Re: Local variables not being defined

[Kevin Rodgers <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com>]

ken wrote:
> 
> On 01/25/2007 05:22 PM somebody named Harald Hanche-Olsen wrote:
>> + ken <gebser@speakeasy.net>:
>>
>> ....
>>
>> I am looking at the code now (the function in question is called
>> hack-local-variables, and it is found in files.el), and there should
>> be no way you are going to see that message unless there is something
>> in front of the string "Local Variables:" on the line.
>>
>> Oh, wait, one more wild guess.  hack-local-variables goes 3000
>> characters back from the end of the file and searches forward for
>> "Local Variables:".  Don't tell me your HTML file contains another
>> instance of that phrase?
> 
> Thanks, Harald.  You have very good eyes to see across continent and
> ocean.  I titled my test document so:
> 
> <h1 align=center>Testing the Use of Local&nbsp;Variables in....
> 
> Replacing a SPACE with "&nbsp;" made the errors cease.  (I was frankly
> surprised that the (uppercase) 'V' and absence of the colon after
> "Variables" didn't distinguish this text enough from the intended
> instance.  Perhaps a later version has/will.)

hack-local-variables only goes back to the last newline or formfeed
character, to a maximum of 3000 characters.  So the recommended practice
is to precede the local variables section with a page break (control-L,
usually on a line by itself).

And hack-local-variables does search for the exact "Local Variables:"
string, so should not have found an occurrence with a lower case `v' and
missing colon:

	(when (let ((case-fold-search t))
		(search-forward "Local Variables:" nil t))
	  (skip-chars-forward " \t")
...

So perhaps you've got a locally hacked version of hack-local-variables...

> So, another dark obscure code corner illuminated, good karma created.

Let's hope!

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA