Re: Search/Replace manual changes.

[Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org>]

David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:
> Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org> writes:
>> David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> writes:
>> >  @example
>> > -M-x query-replace @key{RET} x @key{RET} @@TEMP@@ @key{RET}
>> > -M-x query-replace @key{RET} y @key{RET} x @key{RET}
>> > -M-x query-replace @key{RET} @@TEMP@@ @key{RET} y @key{RET}
>> > +M-x replace-string @key{RET} x @key{RET} @@TEMP@@ @key{RET}
>> > +M-< M-x replace-string @key{RET} y @key{RET} x @key{RET}
>> > +M-< M-x replace-string @key{RET} @@TEMP@@ @key{RET} y @key{RET}
>> >  @end example
>> 
>> I think this example should be removed from the Emacs manual
>> completely.  Using three commands to exchange words is too clumsy.
>> When reading the Emacs manual the users will mis-spend their time at
>> understanding and remembering this example not knowing that a better
>> method to do this is shown in the next chapter.
>
> But the method in the next chapter requires a basic Lisp
> understanding.  It is an advanced technique.  Granted, probably one of
> the easiest, and probably a nice incentive for learning, but it is
> still an advanced technique.

It's not difficult even for beginners to substitute own values
for "x" and "y".

> I don't think we should remove an example for swapping strings that
> is accessible also to the beginner.

This is a bad example.  It teaches Emacs users to use Emacs inefficiently.

If this is a really very frequent operation that needed to be
documented in the Emacs manual then we should implement a new command
in replace.el and document it:

M-x swap-strings RET x RET y RET

-- 
Juri Linkov
http://www.jurta.org/emacs/