Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
about how to code this?

RE: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Drew Adams]

> A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
> like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
> this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
> region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
> about how to code this?

`C-x TAB' is `indent-rigidly'
`M-w' copies the region to the `kill-ring'

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Matthias]

Decebal <CLDWesterhof@gmail.com> writes:

> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is 
> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the 
> indented region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone 
> a pointer about how to code this?

Why don't you use a keyboard macro?

First, select the text to indent and kill; Then `C-x (' to start 
defining a keyboard macro, `M-x replace-regexp' the beginning of 
line (that is "^") with four spaces, etc. Then `C-x )' to finish 
the macro definition.

Then to call the macro you just `C-x e'. Read the manual to learn how
to give it a name, save it to file, etc.
-- 
Matthias

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 17 dec, 16:59, "Drew Adams" <drew.ad...@oracle.com> wrote:
> > A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
> > like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
> > this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
> > What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
> > selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
> > region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
> > about how to code this?
>
> `C-x TAB' is `indent-rigidly'
> `M-w' copies the region to the `kill-ring'

But the first statement unselects the region, that is why I want to
write an elisp function to call after I selected the region. Is it
possible to see if there is a region selected in an elisp function?
What I was thinking about was to put the start and the end of the
region in registers and use those registers in the function to mark
the region again after I indented to put the indented text into the
kill-ring. After that I should do an undo. And then the file is not
changed, but I have the indented region in the kill-ring.

RE: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Drew Adams]

> > > A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for 
> > > an e-mail. I like to indent this (default with four spaces).
> > > At this moment I do this by hand. But I would like to do
> > > this with a function.
> > > What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
> > > selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
> > > region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
> > > about how to code this?
> >
> > `C-x TAB' is `indent-rigidly'
> > `M-w' copies the region to the `kill-ring'
> 
> But the first statement unselects the region,

It _deactivates_ the region (the text is still selected). (I assume you are
using transient-mark-mode, otherwise, there is no notion of active region.)

You can re-activate the region at any time using `C-x C-x' (repeat it if you
care which end point is).

From Lisp code, it often doesn't matter if the region is active -
`kill-ring-save' (`C-w') doesn't care, for instance.

You can test whether it is active by examining the value of (buffer-local)
variable `mark-active'.

I assume that you want to expand the region to include the whole lines at point
and mark. Does this do what you want?

(defun foo (cols beg end)
  (interactive "p\nr")
  (indent-rigidly
   (save-excursion (goto-char beg) (forward-line 0) (point))
   (save-excursion (goto-char end) (forward-line 1) (point))
   cols)
  (copy-region-as-kill
   (save-excursion (goto-char beg) (forward-line 0) (point))
   (save-excursion (goto-char end) (forward-line 1) (point))))

Most of the complication here is just to pick up the whole lines where point and
mark are. And you need to do that twice, because point moves when the region is
indented.

`kill-ring-save' would be OK instead of `copy-region-as-kill', but the latter is
a bit simpler.

Unless I misunderstand what you want, that should do it. And it doesn't matter
whether you use transient-mark-mode or whether the region is active.

If you want the _un_indented region copied, then reverse the order of
`indent-rigidly' and `copy-region-as-kill'. And if you don't care about whole
lines, and just want to copy the original region, then things are simpler:

(defun foo (cols beg end)
  (interactive "p\nr")
  (copy-region-as-kill beg end)
  (indent-rigidly beg end cols))

Anyway, you get the idea. Fiddle, depending on what you really want.

> that is why I want to
> write an elisp function to call after I selected the region. Is it
> possible to see if there is a region selected in an elisp function?
> What I was thinking about was to put the start and the end of the
> region in registers and use those registers in the function to mark
> the region again after I indented to put the indented text into the
> kill-ring. After that I should do an undo. And then the file is not
> changed, but I have the indented region in the kill-ring.

Unless I misunderstand what you want, you don't need to do any of that.

