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Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition
book

Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition

by Debra Cameron, James Elliott, Marc Loy, Eric S. Raymond, Bill Rosenblatt
December 2004
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
536 pages
19h 28m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition

Building More Complicated Macros

So far, we've covered the basics of writing, executing, and saving keyboard macros. Now let's discuss a couple of more advanced features Emacs lets you add to your macros: pausing a macro for keyboard input and inserting a query in a macro.

Pausing a Macro for Keyboard Input

Sometimes it's useful to pause a macro briefly so you can type something. For example, if you write a lot of letters, you could have a macro that prints out a template and then pauses for you to fill in variables (such as the date and the recipient's name). You can perform this task (and similar tasks) by inserting a recursive edit into a macro. A recursive edit is just a fancy way to say, "Stop and let me type a while, then pick up the macro where I left off."

When you're defining a macro, type C-u C-x q at the point where you want the recursive edit to occur. Emacs enters a recursive edit. (You can tell you're in a recursive edit because square brackets appear on the mode line; you'll see them in the screenshots later in this section.) Nothing you type during the recursive edit becomes a part of the macro. You can type whatever you want to and then press C-M-c to exit the recursive edit. Notice how the square brackets disappear when you type C-M-c. When the square brackets are no longer on the screen, you have left the recursive edit. Anything you type at this point becomes part of the macro. You can put as many pauses in your macros as you want to.

Example

Here's an example of ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596006489Supplemental ContentErrata Page