Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[Swami Tota Ram Shankar]

Hi emacs users,

I write a simple macro which works, however, it fails in a particular
case.

C-s
M-r

to get into isearch-forward-regexp

and give a regexp like

ONE\|TWO

It works for every TWO and ONE as long as there is a ONE ahead of TWO.
In the last instance, no ONE exists after TWO and it fails.

\| <=> OR or disjunction.

Any solutions?

This is such a fundamental issue that I think its a bug. When the C-s
M-r  is used outside the macro definition, the cursor gladly returns
to the original position when OR is entered and proceeds forward from
there, but perhaps, the macro aborts.

I guess, this can lead to a lot of confusion and time wastage, if the
user is unaware of this and most likely to neglect it because its
contrary to normal usage.

I include more newsgroups because of the seriousness of this bug.

Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[Kevin Rodgers]

On 10/22/12 2:40 PM, Swami Tota Ram Shankar wrote:
> Hi emacs users,
>
> I write a simple macro which works, however, it fails in a particular
> case.
>
> C-s
> M-r
>
> to get into isearch-forward-regexp
>
> and give a regexp like
>
> ONE\|TWO
>
> It works for every TWO and ONE as long as there is a ONE ahead of TWO.
> In the last instance, no ONE exists after TWO and it fails.
>
> \|<=>  OR or disjunction.
>
> Any solutions?
>
> This is such a fundamental issue that I think its a bug. When the C-s
> M-r  is used outside the macro definition, the cursor gladly returns
> to the original position when OR is entered and proceeds forward from
> there, but perhaps, the macro aborts.

It is not a bug: when ONE fails to match the buffer, C-s (which is designed
for interactive use, obviously) signals an error, which terminates the macro
execution.

That's because there is no way for C-s to know that you _might_ type \|TWO
after ONE.

So the solution is to make sure that the regexp is not complete after ONE:
C-s \(ONE\|TWO\)

> I guess, this can lead to a lot of confusion and time wastage, if the
> user is unaware of this and most likely to neglect it because its
> contrary to normal usage.

Yes, there is a lot of confusion and wasted time when a user is not aware
of how to use a program.

> I include more newsgroups because of the seriousness of this bug.

Whatever :-)

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA

Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[gnuist007]

On Oct 23, 8:54 pm, Kevin Rodgers <kevin.d.rodg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/22/12 2:40 PM, Swami Tota Ram Shankar wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi emacs users,
>
> > I write a simple macro which works, however, it fails in a particular
> > case.
>
> > C-s
> > M-r
>
> > to get into isearch-forward-regexp
>
> > and give a regexp like
>
> > ONE\|TWO
>
> > It works for every TWO and ONE as long as there is a ONE ahead of TWO.
> > In the last instance, no ONE exists after TWO and it fails.
>
> > \|<=>  OR or disjunction.
>
> > Any solutions?
>
> > This is such a fundamental issue that I think its a bug. When the C-s
> > M-r  is used outside the macro definition, the cursor gladly returns
> > to the original position when OR is entered and proceeds forward from
> > there, but perhaps, the macro aborts.
>
> It is not a bug: when ONE fails to match the buffer, C-s (which is designed
> for interactive use, obviously) signals an error, which terminates the macro
> execution.
>
> That's because there is no way for C-s to know that you _might_ type \|TWO
> after ONE.
>
> So the solution is to make sure that the regexp is not complete after ONE:
> C-s \(ONE\|TWO\)
>
> > I guess, this can lead to a lot of confusion and time wastage, if the
> > user is unaware of this and most likely to neglect it because its
> > contrary to normal usage.
>
> Yes, there is a lot of confusion and wasted time when a user is not aware
> of how to use a program.
>
> > I include more newsgroups because of the seriousness of this bug.
>
> Whatever :-)
>
> --
> Kevin Rodgers
> Denver, Colorado, USA

thanks

Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[David Combs]

