From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: lee Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: `comment-start' is nil Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 22:01:56 +0100 Organization: my virtual residence Message-ID: <87eh23uqez.fsf@yun.yagibdah.de> References: <878usf6qu5.fsf@yun.yagibdah.de> <87ob1ay59r.fsf@web.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1394918091 25179 80.91.229.3 (15 Mar 2014 21:14:51 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 21:14:51 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Mar 15 22:14:59 2014 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1WOvv0-00040a-6v for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 15 Mar 2014 22:14:58 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:51196 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WOvuz-0006JS-9Y for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 15 Mar 2014 17:14:57 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:41056) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WOvui-0006JE-9h for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 15 Mar 2014 17:14:45 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WOvud-0002ky-Sz for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 15 Mar 2014 17:14:40 -0400 Original-Received: from client-194-42-186-216.muenet.net ([194.42.186.216]:36518 helo=yun.yagibdah.de) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WOvud-0002jW-LX for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 15 Mar 2014 17:14:35 -0400 Original-Received: from lee by yun.yagibdah.de with local (Exim 4.80.1) (envelope-from ) id 1WOvuT-0005kK-Sk for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 15 Mar 2014 22:14:25 +0100 In-Reply-To: <87ob1ay59r.fsf@web.de> (Michael Heerdegen's message of "Thu, 13 Mar 2014 07:36:00 +0100") User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3.50 (gnu/linux) Mail-Followup-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 194.42.186.216 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 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-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:96519 Archived-At: Michael Heerdegen writes: > lee writes: > >> This mode employs a function to search for a regex in particular >> buffers. The regex involves `comment-start'. > > If you want to rely on `comment-start', AFAIK you must wait until the > major mode of the buffer has been initialized, because `comment-start' > is set by the major mode. Is is advisable to call `comment-normalize-vars' before using `comment-start' as Thorsten suggests? Maybe it`s not a good idea not to wait until the major mode is up? But then: ,---- | comment-start is a variable defined in `newcomment.el'. | Its value is "> " | Local in buffer *unsent wide reply to Michael Heerdegen on help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org*; global value is "# " | | This variable is safe as a file local variable if its value | satisfies the predicate `string-or-null-p'. | | Documentation: | String to insert to start a new comment, or nil if no comment syntax. `---- Perhaps a major mode is supposed to set this variable (before trying to use it)? So far, I am assuming '# ' when it`s nil. I`m now noticing that this might not be the right thing to do because nil is used to indicate that there is no comment syntax. So what does one do? Set it when it`s a major mode and otherwise rely on that it is not nil --- or nil when there is no comment syntax --- before it`s being used? Arbitrary files seem to use the global default, though. Under what circumstances is there no comment syntax? -- Knowledge is volatile and fluid. Software is power.