perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

[Warren L Dodge]

I use the C-x ; runs the command comment-set-column command to format my
comments in the perl code I write. I have noticed in the last couple of years
of moving up to emacs-22.0.990 that the consistant operation I observed back
in 21.3 is gone. I usually put this line at the top of the file

# -*-mode: Perl; fill-column: 180; comment-column: 101; -*-

I then do a code macro to search for a # and do <esc>; to set the comments
position across the entire buffer. Many of the line align properly. Many do
not. In one file I shortened the comment back to position 60. Someof the
lines stayed out at 101. I then went in and remove all of the spaces between
the ; .. # and reexecuted the <esc>; and the comment moved out to 60.

I see other times where I moved the curse by habd up and do <esc>; on each
line and the comment lands all over the place. They won't line up.

Here is an example of one the did not move back in from 100 to 80

  if ( $argv_info_ref->{had_e_switch} ne "" )					# did the user give a -E switch
  {
    $E_Switch .= " ; " . "$argv_info_ref->{had_e_switch}";			# add theirs to mine
  }
  push @{$argv_info_ref->{array_bsub_switches}},"-E";						    # push -E onto bsub command switches
  push @{$argv_info_ref->{array_bsub_switches}},"$E_Switch";					    # push cmd on
  
  for( $tmp=0; $tmp <= $#{$argv_info_ref->{array_bsub_switches}}; $tmp++)	# scan all the args

All was tested with emacs -Q

Hopefully somethign can be done. I can help if needed.



In GNU Emacs 22.0.990.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw3d scroll bars)
 of 2007-07-09 on zephyr
Windowing system distributor `Sun Microsystems, Inc.', version 11.0.6620
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Re: perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

[Stefan Monnier]

> I use the C-x ; runs the command comment-set-column command to format my
> comments in the perl code I write. I have noticed in the last couple of years
> of moving up to emacs-22.0.990 that the consistant operation I observed back
> in 21.3 is gone. I usually put this line at the top of the file

> # -*-mode: Perl; fill-column: 180; comment-column: 101; -*-

> I then do a code macro to search for a # and do <esc>; to set the comments
> position across the entire buffer. Many of the line align properly. Many do
> not. In one file I shortened the comment back to position 60. Someof the
> lines stayed out at 101. I then went in and remove all of the spaces between
> the ; .. # and reexecuted the <esc>; and the comment moved out to 60.

The comment column is now chosen in a more complex manner to try and keep
comments within reasonable columns and to try and align them together.
So basically the rule is now something like:

1 - we first try and make sure that comments to not pass comment-fill-column,
    so long comments may ignore comment-column.
2 - try to align the comment to another comment on the previous line
    (assuming this is possible within the constraints given in (1) as well
    as the constraints imposed by the rest of the text on the line).
3 - if (2) is not applicable use the column closest to comment-column within
    the constraints given in (1).

In the trunk, the rules have been slightly refined as far as number 2 goes,
to try and maximize the number of cases where (2) applies.

So my guess is that you have comments longer than 80 columns, which hence
can't be placed at column 101 because they'd go past fill-column (which is
what comment-fill-column default to).


        Stefan

Re: perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

[Warren L Dodge]

Hi Stefan

I tried a few things and am sending an example.

If you take the file I send as is and do

emacs-22.0.990  -Q filename

C-x(C-s#<cr><esc>;C-aC-nC-x)

I.E. define a macro to search for #, stop the search, do <esc>; , and then
move to the next line beginning.

Then execute that macro for the whole buffer you will see (at least I do )
that the lines do not change

IF you then go change all the lines so there is only one space before the #
and re-execute the macro above all the lines will line up.

I comment "randomly" and then go back to clean them up using the macro method
above.

When adding comment the <esc>; to add a new comment will wander all over the
place. If needed I can take time to find a sample for that after we settle on
this first one.

begin 664 perlcomment1.pl
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$?0I]"@``
`
end

Re: perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

[Stefan Monnier]

> If you take the file I send as is and do
> emacs-22.0.990  -Q filename
> C-x(C-s#<cr><esc>;C-aC-nC-x)

> I.E. define a macro to search for #, stop the search, do <esc>; , and then
> move to the next line beginning.

> Then execute that macro for the whole buffer you will see (at least I do )
> that the lines do not change

Oh, yes I see it now.  The explanation for the behavior is that it prefers
to align with a comment on the next line (or previous line, but the crucial
part is that it also looks at the next), so it will tend to align comments
on successive lines together rather than align them with comment-column.

This has been fixed on the trunk where M-; still looks at subsequent lines
to try and make sure blocks of comments can be aligned, but where M-;
doesn't actually align with subsequent lines, only with the previous line.

Maybe this change should be backported to the 22 branch?


        Stefan

Re: perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

[Richard Stallman]

    This has been fixed on the trunk where M-; still looks at subsequent lines
    to try and make sure blocks of comments can be aligned, but where M-;
    doesn't actually align with subsequent lines, only with the previous line.

    Maybe this change should be backported to the 22 branch?

That depends on how simple it is and how sure you are it is right.

Re: perl-mode problem in C-x ; comment-set-column

[Stefan Monnier]

>     This has been fixed on the trunk where M-; still looks at subsequent
>     lines to try and make sure blocks of comments can be aligned, but
>     where M-; doesn't actually align with subsequent lines, only with the
>     previous line.

>     Maybe this change should be backported to the 22 branch?

> That depends on how simple it is and how sure you are it is right.

I've backported it.  I'm pretty sure it is an improvement and it is not
a major change (although it does move code around because the function was
getting too large).


        Stefan