In article <mailman.11579.1351050855.855.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
Kevin Rodgers  <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 10/22/12 2:40 PM, Swami Tota Ram Shankar wrote:
>> Hi emacs users,
>>
>> I write a simple macro which works, however, it fails in a particular
>> case.
>>
>> C-s
>> M-r
>>
>> to get into isearch-forward-regexp
>>
>> and give a regexp like
>>
>> ONE\|TWO
>>
>> It works for every TWO and ONE as long as there is a ONE ahead of TWO.
>> In the last instance, no ONE exists after TWO and it fails.
>>
>> \|<=>  OR or disjunction.
>>
>> Any solutions?
>>
>> This is such a fundamental issue that I think its a bug. When the C-s
>> M-r  is used outside the macro definition, the cursor gladly returns
>> to the original position when OR is entered and proceeds forward from
>> there, but perhaps, the macro aborts.
>
>It is not a bug: when ONE fails to match the buffer, C-s (which is designed
>for interactive use, obviously) signals an error, which terminates the macro
>execution.
>
>That's because there is no way for C-s to know that you _might_ type \|TWO
>after ONE.
>
>So the solution is to make sure that the regexp is not complete after ONE:
>C-s \(ONE\|TWO\)
>
>> I guess, this can lead to a lot of confusion and time wastage, if the
>> user is unaware of this and most likely to neglect it because its
>> contrary to normal usage.
>
>Yes, there is a lot of confusion and wasted time when a user is not aware
>of how to use a program.
>
>> I include more newsgroups because of the seriousness of this bug.
>
>Whatever :-)
>
>-- 
>Kevin Rodgers
>Denver, Colorado, USA
>
>

(1) THANKS FOR THAT HINT/WARNING/INFO!

(2) "when a user is not aware of how to use a program": I don't know
    that this thread really falls under that.  Although your solution
    and especially the reason for it "obvious" -- but only once you've
    seen it.  It's actually a little subtle.

    AND I believe it's so important (and easy to get wrong) that
    it should be added to the emacs manual (in macros) AND to
    any much-used cheat-sheets -- plus the wiki, of course.

    Perhaps you (as one of the real gurus around here) could write
    a paragraph and example and ask the developers to put it into
    the right places.

Thanks again for the pointer!

David

Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[Dan Espen]

dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:

> In article <mailman.11579.1351050855.855.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
> Kevin Rodgers  <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com> wrote:
>>On 10/22/12 2:40 PM, Swami Tota Ram Shankar wrote:
>>> Hi emacs users,
>>>
>>> I write a simple macro which works, however, it fails in a particular
>>> case.
>>>
>>> C-s
>>> M-r
>>>
>>> to get into isearch-forward-regexp
>>>
>>> and give a regexp like
>>>
>>> ONE\|TWO
>>>
>>> It works for every TWO and ONE as long as there is a ONE ahead of TWO.
>>> In the last instance, no ONE exists after TWO and it fails.
>>>
>>> \|<=>  OR or disjunction.
>>>
>>> Any solutions?
>>>
>>> This is such a fundamental issue that I think its a bug. When the C-s
>>> M-r  is used outside the macro definition, the cursor gladly returns
>>> to the original position when OR is entered and proceeds forward from
>>> there, but perhaps, the macro aborts.
>>
>>It is not a bug: when ONE fails to match the buffer, C-s (which is designed
>>for interactive use, obviously) signals an error, which terminates the macro
>>execution.
>>
>>That's because there is no way for C-s to know that you _might_ type \|TWO
>>after ONE.
>>
>>So the solution is to make sure that the regexp is not complete after ONE:
>>C-s \(ONE\|TWO\)
>>
>>> I guess, this can lead to a lot of confusion and time wastage, if the
>>> user is unaware of this and most likely to neglect it because its
>>> contrary to normal usage.
>>
>>Yes, there is a lot of confusion and wasted time when a user is not aware
>>of how to use a program.
>>
>>> I include more newsgroups because of the seriousness of this bug.
>>
>>Whatever :-)
>
> (1) THANKS FOR THAT HINT/WARNING/INFO!
>
> (2) "when a user is not aware of how to use a program": I don't know
>     that this thread really falls under that.  Although your solution
>     and especially the reason for it "obvious" -- but only once you've
>     seen it.  It's actually a little subtle.
>
>     AND I believe it's so important (and easy to get wrong) that
>     it should be added to the emacs manual (in macros) AND to
>     any much-used cheat-sheets -- plus the wiki, of course.
>
>     Perhaps you (as one of the real gurus around here) could write
>     a paragraph and example and ask the developers to put it into
>     the right places.

