Re: left brackets insert both

["rgb" <rbielaws@i1.net>]

Shug Boabby wrote:
> cool. i am a little confused by this macro... i have only ever
written
> defun's before. why is this a defmac and not a defun?

Look at it this way.
A defmacro does nothing by itself.
When you use it, it writes a custom function on the spot based on
the arguments you supplied.  It's a fairly deep subject for the
unfamiliar.
>
> a few more questions if you don't mind...
>
> what does the "p\nP" argument to interactive do?

I wanted both the numeric argument and the argument in raw form.
In raw form nil means that the user did not specify a numeric arg.
In numeric format a nil is converted to 1 and so you can't tell
by just looking at the numeric version if the user specified a
numeric arg or wants to use the default of 1.

>
> what is "cnt raw"?

These are the names by which I refer to the values provided by
the p and P interactive specification.  See C-h f interactive RET
>
> why do you call self-insert-command?

In the case where the user types [ for example and the prior
character is not [ you want the [ character inserted dont you?
That's what handles all keystrokes that don't meet the (if ...
criteria.  It's what all the keys are normally mapped to until
you re-assigned them to your new function.

>
> sorry for these trivial questions, i have only picked up elisp by
> reading .emacs files, editing existing functions and creating very
> simple new ones.

There is a pretty good intro... someplace.  I dont' have a link
handy but if you've got a 22.0.x version of Emacs it's now included
in the help along with the Emacs Lisp Reference manual.  Neither
should be hard to find once you know they exist.