GNU bug report logs - #43489
[PATCH] Don't signal scan-error when moving by sexp interactively

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Message #32 received at 43489 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mattias Engdegård <mattiase <at> acm.org>
To: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 43489 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#43489: [PATCH] Don't signal scan-error when moving by sexp
 interactively
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2020 19:33:25 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

19 sep. 2020 kl. 16.13 skrev Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>:

> The movement commands Emacs has here are more complicated than most
> editors have, though.  Saying why `C-M-f' can't move seems like useful
> information for the user to receive.

Well, but is that true? There is no evidence for it. Emacs currently gives no useful information in such situations and never has ('scan-error' indeed). The previously posted patch can only improve matters.

Of course we can put in messages for the at-bounds cases; it would look something like the patch below. While it would still be an improvement over what Emacs currently does, it is still a statement that we value tradition over usability. Try both!

Another alternative would be the standard Emacs compromise: add a defcustom. Since it could control the message emission by other movement commands like backward-char and next-line, it's perhaps not a bad idea after all...

It wouldn't need to do anything about movement by word or sentence since they already seem to be fixed, good!

[move-by-sexp--user-error.patch (application/octet-stream, attachment)]

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