bug#59934: 28.2; Doc strings of `(kill|delete)-matching-lines'

bug#59934: 28.2; Doc strings of `(kill|delete)-matching-lines'

[Drew Adams]

These two doc strings are _very_ similar.  The two commands are
presumably nearly the same, the difference being that one kills
to the `kill-ring' and the other just deletes.

Please consider, in each of these doc strings, adding a reference to the
other command.  E.g., "See also `<other>-matching-lines', which is
similar but <summarize the difference>."  That will make uses aware of
the existence of the other command.  Sometimes users don't consider, or
aren't even aware, of the difference between the two kinds of deletion.

You might also explicitly point out the use case for `kill-*', e.g.,
when giving the summary in the "See also": killing lets you subsequently
yank the matching lines somewhere.  Doesn't hurt to point this out
briefly.

In GNU Emacs 28.2 (build 2, x86_64-w64-mingw32)
 of 2022-09-13 built on AVALON
Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.19044
System Description: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (v10.0.2009.19044.2251)

Configured using:
 'configure --with-modules --without-dbus --with-native-compilation
 --without-compress-install CFLAGS=-O2'

Configured features:
ACL GIF GMP GNUTLS HARFBUZZ JPEG JSON LCMS2 LIBXML2 MODULES NATIVE_COMP
NOTIFY W32NOTIFY PDUMPER PNG RSVG SOUND THREADS TIFF TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS
XPM ZLIB

(NATIVE_COMP present but libgccjit not available)

bug#59934: 28.2; Doc strings of `(kill|delete)-matching-lines'

[Juanma Barranquero]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1744 bytes --]

The docstring of `kill-matching-lines' already says (just at the end):

  If you merely want to delete the lines, without adding them to
  the kill ring, the M-x flush-lines command is faster.

but the one for `delete-matching-lines'/`flush-lines' does not mention the
kill- version.

On Fri, Dec 9, 2022 at 11:52 PM Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> wrote:

> These two doc strings are _very_ similar.  The two commands are
> presumably nearly the same, the difference being that one kills
> to the `kill-ring' and the other just deletes.
>
> Please consider, in each of these doc strings, adding a reference to the
> other command.  E.g., "See also `<other>-matching-lines', which is
> similar but <summarize the difference>."  That will make uses aware of
> the existence of the other command.  Sometimes users don't consider, or
> aren't even aware, of the difference between the two kinds of deletion.
>
> You might also explicitly point out the use case for `kill-*', e.g.,
> when giving the summary in the "See also": killing lets you subsequently
> yank the matching lines somewhere.  Doesn't hurt to point this out
> briefly.
>
> In GNU Emacs 28.2 (build 2, x86_64-w64-mingw32)
>  of 2022-09-13 built on AVALON
> Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.19044
> System Description: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (v10.0.2009.19044.2251)
>
> Configured using:
>  'configure --with-modules --without-dbus --with-native-compilation
>  --without-compress-install CFLAGS=-O2'
>
> Configured features:
> ACL GIF GMP GNUTLS HARFBUZZ JPEG JSON LCMS2 LIBXML2 MODULES NATIVE_COMP
> NOTIFY W32NOTIFY PDUMPER PNG RSVG SOUND THREADS TIFF TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS
> XPM ZLIB
>
> (NATIVE_COMP present but libgccjit not available)
>
>
>
>
>

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 2314 bytes --]

bug#59934: 28.2; Doc strings of `(kill|delete)-matching-lines'

[Drew Adams]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 660 bytes --]

The docstring of `kill-matching-lines' already says (just at the end):

  If you merely want to delete the lines, without adding them to
  the kill ring, the M-x flush-lines command is faster.

True. What's missing there is the name correspondence/similarity.
I think it would be more helpful if it used `M-x delete-matching-lines'.
Following that link, a user would see that the other name for that is `flush-lines'.

but the one for `delete-matching-lines'/`flush-lines' does not mention the kill- version.

Yup. Wouldn't hurt. No reason to copy to `kill-ring' if that's not really what you want. And some users might not realize the difference.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3679 bytes --]

bug#59934: 28.2; Doc strings of `(kill|delete)-matching-lines'

[Stefan Kangas]

close 59934 29.1
thanks

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> The docstring of `kill-matching-lines' already says (just at the end):
>
>   If you merely want to delete the lines, without adding them to
>   the kill ring, the M-x flush-lines command is faster.
>
> True. What's missing there is the name correspondence/similarity.
> I think it would be more helpful if it used `M-x delete-matching-lines'.
> Following that link, a user would see that the other name for that is `flush-lines'.
> but the one for `delete-matching-lines'/`flush-lines' does not mention the kill- version.

Thanks, I fixed that on emacs-29 (commit 489bcacc7c).

bug#59934: 28.2; Doc strings of `(kill|delete)-matching-lines'

[Stefan Kangas]

close 59934 29.1
thanks

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> The docstring of `kill-matching-lines' already says (just at the end):
>
>   If you merely want to delete the lines, without adding them to
>   the kill ring, the M-x flush-lines command is faster.
>
> True. What's missing there is the name correspondence/similarity.
> I think it would be more helpful if it used `M-x delete-matching-lines'.
> Following that link, a user would see that the other name for that is `flush-lines'.
> but the one for `delete-matching-lines'/`flush-lines' does not mention the kill- version.

Thanks, I fixed that on emacs-29 (commit 489bcacc7c).