And as Matthias mentioned, it's often a good idea to just create a macro to do
what you want. That too should work in this case. That's why I originally
suggested calling the commands interactively.

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 17 dec, 14:31, Decebal <CLDWester...@gmail.com> wrote:
> A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
> like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
> this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
> region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
> about how to code this?

I found a way. In my .emacs I put:
(defun my-indented-yank(indent)
  "Put indented region in the kill-ring"
  (interactive "p")
  (setq indent (cond ((eq indent 0) 1)
                     ((eq indent 1) 4)
                     (t indent)
               )
  )
  (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
  (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
  (undo)
)

It looks like this satifies my demands. ;-}
In this way the default indent is 4. If I need an indent of one I can
use 'C-u 0'.

The only thing is that the 'GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual' says that
I should not use 'copy-region-as-kill'. I should use 'kill-new' or
'kill-append'. But those do not work with a region. What am I missing?

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Andreas Politz]

Decebal wrote:
> On 17 dec, 14:31, Decebal <CLDWester...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
>> like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
>> this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
>> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
>> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
>> region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
>> about how to code this?
> 
> I found a way. In my .emacs I put:
> (defun my-indented-yank(indent)
>   "Put indented region in the kill-ring"
>   (interactive "p")
>   (setq indent (cond ((eq indent 0) 1)
>                      ((eq indent 1) 4)
>                      (t indent)
>                )
>   )
>   (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
>   (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
>   (undo)
> )
> 
> It looks like this satifies my demands. ;-}
> In this way the default indent is 4. If I need an indent of one I can
> use 'C-u 0'.
> 
> The only thing is that the 'GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual' says that
> I should not use 'copy-region-as-kill'. I should use 'kill-new' or
> 'kill-append'. But those do not work with a region. What am I missing?

Why not work with a string, instead of messing with your buffers undo history.

(defun kill-save-indent-region (indent start end)
   (interactive "p\nr")
   (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
	     "^"			;or "^\\s-*"
	     (format (format "%%%ds" (case indent
				       (0 1)
				       (1 4)
				       (t indent)))
		     "")
	     (buffer-substring start end)))
   (deactivate-mark))

-ap

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 17 dec, 20:47, Andreas Politz <poli...@fh-trier.de> wrote:
> Decebal wrote:
> > On 17 dec, 14:31, Decebal <CLDWester...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
> >> like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
> >> this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
> >> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
> >> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
> >> region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
> >> about how to code this?
>
> > I found a way. In my .emacs I put:
> > (defun my-indented-yank(indent)
> >   "Put indented region in the kill-ring"
> >   (interactive "p")
> >   (setq indent (cond ((eq indent 0) 1)
> >                      ((eq indent 1) 4)
> >                      (t indent)
> >                )
> >   )
> >   (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
> >   (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
> >   (undo)
> > )
>
> > It looks like this satifies my demands. ;-}
> > In this way the default indent is 4. If I need an indent of one I can
> > use 'C-u 0'.
>
> > The only thing is that the 'GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual' says that
> > I should not use 'copy-region-as-kill'. I should use 'kill-new' or
> > 'kill-append'. But those do not work with a region. What am I missing?
>
> Why not work with a string, instead of messing with your buffers undo history.
>
> (defun kill-save-indent-region (indent start end)
>    (interactive "p\nr")
>    (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
>              "^"                      ;or "^\\s-*"
>              (format (format "%%%ds" (case indent
>                                        (0 1)
>                                        (1 4)
>                                        (t indent)))
>                      "")
>              (buffer-substring start end)))
>    (deactivate-mark))
>
> -ap

I have just started with programming in elisp. ;-}
So I still need to learn a lot.  I'll try to understand your code.

