Re: safe way to add contents to a file ?

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> The code is a most simple one liner variation on the following:
>
> (write-region "stuff" nil "path/to/my/file/test.txt" nil t nil t).
>
> Sometimes the whole *line* above (contained in file "test.el") would be
> copied to the file "test.txt" and I have no idea why.

Very curious.  If you can come up with a recipe to reproduce it
somewhat-reliably, then please `M-x report-emacs-bug`.

>> Which part of which reference?
> The elisp reference. I'm not aware that there is any other reference
> material regarding elisp. Is there ?

I thought maybe you had found some material on a web page somewhere, but
other than that and the Emacs Lisp manual, there are of course other
books and last but not least docstrings (which is the reference I use
most of the time).

>> What have you looked for?
> The files chapter, the buffers chapter. It's all descriptions of function
> after function and overall very confusing when you don't know the basics of
> what's necessary.

Hmm... we do assume familiarity with how files work, yes.
Could propose a concrete change which would have helped you?


        Stefan