From: Eshel Yaron Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2023 08:02:46 +0000 (+0200) Subject: Document 'M-x align' in the Emacs manual X-Git-Tag: emacs-29.1.90~9 X-Git-Url: http://git.eshelyaron.com/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=8141d73ea7f597787bd554b01f98f3925e6531d2;p=emacs.git Document 'M-x align' in the Emacs manual * doc/emacs/indent.texi (Alignment): New section. * doc/emacs/emacs.texi: Update menu. (Bug#66303) --- diff --git a/doc/emacs/emacs.texi b/doc/emacs/emacs.texi index c2cda7a932a..ca95a95eba8 100644 --- a/doc/emacs/emacs.texi +++ b/doc/emacs/emacs.texi @@ -592,6 +592,7 @@ Indentation * Tab Stops:: Stop points for indentation in Text modes. * Just Spaces:: Using only space characters for indentation. * Indent Convenience:: Optional indentation features. +* Code Alignment:: Making common parts of lines start at the same column. Commands for Human Languages diff --git a/doc/emacs/indent.texi b/doc/emacs/indent.texi index 17b663d22e1..0df973c1dd0 100644 --- a/doc/emacs/indent.texi +++ b/doc/emacs/indent.texi @@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ repositioned to the first non-whitespace character on the line. * Tab Stops:: Stop points for indentation in Text modes. * Just Spaces:: Using only space characters for indentation. * Indent Convenience:: Optional indentation features. +* Code Alignment:: Making common parts of lines start at the same column. @end menu @node Indentation Commands @@ -265,3 +266,236 @@ indents the line after every @key{RET} you type. This mode is enabled by default. To toggle this minor mode, type @kbd{M-x electric-indent-mode}. To toggle the mode in a single buffer, use @kbd{M-x electric-indent-local-mode}. + +@node Code Alignment +@section Code Alignment +@cindex code alignment +@cindex aligning code + + @dfn{Alignment} is the process of adjusting whitespace in a sequence +of lines in the region such that in all lines certain parts begin at +the same column. This is usually something you do to enhance +readability of a piece of text or code. The classic example is +aligning a series of assignments in C-like programming languages: + +@example +int a = 1; +short foo = 2; +double blah = 4; +@end example + +@noindent +is commonly aligned to: + +@example +int a = 1; +short foo = 2; +double blah = 4; +@end example + +@cindex alignment rules +@findex align + You can use the command @kbd{M-x align} to align lines in the +current region. This command knows about common alignment patterns +across many markup and programming languages. It encodes these +patterns as a set of @dfn{alignment rules}, that say how to align +different kinds of text in different contexts. + +@vindex align-rules-list +@vindex align-mode-rules-list +The user option @code{align-rules-list} says which alignment rules +@kbd{M-x align} should consult. The value of this option is a list +with elements describing alignment rules. Each element is a cons cell +@code{(@var{title} . @var{attributes})}, where @var{title} is the name +of the alignment rule as a symbol, and @var{attributes} is a list of +rule attributes that define when the rule should apply and how it +partitions and aligns lines. Each rule attribute is a cons cell +@code{(@var{attribute} . @var{value})}, where @var{attribute} is the +name of attribute and @var{value} is its value. The only required +attribute is @code{regexp}, whose value is a regular expression with +sub-expressions matching the parts of each line where @kbd{M-x align} +should expand or contract whitespace (@pxref{Regexp Backslash}). See +the documentation string of @code{align-rules-list} (@kbd{C-h v +align-rules-list @key{RET}}) for a full description of possible +alignment rule attributes. By default, this option is set to a long +list of alignment rules for many languages that Emacs supports. The +default rules use the @code{modes} rule attribute to specify major +modes in which @kbd{M-x align} should apply them. Major modes can +also override @code{align-rules-list} by setting the buffer-local +variable @code{align-mode-rules-list} to a non-@code{nil} list of +alignment rules. When @code{align-mode-rules-list} is non-@code{nil}, +@kbd{M-x align} consults it instead of @code{align-rules-list}. + +@cindex align exclusion rules +@vindex align-exclude-rules-list +@vindex align-mode-exclude-rules-list +Besides alignment rules, @kbd{M-x align} uses another kind of rules +called @dfn{exclusion rules}. The exclusion rules say which parts in +the region @kbd{M-x align} should not align and instead leave them +intact. The user option @code{align-exclude-rules-list} specifies +these exclusion rules. Similarly to @code{align-rules-list}, the +value of @code{align-exclude-rules-list} is also a list of cons cells +that describe the exclusion rules. By default, +@code{align-exclude-rules-list} includes rules that exclude alignment +in quoted strings and comments in Lisp, C and other languages. Beyond +the default exclusion rules in @code{align-exclude-rules-list}, major +modes can define bespoke exclusion rules by setting +@code{align-mode-exclude-rules-list} to a non-@code{nil} list of +rules, this overrides @code{align-exclude-rules-list} just like +@code{align-mode-rules-list} overrides @code{align-rules-list}. + +@cindex alignment sections +@vindex align-region-separate +@kbd{M-x align} splits the region into a series of @dfn{sections}, +usually sequences of non-blank lines, and aligns each section +according to all matching alignment rule by expanding or contracting +stretches of whitespace. @kbd{M-x align} consistently aligns all +lines inside a single section, but it may align different sections in +the region differently. The user option @code{align-region-separate} +specifies how @kbd{M-x align} separates the region to sections. This +option can be one of the symbols @code{entire}, @code{group}, or a +regular expression. If @code{align-region-separate} is @code{entire}, +Emacs aligns the entire