Re: stdin/stdout

[Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null>]

"Jack O'Connor" <oconnor663@gmail.com> writes:

> Is there any way in Emacs to read standard input into a buffer or to
> send the contents of a buffer to the standard output (particularly
> both with editing in between)? I'm interested in being able to do
> things like the following:
>
> decrypt file.crypt | emacs | encrypt > file2.crypt
>                      ---or perhaps---
> curl some-website-with-code.com | emacs | python
>                     ---or even just---
> emacs < file.txt > edited_file.txt
>
> Thanks very much for your help.
>
> - Jack O'Connor

Not really answering your question, but ....

For each of the examples you have, emacs has a solution. 

For encryption/decryption, there is crypt++ that will allow you to
encrypt files and decrypt them from within emacs. Note also that emacs
23 comes with support for gnupg built-in.

For your curl example, there is an interface for wget (wget.el) and I
think also curl.

Your last example, I don't really get. Emacs does have a 'script' mode
that will allow you to process files and apply emacs functions to them
(assuming your example is about non-interactive editing/processing of
files. 

The point to note is that emacs is a pretty heavy duty piece of software
that can be a bit slow to start/stop. While batch mode and script mode
does mean you can do stuff non0interactively, in most cases, there are
far beter tools. Most long-term emacs users learn to adjust to a
paradigm where emacs is left running for long periods of time. I usually
have my emacs running for weeks at a time - using things like the emacs
client and server mode, you can leave emacs running and configure your
system to just opo up a frame when an application needs input - for
example, when you run crontab -e etc. 

tim

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au