is that value the original value or did I change it?

is that value the original value or did I change it?

[Dan Jacobson]

here's the typical C-h v output,
bla-bla-bla value is t

Documentation:
*If non-nil, offer to bla-bla-bla...

OK, but wouldn't it be neat for it to tell what its original or
default value was, along with its current value?  That way one
wouldn't have to poke around to see if it was one's .emacs that gave
it the current value... I'm talking about some default value checker,
not just asking the author to note the default value in the
documentation.
-- 
http://jidanni.org/ Taiwan(04)25854780

Re: is that value the original value or did I change it?

[Stefan Monnier]

>>>>> "Dan" == Dan Jacobson <jidanni@deadspam.com> writes:
> here's the typical C-h v output,
> bla-bla-bla value is t

> Documentation:
> *If non-nil, offer to bla-bla-bla...

> OK, but wouldn't it be neat for it to tell what its original or
> default value was, along with its current value?  That way one
> wouldn't have to poke around to see if it was one's .emacs that gave
> it the current value... I'm talking about some default value checker,
> not just asking the author to note the default value in the
> documentation.

For customized variables, this information is already available in
the `standard-value' symbol property, so we could do something like the
patch below (Dan, the patch is against the CVS version of the code, which
has changed since Emacs-21.2).

The only problem I see is that I find this `default value' often
uninteresting (typically for variables whose default is "obviously"
nil), but maybe it's just because I'm not a novice any more ;-)


	Stefan


Index: help-fns.el
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/emacs/emacs/lisp/help-fns.el,v
retrieving revision 1.8
diff -u -u -b -r1.8 help-fns.el
--- help-fns.el	1 Apr 2002 12:31:51 -0000	1.8
+++ help-fns.el	5 Apr 2002 15:32:44 -0000
@@ -359,9 +364,14 @@
 		    (pp val)
 		    (help-xref-on-pp from (point))
 		    (if (< (point) (+ from 20))
-			(save-excursion
-			  (goto-char from)
-			  (delete-char -1)))))))
+			(delete-region (1- from) from))
+		    (let ((sv (get variable 'standard-value)))
+		      (when (and (consp sv) (not (equal val sv)))
+			(princ "\nOriginal value was \n")
+			(setq from (point))
+			(pp (car sv))
+			(if (< (point) (+ from 20))
+			    (delete-region (1- from) from))))))))
 	    (terpri)
 	    (when (local-variable-p variable)
 	      (princ (format "Local in buffer %s; " (buffer-name)))

Re: is that value the original value or did I change it?

[Kevin Rodgers]

Dan Jacobson wrote:
> 
> here's the typical C-h v output,
> bla-bla-bla value is t
> 
> Documentation:
> *If non-nil, offer to bla-bla-bla...
> 
> OK, but wouldn't it be neat for it to tell what its original or
> default value was, along with its current value?

Not really, IMO.

> That way one
> wouldn't have to poke around to see if it was one's .emacs that gave
> it the current value...

M-! emacs -q --no-site-file --eval '(describe-variable (quote bla-bla-bla))'

> I'm talking about some default value checker,
> not just asking the author to note the default value in the
> documentation.

-- 
Kevin Rodgers <kevinr@ihs.com>

Re: is that value the original value or did I change it?

[Dan Jacobson]

>>>>> "K" == Kevin Rodgers <kevinr@ihs.com> writes:

>> OK, but wouldn't it be neat for it to tell what its original or
>> default value was, along with its current value?

K> Not really, IMO.

>> That way one
>> wouldn't have to poke around to see if it was one's .emacs that gave
>> it the current value...

hmmm, grep xyz .emacs ... OK, never mind.
-- 
http://jidanni.org/ Taiwan(04)25854780