Emacs tips and tricks

[GekkoP]

I don't like doc-view that much, especially since it doesn't work with pdfs the way a common pdf reader does. Fortunately, I found this: https://github.com/politza/pdf-tools

Had to get libpoppler-private-dev from experimental to compile it, but who cares. Works and feels good.

[Dr_Chroot]

^ Thanks, Gekko! I have been using xpdf for a while instead of doc-view-mode for the same reason. This is exactly what I need :D

[machinebacon]

Don't know if it has been mentioned before.

multi-term (M/ELPA), I used this setup, works nicely.
http://paralambda.org/2012/07/02/using- ... -emulator/

[GekkoP]

^ Interesting. Wonder if something similar could be done for eshell.

There seem to be A LOT of fuzz about Helm: http://tuhdo.github.io/helm-intro.html
I have been trying to switch from ido to helm lately (one reason: https://tuhdo.github.io/helm-intro.html#sec-14), but failed horribly. I found Helm too much of a bloat and I can't see any improvement on my productivity using that.

[GekkoP]

^ not true.
I dediced to spend some time with helm, replacing ido and try to stick with it. A casual look at helm isn't enough to appreciate its power, I think. Anyway. Here's my helm setup. Mostly from here, but with some fine adds.

Code: Select all

;; Helm setup
(require 'helm-config)
(helm-mode 1)

;; The default "C-x c" is quite close to "C-x C-c", which quits Emacs.
;; Changed to "C-c h". Note: We must set "C-c h" globally, because we
;; cannot change `helm-command-prefix-key' once `helm-config' is loaded.
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c h") 'helm-command-prefix)
(global-unset-key (kbd "C-x c"))

(define-key helm-map (kbd "<tab>") 'helm-execute-persistent-action) ; rebind tab to run persistent action
(define-key helm-map (kbd "C-i") 'helm-execute-persistent-action) ; make TAB works in terminal
(define-key helm-map (kbd "C-z")  'helm-select-action) ; list actions using C-z

(setq helm-split-window-in-side-p           t ; open helm buffer inside current window, not occupy whole other window
      helm-move-to-line-cycle-in-source     t ; move to end or beginning of source when reaching top or bottom of source.
      helm-ff-search-library-in-sexp        t ; search for library in `require' and `declare-function' sexp.
      helm-scroll-amount                    8 ; scroll 8 lines other window using M-<next>/M-<prior>
      helm-ff-file-name-history-use-recentf t)

(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'helm-M-x)
(setq helm-M-x-fuzzy-match t) ;; optional fuzzy matching for helm-M-x

(global-set-key (kbd "M-y") 'helm-show-kill-ring)

(global-set-key (kbd "C-x b") 'helm-mini)
(setq helm-buffers-fuzzy-matching t
      helm-recentf-fuzzy-match t)

(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-f") 'helm-find-files)

;; C-h is delete-backward-char, don't touch it!
(eval-after-load "helm-files"
  '(let ((helm-find-files-C-h-map (lookup-key helm-find-files-map (kbd "C-h"))))
     ;; make sure C-h is no longer a prefix key
     (define-key helm-find-files-map (kbd "C-h") nil)
     ;; rebind "C-h ..." to "M-m ..." to preserve functionality
     (define-key helm-find-files-map (kbd "M-m") helm-find-files-C-h-map)))

(setq helm-semantic-fuzzy-match t
      helm-imenu-fuzzy-match t)

(add-to-list 'helm-sources-using-default-as-input 'helm-source-man-pages)

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c h o") 'helm-occur)

(setq helm-apropos-function-list t)

(require 'helm-eshell)
(add-hook 'eshell-mode-hook
          #'(lambda ()
              (define-key eshell-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-l") 'helm-eshell-history)))

[GekkoP]

Since I got a small part in this one (mainly beta-testing it), I will put it here: browse StackExchange straight from Emacs with sx.el.

[machinebacon]

Umlauts (or any other unicode shit) in Emacs? Remember C-x 8 RET

Code: Select all

C-x 8 .		·
C-x 8 /		Prefix Command
C-x 8 1		Prefix Command
C-x 8 3		Prefix Command
C-x 8 <		«
C-x 8 =		¯
C-x 8 >		»
C-x 8 ?		¿
C-x 8 C		©
C-x 8 L		£
C-x 8 P		¶
C-x 8 R		®
C-x 8 S		§
C-x 8 Y		¥
C-x 8 ^		Prefix Command
C-x 8 _		Prefix Command
C-x 8 `		Prefix Command
C-x 8 c		¢
C-x 8 m		µ
C-x 8 o		°
C-x 8 u		µ
C-x 8 x		×
C-x 8 |		¦
C-x 8 ~		Prefix Command

