took me a liberty to rename this function and update the doc to a more
> appropriate wording, and turn it into a command. I have also patched the
> above mentioned cases when it is invoked in a literal string or outside of
> an expression.
>
> As another consideration, I have moved this function into lisp.el (in
> lisp/emacs-lisp/) in the sources. It does not look like it has nothing
> particularly specific to EmacsLisp per se, seems like it should work on any
> "parenthesis"-language. I have tested it successfully in both CommonLisp and
> EmacsLisp files.
>
> I found only one user of elisp--beginning-of-sexp in the entire Emacs, and that
> is the function directly above: elisp--fnsym-in-current-sexp.
>
> Emacs already has few functions for motion over lists and symbolic expressions,
> but actually not the one that places the cursor at the beginning of a list.

I think we do have it: C-M-u, backward-up-list. What's more, it works
not only in Lisp. I use it all the time.

So I wonder why we need another function that does basically the same.

Thanks.