Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Tatsu Takamaro]

Question 3 of 4.

What if I want not to cut (or how you call it - kill) a word with 
"backward-kill-word" and "kill-word", but delete it (so as not to put 
the words into the exchange buffer (clipboard))?

Tony.

RE: [External] : Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Drew Adams]

> What if I want not to cut (or how you call it - kill) a word with
> "backward-kill-word" and "kill-word", but delete it (so as not to put
> the words into the exchange buffer (clipboard))?
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                            ^
                       kill buffer

Something like this:

(defun my-backward-delete-word (arg)
  "Delete backard ARG words.
ARG is the numeric prefix arg (default 1)."
  (interactive "p")
  (let ((opt  (point)))
    (backward-word arg)
    (delete-region opt (point))))

Bind it to some key.

RE: [External] : Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Drew Adams]

See also (elisp) `Deletion':

https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Deletion.html

Re: [External] : Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Tatsu Takamaro]

Unfortunately, as it was said by others, there is no built-in function 
to delete by word.

вс, 15.12.2024 5:45, Drew Adams пишет:
> See also (elisp) `Deletion':
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Deletion.html

RE: [External] : Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Drew Adams]

> Unfortunately, as it was said by others, there is no
> built-in function to delete by word.

Do you need one?  What's wrong with the non-built-in
one I gave you?

This might give you a hint: Most Emacs users haven't
felt the need for one to be built-in.  Emacs is > 40
years old.  It's had thousands, probably millions, of
users.  And users don't hesitate to request things
they find missing.  You can bet that if it were felt
important that such a function be built-in, it would be.

Re: [External] : Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Tatsu Takamaro]

Well, if I often work with a buffer (I mean a clipboard, not a Emacs's 
buffer), I often paste from it. And with "cut" functions instead of 
"delete" I will have my clipboard full of trash instead of some useful 
text paragraph. Of course, it's not very important.

I assume I would do it by a cycle - delete one char per each iteration 
until the char is a space. But I don't know Elisp, so I'm not sure (for 
now) how to make this cycle and how to bind a cycle (not a single 
command) on a key. So, maybe later. Or maybe someone would help here.

вт, 17.12.2024 3:01, Drew Adams пишет:
>> Unfortunately, as it was said by others, there is no
>> built-in function to delete by word.
> Do you need one?  What's wrong with the non-built-in
> one I gave you?
>
> This might give you a hint: Most Emacs users haven't
> felt the need for one to be built-in.  Emacs is > 40
> years old.  It's had thousands, probably millions, of
> users.  And users don't hesitate to request things
> they find missing.  You can bet that if it were felt
> important that such a function be built-in, it would be.

RE: [External] : Q3 - how to delete by words, not cut?

[Drew Adams]

> I assume I would do it by a cycle - delete one char per
> each iteration until the char is a space. 

Do what?  Delete a word backwards?  Did you try the
`my-backward-delete-word' command I defined for you?

> But I don't know Elisp...

Time to learn a little, if you want to define your
own commands.  I recommend you look into the Intro
Elisp manual: `C-h i m intro TAB RET'.

The command I defined saves the current cursor
location (point); then it uses predefined function
`backward-word', to move backward a word; then it
uses predefined function `delete-region', to delete
the text between the new location (point) and the
original (saved) location.

If you want to define deletion (not kill) commands,
then use `delete-region' (or other deletion functions).
They're building-block functions, not commands.