region as a single section. If this option is +@code{group}, Emacs aligns each group of consecutive non-blank lines +in the region as a separate section. If @code{align-region-separate} +is a regular expression, @kbd{M-x align} scans the region for matches +to that regular expression and treats them as section separators. By +default @code{align-region-separate} is set to a regular expression +that matches blank lines and lines that contains only whitespace and a +single curly brace (@samp{@{} or @samp{@}}). For special cases where +regular expressions are not accurate enough, you can also set +@code{align-region-separate} to a function that says how to separate +the region to alignment sections. See the documentation string of +@code{align-region-separate} for more details. Specific alignment +rules can override the value of @code{align-region-separate} and +define their own section separator by specifying the @code{separate} +rule attribute. + +If you call @kbd{M-x align} with a prefix argument (@kbd{C-u}), it +enables more alignment rules that are often useful but may sometimes +be too intrusive. For example, in a Lisp buffer with the following +form: + +@lisp +(set-face-attribute 'mode-line-inactive nil + :box nil + :background nil + :underline "black") +@end lisp + +@noindent +Typing (@kbd{C-u M-x align}) yields: + +@lisp +(set-face-attribute 'mode-line-inactive nil + :box nil + :background nil + :underline "black") +@end lisp + +In most cases, you should try @kbd{M-x align} without a prefix +argument first, and if that doesn't produce the right result you can +undo with @kbd{C-/} and try again with @kbd{C-u M-x align}. + +@findex align-highlight-rule +@findex align-unhighlight-rule +You can use the command @kbd{M-x align-highlight-rule} to visualize +the effect of a specific alignment or exclusion rule in the current +region. This command prompts you for the title of a rule and +highlights the parts on the region that this rule affects. For +alignment rules, this command highlights the whitespace that @kbd{M-x +align} would expand or contract, and for exclusion this command +highlights the parts that @kbd{M-x align} would exclude from +alignment. To remove the highlighting that this command creates, type +@kbd{M-x align-unhighlight-rule}. + +@findex align-current +@findex align-entire + The command @kbd{M-x align-current} is similar to @kbd{M-x align}, +except that it operates only on the alignment section that contains +point regardless of the current region. This command determines the +boundaries of the current section according to the section separators +that @code{align-region-separate} define. @kbd{M-x align-entire} is +another variant of @kbd{M-x align}, that disregards +@code{align-region-separate} and aligns the entire region as a single +alignment section with consistent alignment. If you set +@code{align-region-separate} to @code{entire}, @kbd{M-x align} behaves +like @kbd{M-x align-entire} by default. To illustrate the effect of +aligning the entire region as a single alignment section, consider the +following code: + +@example +one = 1; +foobarbaz = 2; + +spam = 3; +emacs = 4; +@end example + +@noindent +when the region covers all of these lines, typing @kbd{M-x align} +yields: + +@example +one = 1; +foobarbaz = 2; + +spam = 3; +emacs = 4; +@end example + +@noindent +On the other hand, @kbd{M-x align-entire} aligns all of the lines as a +single section, so the @samp{=} appears at the same column in all +lines: + +@example +one = 1; +foobarbaz = 2; + +spam = 3; +emacs = 4; +@end example + +@findex align-regexp + The command @kbd{M-x align-regexp} lets you align the current region +with an alignment rule that you define ad-hoc, instead of using the +predefined rules in @code{align-rules-list}. @kbd{M-x align-regexp} +prompts you for a regular expression and uses that expression as the +@code{regexp} attribute for an ad-hoc alignment rule that this command +uses to align the current region. By default, this command adjusts +the whitespace that matches the first sub-expression of the regular +expression you specify. If you call @kbd{M-x align-regexp} with a +prefix argument, it also prompts you for the sub-expression to use and +lets you specify the amount of whitespace to use as padding, as well +as whether to apply the rule repeatedly to all matches of the regular +expression in each line. @xref{Regexp Backslash}, for more +information about regular expressions and their sub-expressions. + +@vindex align-indent-before-aligning + If the user option @code{align-indent-before-aligning} is +non-@code{nil}, Emacs indents the region before aligning it with +@kbd{M-x align}. @xref{Indentation}. By default +@code{align-indent-before-aligning} is set to @code{nil}. + +@vindex align-to-tab-stop + The user option @code{align-to-tab-stop} says whether aligned parts +should start at a tab stop (@pxref{Tab Stops}). If this option is +@code{nil}, @kbd{M-x align} uses just enough whitespace for alignment, +disregarding tab stops. If this is a non-@code{nil} symbol, @kbd{M-x +align} checks the value of that symbol, and if this value is +non-@code{nil}, @kbd{M-x align} aligns to tab stops. By default, this +option is set to @code{indent-tabs-mode}, so alignment respects tab +stops in buffers that use tabs for indentation. @xref{Just Spaces}. + +@vindex align-default-spacing + The user option @code{align-default-spacing} specifies the default +amount of whitespace that @kbd{M-x align} and its related commands use +for padding between the different parts of each line when aligning it. +When @code{align-to-tab-stop} is @code{nil}, the value of +@code{align-default-spacing} is the number of spaces to use for +padding; when @code{align-to-tab-stop} is non-@code{nil}, the value of +@code{align-default-spacing} is instead the number of tab stops to +use. Each alignment rule can override the default that +@code{align-default-spacing} specifies with the @code{spacing} +attribute rule.