Re: Using autofill./

[Neon Absentius <absent@sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Tue, Oct 04, 2005 at 08:32:51PM +0300, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
> Shashank Khanvilkar <shashank@mia.ece.uic.edu> writes:
> > However suppose I have a paragraph like the below:
> > Background
> > ----------
> > * This is a test message. This is a test message. This is a test
> > message.This  is a test message. This is a test message. This is a test
> > message. This is a test message. This is a test message.
> > * This is a second test message.  This is a second test message.
> > This is a second test message.  This is a second test message.
> > This is a second test message.
> >
> > How do i ask emacs to apply the new line width.
> > I tried using <Meta-q> but it makes the above lines as:
> >
> > Background ---------- * This is a test message. This is a test
> > message. This is a test message.  This is a test message. This
> > is a test message. This is a test message. This is a test
> > message. This is a test message.  * This is a second test
> > message.  This is a second test message.  This is a second
> > test message.  This is a second test message.  This is a
> > second test message.
> 
> You can set a "fill prefix" of a couple of spaces.  The M-q command
> respects the value of fill-prefix.  To set the value of fill-prefix
> use the ``C-x .'' command.
> 

This is great advice indeed.  By following it you can get your
example text after "M-q" to look something like this:


  Background ---------- * This is a test message. This is a
  test message. This is a test message.This is a test
  message. This is a test message. This is a test message.
  This is a test message. This is a test message.  * This is
  a second test message. This is a second test message.
  This is a second test message.  This is a second test
  message.  This is a second test message.


> you can set the fill-column to its new value (i.e. 40) and
> refill the paragraph by hitting M-q just once:
> 
>     * This is a test message. This is a test
>       message. This is a test message.This is a
>       test message. This is a test message. This
>       is a test message. This is a test
>       message. This is a test message.  ^^^^^^^^          
>       ^^^^^^^^ 

Before you start giving advice on filling don't you think that you 
should first fix yours?  You might want to have a look at the
variable "sentence-end-double-space" for example.


-- 
Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the
people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so
this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.
     -- Barbara Bush, about the refugees from New Orleans.