re-search-forward in An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp

re-search-forward in An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp

[Toshi Umehara]

Hello

I have noticed re-search-forward function explanation in "An
Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" does not precisely mention
the movement of point when its third argument is not specified nil or t,
but is specified another value such as 'move [1]. The introduction just
says " If the search is successful, it leaves point immediately after
the last character in the target.", which is true when the third agument
is nil or t.

"Emacs Lisp" manual explains its third argument about cases where it is
nil, t or anything else [2]. When it's specified as anything else, it
explains "Move point to limit (or the end of the accessible portion of
the buffer) and return nil." Therefore, when the third argument is
specified as 'move, even if the search fails and returns nil, the point
moves.

This function is requently used for point movement, and "An Introduction
to Programming in Emacs Lisp" should mention this point movement
behavior.

I could not find where to report this proposal about "An
Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp". Does someone have any idea
how to propose modification to the introduction?

Thanks

Reference
[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/eintr/re_002dsearch_002dforward.html
[2] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Regexp-Search.html

-- 
Toshi (Toshihiro Umehara)

RE: [External] : re-search-forward in An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp

[Drew Adams]

> I could not find where to report this proposal about "An
> Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp". Does someone have any idea
> how to propose modification to the introduction?

`M-x report-emacs-bug'

That's also for enhancement requests and suggestions.

Re: re-search-forward in An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp

[Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

> This function is requently used for point movement, and "An
> Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" should mention this point
> movement behavior.

"An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" is an introduction.
Once you've read it and you actually write code, you're expected to
refer to the ELisp manual and the docstrings.


        Stefan

Re: re-search-forward in An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp

[Heime]

Sent with Proton Mail secure email.

On Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 at 1:56 AM, Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> wrote:

> > This function is requently used for point movement, and "An
> > Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" should mention this point
> > movement behavior.
> 
> "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" is an introduction.
> Once you've read it and you actually write code, you're expected to
> refer to the ELisp manual and the docstrings.- Stefan

Moving from "Introduction to Programming" to "ELisp Reference Manual"
is a climb too steep.  Would help if there was an Abbreviated Guidebook
at an intermediate level.  Then the task of moving from the Abbreviated
Guidebook to the Reference Manual would be reasonable.

Re: re-search-forward in An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp

[Toshi Umehara]

Ok, I will refer to Elisp manual and docstrings !
I've noticed there are many comments explaining related concepts 
and functionalities.

On Tue, Mar 26, 2024, at 10:56 PM, Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor wrote:
>> This function is requently used for point movement, and "An
>> Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" should mention this point
>> movement behavior.
>
> "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" is an introduction.
> Once you've read it and you actually write code, you're expected to
> refer to the ELisp manual and the docstrings.
>
>
>         Stefan