Re: Two Emacs challenges

[Leon <sdl.web@gmail.com>]

Joe Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net> writes:

> Leon <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> How to bind keys such as (, [, {, " etc to perform such function
>>
>> When type once, it will insert a pair while twice insert itself for
>> example: `[' will insert `[]' and leave the cursor in the middle
>> while `[[' will insert `['?
>
> There are, IIRC, special keyings in the programming-language modes for
> doing the first part of this (I can't find them in the manual at the
> moment).  For text mode, I have done the following:
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> (defun close-paren ()
>   (interactive)
>   (insert "()")
>   (forward-char -1))
>
> (defun close-bracket ()
>   (interactive)
>   (insert "[]")
>   (forward-char -1))
>
> (defun close-brace ()
>   (interactive)
>   (insert "{}")
>   (forward-char -1))
>
> (defun close-quote ()
>   (interactive)
>   (insert "\"\"")
>   (forward-char -1))
>
> (global-set-key "(" 'close-paren)
> (global-set-key "[" 'close-bracket)
> (global-set-key "{" 'close-brace)
> (global-set-key "\"" 'close-quote)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To get past the right fence in the most usual contexts, I have done
> the following:
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> (defun jump-fence (n)
>   "If this char is doubled before a right fence, jump over & insert it once."
>   (interactive "p")
>   (if (> n 1)
>       (self-insert-command n)
>     (let ((origin (point)))
>       (self-insert-command 1)
>       (if (= (point) (1+ origin))
> 	  (progn
> 	    (if (looking-at "[])\"]\\|=[0-9][A-Z]\\|\\(\^[.\\)+")
> 		(if (= (char-after (- (point) 2)) (preceding-char))
> 		    (progn (delete-char -2)
> 			   (goto-char (- (match-end 0) 2))
> 			   (self-insert-command 1))))))
>       )))
>
> (global-set-key "." 'jump-fence)
> (global-set-key "," 'jump-fence)
> (global-set-key ";" 'jump-fence)
> (global-set-key ":" 'jump-fence)
> (global-set-key "?" 'jump-fence)
> (global-set-key "!" 'jump-fence)
> (global-set-key " " 'jump-fence)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I had not thought of the second part of your request.  If I want only
> the left fence, I just delete the right one.
>
> N.B.  I am not a programmer, so I am sure all this is dreadfully
> naive.

Thank you for sharing. I just tried out skeleton-pair-insert-maybe as
suggested by William and it's great.

-- 
Leon