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 17 dec, 20:47, Andreas Politz <poli...@fh-trier.de> wrote:
> Why not work with a string, instead of messing with your buffers undo history.
>
> (defun kill-save-indent-region (indent start end)
>    (interactive "p\nr")
>    (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
>              "^"                      ;or "^\\s-*"
>              (format (format "%%%ds" (case indent
>                                        (0 1)
>                                        (1 4)
>                                        (t indent)))
>                      "")
>              (buffer-substring start end)))
>    (deactivate-mark))

Looking at your code I should replace:
        (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
        (if do-kill
            (kill-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
          (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
          (undo)
          )
with:
        (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
                   "^"
                   (format (format "%%%ds" indent) "")
                   (filter-buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-
end) do-kill)
                   )
                  )

but then I get that filter-buffer-substring is void. What am I doing
wrong?

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Andreas Politz]

Decebal wrote:
> On 17 dec, 20:47, Andreas Politz <poli...@fh-trier.de> wrote:
>> Why not work with a string, instead of messing with your buffers undo history.
>>
>> (defun kill-save-indent-region (indent start end)
>>    (interactive "p\nr")
>>    (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
>>              "^"                      ;or "^\\s-*"
>>              (format (format "%%%ds" (case indent
>>                                        (0 1)
>>                                        (1 4)
>>                                        (t indent)))
>>                      "")
>>              (buffer-substring start end)))
>>    (deactivate-mark))
> 
> Looking at your code I should replace:
>         (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
>         (if do-kill
>             (kill-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
>           (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
>           (undo)
>           )
> with:
>         (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
>                    "^"
>                    (format (format "%%%ds" indent) "")
>                    (filter-buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-
> end) do-kill)
>                    )
>                   )
> 
> but then I get that filter-buffer-substring is void. What am I doing
> wrong?

You are using a undefined function ?

-ap

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 18 dec, 01:27, Andreas Politz <poli...@fh-trier.de> wrote:
> > Looking at your code I should replace:
> >         (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
> >         (if do-kill
> >             (kill-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
> >           (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
> >           (undo)
> >           )
> > with:
> >         (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
> >                    "^"
> >                    (format (format "%%%ds" indent) "")
> >                    (filter-buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-
> > end) do-kill)
> >                    )
> >                   )
>
> > but then I get that filter-buffer-substring is void. What am I doing
> > wrong?
>
> You are using a undefined function ?

Looks like it yes. But http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/elisp/html_node/Buffer-Contents.html
says that the functions exists. ???

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

I found a better way.

(defun my-indented-yank(indent)
  "Put indented region in the kill-ring"
  (interactive "p")
  (if mark-active
      (let (do-kill)
        (setq indent (cond ((eq indent 0) 1)
                           ((eq indent 1) 4)
                           (t indent)
                           )
              )
        (if (< indent 0)
            (setq indent  (- 0 indent)
                  do-kill t
                  )
          )
        (indent-rigidly (region-beginning) (region-end) indent)
        (if do-kill
            (kill-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
          (copy-region-as-kill (region-beginning) (region-end))
          (undo)
          )
        )
    (message "my-indented-yank needs a region")
    )
  )
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-w") 'my-indented-yank)

Now a negative value will kill the region instead of yanking it and
when no region is selected an apriote message will be displayed.
I have also bind the funtion to a a key combination. Is my choice a
good one, or is there a better key combination?

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 17 dec, 14:31, Decebal <CLDWester...@gmail.com> wrote:
> A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
> like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
> this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
> region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
> about how to code this?

I have made a better (and more generally) again.

The function indented-yank is a specialised version of my-headed-yank,
so I wrote that one also. ;-}
I also needed a function to remove a region without putting it in the
kill-ring, so I also made the function my-remove-region.
I made key-combinations for al the three functions.
Are there standards for naming functions and asigning functions to key
combinations?

