GNU bug report logs - #25665
26.0.50; [PATCH] Indicate prefix arg in minibuffer prompt for shell-command

Previous Next

Full log

Message #23 received at 25665 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tino Calancha <tino.calancha <at> gmail.com>
To: npostavs <at> users.sourceforge.net
Cc: eliz <at> gnu.org, 25665 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Chunyang Xu <mail <at> xuchunyang.me>,
 Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>, Tino Calancha <tino.calancha <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#25665: 26.0.50; [PATCH] Indicate prefix arg in minibuffer
 prompt for shell-command
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 12:05:29 +0900 (JST)

On Thu, 9 Feb 2017, npostavs <at> users.sourceforge.net wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 11:53 AM, Tino Calancha <tino.calancha <at> gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The meaning of the prefix argument must be explained in the docstring.
>> That and the manual are the source of documentation, not the prompt.
>
> But it's nice if Emacs gives you a different prompt, so that you can be
> sure you typed in the command correctly.
Confirmation for having typed C-u?
Well, sometimes some keys in old keyboards die... ;-)

> Just like M-& gives a
> different prompt from M-!, even though you could figure out the
> different meaning just by reading the docstring of each command.
These are different commands so its Emacs (and whatever editor)
convention to how a different prompt.  The OP suggests to use
a different prompt for the same command w/ or w/o prefix.

There are lots of commands in Emacs accepting a raw,
numeric prefix etc.  If we change M-! prompt, we might
also want to tune the prompt for all of them.  Do we want that?

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.