Re: newbie elisp help ??

["Lennart Borgman (gmail)" <lennart.borgman@gmail.com>]

William Case wrote:
> Hi;
> 
> I am trying to write a function that will insert a line of asterisks+
> spaces across a buffer (as a section divider).  It was started as an
> exercise and has become an exercise in futility.
> 
> I am working in the scratch pad using C-j to test the function as it is
> being built.  I have:  (insert "* ").  It returns "* nil". Obviously I
> don't want the "nil" to appear.  How do I get rid of it? 
> 
> More importantly to me, how do I get the (insert "* ") command to repeat
> 27 times to give me 54 characters across the buffer?  I know how to make
> a recursive loop, but it seems to me this is a fairly common challenge
> and there is a probably a function for repetition that I can't find.
> 
> I suppose I am asking for the programming equivalent of 'C-u n'.
> 
> 'insert-char' allows for repeating but only one character at a time, not
> two.
> 
> Any guidance would be appreciated.

Try this:

   M-: (insert (make-string 50 ?*))