From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail
From: "Pascal J. Bourguignon" <pjb@informatimago.com>
Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help
Subject: Re: Inspecting functions returning complicated values
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 16:43:16 +0200
Organization: Informatimago
Message-ID: <87k34jrgu3.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com>
References: <mailman.10124.1412121528.1147.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1412175025 24842 80.91.229.3 (1 Oct 2014 14:50:25 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org
NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2014 14:50:25 +0000 (UTC)
To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Oct 01 16:50:20 2014
Return-path: <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org>
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 <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org>)
	id 1XZLER-0008VC-Ro
	for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 01 Oct 2014 16:50:19 +0200
Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:55838 helo=lists.gnu.org)
	by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71)
	(envelope-from <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org>)
	id 1XZLER-0004go-I0
	for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 01 Oct 2014 10:50:19 -0400
Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail
Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
Original-Lines: 33
Original-X-Trace: individual.net GEOf06rMPMq/BtMgV7mbxgUG4PuSv8I+pDZM3MirI/WkwYKv/M
Cancel-Lock: sha1:OGM1MTYyZDMyNmU4ODVlMDM0YWRmOGIwMDhmYmI2YWZiMWY4OWVlOA==
	sha1:z20H8ziBtIvlktIcDRx0HiTkCQ4=
Face: iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADAAAAAwAQMAAABtzGvEAAAABlBMVEUAAAD///+l2Z/dAAAA
	oElEQVR4nK3OsRHCMAwF0O8YQufUNIQRGIAja9CxSA55AxZgFO4coMgYrEDDQZWPIlNAjwq9
	033pbOBPtbXuB6PKNBn5gZkhGa86Z4x2wE67O+06WxGD/HCOGR0deY3f9Ijwwt7rNGNf6Oac
	l/GuZTF1wFGKiYYHKSFAkjIo1b6sCYS1sVmFhhhahKQssRjRT90ITWUk6vvK3RsPGs+M1RuR
	mV+hO/VvFAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==
X-Accept-Language: fr, es, en
User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3 (gnu/linux)
Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:207930
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 <help-gnu-emacs.gnu.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/options/help-gnu-emacs>,
	<mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs>
List-Post: <mailto:help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
List-Help: <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs>,
	<mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=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:100205
Archived-At: <http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help/100205>

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl> writes:

> Hi list,
>
> assume that I want to inspect a function whose return value is a long,
> deeply nested list.  I found this way to present it in a readable way:
>
> M-: (setq blah-blah (function-returning-hairy-stuff))
> C-h C-v blah-blah
>
> This seems a bit awkward, however.  Is there a better/cleaner way?

In most any (writable) buffer, you can type:

   (prog1 (terpri) (pp (function-returning-hairy-stuff))) C-u C-x C-e

This won't work only in buffer where C-x C-e is not bound to
eval-last-sexp. In those buffers you can type C-u M-x eval-last-sexp RET
instead of C-u C-x C-e

You can also use ielm: 

M-x ielm RET
(pp (function-returning-hairy-stuff)) RET
(pp (other-function-returning-hairy-stuff)) RET
;; etc…


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                 http://www.informatimago.com/
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a
dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to
keep the man from touching the equipment.” -- Carl Bass CEO Autodesk