C-x 8 ~ SPC	~
C-x 8 ~ A	Ã
C-x 8 ~ D	Ð
C-x 8 ~ N	Ñ
C-x 8 ~ O	Õ
C-x 8 ~ T	Þ
C-x 8 ~ a	ã
C-x 8 ~ d	ð
C-x 8 ~ n	ñ
C-x 8 ~ o	õ
C-x 8 ~ t	þ
C-x 8 ~ ~	¬

C-x 8 ` SPC	`
C-x 8 ` A	À
C-x 8 ` E	È
C-x 8 ` I	Ì
C-x 8 ` O	Ò
C-x 8 ` U	Ù
C-x 8 ` a	à
C-x 8 ` e	è
C-x 8 ` i	ì
C-x 8 ` o	ò
C-x 8 ` u	ù

C-x 8 _ a	ª
C-x 8 _ o	º

C-x 8 ^ SPC	^
C-x 8 ^ 1	¹
C-x 8 ^ 2	²
C-x 8 ^ 3	³
C-x 8 ^ A	Â
C-x 8 ^ E	Ê
C-x 8 ^ I	Î
C-x 8 ^ O	Ô
C-x 8 ^ U	Û
C-x 8 ^ a	â
C-x 8 ^ e	ê
C-x 8 ^ i	î
C-x 8 ^ o	ô
C-x 8 ^ u	û

I'm sure you all know it already ;)

Note to self (and gekko's wife): for Chinese pinyin input in Emacs, C-\ py
No fucking IME needed :)

[GekkoP]

^ Oh yes, that Chinese pinyin trick is a slap in that face of poor iBus! ;)

[GekkoP]

Flycheck: http://www.lunaryorn.com/2014/12/23/my- ... -0.22.html

Been avoiding this package for way too long. My bad. On-the-fly syntax checking is really helping me a lot in writing better code and understand it better. Probably only for the OCD minds out there.

[GekkoP]

Better init file? https://github.com/jwiegley/use-package
My configuration grows every day, I don't know if I have the strength to refactor all of it to use this package.

[machinebacon]

^ Yeah, that's like re-partition just to try btrfs ;)

Fancier mode line? Powerline style in Emacs? -> https://github.com/Bruce-Connor/smart-mode-line
Of course also more here: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ModeLineConfiguration

[GekkoP]

^ Using that smart-mode-line lately. Still have to understand how to hide some modes I don't really care having in the mode line, but it is a pretty good package.

[GekkoP]

Ok, since today in the office there is nobody around I refactored all my configuration to use that use-package. Looks cleaner and easier to maintain. If anyone interested, it is here: https://github.com/boccaperta-it/emacs

And to hide undesired modes when using smart-mode-line:

Code: Select all

setq rm-blacklist (quote (" my-keys-mode"
			       " PgLn"
			       " Projectile"
			       " company"
			       " Undo-Tree"))

[GekkoP]

One more praise about use-package, and then I STFU. Try:

Code: Select all

M-x emacs-init-time RET

upon startup before and after using use-package. Definitely worth it. :)

[machinebacon]

Has anybody tried the Hemlock already? http://www.common-lisp.net/project/phemlock/

I couldn't get it to run (weeks ago! don't remember what the problem was -- the (ed) in cmucl [ cmucl-source package in Debian ] as shown here http://www.cons.org/cmucl/hemlock/index-print.html didn't do it)

For those who want to have an Emacs-like edtor in the browser, there's http://www.ymacs.org/ (check the demo!)

[GekkoP]

Didn't know about Hemlock. We need good ol' Joe for this one. ;)

[GekkoP]

For all the dired junkies: http://oremacs.com/2015/01/12/dired-file-size/

[DebianJoe]

Didn't know about Hemlock. We need good ol' Joe for this one. ;)

Sorry, just now caught up on this thread. What do I need to make happen? Hemlock in Debian? I will give it a go sometime.

(Edit: Perhaps not getting to this soon, if ever. I'm having a bit of trouble managing some IRL stuff right now.)

[GekkoP]

Masters say: to avoid your left pinky finger to be hurt real bad by all those wacky keybindings, use Caps Lock as left Ctrl key.
I've been trying it out for a while and seems to work for me.

On LinuxBBQ Haggis I just added this to my .xinitrc

Code: Select all

setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps

This line does not swap Caps Lock and left Ctrl, as some of the masters suggest, but simply adds Caps Lock as an extra Ctrl key. Because I always liked telling my masters "in your face!". Or something like that.

[machinebacon]

^ The only useful thing to do with Caps Lock. I also hate the suggestion of 'switching' these two. Caps Lock is so 1950s :)

(And Happy 2222 posts to you, gekko!)