Re: gratuitous changes

[Luc Teirlinck <teirllm@dms.auburn.edu>]

Richard Stallman wrote:

   (string-to-char " ") would also work, and would avoid
   the need for a change in Emacs.

This works, but in certain situations, one may want something more
concise.  Within lists and arrays, (string-to-char " ") requires
backquote and comma.  Note that danger of accidental tabification
occurs everywhere, including lists, arrays and strings.  I now lean
toward promoting one of Handa's two suggestions: ?\040 or ?\x20.  They
also require no change in emacs, nor use of backquote-comma, and are
more concise than (string-to-char " ").

Use of ? and ?\ does not appear safe, without change in `tabify-regexp'.
Of course, there also is the possibility of changing `tabify-regexp'.

Sincerely,

Luc.