A keyboard macro is terminated by anything that rings the bell.

I can't seem to find that in the emacs help though.
I would have expected to see it in "^h k M-x (".

Also, my bell hasn't rung in a long time, looking around, I have the
built in speaker disabled.  So:

(setq ring-bell-function (lambda ()
			   (play-sound-file "/home/dan/audio/tap2.au")))

-- 
Dan Espen

RE: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[Doug Lewan]

There's also the variable `visible-bell' if ringing the bell isn't appropriate for you.

,Doug

> -----Original Message-----
> From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+dougl=shubertticketing.com@gnu.org
> [mailto:help-gnu-emacs-bounces+dougl=shubertticketing.com@gnu.org] On
> Behalf Of Dan Espen
> Sent: Friday, 2012 November 30 17:55
> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious
> Bug
> ... 
> A keyboard macro is terminated by anything that rings the bell.
> 
> I can't seem to find that in the emacs help though.
> I would have expected to see it in "^h k M-x (".
> 
> Also, my bell hasn't rung in a long time, looking around, I have the
> built in speaker disabled.  So:
> 
> (setq ring-bell-function (lambda ()
> 			   (play-sound-file "/home/dan/audio/tap2.au")))
> 
> --
> Dan Espen

Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[Dan Espen]

Doug Lewan <dougl@shubertticketing.com> writes:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+dougl=shubertticketing.com@gnu.org
>> [mailto:help-gnu-emacs-bounces+dougl=shubertticketing.com@gnu.org] On
>> Behalf Of Dan Espen
>> Sent: Friday, 2012 November 30 17:55
>> To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
>> Subject: Re: Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious
>> Bug
>> ... 
>> A keyboard macro is terminated by anything that rings the bell.
>> 
>> I can't seem to find that in the emacs help though.
>> I would have expected to see it in "^h k M-x (".
>> 
>> Also, my bell hasn't rung in a long time, looking around, I have the
>> built in speaker disabled.  So:
>> 
>> (setq ring-bell-function (lambda ()
>> 			   (play-sound-file "/home/dan/audio/tap2.au")))
>> 
> There's  also the variable  `visible-bell' if  ringing the  bell isn't
> appropriate for you.

Yes. tried it.  Even adjusting the colors, I find it too jarring.
A low volume tapping sound fills the bill for me.

I miss the XEmacs feature which had sounds for each error type:

(setq sound-alist
      (append 
       '((default         :sound hammer)
         (undefined-key   :sound drum)
         (undefined-click :sound drum)
         (command-error   :sound bass)
         (no-completion   :sound drip)
         (y-or-n-p        :sound slap)
         (yes-or-no-p     :sound yeep)
         (isearch-failed  :sound drum :volume 70)
         (isearch-quit    :sound yeep)
         (auto-save-error :sound whip :volume 75))
       sound-alist)))

-- 
Dan Espen

Macro aborts even though regexp instance exists - Serious Bug

[Swami Tota Ram Shankar]

Hi emacs users,

I write a simple macro which works, however, it fails in a particular
case.

C-s
M-r

to get into isearch-forward-regexp

and give a regexp like

ONE\|TWO

It works for every TWO and ONE as long as there is a ONE ahead of TWO.
In the last instance, no ONE exists after TWO and it fails.

\| <=> OR or disjunction.

Any solutions?

This is such a fundamental issue that I think its a bug. When the C-s
M-r  is used outside the macro definition, the cursor gladly returns
to the original position when OR is entered and proceeds forward from
there, but perhaps, the macro aborts.

I guess, this can lead to a lot of confusion and time wastage, if the
user is unaware of this and most likely to neglect it because its
contrary to normal usage.

I include more newsgroups because of the seriousness of this bug.