Emacs tips and tricks

[GekkoP]

^ Oh, thanks for that. Way better than my dirty solution:

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(defun read-lines (filePath)
  "Return a list of lines of a file at filePath."
  (with-temp-buffer
    (insert-file-contents filePath)
    (split-string (buffer-string) "\n")))

(let ((acc (read-lines "~/.my-erc-account")))
  (setq erc-nick (car acc)))

I added the nickname, because username and irc nickname on my machine are different. But who cares, a very lovely solution. Thanks Joe.

[machinebacon]

^ lol, had the same problem yesterday night and solved it exactly like you :D

Thanks DebJoe for the ercmod.

[GekkoP]

If you use dired a lot this could be useful: http://endlessparentheses.com/auto-focu ... ffers.html

[GekkoP]

Sometimes I like to use eshell over tramp to connect to my server. Once on the remote system, it was tricky to execute scripts in the current working directory. Here is the solution: http://emacs.stackexchange.com/a/2114/219

[GekkoP]

This for dkeg and whoever feels like an artist: http://emacs-theme-creator.appspot.com/

[DebianJoe]

...oh, that's a cool little tool.

[GekkoP]

Emacs 24.4 officially released: http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/

[machinebacon]

https://github.com/pierre-lecocq/emacs4developers

"A document to help developers to use Emacs as a developer“

[GekkoP]

^ thanks.

[machinebacon]

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emacs24-nox:
  Version table:
     24.4+1-1 0
          1 http://http.debian.net/debian/ experimental/main i386 Packages

So, we can

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sudo apt-get install -t experimental emacs24-YOUR_TOOLKIT

:)

[GekkoP]

Question for you Emacsers out there: anyone using gnus for mail reading? I should go with wanderlust and STFU? Just want to know your opinion. :)

Mutt is lovely, but since I've been using elfeed for RSS lately, I was wondering about switching my mail reading to Emacs as well.

[DebianJoe]

I have used Gnus previously, and then started using wanderlust. Take from that what you will. ^_^

[machinebacon]

Think we are in the same boat here. Previously mutt, then cone. Recently I do the wanderer. Gnus I have set up on my netbook for pure TTY-ing, and I've used this: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GnusGmail

Probably it makes sense if you follow newsgroups, for mail only it seems a bit too heavy. ALso, I needed to change the display options (partly light gray letters on white background for mails from google)

[GekkoP]

Thanks guys.
I'll see if I can setup wanderlust using Joe's walkthrough. I thought gnus had to be my choice because is already there in Emacs, while wanderlust requires extra dependencies.

[GekkoP]

Ok, to me this is crazy. And I'm not sure it will last but, as Pidsley says, this is a proof of concept.

Always looking for a reason not to leave Emacs during my daily activities, I got myself into emms: Emacs Multimedia System.
What is this? Just another way for me to listen to my mp3s, this time straight inside Emacs. Let's go.

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M-x package-install RET emms RET

I got this in my init file:

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(require 'emms-setup)
(emms-standard)
(emms-default-players)
(setq emms-source-file-default-directory "~/music/")

Adjust the path accordingly, of course.
What I do now is adding the record I want to listen to to the emms playlist:

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M-x emms-add-directory-tree

Almost there. Now go with:

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M-x emms

And your playlist comes up. Refer to this page for how to interact with the playlist. Or simply hit RET and enjoy your music.
So many other things you can do with emms. Check the manual to learn more.

This is also worth mention: https://github.com/dbrock/bongo

[machinebacon]

I was just wondering the other day who else uses emms :) I also added mpg123-el into the mix, and via emacspeak direct shortcuts to the BBC radio streams.

[DebianJoe]

I tie hoomegrown playlist scripts into my keybinds (which just fork mpg123 processes), but I've not tried emms yet. Cool stuff!

[DebianJoe]

Ok, slight change to this iswitchb hack due to iswitchb being made obsolete.

Just use ido mode and C^d to activate dired when opening files, or just C^x C^f C^f to make it act like ido find file wasn't active at all (fuzzy matches are cool, though). Pretty much the same thing, but with one more keystoke combo than how I was used to doing it.

Original post redirected here, as iswitchb is going the way of the dodo.

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(setq ido-enable-flex-matching t)
(ido-mode 1)

[GekkoP]

^ I love ido-mode. :)

[DebianJoe]

Ohh, here's a cool one. Assuming that you like eshell and (like I am right now) getting into mixing elisp with shell commands to make the standard eshell a bit more powerful, then you can set it up to emulate Plan 9's Smart Shell, which allows you to treat the eshell prompt more like a REPL by having it return to the last incorrect command after a failed command.

The example of it in use is on the lower right, as I've made a few failed 'fake predicate sed' lists, and it automatically returns the failed command for repair after a 'nil' return value. It makes much more sense when you see it than in explanation. The stuff highlighted on the left is what to add to the init (however you like to init) to get said functionality.

Edit: and looks like I also highlighted the [f2] binding for eshell, but that's just how I am doing it. That part isn't necessary.