From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: florian@fsavigny.de (Florian v. Savigny) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Rationale behind conversion of a nil prefix arg to numeric 1 Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2016 23:39:06 +0200 Message-ID: <877faqvxfp.fsf@bertrandrussell.Speedport_W_723V_1_40_000> References: <87y437c0qg.fsf@bertrandrussell.Speedport_W_723V_1_40_000> <83oa43d9r8.fsf@gnu.org> <06d4a7f1-f116-fb5c-9bd2-c4d1f98934c9@easy-emacs.de> <83k2ercy5u.fsf@gnu.org> <56fae654-627a-41bd-8bdb-55418ed2e93f@default> NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1473111593 7316 195.159.176.226 (5 Sep 2016 21:39:53 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2016 21:39:53 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Sep 05 23:39:50 2016 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1bh1cH-0000x0-OO for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 05 Sep 2016 23:39:45 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:57194 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bh1cF-0005A0-Mb for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:39:43 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:57342) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bh1bm-00059i-Pr for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:39:15 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bh1bi-0006vf-I5 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:39:13 -0400 Original-Received: from srv4.ns-domain-hosting.de ([178.63.89.203]:52840) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bh1bi-0006vY-B3 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 05 Sep 2016 17:39:10 -0400 X-No-Relay: not in my network Original-Received: from bertrandrussell.Speedport_W_723V_1_40_000 (p3E9EEF0C.dip0.t-ipconnect.de [62.158.239.12]) by srv4.ns-domain-hosting.de (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 8B4E9186B13 for ; Mon, 5 Sep 2016 23:39:09 +0200 (CEST) In-reply-to: <56fae654-627a-41bd-8bdb-55418ed2e93f@default> (message from Drew Adams on Mon, 5 Sep 2016 10:04:34 -0700 (PDT)) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6.x X-Received-From: 178.63.89.203 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:111275 Archived-At: > This is really one of the first things that someone writing > a command learns.=20 Oops. I must confess this did not happen in my case. I have written commands in Elisp for about 15 years, and I although I was soon familiar with there somehow being a "raw" prefix arg (meaning I often read this term in passing), I nevertheless always thought C-u was simply a way of passing a command a number. (I did not even know that you can also pass prefix commands typing M-..) > It's really not a big deal. It's a flexible feature and is > easy to learn. Admittedly (like much in Emacs), if you have > not yet learned it, and you try to write a command that > takes advantage of a prefix arg, then you might be surprised > to learn it. Your surprise should be a welcome one, as you > now know what you can do with it. Absolutely, at least now. Your post has been a very enlightening lecture indeed, as have the other explanatory posts. (I am wondering why I never grasped it from the Elisp Manual, but I guess because you have stated the whys and wherefores, it is much easier for me to store in memory somewhere.) Thanks very much to you all! --=20 Florian von Savigny Melanchthonstr. 41 33615 Bielefeld