Function Defintion

Function Defintion

[Artist]

Hi, How I can get the function definition via lisp code?
 Lambda expression may be ok.

I know how to see it via find-function and I don't want to use macro.

Something like
(get-definition 'mark-whole-buffer)

should return

(defun mark-whole-buffer ()
  "Put point at beginning and mark at end of buffer.
You probably should not use this function in Lisp programs;
it is usually a mistake for a Lisp function to use any subroutine
that uses or sets the mark."
  (interactive)
  (push-mark (point))
  (push-mark (point-max) nil t)
  (goto-char (point-min)))



Thanks You
[aritst]

Re: Function Defintion

[Barry Margolin]

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In article <de3ad953.0302281147.38ae9ded@posting.google.com>,
Artist <googleartist@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Hi, How I can get the function definition via lisp code?
> Lambda expression may be ok.
>
>I know how to see it via find-function and I don't want to use macro.
>
>Something like
>(get-definition 'mark-whole-buffer)

(symbol-function 'mark-whole-buffer)

>should return
>
>(defun mark-whole-buffer ()
>  "Put point at beginning and mark at end of buffer.
>You probably should not use this function in Lisp programs;
>it is usually a mistake for a Lisp function to use any subroutine
>that uses or sets the mark."
>  (interactive)
>  (push-mark (point))
>  (push-mark (point-max) nil t)
>  (goto-char (point-min)))

You'll only get the lambda expression if the function is interpreted.
Since mark-whole-buffer is byte-compiled, you get a vector containing the
compiled version:

#[nil "À`!ˆÀdÁÂ#ˆeb‡" [push-mark nil t] 4 1035873 nil]

If you want to see the source code, use M-. to find the source file.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barry.margolin@level3.com
Genuity Managed Services, Woburn, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.

Re: Function Defintion

[Stefan Monnier]

>>>>> "Artist" == Artist  <googleartist@yahoo.com> writes:
> I know how to see it via find-function and I don't want to use macro.

I think find-function is the best way, despite what you seem to think.
The only other approach I can think of is `symbol-function', but
you won't necessarily get a readable result since it might have been
compiled.


        Stefan

Re: Function Defintion

[D. Goel]

> I know how to see it via find-function and I don't want to use macro.

find-function is not a macro.  it is a function that takes you to the
code definition . 


you indicate that you want your find-function to just return you the
definition as a string, a quick hack would be to just copy the string
from the found function.  here's a hack i use for a similar need:

the hack below strips out the docs of the function found before
returning it as a string.. you can comment that out.. :)


(defun erbc-find-function-internal (&optional function nolimitp &rest nada)
  (unless function
    (error
     "Syntax: (ff 'fucntion)"))
  (if (stringp function) (setq function (read function)))
  (cond
     (let* ((fstrbare
	   (save-excursion
	     ;; This has the problem that it is interactive.. asks to
	     ;; reread file if has changed etc. 
	     ;;(find-function function)
	     (find-function-do-it function nil 'set-buffer)
	     (buffer-substring (point)
			       (save-excursion 
				 (forward-sexp 1)
				 (point)))))
	  (fstr (erbutils-function-minus-doc fstrbare)))
      (if (equal nolimitp 'nolimit)
	  fstr
	(concat (format "%s characters.." (length
								fstr))
				     fstr))))
   (t "\n")))


(defun erbutils-function-minus-doc (fstr &rest ignore)
  "fstr is the string containing the function"
  (let* ((fdoc (if (stringp fstr) fstr (format "%s" fstr)))
	 newdoc)
    (setq newdoc
	  (with-temp-buffer 
	    (insert fdoc)
	    (goto-char (point-min))
	    (search-forward "(" nil t)
	    (forward-sexp 4)
	    (if (stringp (sexp-at-point))
		;; this sets mark.. bad programming, i know..
		(backward-kill-sexp 1))
	    (buffer-string)))
    (erbutils-single-lines newdoc)))

(defun erbutils-single-lines (str)
  "Eliminates all \n or lines comprising entirely of whitespace"
  (mapconcat 
   'identity
   (delete-if
    (lambda (str) 
      (string-match "^[ \t]*$" str))
    (split-string str
		  "\n"))
   "\n"))


hth
DG                                 http://gnufans.net/
--