GNU bug report logs - #78909
[PATCH] Add 'forward-delete-char-hungry' command

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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Elijah Gabe Pérez <eg642616 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 78909 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#78909: [PATCH] Add 'forward-delete-char-hungry' command
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 10:17:33 +0300

> From: Elijah Gabe Pérez <eg642616 <at> gmail.com>
> Cc: 78909 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2025 19:02:36 -0600
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> From: Elijah Gabe Pérez <eg642616 <at> gmail.com>
> >> Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2025 17:58:27 -0600
> >> 
> >> This patch adds a new command similar to
> >> `backward-delete-char-untabify`, but intended to be used forward.
> >
> > Thanks, but can you describe the rationale?
> >
> > backward-delete-char-untabify exists because when the indentation is
> > done with TABs or a mix of TABs and SPCes, decrementing the
> > indentation by one column might involve replacing a TAB with the
> > equivalent number of SPC characters.  But this new command doesn't
> > have a comparable feature, whereby it "outdents" the line by one
> > column?  Instead, it seems it deletes the first character following
> > point, which means if that character is a TAB, the indentation will be
> > decreased by more than one column.
> >
> > So what is the purpose of having this command, and what are the use
> > cases where it would be useful?
> 
> I had originally intended to add a kind of `hungry-delete-mode`, because
> sometimes this type of deletion is useful (e.g. for some programming
> modes).
> 
> While `cc-mode` already have it, it's only "exclusive" for `cc-mode`
> modes.
> 
> This new command was more of a kind of `c-hungry-delete-forward` than a
> `backward-delete-char-untabify`.
> 
> I wasn't sure if it would be worth moving those cc-mode commands for
> general use, or make/move the `hungry` feature from
> `backward-delete-char-untabify` to be used generally.

In addition to C Mode's hungry-delete, we also have M-\ and M-SPC,
which are available globally.  Are they not enough?  if not, can you
explain what's missing in those commands?

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