Get char at point

Get char at point

[TheFlyingDutchman]

Is there a function to get the character at point?  I see get-byte,
which would work for an ASCII coded file, but I believe Emacs has some
support for multi-byte character sets.

Re: Get char at point

[Harald Hanche-Olsen]

+ TheFlyingDutchman <zzbbaadd@aol.com>:

> Is there a function to get the character at point?  I see get-byte,
> which would work for an ASCII coded file, but I believe Emacs has some
> support for multi-byte character sets.

If you type C-h f char TAB, you will see a bunch of functions whose
names begin with "char". Then you might wildly guess that the first hit,
char-after, is what you are looking for, and if you actually select
that, the wild guess is confirmed.

-- 
* Harald Hanche-Olsen     <URL:http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/>
- It is undesirable to believe a proposition
  when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.
  -- Bertrand Russell

Re: Get char at point

[AmosBurke]

On Jul 17, 1:55 am, Harald Hanche-Olsen <han...@math.ntnu.no> wrote:
> + TheFlyingDutchman <zzbba...@aol.com>:
>
> > Is there a function to get the character at point?  I see get-byte,
> > which would work for an ASCII coded file, but I believe Emacs has some
> > support for multi-byte character sets.
>
> If you type C-h f char TAB, you will see a bunch of functions whose
> names begin with "char". Then you might wildly guess that the first hit,
> char-after, is what you are looking for, and if you actually select
> that, the wild guess is confirmed.
>
> --
> * Harald Hanche-Olsen     <URL:http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/>
> - It is undesirable to believe a proposition
>   when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.
>   -- Bertrand Russell

Thanks!  I believe I did look at the char* functions. If it had been
named char-at I would have gotten it. It should be noted that the help
for "char-after" says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(char-after &optional POS)

Return character in current buffer at position POS.
POS is an integer or a marker and defaults to point.
If POS is out of range, the value is nil.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The concept of "point" being between characters, was unfortunately
followed in naming the function, and then luckily ignored in the help
for the function.

Re: Get char at point

[TheFlyingDutchman]

On Jul 17, 1:55 am, Harald Hanche-Olsen <han...@math.ntnu.no> wrote:
> + TheFlyingDutchman <zzbba...@aol.com>:
>
> > Is there a function to get the character at point?  I see get-byte,
> > which would work for an ASCII coded file, but I believe Emacs has some
> > support for multi-byte character sets.
>
> If you type C-h f char TAB, you will see a bunch of functions whose
> names begin with "char". Then you might wildly guess that the first hit,
> char-after, is what you are looking for, and if you actually select
> that, the wild guess is confirmed.
>
> --
> * Harald Hanche-Olsen     <URL:http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/>
> - It is undesirable to believe a proposition
>   when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.
>   -- Bertrand Russell

Thanks!  I believe I did look at the char* functions. If it had been
named char-at I would have gotten it. It should be noted that the help
for "char-after" says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(char-after &optional POS)

Return character in current buffer at position POS.
POS is an integer or a marker and defaults to point.
If POS is out of range, the value is nil.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The dubious concept of "point" being between characters, was
unfortunately
followed in naming the function, and then luckily ignored in the help
for the function.

Re: Get char at point

[Andreas Politz]

TheFlyingDutchman <zzbbaadd@aol.com> writes:

> Thanks!  I believe I did look at the char* functions. If it had been
> named char-at I would have gotten it.

General functions are generally easier to find in the elisp manual.

---
File: elisp,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)

Emacs Lisp
**********
...
* Text:: Examining and changing text in buffers.
...
---

-> (info "(elisp) Text")

And the first function of the first entry is what you were looking for.

-ap

Re: Get char at point

[TheFlyingDutchman]

On Jul 17, 2:57 am, Andreas Politz <poli...@fh-trier.de> wrote:
> TheFlyingDutchman <zzbba...@aol.com> writes:
> > Thanks!  I believe I did look at the char* functions. If it had been
> > named char-at I would have gotten it.
>
> General functions are generally easier to find in the elisp manual.
>
> ---
> File: elisp,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)
>
> Emacs Lisp
> **********
> ...
> * Text:: Examining and changing text in buffers.
> ...
> ---
>
> -> (info "(elisp) Text")
>
> And the first function of the first entry is what you were looking for.
>
> -ap

OK, thanks, I will check that in the future.