Quick deleting from a comma separated list

Quick deleting from a comma separated list

[Urban Gabor]

Hi

I have a question, is there an elegant and quick way to
delete an item from a comma separated list.

Example:

arg1,arg2,arg3
......>

The cursor point is at the 'a' of the second argument. I
want to delete the arg2 and the separating comma. What is
solution if there are spaces after or before the comma?

Thanks in advance. Could you CC the solution privately?

Gabaux
Linux is like a wigwam: no gates, no windows, and an apache
inside!

Re: Quick deleting from a comma separated list

[Pascal Bourguignon]

Urban Gabor <gabaux@freemail.hu> writes:

> Hi
> 
> I have a question, is there an elegant and quick way to
> delete an item from a comma separated list.
> 
> Example:
> 
> arg1,arg2,arg3
> ......>
> 
> The cursor point is at the 'a' of the second argument. I
> want to delete the arg2 and the separating comma. What is
> solution if there are spaces after or before the comma?

M-d C-d C-DEL


If you were there:

 arg1,arg2,arg3
 .....>

You would skip the C-DEL.


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Re: Quick deleting from a comma separated list

[Joakim Hove]

Urban Gabor <gabaux@freemail.hu> writes:


> The cursor point is at the 'a' of the second argument. I
> want to delete the arg2 and the separating comma. What is
> solution if there are spaces after or before the comma?

Try this - *not* extensively tested!! Observe that it starts deleting
from point - ignoring where you stand, see comment in code?

(defun csv-kill ()
  (interactive)
  ;;
  ;; Should maybe start here with searching backwards for the beginning "," ??
  ;;
  (let ((p0 (point)))
    (if (search-forward "," (save-excursion (end-of-line) (point)) 't)
	(progn
	  (while (looking-at "[ \t]")
	    (forward-char 1))
	  (kill-region p0 (point)))
      (message "No further comma"))))


HTH - Joakim

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Re: Quick deleting from a comma separated list

[Johan Bockgård]

Urban Gabor <gabaux@freemail.hu> writes:

> I have a question, is there an elegant and quick way to delete an
> item from a comma separated list.
>
> Example:
>
> arg1,arg2,arg3
> ......>

> The cursor point is at the 'a' of the second argument. I want to
> delete the arg2 and the separating comma. What is solution if there
> are spaces after or before the comma?

Move to the beginning of *arg3* and use M-<DEL> (backward-kill-word)
or C-M-<DEL> (backward-kill-sexp).

-- 
Johan Bockgård

Re: Quick deleting from a comma separated list

[Kai Grossjohann]

Urban Gabor <gabaux@freemail.hu> writes:

> I have a question, is there an elegant and quick way to
> delete an item from a comma separated list.

It depends on what exactly is a comma separated list.  In the simplest
case, zap-to-char might do the trick well.  It is by default bound to
M-z, such that "M-z ," will delete from point to the next comma.

But of course, the "real" CSV format specifies that you can use quotes
to "hide" commas in values, such that

    foo, "foo, bar", baz

contains only three values, the first being "foo", the second being
"foo, bar", and the third being "baz".  I think the understanding is
that the quotes around a quoted value are removed.  There are some
weird conventions on quoting quotes.

If this is what you're seeing, then you might need a customized
method.  Please describe the problematic cases where zap-to-char might
fail in more detail.

Kai