Re: should query-replace-regexp-eval be in the manual?

[David Kastrup]

"Drew Adams" <address@hidden> writes:

>> Drew, do you actually use this command?  If so, how?
>
> I haven't used it yet - except a few times to try it out, after stumbling
> upon it in the source code. It worked fine.
>
> For those who are familiar with this command and with using `\,' with
> `query-replace-regexp': Could you compare/contrast these two in terms of use
> cases?

query-replace-regexp-eval can do nothing that one can't achieve with a
use of a \, expression in query-replace-regexp.

In contrast to query-replace-regexp-eval, \, does not necessitate
deciding in advance that you are going to need Lisp for a job, and
you'll only need to use Lisp for those parts of the expression where
it is necessary.

I came up with the idea of \, after stumbling upon
query-replace-regexp-eval and noticing that the typical usage pattern
was to start something with C-M-%, type stuff into it, then do a
combination of C-k, C-g, C-M-Esc or other things I don't remember
right now, in order to restart the whole process using
query-replace-regexp-eval instead.  And query-replace-regexp-eval does
not have a keybinding of its own.

Basically it has been my experience that query-replace-regexp-eval is
a nice idea, but in practice quite unusable.  \, achieves a similar
purpose but with a much more convenient interface.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum