Chat wrote:
> The Badger <badgy@example.com> writes:
>
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> I wanted to be able to insert the word at point into the minibuffer.  This is
>> useful when doing, for example, M-x query-replace on the word at point.  You
>> run the query-replace, hit a key to put the current word into the minibuffer,
>> and go from there.  Quite often I want to do this, so it saves time over typing
>> the word in over and over.
>>
>> My solution is presented below.  However, can this be done out of the box in
>> Emacs?  The less custom code I have to write, the better.  God knows I have
>> enough of that in Emacs already.
>>
>>
>> (defun badger-minibuffer-yank-word ()
>>  "Insert into the minibuffer the word at point in the selected
>> window.  If invoked outside of the minibuffer, throw an error.
>>
>> A good way to use this function is to bind it to a key in
>> mini-buffer-local-map, like so:
>>
>>  (define-key
>>    minibuffer-local-map (kbd \"C-w\") 'njs-buffer-yank)
>>
>> If point is not at a word, throw an error."
>>
>>  (interactive)
>>  (insert (njs-call-in-buffer (lambda () (thing-at-point 'word))
>>                              (window-buffer (minibuffer-selected-window))))
>>   (save-excursion
>>     (set-buffer (window-buffer (minibuffer-selected-window)))
>>     (thing-at-point 'word)))
>> (define-key minibuffer-local-map (kbd "M-w") 'badger-minibuffer-yank-word)
>>     
> Isn't it simpler to copy the text you want while in the buffer and then
> invoke the command? Or even easier to use, write another function that calls
> query-replace (or whatever command you want to call)?
>
>   
Copying the text, running (for example) query-replace, then pasting the 
text requires the following steps:

C-M-SPC            ;; mark-sexp
M-w            ;; kill-ring-save
M-%            ;; query-replace
C-y            ;; yank
RET            ;; newline

Running the command, then hitting my custom M-w key, requires the 
following steps:

M-%            ;; query-replace
M-C-w            ;; badger-minibuffer-yank-sexp
RET            ;; newline

So, there's 2 extra steps in there.  Not a big deal, but I also tend to 
invoke query-replace before I select the query text.  Perhaps that's 
because I think in English where the verb comes first in "replace dog 
with cat"?

Also, regarding writing another function that calls query-replace; 
that's a good idea, but I'm happy with my solution so far.  I guess I 
just want to be able to yank the word at point into the minibuffer - 
this is re-usable in many situations - rather than a cooler, more 
souped-up query-replace.