Re: Using re-builder

[Kevin Rodgers]

Phil_C wrote:
> Michael Slass <miknrene@drizzle.com> wrote in message 
news:<m3n031ol2b.fsf@eric.rossnet.com>...
>>Try this:
>>
>>(defun reb-copy-unquoted ()
>>  "Copy current RE into the kill ring for later insertion as unquoted."
>>  (interactive)
>>  (reb-update-regexp)
>>  (let ((re (with-temp-buffer
>>              (insert (reb-target-binding reb-regexp))
>>              (replace-string "\\\\" "\\" nil (point-min) (point-max))
>>              (buffer-substring (point-min) (point-max)))))
>>    (kill-new re)
>>    (message "Regexp copied to kill-ring")))
>
> Thanks, that just about does it - except the beginning and ending
> quotes are still there. Still, that's much better than it was before,
> since now I don't have to go through the whole regex deleting "\"s.

Well, you could either replace "\\`\"" and "\"\\'" with "", or avoid
inserting them in the first place:

(let ((regexp (reb-target-binding reb-regexp)))
  (insert (substring regexp 1 (1- (length regexp)))))

Another approach would be to leave the regexp string in the kill ring,
but define a new command to yank the regexp itself into the minibuffer.

And instead of using replace-string to replace "\\\\" with "\\", you
might be able to get the lisp reader to do it for you (e.g. with
make-symbol).

--
Kevin Rodgers