C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

[Sean McAfee]

I almost always specify command prefix arguments by holding down the
meta key while I type the argument digits.  But just now I tried
specifying the prefix by typing C-u followed by the digits, and as soon
as I typed the first digit, four copies of the digit were inserted into
my current buffer!

Further experimentation showed that it didn't matter how many times I
type C-u prior to typing the first digit; four copies are always
inserted (not 16, 64, etc).  Also, if I type a hyphen following the C-u,
I get four hyphens in my buffer.

Anyone have any idea why this could be happening?

Re: C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Sean McAfee <eefacm@gmail.com> writes:

> I almost always specify command prefix arguments by holding down the
> meta key while I type the argument digits.  But just now I tried
> specifying the prefix by typing C-u followed by the digits, and as soon
> as I typed the first digit, four copies of the digit were inserted into
> my current buffer!
>
> Further experimentation showed that it didn't matter how many times I
> type C-u prior to typing the first digit; four copies are always
> inserted (not 16, 64, etc).  Also, if I type a hyphen following the C-u,
> I get four hyphens in my buffer.
>
> Anyone have any idea why this could be happening?

This is specified and documented that way.  C-u x is four xs.

If you want a different number, then type it: C-u 10 x is ten xs.


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

Re: C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

[John Bokma]

pjb@informatimago.com (Pascal J. Bourguignon) writes:

> Sean McAfee <eefacm@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I almost always specify command prefix arguments by holding down the
>> meta key while I type the argument digits.  But just now I tried
>> specifying the prefix by typing C-u followed by the digits, and as soon
>> as I typed the first digit, four copies of the digit were inserted into
>> my current buffer!
>>
>> Further experimentation showed that it didn't matter how many times I
>> type C-u prior to typing the first digit; four copies are always
>> inserted (not 16, 64, etc).  Also, if I type a hyphen following the C-u,
>> I get four hyphens in my buffer.
>>
>> Anyone have any idea why this could be happening?
>
> This is specified and documented that way.  C-u x is four xs.
>
> If you want a different number, then type it: C-u 10 x is ten xs.

From what I understand Sean's complaint is that

C-u 3  gives 3333
C-u -  gives ----

So, if he tries 

C-u 10 x

he gets

11110x

not

xxxxxxxxxx

-- 
John Bokma                                                               j3b

Blog: http://johnbokma.com/    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/j.j.j.bokma
    Freelance Perl & Python Development: http://castleamber.com/

Re: C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

John Bokma <john@castleamber.com> writes:

> pjb@informatimago.com (Pascal J. Bourguignon) writes:
>
>> Sean McAfee <eefacm@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> I almost always specify command prefix arguments by holding down the
>>> meta key while I type the argument digits.  But just now I tried
>>> specifying the prefix by typing C-u followed by the digits, and as soon
>>> as I typed the first digit, four copies of the digit were inserted into
>>> my current buffer!
>>>
>>> Further experimentation showed that it didn't matter how many times I
>>> type C-u prior to typing the first digit; four copies are always
>>> inserted (not 16, 64, etc).  Also, if I type a hyphen following the C-u,
>>> I get four hyphens in my buffer.
>>>
>>> Anyone have any idea why this could be happening?
>>
>> This is specified and documented that way.  C-u x is four xs.
>>
>> If you want a different number, then type it: C-u 10 x is ten xs.
>
> From what I understand Sean's complaint is that
>
> C-u 3  gives 3333
> C-u -  gives ----
>
> So, if he tries 
>
> C-u 10 x
>
> he gets
>
> 11110x
>
> not
>
> xxxxxxxxxx


Indeed, he wrote that.
Sorry, I just demonstrated poor reading skills...  must be tired.


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

Re: C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

[Stefan Monnier]

> I almost always specify command prefix arguments by holding down the
> meta key while I type the argument digits.  But just now I tried
> specifying the prefix by typing C-u followed by the digits, and as soon
> as I typed the first digit, four copies of the digit were inserted into
> my current buffer!

That would be a bug.  I can't reproduce it, so first try it with
"emacs -Q" and if you can't reproduce there, try and prune your .emacs
until you figure out which part is the culprit.


        Stefan

Re: C-u 1 inserts four "1" characters?

[Sean McAfee]

Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
>> I almost always specify command prefix arguments by holding down the
>> meta key while I type the argument digits.  But just now I tried
>> specifying the prefix by typing C-u followed by the digits, and as soon
>> as I typed the first digit, four copies of the digit were inserted into
>> my current buffer!
>
> That would be a bug.  I can't reproduce it, so first try it with
> "emacs -Q" and if you can't reproduce there, try and prune your .emacs
> until you figure out which part is the culprit.

After restarting Emacs, I now can't reproduce it either.

My previous session had been running for a couple of months, at least.
I installed a few new packages and did a lot of messing around in
*scratch*, so perhaps one of those activities modified the way C-u
works and I just didn't notice for a while.  Hard to imagine how that
could happen by accident, though.