(Emacs+Org-Mode) Make Eval Expression A Little Easier

Once you’ve been using Emacs for a while you end up using eval-expression a lot. 99% of the time I use it to make function calls. I never noticed before that it is kind of tedious to reach for S-M-; and then () despite using it so much. Here is a binding and a function definition that make it easier to use binding it close to home and inserting the round parentheses.

(global-set-key (kbd "M-;") #'my-eval-expression)
(define-key org-mode-map (kbd "M-;") nil)
(progn
  (defvar my-read-expression-map
    (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
      (set-keymap-parent map read-expression-map)
      (define-key map [(control ?g)] #'minibuffer-keyboard-quit)
      (define-key map [up]   nil)
      (define-key map [down] nil)
      map))
  (defun my-read--expression (prompt &optional initial-contents)
    (let ((minibuffer-completing-symbol t))
      (minibuffer-with-setup-hook
          (lambda ()
            (emacs-lisp-mode)
            (use-local-map my-read-expression-map)
            (setq font-lock-mode t)
            (funcall font-lock-function 1)
            (insert "()")
            (backward-char))
        (read-from-minibuffer prompt initial-contents
                              my-read-expression-map nil
                              'read-expression-history))))
  (defun my-eval-expression (expression &optional arg)
    "Attribution: URL `https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs/2014-07/msg00135.html'."
    (interactive (list (read (my-read--expression ""))
                       current-prefix-arg))
    (if arg
        (insert (pp-to-string (eval expression lexical-binding)))
      (pp-display-expression (eval expression lexical-binding)
                             "*Pp Eval Output*"))))

(Emacs+Org-Mode) Try Naming Your Emacs Configuration And Instance

For the fun of it try naming your Emacs configuration and instance.

For example my configuration is named HELP, HELP Enables Literate Programming. This is the collection of everything I find helpful for Literate Org Mode. Its also the collection of every single bit of code that people shared to help me out. It helps a lot. But that is not what I called my editor.

I call my editor instance PIE, PIE Interactive Editor. It is fun calling it a name that I like instead of Emacs. Emacs means so many things to all of us. Even Spacemacs names it especially for them. What is PIE? The PIE Interactive Editor? But what is PIE? PIE Isn’t Emacs 😄(Joy)😮(Surprise).

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@......@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@.....@@.........@@@@@@@
@@@@#........@@...........@@@@@
@@(..........@@............@@@@
@............@@.............@@@
PIE..........@@.............(@@
Interactive..@@..............@@
Editor..PIE..@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Is Easy..PIE.#@@@.............@
Isn't Emacs..#@@@............@@
@..............#@@@..........@@
@@..................#@@@....@@@
@@@...................#@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@...............@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@#..#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Have fun with it.

Anybody Miss The Kill-Ring When They Use Their Host OS

Here “Host OS” means the operating system on which you run Emacs.

When I use my host OS by muscle memory I try to use the Kill Ring just like I do in Emacs and then I get a painful surprise: I have to copy everything that I need somewhere else and then copy it back. Yuck. Can you recommend a solution for this on macOS?

browse-kill-ring makes the kill ring really easy to use.

If You Have An Org-Mode Problem Then You've Probably Got It Installed Twice

If you have an org-mode problem then you’ve probably got it installed twice. Here are two examples where I always get into trouble:

  • I run from source, this is impossible
    • It is possible because some package listed Org-Mode as a dependency
  • I run only from the Org-Mode package
    • It is possible because some other package listed Org-Mode as a dependency
  • Sometimes a reference to org-plus-contrib can shake things up because it “works fine for a while… and then doesn’t”

The errors are usually cryptic, to the lazy like me, and not worth investigating because they are fake errors.

Exporting Tables With Borders

This page explains how to configure exported tables borders either with the variable org-html-table-default-attributes, which is ignored with HTML5 export, or properties.

The default table export doesn’t include borders and it is difficult to read.

Continue reading “Exporting Tables With Borders”

Never Too Late To Learn `multi-occur-in-matching-buffers'

Ever wanted to search all of your buffers limited by their backing file type? Surprisingly I never did very much. ag and grep worked fine for me. Then I started leaving buffers open, with everything that I cared about, all the time. Then I joined the “Emacs 100+ Buffer Club”.

multi-occur-in-matching-buffers is helpful when you watch to use occur in some of those buffers.

Leave ~C-M-s~ Bindings For The Operating System

macOS used Meta and Super for a lot of it’s own bindings. That ties up valuable Emacs key-space. Tonight I moved all of those meddling bindings into C-M-s. macOS get that all to itself making it happy. And it made me happy. Maybe it will make you happy.