The code:
    (defun my-remove-region(begin end)
      "Delete region without putting it in the kill-ring"
      (interactive "r")
      (kill-region begin end)
      (pop kill-ring)
      )
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-r") 'my-remove-region)

    (defun my-headed-yank(head begin end do-kill)
      "Put region with 'head' prepended to every line in the kill-
ring"
      (interactive "sHead: \nr\nnKill Region? ")
      (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
                 "^"
                 head
                 (buffer-substring begin end)
                 )
                )
      (if do-kill
          (my-remove-region begin end)
        )
      (deactivate-mark)
      )
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-h") 'my-headed-yank)

    (defun my-indented-yank(indent begin end)
      "Put indented region in the kill-ring"
      (interactive "p\nr")
      (setq indent (cond ((eq indent 0) 1)
                         ((eq indent 1) 4)
                         (t indent)
                         )
            )
      (let ((do-kill) (head))
        (if (< indent 0)
            (setq indent  (- 0 indent)
                  do-kill t
                  )
          )
        (setq head
              (format (format "%%%ds" indent) "")
              )
        (my-headed-yank head begin end do-kill)
        )
      )
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-w") 'my-indented-yank)

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Andreas Politz]

Decebal wrote:
> On 17 dec, 14:31, Decebal <CLDWester...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> A lot of times I need to copy a part of a (log) file for an e-mail. I
>> like to indent this (default with four spaces). At this moment I do
>> this by hand. But I would like to do this with a function.
>> What I would like this function to do is take the part that is
>> selected, indent this with (default) four spaces, put the indented
>> region in the kill-ring and undo the indent. Has anyone a pointer
>> about how to code this?
> 
> I have made a better (and more generally) again.
> 
> The function indented-yank is a specialised version of my-headed-yank,
> so I wrote that one also. ;-}
> I also needed a function to remove a region without putting it in the
> kill-ring, so I also made the function my-remove-region.
> I made key-combinations for al the three functions.
> Are there standards for naming functions and asigning functions to key
> combinations?
> 

It is mentioned somewhere in the info files, that C-c <char> is/should be
reserved for the user. C-c C-<char> is often used by major-modes,
whose keymap will potentially shadow your global-map .

> The code:
>     (defun my-remove-region(begin end)
>       "Delete region without putting it in the kill-ring"
>       (interactive "r")
>       (kill-region begin end)
>       (pop kill-ring)
>       )
Have a look at `delete-region'.

-ap
>     (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-r") 'my-remove-region)
> 
>     (defun my-headed-yank(head begin end do-kill)
>       "Put region with 'head' prepended to every line in the kill-
> ring"
>       (interactive "sHead: \nr\nnKill Region? ")
>       (kill-new (replace-regexp-in-string
>                  "^"
>                  head
>                  (buffer-substring begin end)
>                  )
>                 )
>       (if do-kill
>           (my-remove-region begin end)
>         )
>       (deactivate-mark)
>       )
>     (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-h") 'my-headed-yank)
> 
>     (defun my-indented-yank(indent begin end)
>       "Put indented region in the kill-ring"
>       (interactive "p\nr")
>       (setq indent (cond ((eq indent 0) 1)
>                          ((eq indent 1) 4)
>                          (t indent)
>                          )
>             )
>       (let ((do-kill) (head))
>         (if (< indent 0)
>             (setq indent  (- 0 indent)
>                   do-kill t
>                   )
>           )
>         (setq head
>               (format (format "%%%ds" indent) "")
>               )
>         (my-headed-yank head begin end do-kill)
>         )
>       )
>     (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-w") 'my-indented-yank)

Re: Writing a function for a indented copy of a region

[Decebal]

On 18 dec, 16:05, Andreas Politz <poli...@fh-trier.de> wrote:
> Decebal wrote:
> > I made key-combinations for al the three functions.
> > Are there standards for naming functions and asigning functions to key
> > combinations?
>
> It is mentioned somewhere in the info files, that C-c <char> is/should be
> reserved for the user. C-c C-<char> is often used by major-modes,
> whose keymap will potentially shadow your global-map .

I saw that. My keys conflict with shell-mode. Have to dink about
something better.


> > The code:
> >     (defun my-remove-region(begin end)
> >       "Delete region without putting it in the kill-ring"
> >       (interactive "r")
> >       (kill-region begin end)
> >       (pop kill-ring)
> >       )
>
> Have a look at `delete-region'.

Better use that. ;-]